HIV and AIDS: Questions of Scientific and Journalistic Responsibility

HIV AND AIDS

open all readers to possibilities not contained in the present
misdefinition."
Strohman's letter to the editors was not published.
~3. HIV and AIDS
Some scientists, including especially Peter Duesberg for several years,
have challenged the hypothesis that "HIV is the cause of AIDS", and
have provided some evidence for their challenge. In the past, I myself
have sometimes used the expression "AIDS virus" in referring to HIV.
In light of existing documentation, all such references should be
amended to contain the qualification "alleged". At the time this essay
is written, I do not regard the causal relationship between HIV and any
disease as settled. I have seen considerable evidence that highly
improper statistics concerning HIV and AIDS have been passed off as
science, and that top members of the scientific establishment have
carelessly, if not irresponsibly, joined the media in spreading
misinformation about the nature of AIDS and its connection with HIV
or its connection with the use (possibly repeated use) of certain drugs.
Specifically:
1. No scientific piece of evidence. Some scientists (including Peter
Duesberg and Kary Mullis, independently), have pointed out that
there is no scientific piece of evidence showing that HIV causes any
disease. For instance Kary Mullis is quoted in an interview (California
Monthly, September 1994 p. 20):
What happened was so simple I don't understand why it never
happened to other people. In the late 1980's, I was working for
several companies that were using PCR to detect HIV sequences. I
would get into a situation where I'd have to write a little report
on what was going on at one of the companies. And I would find
myself in a position of having to write a sentence that said, "HIV
is the probable cause of AIDS".
I figured there must be a standard reference or two I could use to
back up that statement. So I just yelled across the room, "What's
the reference for 'HIV is the cause of AIDS"'? Some guy said,
"Oh you don't need a reference for that. Everybody knows that."
And I said, "I think it should be footnoted. When you make a
direct statement like that, you give a source. You say, "Here's