[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

December 26, 1991

Dr. Harry Rubin
Molecular & Cell Biology - UCB
229 Stanley Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
Dear Dr. Rubin,
I am bewildered by the reasons Dr. Bogorad uses to prevent publication
in the Proceedings of my paper "The role of drugs in AIDS" (wrongly cited by
Bogorad as "The role of drugs in the origin of AIDS"). I appeal his decision
on the following grounds:
1) Since Bogorad agrees that "the problem [of my paper] does not appear
to be the presence of a few correctable errors, misquotes etc., nor the lack of a
few specific items of information", it follows that his decision to prevent
publication of my paper is not based on scientific arguments.
2) Bogorad points out that he is "under particular instructions...for...papers that deal with cures for diseases and related problems" as an
explanation for why he subjected my paper to special scrutiny, involving
three anonymous reviewers of his choice. However, my paper does not deal
with a cure for AIDS. Instead, it offers an alternative hypothesis for the cause
of AIDS. Thus, Bogorad's "instructions" should not apply to my paper,
unless one makes the optimistic assumption that identifying a cause of a
disease will also lead to a cure.
3) Bogorad relies on the "advice of three experts" selected by him to
prevent publication of my paper. Unfortunately, each of these reviewers
failed to understand the basis of my hypothesis. Contrary to the opinions of
these experts, I have not argued that all AIDS is from drugs. My paper
proposes that American AIDS, above the normal background of the 25 AIDS
diseases, is due to the consumption of recreational and anti-HIV drugs.