Annals of Health Law
ACHIEVING AN AIDS-FREE GENERATION
Federal funding influences public health policy in a variety of ways. For
example, in the 1970s, the federal government allocated transportation funds
to states on the condition they change maximum highway speeds to fifty-five
miles per hour.148 Similarly, the federal government used funding incentives
to persuade states to adopt names-based HIV reporting.149
Coextensively, prohibitions on federal funding are common in
controversial areas of science and can have profound effects on a field.150 The
federal ban on funding related to human embryonic stem cell (“hESC”)
research demonstrates why explicit federal support for SEPs is necessary to
achieving an AIDS-free generation. Research on hESC is controversial
because, while it promises much in terms of scientific advancement, it
destroys human embryos.151 Until 1993, federal regulations banned federal
whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-the-President-As-Prepared-for-Delivery-Signing-of-Stem-Cell-Executive-Order-and-Scientific-Integrity-Presidential-Memorandum.
