[Letter to Colleagues from Peter Duesberg]

March 4, 1992

Dr. Frank Press, President
National Academy of Sciences
2102 Constitution Avenue
Washington, DC 20418
Dear Dr. Press,
I appeal the decision of Dr. Lawrence Bogorad, editor of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, to prevent publication of my paper
"The role of drugs in AIDS" (ms. #T 1867). My paper has received five
favorable reviews, four from anonymous reviewers requested by Dr. Harry
Rubin (copies enclosed), and one from Rubin, who has edited and
communicated my paper to the Proceedings. After my paper had been
revised according to these reviews and communicated to the Proceedings by
Rubin on October 11, 1991, Bogorad submitted the paper to three other
anonymous reviewers of his choice. Moreover, he took the unusual step of
informing his reviewers of the identity of the reviewers chosen by Rubin. On
the basis of the opinions of the reviewers of his choice, Bogorad rejected my
paper in a letter to Rubin, rather than to me.
I appeal this decision on the following grounds: 1) The basis for
Bogorad's decision appears arbitrary. Bogorad fails to identify even one
uncorrectable factual or logical error. Indeed, Bogorad acknowledges in his
letter to Rubin of Dec. 4, 1991 (copy enclosed) that "the problem does not
appear to be the presence of a few correctable errors, misquotes, etc. nor the
lack of a few specific items of information," but rather "basic and pervasive
problems" which Bogorad fails to identify.
2) I have prepared a detailed rebuttal to all the arguments made by
Bogorad's reviewers in a letter to Rubin (enclosed). In a letter to Bogorad of
Dec. 27, Rubin has accepted these arguments as a satisfactory response to all
criticisms made by these reviewers. Rubin also requested an explanation for
the violation of confidence of his reviewers. However, Bogorad has not
responded to Rubin or to me as of today, over two months later. This appears
to be an evasive rather than a professional response.