Rethinking AIDS

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 RETHINKING AIDS JUNE 1992
Re-evaluating the HIV-AIDS hypothesis (continued)

-HIV is said to be a sexually transmitted virus, yet it is
barely detectable in the semen of AIDS patients (Van Voorhis et al., Fertil. and Steril. 55:588, 1991).
-The number of HIV carriers in the U.S. has remained
constant at one million since 1985, when widespread antibody testing was introduced (Institute of Medicine, Confronting AIDS, 1986, Nat. Acad. Press, Wash. DC, and Vermund, J. NIH Res. 3:77, 1991), yet new viruses spread exponentially in a susceptible population (Freeman, Burrows
Textbook of Microbiology, 1979, WB Saunders, Phil.).
-AIDS has remained confined to the same risk groups
since it was first identified as a new disease syndrome, and
there are many fewer cases than predicted. Forecasts of the
spread of AIDS continue to be falsified, with one notable exception, that is the model published by Bregman and
Langmuir-Farr's Law Applied to AIDS Projections (JAMA,
263:1522, 1990). This model predicted a crest in the AIDS
epidemic in 1988-1989, with a subsequent decline to an endemic level. Data from the July, 1991 public domain diskette
compiled by the Centers for Disease Control tends to confirm
such a crest in 1989-1990.
-Approximately 75% of American hemophiliacs have
been infected with HIV for more than 7 years (Confronting
AIDS, op. cit.). According to the HIV hypothesis at least
50% should have died of AIDS by now, yet mortality among
hemophiliacs has not increased (Koerper, In: AIDS Pathogenesis and Treatment, Levy (Ed.), 1989, Marcel Dekker, NY)
and only 2% of HIV-positive hemophiliacs develop AIDS indicator-diseases annually (CDC, HIVIAIDS Surveillance, 1986 -1991, US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA).
-The same diseases are found in similar frequencies in
HIV positive and HIV negative intravenous drug users, and
the overall mortality in the two groups is the same
(Stoneburner et al., Science 242:916, 1988).
Despite these and many other inconsistencies, the HIVAIDS hypothesis remains the sole basis for public health
policies that are aimed at controlling the spread of AIDS by
advocating (1) "safe-sex" practices, (2) the use of "clean" needles to inject toxic, unsterile drugs, and (3) the long-term administration of potent metabolic poisons, like AZT, which are
Future issues of Rethinking AIDS will be devoted to
analyses of the variances between HIV-theory and AIDSreality, an examination of the various estimates of the number
of HIV-infected cells and the correlation between these numbers and disease progression, a consideration of the meaning
and implications of the growing consensus that HIVpathogenesis may depend on chemical or infectious "cofactors," the addressing of unanswered questions about the
natural history of HIV and the proposal of controlled
epidemiological and other studies designed to critically test the
HIV-AIDS hypothesis. The editors welcome contributions
reflecting all facets of the debate. We ask only that they be
concise and appropriately referenced.

claimed to prolong the lives of HIV-infected persons; and for
research programs directed almost exclusively at developing
pharmaceuticals designed to interfere with HIV replication.
It is in the interests of formulating an approach to the prevention and cure of AIDS consistent with what we really know that
we call for a re-evaluation of the evidence for and against the
HIV-AIDS hypothesis. It is the obligation of scientists to ask
the most unpleasant and difficult questions of even the most
cherished theories, especially when the answers may prevent
possibly needless suffering and loss of life.
-The Editors
The Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the
HIV/AIDS Hypothesis came into existence as a result of
our efforts to get the following four sentence letter published in a number of prominent scientific journals. All
have refused to do so.
"It is widely believed by the general public
that a retrovirus called HIV causes the group of
diseases called AIDS. Many biomedical scientists
now question this hypothesis. We propose that a
thorough reappraisal of the existing evidence for
and against this hypothesis be conducted by a
suitable independent group. We further propose
that critical epidemiological studies be devised
and undertaken."
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