Why We Will Never Win the War on AIDS

Ellison and Duesberg present a compelling argument that modern medical health organizations have their own interests at heart when it comes to diagnosing and treating infectious diseases. At the end the of the 1960's most infectious diseases like Polio had been eradicated in the western world. This threatened the budgets of federal health agencies the like the CDC and NIH who thrive on public funding to combat transmittable diseases. Cancer seemed like a promising candidate for their research but turned out not to be caused by viruses or microbes. When a new disease called AIDS appeared, it provided the promise of huge amounts of funding if it proved to be transmittable. Ellison and Duesberg argue that the health establishment manipulated public perception about the relationship between AIDS and HIV, to create the appearance of a direct linkage, so as to create a new research and health-care paradigm: one that put them at the center of the action. In reality, the vast majority of retroviruses are harmless and AIDS shows very different symptoms depending on which country it appears in. African AIDS is a different beast altogether from that which appears in Europe and the U.S.A.. This suggests AIDS isn't one disease but many immune system disorders that have been lumped together under one rubric for the sake of the organizations that specialize in their treatment. According to the authors, anytime someone tests positive for HIV and have any of over 100 symptoms, they are automatically classified as having "AIDS." And yet apparently, many people who test positive for HIV stay healthy for decades. In essence, Ellison and Duesberg present a lifestyle explanation for what causes AIDS including drug-use, immune system stress, and sexual preference. This is a more sociological driven idea of what AIDS is than a biological explanation. And it challenges everything we've officially been told about the disease. This book was an important event in my personal understanding of how scientific institutions actually work, what drives their research, and causes them to sometimes act like witch-hunting "knowledge monopolies." If you are at all interested in the collusion between science, government health policy, and the medical establishment you are bound to find this book provocative and challenging, though it is a bit rough in some sections. Is AIDS a "fake epidemic"? Honestly, I don't know for sure, but my mind is now open to new evidence that supports a different interpretation than the standard, official line touted by the media, the CDC, NIH, and other organizations. (Dr. Simeon Hein is the author of OPENING MINDS and PLANETARY INTELLIGENCE, and composer of the CDs EARTH DREAMING and OPENING SKIES.)