Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society
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David Crowe, President Phone: +1-403-289-6609 Fax: +1-403-289-6658 Email: David.Crowe@aras.ab.ca Kathleen Newell, Treasurer		Box 61037, Kensington Postal Outlet Calgary, Alberta T2N 4S6 Canada			Office Phone: +1-403-220-0129 Email: aras@aras.ab.ca Web: aras.ab.ca
Rethinkers	Quotes	AZT	HAART	HIV Tests	Transmission	Library

Annual Report: 2003

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

Communication

The society continues to maintain 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 (aras.ab.ca) and email (aras@aras.ab.ca).

We maintain informal links with AIDS rethinking organizations around the world, notably HEAL and Alive & Well in Los Angeles. This year we added links to PeaceAndLove.ca, HEAL Portland (OR), New York Rethinking AIDS and James Hogan based on discussions with the organizers of these groups or websites. We were saddened by the passing of Robert Johnston early in 2003, who had been an incredibly dedicated critic of mainstream views on HIV and AIDS for many years.

David Crowe, President of the society, had several articles on HIV/AIDS published during the year. An article on Malnutrition (published in the March 2003 issue of Alive magazine) mentioned how the definition of AIDS in Africa (‘Bangui’) was very similar in its non-specific symptoms to the effects of malnutrition. A talk presented to Alive & Well was also published at Red Flags in March 2003. David was almost arrested for the crime of asking questions at a University of Calgary AIDS forum, resulting in another Red Flags article in April 2003. An article on mandatory HIV testing was published in Mothering magazine, and a debate on the same topic was published in Parkhurst Exchange, a newsletter circulated to several thousand Canadian doctors. An article on ‘Manufacturing Certainty’ in AIDS tests was published in June 2003 at the Red Flags website. A letter pointing out errors in a Canadian Medical Association Journal was censored. The issue of censorship of scientists with views that oppose mainstream dogmas was published in the November 2003 issue of Alive magazine. A review of the book ‘What Really Causes AIDS’ was published at Red Flags in November 2003. A discussion on the importance of definitions in science (including AIDS science) was published, also at Red Flags, in December 2003.

On the related issue of West Nile Virus, David also published an article in Alive magazine and a somewhat butchered article in the Journal of Pesticide Reform. He wrote an article on SARS at the Red Flags web site in May 2003.

Traffic continues to increase on our website. This past year it received from 4,000 to 6,000 hits per month (6,489 in January 2004) from all over the world. This is a dramatic increase from last year, when we reported monthly totals of around 1,000 hits. The most popular pages are our compilations of scientific quotes on AZT, HAART, Recreational Drugs and Transmission.

We continued to mail out books, copies of articles and other papers upon request.

S.A.R.A. Awards

At our AGM following the close of our 2003 year, we announced the first ever Superior AIDS Rethinking Action Awards (SARA). The first awards were chosen by the executive. In future years, people are welcome to nominate candidates for the four different awards. They will be awarded at each year’s AGM for the society. The awards have no financial value, but a certificate is mailed to the recipients.

Censorship

University of Calgary campus security was called to a meeting because David refused to stop asking questions of panelists at a Global AIDS Action Group meeting. A letter to the Canadian Medical Association Journal submitted in January 2003 was also rejected, even though it pointed out clear factual errors in an article on HIV/AIDS in this journal which claimed that declines in AIDS in Canada “correspond exactly” with the introduction of antiretroviral drugs and multidrug regimens in the 1990s. This censorship is minor compared to the censorship imposed on rethinking AIDS scientists and to the coercion applied to HIV-positive people who oppose the use of drugs, particularly parents, who are not allowed to voice their opinions for fear of losing custody of their children.

Membership

129 people are registered as members. We have continued our policy of free memberships. 19% are from Alberta, 21% from the rest of Canada and the remainder from other countries.

Financial

The treasurer of the society is Kathleen DeWitt Newell. At the end of our 2003 fiscal year (January 31^st 2004), the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society bank account held CDN$1240.98. There were no other significant assets and no liabilities. 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). There are more details in our financial report.

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 (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, as a surrogate for actually monitoring health (www.aras.ab/test.html). This year we added web pages regarding the connection between drug abuse and AIDS (www.aras.ab/drug.html) and information about the supposed methods of transmission of HIV (www.aras.ab/transmission.html). The files of quotes are regularly updated.

Advocacy

We have recently assisted with one case of coercive HIV/AIDS medication. Our advice continues to be for people in this situation to pretend to be compliant with doctor’s orders, while following messages from their mind, heart and body in private. Protecting yourself and your family is more important than overturning ‘AIDS Inc.’.

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 welcome your time even more. 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. This job could also include providing copies of books at no cost, or at reduced cost, as well as our publications.
Public Relations Campaigns: Through advertising or demonstrations, we can raise the profile of this important issue.
Arranging meetings: Arranging for meetings of HIV-positive 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 and enhancing the experience of our visitors.
Research: We could use assistance with the ongoing task of obtaining copies of important HIV/AIDS papers. Currently we have 44 papers that have not yet been obtained from our local medical library, and 74 that are unobtainable from that library (we would be happy for someone in a major city to obtain copies of these).
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.

David Crowe, President, Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society