They remain to be convinced that we mean what we say about fairness."Mr Broughton said he realised that the posters would be seen as "provocative" and accepted they may not be well-received by all black and Asian people. "Whatever you think of them, like them or loathe them, they will generate interest, generate controversy and generate discussion," he said.Mr Broughton said the federation had informed black and Asian community leaders of the content of the campaign and been given "no negative vibes".The four people featured in the posters are not police officers but a professional basketball player, a dancer, an actor and a medical student. Real black officers were not used in the pictures because such a high- profile campaign could limit their chances of working undercover later in their careers, Mr Broughton said.He said he was "disappointed" that the association had declined an invitation to attend the launch but said the two organisations had been holding regular talks in the past six months on race issues.Less than 2 per cent of the 125,000 police officers who are in the federation come from minority communities.Bob Purkiss, chairman of the legal committee of the Commission for Racial Equality, said he understood the association's concerns but still welcomed the campaign "The `do nothing' option was not on the table," he said. "[The Police Federation] are trying to address their collective failure in the past." Mr Purkiss said that to have delayed the campaign launch because of the nail bombings in would have sent "the wrong message".t The Chief Constable of Merseyside, Norman Bettison, admitted yesterday that his force was "institutionally racist" after spending six months gathering evidence on bigotry in the ranks.Mr Bettison said a new task force had been set up to re-investigate more than 300 cases in which race had been an issue and he hinted that a number of officers could be sacked for their racist views..

SCIENTISTS STUDYING Aids believe they have made a breakthrough in the 10-year quest to find a vaccine against HIV. However, the development was marred by a discovery by a second team of researchers, who found that HIV can lie dormant for a lifetime. A team led by Harriet Robinson, chief of microbiology at Yerkes Regional Primate Center in Atlanta, Georgia, found that a combination of two types of vaccine can protect monkeys against HIV.Although the vaccine does not protect the monkeys against infection - the aim of conventional immunisation - it appears to limit the virus's ability to replicate within the body."This holds promise for the development of a vaccine capable of seriously reducing viral replication and thus stemming the transmission of Aids," Dr Robinson said.The three-year research project experimented with several types of vaccines and two different ways of delivering them to the immune system.Dr Robinson found the most successful approach was first to "prime" the immune system with a vaccine based on the genetic material of a hybrid virus created from HIV and SIV, the simian immunodeficiency virus.The next stage was to inject a vaccine made from incorporating parts of the hybrid virus into a pox virus, which can invade the monkey's cells but does not proliferate.Results of the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, show that the vaccine successfully limited the replication of the virus when it was injected three times over a 62-week period.The scientists were unable to detect the virus in the blood of vaccinated animals, in contrast to unvaccinated monkeys.Although the findings are promising for vaccine development, other research indicates that it will be practically impossible to eliminate HIV totally from an infected person.Scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have found that HIV can evade anti-Aids drugs by hiding in a dormant state for years within cells of the immune system."This doesn't mean that a cure for HIV is impossible, but it is an obstacle. And it emphasises that patients need to stay on their medication, possibly for the rest of their lives," said Robert Siliciano, a senior Aids researcher at Johns Hopkins.. DRINKERS KEEN to ensure they will be enjoying their favourite Chateaux into old age should select wines made from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, a heart expert advises today.

Jean Paul Broustet, of Hart-Leveque Hospital in the Bordeaux region of France, says in the journal Heart that the Cabernet Sauvignon grape has particularly large amounts of the anti-oxidant resveratrol, which alters the balance between "good" and "bad" cholesterol in the blood, helping to prevent heart attacks. Even when diluted 100 times, red wine is still a more powerful anti- oxidant than is vitamin E. This might account for the "French paradox" - that although Mediterranean populations have high-fat diets, they suffer low rates of heart disease.The longer the grapes stay on the stem, the higher the concentration of tannins - bitter agents in the wine. Tannins, combined with alcohol, reduce the "stickiness" of the blood cells known as platelets, thus lowering the risk of clots forming in the blood vessels.One study, which involved feeding dogs Chateauneuf du Pape and grape juice, showed that the wine was far more effective at reducing constrictions in blood-flow caused by a sudden aggregation of platelets.Dr Broustet suggests, however, that the beneficial effects of a good red wine have more to do with taste and bouquet - and the good company enjoyed while drinking. He blames problems such as cirrhosis of the liver on over-indulgence.. DOZENS OF trawlers fishing around Britain's coast are inherently dangerous and receive safety approval by government inspectors without adequate checks on their stability, according to a confidential accident report into the deaths of four trawlermen.