AIDS denialists back on the upswing

Paroma Basu, Madison WI
Nature Medicine
May 26^th 2005
doi:10.1038/nm0605-581b

Numbers of those who question HIV's role in causing AIDS may be growing.

With his condemnation of antiretroviral therapy and the global “drug cartel,” maverick doctor Matthias Rath has brought the AIDS dissident movement back into the world spotlight.

Comprising a loose worldwide network of scientists, journalists and activists, the dissidents have long contended that HIV does not cause AIDS and, like Rath, that AIDS drugs are akin to poison. Some members also argue that the virus has never been properly isolated.

Since 2000, when they successfully swayed South African President Thabo Mbeki with their views, dissident groups have largely faded from the public eye. But the movement is “most definitely” growing, says Valender Turner, a physician at the University of Western Australia and a leading member of the dissident ‘Perth Group.’

Due to the movement's informal nature, it is unclear exactly how big their global community is. But on his website, botanist David Crowe, founder of the Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society, in May published the names of 2,192 people who question some or all aspects of the scientific consensus on AIDS. On the list are Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis, who developed the polymerase chain reaction method for amplifying DNA, and the University of California-Berkeley's Peter Duesberg, one of the first scientists to question HIV’s role in causing AIDS.

Urging HIV-positive people away from antiretroviral drugs, dissident groups may also have contributed indirectly to another emerging trend: lawsuits.

“I have nothing but contempt for these people.” John Moore, Cornell University

In late 2004, for instance, a single mother in California filed suit against a physician for treating her child with the AIDS drug AZT after the child was accidentally pricked with a dirty needle. The woman also reportedly brought a case against GlaxoSmithKline, the drug's manufacturer, although the company would not confirm its involvement.

Crowe says he has recently spoken with several other people who are considering legal action over the prescription of AIDS medications. But most of the cases never get to court, he says, due to the dearth of available expert witnesses.

Meanwhile, mainstream AIDS researchers such as Cornell University’s John Moore are incensed over the dissidents’ claims. “I have nothing but contempt for these people,” says Moore. “They have perverted their training to become scientific sociopaths.”