Modern medicine is presenting a challenge for the law over the issue of HIV-AIDS. Should you be charged with a criminal offence like murder for willfully spreading the HIV virus to an unknowing sex partner if the newest drugs have changed, a deadly disease into a chronic illness?

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Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Wednesday, December 21st.

In an interview with CTV, Prime Minister Harper says he's "very serious" about exporting oil to China.

Because really, nothing says "ethical oil" like selling to China.

This is The Current.

Proposed changes to HIV disclosure law

There is big news this week on the decades-long battle against AIDS. Researchers from the University of Western Ontario in London believe they've developed a new kind of HIV vaccine. It will be several years before they know how effective it is, but clinical trials are scheduled to begin next month.

Already, the face of HIV/AIDS has changed significantly in the 30 years since the disease was first discovered. In developed countries, at least, AIDS is no longer a death sentence. Which is why some activists are now calling for a change in the law governing HIV disclosure to sexual partners. Since 1998, it's been illegal in Canada for people infected with HIV to have sex without telling their partners about their condition. But since then, new treatments have - in many cases - led to a real reduction in the likelihood of transmission.

In this month's Canadian Medical Association Journal, a leading Canadian AIDS researcher threw his weight behind the argument that people who don't disclose shouldn't necessarily be prosecuted. Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS explained his position on As It Happens, last night.

His argument comes at a time when the law surrounding HIV disclosure is under intense scrutiny. Two cases before the Supreme Court of Canada in the New Year stem from incidents where HIV positive people did not tell their sexual partners.

To examine the pros and cons of the current law - and proposed changes to it - we were joined by two people. Tim McCaskell is a longtime AIDS activist who is also living with AIDS. He's a spokesperson for the Ontario Working Group on Criminal Law and HIV Exposure. The group will have intervenor status in both Supreme Court cases. We were also joined by Carissima Mathen, an associate professor of law at the University of Ottawa, who has studied the law surrounding HIV disclosure and co-authored a paper published this fall entitled, HIV Consent & Criminal Wrongs. Both were in our Toronto studio.

Related Links:

• Hiding HIV status shouldn't mean jail time: Doctor By: Sharon Kirkey - Postmedia News
• Ontario seeks to intervene in high-court HIV case By: Linda Nguyen - Postmedia News
  
  
  

Other segments from today's show:

• The real life story of the Tin Tin creator
• Psychological profiles of world leaders