[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

p.4 The possibility that HIV may not be sufficient to cause AIDS (as is the
point in the article cited) does not mean it is not necessary. Certainly
Montagnier does not think so! Moreover if Dr. Duesberg is correctly quoted
in last week's issue of Science concerning the papers that prompted the
article in Nature "These studies have nothing to do with (my position )."
why does he cite that article at all?
p.7 Introducing the idea of AZT as a cause of AIDS stretches credulity.
p8 The study of Weber et al. (reference 60) is misleadingly quoted. The
study did not compare--drug users with non-users since those who did not
persist in the use of IV drugs included a substantial number who continued
drugs use in the form of methadone. (Dr. Duesberg includes oral drugs
among the putative etiologic agents of AIDS.) In fact the methadone
group had the lowest "probability of progression" though not significantly
lower that the abstainers.
Last 2 full of 4 sentences on page: Nothing here specifically states that there
are no cases of Kaposifs in individuals who did not use nitrites. That would
be required before it can be concluded that nitrites are necessary for KS.
And since KS occurs in other individuals (outside the AIDS group) where
nitrite use has never been suggested. it can hardly be claimed that nitrites
are necessary.
P9. No one denies that AZT has a high toxicity, but, in the study cited(ref. 5sme
58) only nausea was significantly more prevalent in the lower AZT dose
group than in the placebo group. It is clear that the incidence of AIDS was
lower in the A.ZT groups and one can hardly conclude that this means that
AZT causes AIDS.
Neutropenia is not a shortage of lymphocytes! It is a shortage of
neutrophilic polymorphonuclear leucoytes. A shortage of these cells is.flt
AIDS: the spectrum of diseases associated with severe neutropenia
(agranulocytosis) is quite different from that of AIDS. being limited to a
group of acute bacterial infections.
As mentioned earlier. lymphoma is a recognized hazard of
immunodeficiency.
In saying that "this suggests a selection bias' does the author mean that the

selection was not random as the the authors stated? Are dementia and