The Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society was formed in February, 1999 with the assistance of Steve Jenuth of the law firm Ho, MacNeil, Jenuth.

2000 was our first full year of operation.

Communication

The society maintains a phone number with voice mail (+1-403-220-0129), a post office box (Box 61037, Kensington Postal Outlet, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4S6, Canada), a website (www.aras.ab.ca) and email (aras@aras.ab.ca).

We maintain informal links with AIDS dissident organizations around the world, notably HEAL (especially the Toronto and Vancouver chapters) and Alive & Well in Los Angeles.

The President of the society has been invited to speak at the 2001 international La Lache League conference in Chicago in early July. He is also involved with a new organization called AnotherLook which is questioning the idea that breastfeeding is dangerous when a mother is HIV-positive. This group was founded by Marian Tompson, one of the founders of the La Leche League.

Our website was established in June, 2000 and is receiving an increasing number of visitors from around the world, with over 600 in December alone.

Membership

75 people had applied for membership by the end of 2000. We have continued our policy of free memberships. Members are from around the world, but most are from Alberta.

Financial

The treasurer of the society is Kathleen DeWitt Newell. At the end of 2000, the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society bank account held CDN$1385. There were no other significant assets. The major income was from various donations from individuals and corporations and sales of “What if Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?”. The major expenses were the Post Office Box (about $75/year), telephone (about $50/month) and website, email and domain name maintenance fees (www.aras.ab.ca, about CDN$350/year). More details are available upon request.

Donations were made to assist the work of Dr. Vladimir Koliadin, a Ukrainian statistician (CDN$1000) and an AIDS dissident group in Uganda (COTS). Donations were also made to assist some HIV+ mothers in their battle against mandatory medication.

Education

One of our most important roles has been in education. We have created several documents that have received fairly wide circulation. Myths & Mysteries of HIV & AIDS fits on a single sheet of legal-sized paper and summarizes some of the major questions that AIDS dissidents have, including references. A list of referenced quotations on AZT, the first and perhaps still the most commonly prescribed AIDS drug, describes the awesome toxicity and questionable effectiveness of this ‘therapy’. A similar file on HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) describes concerns about the many drugs that have more recently been used in various combinations. A third file documents problems with HIV tests, and the use of ‘surrogate markers’, mainly CD4 cell counts and viral load to monitor health (as a surrogate for actually monitoring health). The files of quotes are regularly updated:

• AZT - www.aras.ab.ca/azt.html
• HAART - www.aras.ab.ca/haart.html
• Testing and Surrogate Markers - www.aras.ab.ca/test.html
• Myths & Mysteries of HIV & AIDS - www.aras.ab.ca/mnm.html

We planned our first public meeting during the year 2000, although the meeting was not held until January 10, 2001.

Advocacy

Thankfully, there were no new cases of mandatory HIV/AIDS medication in Canada this year.

Volunteering

If you are concerned about the effects of the prevalent dogma that HIV causes AIDS, there are ways that you could help out. While financial donations are always welcome, we also welcome your time. Some of the roles that you could perform are:

• Monitoring and following up on correspondence. Not surprisingly, we rarely get prompt responses to our (very polite) letters. Someone to follow up until a response is obtained would be very valuable. Even when a response is obtained, they are often evasive, and persistence is required to get any information.
• Mailing out information. We often provide copies of books at no cost or reduced cost, as well as our publications.
• Campaigns. Through advertising or demonstrations, we can raise the profile of this important issue.
• Meetings. Arranging for meetings of HIV+ people who want to question their current advice, or perhaps arranging for speakers, videos or other forms of information exchange.
• Ensuring that our website is accessible through all the major search engines.
• Organizing a chapter of HEAL, a support group for HIV+ people who question the need for drug therapy for their ‘condition’.
• Others. There are many things that we are not doing. Write your own volunteer job description! We would be glad to have you on board.

© Copyright Wednesday, June 27, 2007: Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society

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