Lawmakers Demand That FDA Approve Over-The-Counter HIV Test Kits
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Two local lawmakers marked AIDS Walk Day by calling on the Food and Drug Administration to approve the sale of over-the-counter HIV test kits.
Brooklyn-Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner and Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried said rapid testing HIV kits would give people who do not want to visit clinics and outreach centers a chance to learn their HIV status.
"The more information that people have and the greater ease that they can have information about their own status, the better everyone else will be," said Weiner.
The test kits consist of a mouth swab that indicates within 20 to 30 minutes whether a person is HIV-positive.
They would sell for about $30.
It is estimated that nearly 300,000 people who have HIV do not know they are infected.