[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

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Introduction:
Sen#1 The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is
defined as a collection of 25 unrelated parasitic,
neoplastic, and other noninfectious diseases when they occur
in the presence of antibody to the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) (1).
I recommend: "The 11 ' dl- matETikency rome
(AIDS) has been de i'ned as a collection of 25 previousl
known, (unrelated) paaiinolsiand
infjc'-u s ~ yocr in the
" presence of antibody to the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) (1).
The reasons are'as follows: AIDS was defined in the past,
and present day scientists are working with that definition.
"Observed" avoids the apparent tense change. I would delete
lithe word "unrelated" because they may indeed have some
relation to eaci other, in some peo le's view. Certainly? the word "different" would be acceptable. In reviewing the.a Table 11 of ref 15, I see the 25 diseases, all of which
might be considered to be infectious. This word should come
out for another reason: it is the burden of this paper to
show that the causes of AIDS is compatible with a
noninfectious cause. The word "other" that remains could
well refer to "HIV wasting Syndrome" that last of the 25
indicator diseases.
Sen#2 I am satisfied that the references (2,3) and (4 -14) are accurately attributed, having reviewed most of them.
I would suggest the inclusion of William Holub, who proposed
that drugs cause AIDS as early as 7 T, e author has
referenced Holbub in earlier papers.

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Sen#3-4 Here this reviewer runs into problems of detail.
For example: Referring to ref (13) (please note the
incorrect page numbers for this reference, they are 1575 -1579), the author reviews what he said earlier: (i) American
AIDS is restricted to nonrandom groups with abnormal health
risks. Over 85% of these are 20-45 year-old males, although
no AIDS disease is male specific (1).
Now here are some problems with that sentence: 1) ref
13 says "about 90% of all AIDS patients are 20 to 40-year
olds,.."If we are going to look at an even larger group, ie
20-45, then this would represent a greater percentage than
90%. Crucial to this referencing problem is that the
present ref 15 (the CDC year-end edition dated January 1991)
was not available to the author who cites ref 1 (the CDC
year-end edition dated 1990).
Finally, when one studies ref 15, and in particular
Table 8, it is clear that there are 72% (115,764/161,073 =