That is a really difficult call to make because research into HIV/AIDS has generated a great deal of information about viruses and potential ways of treating or

That is a really difficult call to make because research into HIV/AIDS has generated a great deal of information about viruses and potential ways of treating or controlling them. This is similar to the arguments about the space program being an expensive and largely irrelevant exercise even though all sorts of critical technology for weather satellites, solar power, electronic communications and so on came more or less directly from exploration and development of space.