HEALTH: AIDS Committee Member Warns Families about Syringes Strewn in Parks

July 16, 2004 Tehrani families complain that officials have not acted to remove the used hypodermic syringes strewn by drug addicts in the city’s parks and public places. “These syringes are most probably contaminated with a variety viruses, including HIV, and families who visit parks and public places should make sure that their children do not come in contact with them,” Dr. Mehrnaz Rasul, a university teacher and a member of the national AIDS committee, tells Radio Farda’s Golnaz Esfandiari. She adds that splashing bleach does not completely sanitize the syringes. Addicts should be advised to ingest instead of inject drugs as a first step in addiction treatment.