REPORT FROM COLOMBIA (DEC. '96)

Dr. Roberto Giraldo, wrote a report about the AIDS debating tour he carried out through several cities of his country Colombia recently.

NEW AFRICAN STARTS DEBATE (NOV. '96)

New African published a long book review of Neville Hodgkinson's book "AIDS; The Failure of Contemporary Science". The magazine started an AIDS debate, and supports the call for an international inquiry to establish the truth about AIDS once and for all.

MISSING VIRUS (NOV. '96)

"After years spent wading through the minutiae of AIDS science, I now find myself very close to believing the truly astounding - that the virus known as HIV, which has sucked up billions of our research dollars and tied up laboratories the world over, does not exist," writes Canadian journalist Colman Jones.

DUESBERG CLAIMS CONTINUUM AWARD (OCT. '96)

   Prof. Peter Duesberg believes HIV exists and has been isolated. See his claim for the Continuum Award. Read the long reply by the Perth Group (summary), and this review of the paper by Neville Hodgkinson. See also this respons by Dr. Stefan Lanka.

Update: Prof. Duesberg responded to the reply by the Australians and Dr. Lanka. See also this second reply by the research team, and this second one by Dr. Lanka.

HAITIAN RADIO CALLS AIDS A SCAM (SEPT. '96)

"Listeners to a talk show on a popular Haitian radio station are being told that AIDS does not exist and that patients should discontinue their medicine and stop using condoms. ...Haitian patients from at least four treatment centers have stopped seeing doctors because of the show, which has been airing on Miami's WLQY-AM for three years... The message has been spread by Henri-Claude Saint-Fleur, a North Miami Beach psychologist, Francelot Moise of Lauderdale Lakes, a Haitian physician, ...and talk show host Claude Aubry."

"The three say people with AIDS should refuse drugs and stop using condoms because the disease is a fabrication of U.S. pharmaceutical companies seeking to increase business and to curtail Haitian population growth. "We are not spreading lies. What we are saying are facts," said Saint-Fleur... "I'm happy to tell people the truth. I know lots of people who stopped taking their AIDS medication and are living well." He said people who died from AIDS really died from other illnesses."

"Many of South Florida's 155,000 Haitians keep the station on throughout the day and counselors and doctors are worried about the commentators winning converts. ...Patients just refuse to take their medication..." (The Mail Tribune Medford, Oregon 2 Oct. 1996)

ANOTHER FALSE POSITIVE LAW SUIT (SEPT. '96)

"For five years, Raymond Williams thought he was dying. He was diagnosed as carrying the AIDS virus in 1990... After years of grief, rejection, painful tests and treatments, nasty side effects and emotional problems, Mr. Williams, now 37, learned last year that he is not infected with HIV... He is suing the laboratory for negligence, asking for more than $50,000 in damages."

"Mr. Williams' lawyer... said his client's life has been devastated by the misdiagnosis and subsequent treatment... "Imagine yourself living under that death sentence."... His blood, according to the lawsuit, apparently was mislabeled at the laboratory... Although Mr. Williams did not show any symptoms of the disease, he began having his blood drawn regularly for lymphocyte tests. In April 1994, Mr. Williams began treatment with... AZT. Side effects of the drug include nausea, vomiting and cramps, the lawsuit says."

"In November 1995, Mr. Williams' AIDS specialist recommended that he be retested because he showed no AIDS symptoms. Two tests then showed he was HIV-negative..." (Dallas Morning News 14 Sept. 1996)

ACT UP INVADES HEALTH DEPARTMENT (AUG. '96)

ACT UP San Francisco crashes meeting to protest poisonous AIDS prevention proposal. AIDS activists challenge San Francisco Health Department Director Sandra Hernandez to publicly debate alleged merits of proposed forced antiviral dosing plan. See this press release.

VANCOUVER BLOODBATH (JULY '96)

ACT UP San Francisco demands a new research direction at XIth International AIDS Conference in Vancouver. See this press release, and this second one. Activists crashed the panel on combination therapy. See some pictures of the bloodbath. Not all other ACT UP groups did agree. See this article about the first confrontation between the two new groups. See also this report about the effects on the stock market. ACT UP groups have in the past received financial gifts from the pharmaceutical industry, see this article.

Celia Farber also visited the Vancouver conference, read her report.

FAILURE OF SCIENCE (JUNE '96)

'AIDS; The Failure of Contemporary Science', written by former Sunday Times science correspondent Neville Hodgkinson, has been released by its UK publisher.

FIRST RESPONS CONTINUUM AWARD (MAY '96)

Edward King, editor of UK's National AIDS Manual and writer for the Pink Paper, published the first respons to the Continuum Award in NAM's Treatment Update. Continuum also printed a reply by the Perth Group.

CDC TERROR (MAY '96)

"In the summer of 1987, federal health officials made the fateful decision to bombard the public with a terrifying message: Anyone could get AIDS. While the message was technically true, it was also highly misleading..." The Wall Street Journal printed an article about the CDC.

DUESBERG BOOK IN BOOKSHOPS (APRIL '96)

'Inventing the AIDS Virus', the book by Prof. Peter Dueberg and Bryan Ellison, one of the most important AIDS books written so far, is now available in libraries and bookshops world-wide.