African AIDS scare fails the definition test
He pointed out that it only costs one dollar a day to save a life. If only it were that simple!
American AIDS expert Dr Peter Duisberg asserts: "By any measure, the war on AIDS has been a colossal failure... our leading scientists and policymakers cannot demonstrate that their efforts have saved a single life."
UNAIDS estimates that about 25 million AIDS victims were infected in Africa at the end of 2000.
But this figure could be a gross exaggeration because of the widening of the definition of AIDS.
They count 29 different disorders as AIDS when accompanied by a so-called positive HIV test.
This will react to 60 different ailments that have nothing to do with HIV or AIDS. That leaves room for a good deal of bogus diagnosing.
One of the few factual sources is antibody (so-called HIV) tests in African women.
The test results reportedly show that a very high percentage are HIV-positive. Why?
Because of the 60 different conditions that may give a false positive test result, among them pregnancy itself.
Others are vaccinations and recent infections like hepatitis, malaria, TB and influenza.
However, this does not mean that they are actually HIV positive and certainly does not mean that they will ever develop AIDS.
So we have a situation that is ripe for exploitation by those firms that produce drugs for AIDS.
It may be just coincidence, but South African President Thabo Mbeki's announcement early in 2000 that his country's AIDS review would include the testimonies of scientists who reject the HIV/AIDS hypothesis was shortly followed by a report from the US that its 'war on AIDS' would be run by the notorious CIA.
Given the prescriptive medical laws of the US, designed, many would suggest, primarily to protect the interests of the medical establishment, including the pharmaceutical industry, some scientists fear that CIA involvement will lead to the suppression, if not persecution, of dissident scientists.
Bono's heart may be in the right place, but I fear he may be threading on dangerous ground where African AIDS is concerned.
There is too much money at stake for the drug industry profiteers.
Patrick J Carroll,
Lady Lane House,
Waterford.
