From: starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu (Tim Starr)
Subject: Re: AIDS
Organization: UDel, School of Life & Health Sciences
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 10:11:22 GMT

In article <BzA8rH.3z3@umassd.edu> pmsc13sg@UMASSD.EDU writes:
}    Seeking comments on UCal-Berkeley retrovirologist Peter Duesberg's claim
}that the long-term hard drug "lifestyle" causes chronic tension, sleeplessness,
}and malnutrition which causes AIDS. HIV benign, old disease and stable since
}1985 at one million. AIDS is group of old diseases which has increased since
}1985. HIV cannot be cause.

I've met Peter, and heard him speak on this topic.  Some things should be
clarified: the claims about what actually does cause AIDS are pure speculation,
which he shouldn't even engage in, as it hurts his real case, which is against
the hypothesis that HIV causes AIDS.

It is true that these immunosuppressive practices were more common in the
high-risk groups for AIDS than in other groups, and that they've been
discontinued by many in those groups.

HIV isn't a disease, it's a retrovirus.  AIDS is a syndrome, a collection
of diseases that opportunistically take effect upon suppressed immune
systems.  Why they're suppressed is the question.

I've heard that the stable population of those infected with HIV is 1.5 million,
not 1 million, according to extrapolations from those tested upon admission
to the US military.

}    Politically, Duesberg's NAS grant not renewed after he denied politically
}correct HIV-AIDS link. Panel which denied renewal included opponent Gallo's
}mistress(!) and maker of an HIV test. Gallo, say NAS stole research from
}Montagnier, who discovered HIV. M now says HIV insufficient. Duesberg says no
}scientist can cite paper which proves HIV causes AIDS.

The grant has indeed been discontinued, and the woman was the mother of
Gallo's child.  Robert Gallo, for anyone who doesn't know, is the NIH
scientist who first claimed that HIV caused AIDS.  He did steal research
from Montagnier, who subscribes to the co-factor hypothesis, that HIV doesn't
cause AIDS alone.  There have been no controlled studies that have found that
HIV causes AIDS.

Furthermore, UC Berkeley, where he's tenured, has assigned him to teach
lab classes, which are usually reserved for grad students.  This for the
ma who discovered oncogenes!

}    D says retrovirologists had much research w/o "popular" disease and AIDS
}gives them prestige, grants. Also, homosexual activists wanted HIV-AIDS link to
}deny self-destructive lifestyle. Homo. activists got prestige from political
}egalitarianism, in which all groups are equal. Dishonest media claims all groups
}at equal risk but risk group is homosexual druggies (esp. poppers for anal sex).

This is also true, and confirmed by Michael Fumento's book "The Myth of
Heterosexual AIDS."  In it, he claims that there's about as much risk of
getting AIDS from a heterosexual encounter as there is of dying in a car
crash driving two hours to and from the encounter.  The head of AMFAR knew
this, but promoted myths anyways to get funding.

}    Also, homosexuals "benefit" from Am. Psychiatric Assoc. claim that homo. is
}psy. healthy. But APA lobbied, intimidated by homo. activists bet/late 60s and
}early 70s to change science. Politically correct egalitarianism. APA not
}scientific any longer. Like Church using political power to deny Galileo. Back
}to Dark Ages for a vital human method of survival.

I haven't heard Duesberg claim this.  All I knew was that the APA no longer
claims that homosexuality is a mental illness, not that they claimed it
was "healthy," whatever that means.  I don't know of any scientific
evidence that it is an emotional disorder, as they're now called.


Tim Starr - Renaissance Now! - Think Universally, Act Selfishly
starr@genie.slhs.udel.edu

"True greatness consists in the use of a powerful understanding to enlighten
oneself and others." - Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire