Annual Report: 2001

The Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society was formed in February, 1999.

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), this website (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.

David Crowe, President of the society spoke at the 2001 international La Leche League conference in Chicago in July 2001. 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. With this organization, he has participated in the writing of a technical letter that was published in the medical journal Lancet, another letter that has been accepted in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) and is working on letters being submitted to the Journal of Human Lactation, British Medical Journal (BMJ) and a World Health Organization newsletter. He has also had a letter published in the peer-reviewed journal AIDS, and has written several articles on AIDS and other health-related topics for Alive magazine.

Our website was established in June, 2000 and since June 2001 has been receiving over 1,000 visits per month. In January our site saw visitors from Canada, USA, Japan, United Kingdom, France, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Samoa, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Belgium, for example.

Membership

Just over 100 people had applied for membership by the end of 2001. We have continued our policy of free memberships. About one–quarter are from Alberta, half from Canada and the other half from other countries.

Financial

The treasurer of the society is Kathleen DeWitt Newell. At the end of our 2001 fiscal year (January 31, 2002), the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society bank account held CDN$1345. There were no other significant assets. The major income was from various donations from individuals and corporations and reimbursements for copies of “What if Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?” or other publications. 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).

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 – www.aras.ab.ca/mnm.html. 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’ is available online at www.aras.ab/azt.html. 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 – www.aras.ab/haart.html. 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) – www.aras.ab/test.html. The files of quotes are regularly updated.

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:

• Corresponding Secretary: 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.
• Public Relations 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.
• Website Manager. 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’. This organization could be complementary to the work of our society, and could work together on some issues.
• 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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