[Letter to Colleague from Daniel E. Koshland]

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY

BERKELEY * DAVIS * IRVINE * LOS ANGELES * RIVERSIDE * SAN DIEGO * SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA SANTA CRUZ
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Phone: [phone]
c/o Stanley/Donner Administrative Services Unit Fax: [phone]
229 Stanley Hall E-mail: Daniel [email protected]
Berkeley, CA 94720
August 24,1994
Study Section
National Institute on Drug Abuse
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Dear Colleague:
I write a letter on new experiments which Peter Duesberg proposed a year ago
and my opinion on these has not changed since then. In fact in conversations
with Peter he seems more knowledgeable about nitrites and other unhealthy
drugs than he was a year ago. So my conclusion that Peter should be provided
with funds to do such an experiment is stronger today than it was then.
As editor of Science, I have been following the debate over AIDS etiology for
years, from shortly after the time Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo published
their original findings on HIV in Science, to the recent arguments of my colleague,
Peter Duesberg, that HIV is not the cause. I have even published coverage of this
debate, including exchanges between the two sides.
As an observer, I have in the past been critical of Duesberg for not suggesting
experiments to resolve this controversy. However, he has now answered my call
with a proposal to test the role of nitrite inhalants as a cofactor in AIDS.
Certainly this idea seems intuitively to have merit, as nitrites have long been
known for their potent mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. He plans to extend
some unfinished work by other laboratories in the mid-1980s on mice, examining
the physiological and immunological effects of long-term (six months or more)
exposure to volatile nitrites. While the early research yielded promising results,
including evidence of immunotoxicity, it was never properly confirmed or
followed up.
Duesberg's proposal is a specific, workable one that will be done in collaboration
with an inhalation toxicologist at the University of California, Davis. I believe
this research would add much to our understanding of nitrites and indirectly on
AIDS and I have told Duesberg that I would consider such data important
material for readers of Science if it develops appropriately.
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