Nexus - 0606 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Without HIV, AIDS patients and specialist AIDS units and their employees can rationally be absorbed into the existing infra- structure of clinics and hospitals. The pursuit of expensive drugs designed to kill HIV will be irrelevant, as will be the travail of the legions of HIV researchers. The same applies to AIDS councils, the armies of AIDS educators, fundraisers, volunteers and AIDS organisations. In the US alone, there are 93,000 of the latter—one for every four persons ever diagnosed with AIDS.* Without HIV, AIDS patients and specialist AIDS units and voice the collective pain and suffering engendered by such a mis- their employees can rationally be absorbed into the existing infra- take. It would take an army of mathematically gifted lawyers to structure of clinics and hospitals. The pursuit of expensive drugs quantify, and the nation's coffers to compensate, those whose designed to kill HIV will be irrelevant, as will be the travail of the lives have been ruined by what Neville Hodgkinson has called legions of HIV researchers. The same applies to AIDS councils, "the greatest scientific blunder of the 20th century"” the armies of AIDS educators, fundraisers, volunteers and AIDS This is not to forget patients and relatives who have died at organisations. In the US alone, there are 93,000 of the latter—one their own hands. In 1987, former US Senator Lawton Chiles of for every four persons ever diagnosed with AIDS.* Florida told an AIDS conference of a tragic case where 22 blood donors were informed they were HIV-infected on the basis of an Clear thinking ELISA test. Seven donors then committed suicide.” Homo sapiens (thinking man) was not named in vain. An hon- In June this year, the Swiss AIDS analyst Michael Baumgartner ourable society provides unfettered persuaded United Nations officials to information and encourages its mem- include a dissident session at the bers to make rational choices. XIIth International AIDS Conference Epidemi-ology shows that the devel- It would take an army of held in Geneva. Speakers included: opment of a positive "HIV" antibody mathematically gifted lawyers to Huw Christie, editor of Continuum test and AIDS is not so much related magazine; AIDS analyst and docu- to a given sexual practice, but rather quantify, and the nation's coffers mentary film-maker Joan Shenton; to the frequency of passive anal inter- | tg compensate, those whose lives epidemiologist Professor Gordon course in both men and women. Stewart; retrovirologist and electron It follows that AIDS is not a dis- have been ruined by what has microscopist Professor Etienne de ease of sexual orientation, and as far been called "the greatest scientific Harven; virologist Dr Stefan Lanka; as women are concerned it is prudent and, by satellite, Eleni Eleopulos and to note that, in absolute terms, innu- blunder of the 20th century". her group from the Royal Perth merably more women than men Hospital. In the audience were engage in anal intercourse. Thus observers from the Pasteur Institute AIDS is not unlike the case of the and the US National Institutes for recently appended AIDS-defining disease, cervical cancer, which Health. The topic of the session was a scientific critique of the long before the AIDS era was known to be related to the frequen- HIV antibody tests and the evidence for the existence of HIV. cy of vaginal intercourse. Even so, it is not the act itself, but the At the official press conference held after the meeting, very high frequency of the act, which is pathogenic. Professor Bernhard Hirschel, chairman of the organising As serious as public reaction to an ill-conceived retrovirus may committee, accused the speakers of "using outdated and prove, it will not be anywhere as serious as the legal backlash. untrustworthy scientific data". However, it was this "outdated" There are countless individuals alive who believe they are infect- data, that of Montagnier and Gallo, that led to the 1984 ed with a deadly microbe, and many of them are currently treated — proclamation that HIV is the cause of AIDS. That considered with potentially toxic drugs with no proven benefit. They avoid "untrustworthy" is the HIV experts’ own data. intimacy, avoid having children, and sometimes avoid even casual Notwithstanding these and many other challenges to the current contact with others. It would take a flotilla of poet laureates to dogma, HIV/AIDS experts are not in the least disquieted by Editor's Note: 148. Toplin, |. (1973), "Tumor Virus 155. Hockley, D.J., Wood, R.D., Jacobs, J.P. Some of the endnote references in Part 3 are Purification using Zonal Rotors", Spectra 225- _—_ (1988), "Electron Microscopy of Human to be found in Part 1, published in NEXUS 235. Immunodeficiency Virus", J. Gen. Virol. 6/03, June-July 1999 issue. 149. Bess, J.W., Gorelick, Ru., Bosche, WJ., 69:2455-2469. Henderson, L.E., Arthur, L.O. (1997), 156. Lecatsas, G., Taylor, M.B. (1986), Endnotes "Microvesicles are a source of contaminating "Pleomorphism in HTLV-II, the AIDS virus", 000 Of the cumulative 7,766 Australian AIDS Cellular proteins found in purified HIV-1 S. Afr. Med. J. 69:793-794. cases to date, 387 (5%) are reported in the preparations", Virol. 230:134-144. 157. O'Hara, C.J., Groopmen, J.E., "Heterosexual contact" exposure category. 150. Gluschankof, P., Mondor, I., Federman, M. (1988), "The Ultrastructural and However, 22 of these qualify on the basis of Gelderblom, H.R., Sattentau, Qu. (1997), Immunohistochemical Demonstration of Viral "Sex with injecting drug user", "Sex with Cell membrane vesicles are a major contami- _ Particles in Lymph Nodes from Human + oq . . nant of gradient-enriched human immunode- Immunodeficiency Virus-Related SSSSGVELI GEL “Trike Ll peel eso Cot ficiency virus type-1 preparations", Virol. Lymphadenopathy Syndromes", Hum. Pathol. try" (where heterosexual spread is deemed paarioalal ype! prep Dis TRINA pathy oy! onan dominant), "Sex with FV-infected person, 454" Beard, J.W. (1957), "Physical methods 158. Varmus, H. (1987), "Reverse ex posute not specified", or "Not further speci- for the analysis of cells", Ann. New York Transcription", Sci. Am. 257:48-54. fied"."” Thus, injecting drug use, anal inter- Acad. Sci. 69:530-544. 159. Varmus, H.E. (1989), "Reverse transcrip- course in women, the presumption of any 152. Grafe, A., A History of Experimental tion in bacteria", Cell 56:721-724. form of sexual intercourse, and lack of suffi- Virology, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, 1991. 160. Gallo, R.C., Sarin, P.S., Wu, A.M., "On cient data question the mode of acquiring 153. Panem, S. (1979), "C-Type Virus the Nature of the Nucleic Acids and RNA- HIV infection in at least 330 (85% of) individ- — Expression in the Placenta", Curr. Top. Pathol. | Dependent DNA Polymerase from RNA uals listed in this exposure category. 66:175-189. Tumor Viruses and Human Cells", in Possible 147. Sinoussi, F., Mendiola, L., Chermann, 154. Gallo, R.C., Wong-Staal, F., Reitz, M., Episomes in Eukaryotes (Silvestri, L.G., ed.), J.C. (1973), "Purification and partial differenti- Gallagher, R.E., Miller, N., Gillespie, D.H., North Holland Publishing Company, ation of the particles of murine sarcoma virus "Some evidence for infectious type-C virus in Amsterdam, 1973, pp. 13-34. (M. MSV) according to their sedimentation humans", in Animal Virology (Balimore, D., 161. Tomley, F.M., Armstrong, $.J., Mahy, rates in sucrose density gradients", Spectra Huang, A.S., Fox, C.F., eds.), Academic Press, B.W.J., Owen, L.N. (1983), "Reverse tran- 4:237-243. Inc., New York, 1976, pp. 385-405. scriptase activity and particles of retroviral 40 - NEXUS It would take an army of OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 1999