Editing C. Everett Koop (section)

===AIDS===
{{further|Ronald Reagan and AIDS}}
Koop was Surgeon General when public health authorities first began to take notice of [[AIDS]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/qq/feature/biographical|title=Biographical Overview|date=March 12, 2019|website=C. Everett Koop – Profiles in Science}}</ref> For his first four years in office, Koop, the nation's top health officer, was prevented from addressing this health crisis for reasons he insisted were never apparent to him but that were no doubt political.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 22, 1986|title=The C. Everett Koop Papers: AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/QQ/p-nid/87|access-date=April 26, 2013|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> Koop wrote the official U.S. policy on the disease, and in 1988 he took unprecedented action in [[Understanding AIDS|mailing AIDS information to every U.S. household]].<ref>[https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/QQBDRL.pdf Understanding AIDS – A Message from the Surgeon General]. Profiles.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2013-02-27.</ref> Health advocates and organizations expressed dissatisfaction with the focus on same-sex activity and anal sexual intercourse as primary vectors for disease transmission. Surgeon General Koop maintained that these activities posed significantly higher risks than other transmission methods. In addition, some religious groups raised concerns about the pamphlet’s candid discussion of sexual practices and its promotion of condom use, leading to calls for Koop's resignation.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 22, 1986|title=The C. Everett Koop Papers: AIDS, the Surgeon General, and the Politics of Public Health|url=https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/QQ/p-nid/87|access-date=September 23, 2009|publisher=Profiles.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> Koop also infuriated some former supporters by advocating sex education in schools, possibly as early as the third grade, including later instruction regarding the proper use of condoms to combat the spread of AIDS.  While a straightforward telling to the public about the disease was controversial, Koop was also criticized by some health activists who claimed that his office had not gone far enough to develop a cure or vaccine, reducing his office's role in educating the public on health concerns.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}