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Inventing the AIDS Virus

Author	Peter H. Duesberg
Language	English
Subject	AIDS, HIV, Disease
Genre	Non-fiction
Publisher	Regnery Publishing
Publication date	1996
Publication place	USA
Media type	Print
Pages	722
ISBN	0-89526-470-6

Inventing the AIDS Virus is a book in which molecular biologist Peter Duesberg presents his hypothesis that HIV does not cause AIDS. In the book, Duesberg contends that HIV is a harmless passenger virus, and claims that AIDS is caused by unrelated factors such as drug abuse, antiretroviral medication, chronic malnutrition, poor sanitation, and hemophilia. The unambiguous scientific consensus is that HIV causes AIDS and that Duesberg's claims are incorrect.

The book was negatively received within the scientific community for feeding into AIDS denialism, misrepresenting and ignoring the scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS, and for relying upon poor logic and manipulation. The book was also the subject of an authorship dispute with one of Duesberg's graduate students.

Summary

Duesberg's principal assertions are that:

• AIDS is not an infectious disease.
• HIV as the cause of AIDS fails Koch's postulates.
• HIV is a passenger virus unrelated to AIDS.
• The symptoms of AIDS are caused by the drugs used to treat the condition; recreational drug use; malnutrition; and unsanitary living conditions.
• American public health and science agencies stifle creativity and suppress the true causes of AIDS.

The book's central premise, that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, is completely rejected by the scientific community as HIV has been isolated and shown to be the cause of AIDS.

Reception

The book was negatively reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, which wrote that Duesberg's claim "flies in the face of decades of progress in understanding infectious diseases." Contrary to Duesberg's allegations that his view has been suppressed, the review noted that he has "had his day in court many times over" and emphasized the harmful aspects of Duesberg's persistence: "Denial has always been the most devastating social and political dynamic of the AIDS epidemic and his book feeds it abundantly."

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, wrote in The New York Review of Books that "The central role of HIV in the development of immunodeficiency is, in my view, established by the force of epidemiological and laboratory evidence. On this key issue, Duesberg is, I believe, in error," but "Duesberg has predicted, correctly, that the virus alone is not enough to explain all aspects of the immunodeficiency process."

Steven Epstein, author of Impure Science, reviewed the book in the Washington Post. Epstein wrote that Duesberg misrepresented the scientific conclusions about AIDS, and that Duesberg was "at his least convincing in responding to new evidence and contrary arguments." Epstein also argued that Duesberg's conclusions involved manipulation and bad logic, and wrote that the book "offers a broad-ranging, revisionist history of the whole enterprise of virus hunting."

A discussion in the journal Epidemiology described Duesberg's work as "unscientific", "sheltered from conflicting evidence", and harmed by the author's "dogmatic assertions".

Authorship dispute

Inventing the AIDS Virus was initially co-written with Bryan Ellison, one of Duesberg's graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley. However, following a 1994 dispute over manuscript changes, Ellison published the manuscript himself, under the title Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS, listing himself as the lead author. A dispute between Duesberg and Ellison resulted, with Ellison charging that Duesberg was "doing favors on behalf of several people in the government" who wished to suppress the book.

The book was ultimately published by Regnery Publishing, an imprint specializing in politically conservative and non-mainstream works. In a publisher's preface to Duesberg's book, Regnery described the dispute in terms of Ellison becoming "disenchanted with Duesberg's and his publisher's insistence on careful documentation."

Ellison also charged Duesberg with "cooperat with some of the very hostile factors to have me thrown out of school right before I could submit my thesis and get my Ph.D." Duesberg stated that "...since didn't talk to me anymore and didn't show up at the lab, I couldn't pay him anymore." Ultimately, Duesberg and Regnery Publishing sued Ellison for breach of contract and copyright violations, winning a "six-figure verdict" and an injunction against Ellison's manuscript.

References

1. "Fact Sheets on HIV/AIDS". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
2. "World Health Organization HIV and AIDS Programme". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
3. Duesberg, P (1996). Inventing the AIDS Virus. Regnery Publishing. pp. 86–103. ISBN 0-89526-470-6.
4. "Fact Sheet: The Evidence that HIV Causes AIDS". National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
5. Delaney, M (2000). "HIV, AIDS, and the Distortion of Science". Focus. 15 (6): 1–6. PMID 12180385.
6. "The HIV/AIDS Connection". National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 2005-09-25. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
7. Osborn, June (7 April 1996). "The Unbeliever". New York Times Book Review. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
8. "'The AIDS Heresy': An Exchange". New York Review of Books. August 8, 1996. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
9. "'The AIDS Heresy': Another Exchange". New York Review of Books. September 19, 1996. Retrieved 2010-04-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
10. Epstein, S (1996-03-14). "Infectious Pessimism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
11. Maclure M (1998). "Inventing the AIDS virus hypothesis: an illustration of scientific vs unscientific induction". Epidemiology. 9 (4): 467–73. PMID 9647914.
12. ^ McGarrahan, Ellen (1995-05-24). "Outbreak". SFWeekly. Retrieved 2007-01-08. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
13. ^ "Publisher's Preface". Inventing the AIDS Virus. Regnery Publishing. 1997. pp. vii–viii. ISBN 9780895263995.

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