A multibillion $ Quiz:

Is AIDS a viral or a chemical epidemic?

Peter Duesberg

Lew Rockwell conference

Foster City

December 1-2, 2006

2

The problems with the virus-AIDS hypothesis

At an international press conference in Washington DC onApril 23, 1984, the Secretary of Health and HumanServices, Margaret Heckler, and the National I nstitutes ofHealth-researcher, Robert Gallo have jointly announcedthat the Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) iscaused by a virus.

Gallo’s virus was introduced as the “probable” cause ofAIDS, and the NI H and Gallo patented an “AIDS-virus”test on the same day. All of t his happened based onGallo’s as yet unpublished hypothesis!

Moreover, an unprecedented f lood of government handoutsconditioned the planet until t he virus-AIDS hypothesis hadbecome the textbook explanation of AIDS.

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Virus-AIDS hypothesis fails to produce

Yet, despite billions of $ spent and hundred thousands of r esearcharticles published – the virus-AIDS hypothesis has failed toproduce any beneficial results:

• I t has fa iled t o produce a vaccine, alt hough viral v accinesare r out ine ever since Ed Jenner produced th e f irstvaccine against small pox in 1793!

• I t has fa iled t o develop a curat ive medicat ion. – O n t hecont rary, t he medicat ions prescr ibed against t he AIDSvirus were or iginally designed t o kill human cel ls f orcancer c hemot herapy and are t hus very t oxic.

• I t has fa iled t o explain how t he so-called “ AIDS virus”kil ls immune cel ls, alth ough t he basic mechanisms of viralpat hogenesis are known since th e 1950s.

These fai lures are now even used f or f und raising (see next ).

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BART poster from the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 2003

5

AIDS politics versus science and medicine

Typically scientists are trained to find new hypotheses when acurrent one fails to produce.

But rethinking the hypothesis is now politically incorrect andhighly un-fundable, because both the US government, the gaylobbies and numerous AIDS foundations have adopted the virus-AIDS hypothesis.

There is, however, a long-established alternative for a newepidemic of “acquired” diseases – namely by toxic chemicals andradiations, as for example tobacco smoke or radioactive Polonium.

Since the Gallo hypothesis has failed to produce a single beneficialresult for 22 years in a row, an independent analysis of t he virusand lifestyle hypotheses is, therefore, scientifically very correct.

6

Three scientifically correct AIDS questions

Q1. Is AIDS really caused by a virus?

Q2. If not, what does the “AIDS virus” do?

Q3. Do chemicals cause AIDS?

To answer these questions, we will analyze how thepredictions of t he respective theories match thefacts of AIDS.

7

Predictions of the viral AIDSConventional Virus Disease AIDS

1 A virus causes a specific disease, and ispresent in every case of this disease,e.g. polio (see Koch’s postulates).*

Over 26 infectious and non-infectiousdiseases, e.g. weight loss, cancer, dementia,are AIDS-defining, and many cases are AIDSvirus-free.*

2 Contagious, because infection causesspecific disease 3-15 days later – basedon virus generation times of 8-24 hrs andmultiplication rates of 100-1000-fold.*

No evidence for contagiousness.* Oddly, “HIVinfections show signs of AIDS [if at all], [only]within 5-10 years” (Durban Declaration, Nature,2000).* Yet, HIV replicates in 24 hrs.

3 Disease occurs, if high % of target cellsis lost.

High % of T-cells lost in AIDS. But only 1 in 500T-cells is infected.*

4 Disease is self-limiting by immunity or isfatal within weeks.*

AIDS is not self-limiting.

5 Viral epidemics form bell-shapedincrease vs decline curves within months(as per 2-4).*

AIDS drags on over 2 decades*. “No end insight” (Durban Declaration).

6 Pathogenic viruses are horizontallytransmitted. Transmission to newbornsis likely fatal.

HIV is naturally transmitted perinatally (frommother to child) – the hallmark of harmlessviruses and microbes.*

7 Random in population. AIDS highly non-random. In US & Europeclose to 100% are male homosexuals,intravenous drug users and recipients ofcytotoxic anti-HIV medications.*

8 Preventable by vaccine. No AIDS vaccine in sight. Yet, numerous virusvaccines have been developed since EdJenner’s pox vaccine in 1793.

* See following slides, Nature Biotech. 1993 (Duesberg), and J. Biosci. 2003 (Duesberg, Koehnlein &Rasnick) for data and more explanations.

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Paradoxically there is not one HIV-specific disease - but about 26 different ones!

Disease AIDS-diagnosis % Cases

USA 1997

No disease <200 T cells + HIV 61 36,634

Pneumocystis 38 9,145

Candidiasis 16 3,846

Tuberculosis &Mycobacteria

15 3,537

Cytomegalovirus 7 1,638

Pneumonia 5 1,347

Herpes virus 5 1,250

Cryptococcus 5 1,168

Microbial

Toxoplasmosis 4 1,073

Weight loss/ wasting 18 4,212

Kaposi’s sarcoma 7 1,500

Dementia 6 1,409

Lymphoma/leukemia 4 850

Non-microbial

Cervical cancer 1 144

Total 60,161

9

Koch versus hunters of passenger microbes and viruses

I n the 1880s Robert Koch discovered that t uberculosis iscaused by a bacterium.

This discovery was the first proof of the germ theory ofdisease. The theory is immensely popular among MDs andPublic health researchers to this very day. A “new”pathogenic microbe is the prescription for a successfulcareer!

After Koch the germ theory became so popular thatnumerous investigators tried to blame numerous diseases,ranging from breast cancer to tennis elbows, on microbesand viruses that l ater proved to be harmless passengermicrobes.

In view of many such false claims Koch defined thecriteria for a pathogenic microbe or virus, which havesince been called Koch’s postulates.

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Koch’s postulates

Years of research may have been spent on organisms never proven to cause particular diseases. Whenever one speaks about, or hears about, a disease, one should always seek to find out if Koch's Postulates were performed. The microbe could be a passenger instead of a cause. Examples are: Leprosy bacterium / AIDS virus/ Cervical ca virus.

1. The same microorganism must be present in everycase of the disease.

2. The microorganism must be isolated, alias cloned, fromall other microbes of the host and grown in pure culture.

3. The microorganism from pure culture must cause thedisease when inoculated into a healthy, susceptiblelaboratory host*.

4. The microorganism must be isolated in pure culturefrom an experimentally infected host.

* The incubation period from infection to disease must becompatible with the growth rate of the microbe.

The postulates define,whether a microbe or avirus causes a disease.

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Contrary to prediction of viral AIDS: No evidence for contagiousness

According to the peer-reviewed literature:

• Not o ne doct or or n urse has ever c ont racte dAI DS (not ju st HI V) f rom over 929,985 A I DSpat ients recorded in t he US by 2004.

• Not o ne of t he t housands of H I V researchershas cont ract ed AI DS f rom HIV.

• Wives of hemophiliacs have not cont ract edAI DS f rom t heir husbands.

• There is no AI DS-epidemic in pr ost it ute s.

• There is no pediat r ic AI DS epidemic f rom“peri natally” t ransmit t ed HI V.

And all t his happened, in t he absence of a vaccine.Thus AI DS is not conta gious.

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Predictions 2 & 4: Time course of classical virus infection and immunity

(measles)

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

From: Viral Pathogenesis and Immunology, Mims & White, 1984

Note, time in days

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Paradoxically, HIV is a fast immunogen but a very slow pathogen

100%

0 5 Weeks 1 5 10 Years

AIDS

100 %

anti-HIV

QuickTime™ and aNone decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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Prediction 5: Bell-shaped viral (Flu) epidemics in US and Europe

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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Unlike conventional virus epidemics: AIDS epidemics drag on over decades

Unlike AIDS,HIV issteady in the US since 1985 and thus not new!

16

Even the president of the US downgrades ability of HIV to

cause AIDSI n 1987 the proponents of the HI V-AI DS hypothesis havepersuaded the US government to ban HIV-positives fromentering the US.

But 19 years later, president and anti- terrorist GeorgeBush suspends the American travel ban for HIV-positives,citing “a duty to do something about this epidemic”.

It follows that even Bush and his current advisors considerHIV less of a bio-terrorist in 2006 than theirpredecessors did in 1987 (SF Chronicle, Dec. 2, 2006, pA2).

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Answer to Q1 (Is AIDS really caused by a virus?) is NO.

Since HIV fails all 8 predictions ofviral pathology including Koch’spostulates (Table 1), and is evenreconsidered as a contagious AIDScause by the president: The answerto Q1 of our AIDS quiz is NO.

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Q2: If HIV is not the cause of AIDS, what does the AIDS virus do?

The vast majority of viruses are harmless passenger viruses thatnever cause a disease, or rarely cause secondary, aliasopportunistic diseases in immunodeficient people or animals.

Definition of a passenger virus

1) I s eit her pr esent or absent d uring a d isease.

2) I s t ypically rare due t o immunity, but maybe abundant due t o immune def iciency (Reovirus, Adeno virus, Cyt omegalo virus).

3) Typically inf ect s and is neut ralized longbef ore a disease, but inf ect ion may coincidewit h a disease.

So is HI V a harmless passenger virus, just like all otherperinatally-transmitted retroviruses?

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HIV meets all criteria of a passenger virus – exactly

1) Only ant ibodies against HI V are det ect ed in most AI DS pat ient s. S incevir us cannot be f ound, t he Cent ers f or Disease Contr ol has def inedAI DS by t he presence of t hese ant ibodies since 1985 (1).

2) I n 1989 Schnittma n et al. (al. i nclude Fauci) i n t he US and in 1990Simmonds et a l. i n t he UK f ind out t hat only 1 in 500 t o 1000 T cells ofAI DS pat ients is inf ecte d by HIV (2, 3).

3) I n 1993 Duesberg collect s r ef erences f or 4, 621 HIV- f ree AI DS casesf rom the l it erat ure (4).

4) I n 1993 Piata k et a l. deduce f rom in vitr o ampli f icat ion experiment s t hatHIV RNA le vels in plasma of AI DS pati ent s vary 10^5- f old! Since60,000 such HI V RNAs correspond to only one infecti ous virus, manypati ents ar e vir us- fr ee (5).

5) I n Sept ember 2 006 Rodri guez et a l. show t hat in hundreds of H I Vantib ody-posit ives t here is no corre lati on bet ween HIV RNA “l oads”(det ermined by in vitro a mpli f icat ion) and AI DS. HIV RNA was high,low or undet ect able in asympt omatic car riers and in AI DS cases (6).

Thus HIV is a passenger vir us.

See next an d elsewhere on <duesberg.com> for ref erences 1- 6.

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References for HIV= passenger virus1. Centers for Disease Control Revision of

the case definition of AIDS for nationalreporting – United States. Morb. Mortal.Weekly Reports, 34: 373-375, 1985.

2. Schnittman, S. M., Psallidopoulos, M.C., Lane, H. C., Thompson, L., Baseler,M., Massari, F., Fox, C. H., Salzman, N.P., and Fauci, A. The reservoir for HIV-1 in human peripheral blood is a T cellthat maintains expression of CD4.Science, 245: 305-308, 1989.

3. Simmonds, P., Balfe, P., Peutherer, J. F.,Ludlam, C. A., Bishop, J. O., and Leigh-Brown, A. J. Human immunodeficiencyvirus-infected individuals containprovirus in small numbers of peripheralmononuclear cells and at low copynumbers. J. Virol., 64: 864-872, 1990.

4. Duesberg, P. The HIV gap in nationalAIDS statistics. Biotechnology, 11: 955-956, 1993.

5. Piatak, M., Jr., Saag, M. S., Yang, L. C.,Clark, S. J., Kappes, J. C., Luk, K. C.,Hahn, B. H., Shaw, G. M., and Lifson, J.D. High levels of HIV-1 in plasmaduring all stages of infection determinedby competitive PCR. Science, 259:1749-1754, 1993.

6. Rodriguez, B., Sethi, A. K., Cheruvu, V.K., Mackay, W., Bosch, R. J., Kitahata,M., Boswell, S. L., Mathews, W. C.,Bangsberg, D. R., Martin, J., Whalen, C.C., Sieg, S., Yadavalli, S., Deeks, S. G.,and Lederman, M. M. Predictive valueof plasma HIV RNA level on rate ofCD4 T-cell decline in untreated HIVinfection. Jama, 296: 1498-1506, 2006.

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Q3: Is AIDS acquired chemically?

There are only two explanations for a new epidemic of “acquired” diseases:Germs or lifestyles, associated with exposure to chemical or physical healthrisks.

Hardly anybody remembers that in 1981 AIDS researchers had alreadyadvanced the lifestyle-AIDS hypothesis in the “prestigious” New EnglandJ ournal of Medicine (Durack et al. NEJ M 1981). According to this hypothesisthe massive use of r ecreational sex and party drugs, like nitrite inhalants,amphetamines and cocaine, is causing AIDS.

In 1987 the HI V-AIDS establishment has opened up a new chapter ofchemical AI DS, by prescribing new anti-HIV medications that are sufficient tocause AIDS to several hundred thousand HIV antibody-positive Americans andEuropeans.

Since viruses or microbes do not transmit AIDS, the recreational and anti-viral drugs “must be the truth” about AI DS:

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Chemical AIDS

According to this hypothesis thecauses of AIDS are• Recreational drugs,• Anti-HIV drugs, and• Malnutrition.

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Predictions of chemical AIDSDiseases

by drugs and malnutritionAIDS

1 Specific recreational drugs causerelatively specific diseases*.

Risk group-specific drugs explain the26 “specific” AIDS diseases* andother non-HIV-AIDS diseases.*

2 Not contagious. Not contagious*.

3 Disease occurs, if high % of targetcells are lost or transformed tocancer cells.

AIDS, if high % of T-cells is lost orothers are transformed to Kaposisarcoma.

4 High lifetime-doses of drugs arenecessary for diseases, not self-limiting by immunity.

“5-10 yr-latencies of HIV” are thethresholds for 5-10 yrs of recreational& anti-viral drug use to disease.

5 Time courses of epidemic drugdiseases depend on lifestyles, notself-limiting (e.g. smoking).*

AIDS epidemics follow recreational &anti-viral drug use patterns, not self-limiting.*

6 Drug epidemics are non-random,risk group-specific.

AIDS epidemics are non-random, riskgroup-specific.*

7 Not preventable by vaccines. No AIDS vaccine in sight.* See following slides, references, Duesberg, Koehnlein & Rasnick, J Biosciences (2003), and<duesberg.com> for data and more explanations.

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Literatureon diseases caused by recreational drugs [Duesberg & Rasnick, Genetica 104, p85-132, 1998]

Disease Drugs AIDSdefining

Immunodeficiency C, H, N, A YESKaposi’s sarcoma N YESCandidiasis C, H YESPneumonia C, H, N YESLymphadenopathy C, H YESTuberculosis C, H YESWeight loss/anorexia C, H, A YESDementia, encephalopathy C, H YESDiarrhea C, H YESFever C, H YESThrombocytopenia C, H YESNight sweats C, H YESSpontaneous abortion,premature birth, congenitalabnormalities

C, H

Impotence C, HSevere atherosclerosis ATooth loss, caries C, HDermatitis C, HHepatitis C, HEpileptic seizures C, HEndocarditis C, HBronchitis C, H

A = amphetamines; C =cocaine; H = heroin; N= nitrites

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Drug use by homosexuals with AIDS and at risk for AIDS

DRUGS% users

(50 AIDS +120 at risk for AIDS)

nitrite inhalants 96ethylchloride 35-50cocaine 50-60amphetamines 50-70phenylcyclidine 40LSD 40-60metaqualone 40-60barbiturates 25marijuana 90heroin 10Drug-free None reported

Centers for Disease Control, JAMA 1983

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Homosexual AIDS

associated with drug usein the AIDS

literature

Studies on recreational (R) and antiviral (AV) drug useby male homosexuals with and without AI DS in the

HI V eraDrugs Reference and Year

R Haverkos, 1985; Newell, 1985

R Lauritsen, 1986

R Darrow, 1987

R Rappoport, 1988; Haverkos, 1988

R Archer, 1989; Adams, 1989; Kaslow, 1989

R Lifson, 1990; Ostrow, 1990

R Eggers, 1991

R Archibald, 1992

R+AV Ostrow, 1993; Ascher, 1993; Schechter, 1993

R+AV Veugelers, 1994; Lauritsen, 1994; Sadownick, 1994

R Haverkos, 1995

R Gibbons, 1996; Haverkos, 1996; Haverkos, 1996

R McNall, 1999

R Dukers, 2000; Pauk, 2000; Craib, 2000

R Mansergh, 2001; Woody, 2001; Diamond, 2001; Mattison,2001; Colfax, 2001

R+IV Bull, 2002; Botnick, 2002See references in Duesberg, Koehnlein & Rasnick, J . Biosciences 2003.

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Chemical risk group-specific “AIDS” diseases

Disease USGAY

USIV Drugs

USAZT

USChild

HemophiliacTransfusion

Afr ican

Kaposi’s ++

Lymphoma + +

Pneumonia ++ ++

Tuberculosis ++ ++ ++

Dementia + + + +

Weight loss ++ ++ + + +

Yeast ++ ++ + + + +

PCP pneu.

Non-AIDS:Liver, heart,kidney

++

++

++ +

++

+ +

See Duesberg, Koehnlein & Rasnick, J . Biosciences 2003 for references.

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Correlations between smoking and lung cancer in England

29

Correlations between AIDS and the consumption of heroin and cocaine

in the US

1980 1985 1990 1995 20000

20000

40000

60000

80000

year

1980 1985 1990 1995 20000

50000

100000

150000

heroin hospitalizations

cocaine hospitalizations

kgs cocaine confiscated

year

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Correlations between (a) new AIDS cases among IV drug users and (b)

deaths from drug overdoses in Francea)

31

Deaths from overdoses of psychoactive drugs in France, 1990-2004

b)

32

The DNA chain-terminators and other anti-HIV medications

Beginning in 1987 more and more, cytotoxic drugs werelicensed as anti-HIV medications. The first one was theDNA chain-terminator AZT, originally designed in 1964 tokill human cells for chemotherapy of cancer.

In principle, however, a specific anti-viral drug isbiologically impossible, because all viral biochemicalfunctions are cellular. Thus in order to inhibit DNA, RNAor protein synthesis of a virus one must inhibit t he samefunctions of the cell.

I n sum, all drugs that inhibit a virus are inevitably toxic.

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Two different “commercial” perspectives on the effects of AZT

34

Mechanism of DNA chain termination by AZT

The drug was designed for cancer chemotherapy in 1964.

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AZT = AIDS by prescription

AZT causes life- threatening anemia, severe immune deficiency,cancer, nerve and liver damage, muscle wasting, diarrhea and other

diseases.Thus AZT is AIDS by prescription!

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Severe haemophilia

78 80 82 84 86 88 90 920

20

40

60

80

100All

HIV-

HIV+

Moderate or mild haemophilia

78 80 82 84 86 88 90 920

20

40

60

80

100

All

HIV-

HIV+

Year

A controlled A controlled study shows study shows that either that either AZT or HIV- AZT or HIV- antibody antibody kills kills hemophiliachemophiliacssDarby SC, et al., Darby SC, et al., Nature 377: 79-82 Nature 377: 79-82 (1995)(1995)

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Diseases of HIV-free subjects treated with anti-HIV drugs

Diseases and mortality in HIV-fr ee human babies and adults, and in HIV-freeanimals treated with anti-HIV drugs, before and after birth (BB, AB)Species AIDS-defining Other disease ReferencesHumanBabies (AB)

Adult

Fever,Pneumonia

Weight loss,immunodeficiency

Anemia,MiochondrialdysfunctionHeart disease,Scoliosis

Blanche, 1999,Heresi, 1997

Guthrie J, SFChronicle, B1,Aug. 28, 2004

Animals (AB)mice,rats,dogs,monkeys

Lymphopenia,Weight loss,Leukemia, T- celldepletion,Thymic atrophy,Death of 25/30mice

Anemia, Neutropenia,Thrombocytopenia,Bone marrow depletion,Lymphotoxicity,Myelodysplasia,Muscle atrophy,NephrotoxicityHepatotoxicity

Cronkite, 1990;McKallip, 1995;Omar, 1996;Ayers, 1988;Thompson, 1991;Grossman, 1997;Gerschenson,2000; I noue, 1997

Animals (BB) Death Lung, liver, vaginalcancerRetarded development,Abortion

Olivero, 1997;Toltzis, 1993

See references in Duesberg, Koehnlein & Rasnick, J . Biosciences 2003.

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Anti-HIV drugs do “not decrease mortality” (Lancet in 2006)

The largest epidemiologic survey of it’s kind, signed byhundreds of investigators (!), just published in the Lancet,

“HIV treatment response and prognosis in Europe andNorth America…”

“Int er pre t a tion Viro log ica l respo nse a fte r s ta rt ingHAART imp ro ved ove r ca len dar ye ars, but s uchimp ro ve me nt has no t t rans la te d int o a d ecre ase inmort a lit y. ” (May e t a l., Lance t , 368 , p451 -458 , 2006 ).

HAART = highly act ive anti re t roviral t he rap y.

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Over 50% of HIV-positives treated with anti-HIV drugs die from diseases

that are not attributed to HIV

As of 2001 over 50% of American and EuropeanAI DS patients, treated with anti-HI V drugs, diefrom liver, heart and kidney diseases (refs. 1-5 –>see next).

Since these diseases are not (yet) AI DS-definingand not (yet) said to be caused by HIV – most AIDSpatients treated with anti-HIV drugs do not diefrom HI V, but from treatments with those drugs.

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Studies describing the liver, heart and kidney diseases, from which patients

treated with anti-HIV drugs dieReferences

1. Reisler, R. B., Han, C., Burman, W. J., Tedaldi, E. M., and Neaton, J. D. Grade 4events are as important as AIDS events in the era of HAART. J Acquir ImmuneDefic Syndr, 34: 379-386, 2003.

2. Soriano, V. , Martin-Carbonero, L., Garcia-Samaniego, J., and Puoti, M. Mortalitydue to chronic viral liver disease among patients infected with humanimmunodeficiency virus. Clin Infect Dis, 33: 1793-1795, 2001.

3. Martin-Carbonero, L., Soriano, V., Va lencia, E., Garcia-Samaniego, J., Lopez,M., and Gonzalez-Lahoz, J. Increasing impact of chronic viral hepatitis onhospital admissions and mortality among HIV-infected patients. AIDS Res HumRetroviruses, 17: 1467-1471, 2001.

4. Bica, I., McGovern, B., Dhar, R., Stone, D., McGowan, K., Scheib, R., andSnydman, D. R. Increasing mortality due to end-stage liver disease in patientswith human immunodeficiency virus infection. Clin Infect Dis, 32: 492-497,2001.

5. El-Sadr, W.M., Lundgren, J.D., Neaton, J.D., et al. (2006). CD4+ count-guidedinterruption of antiretroviral treatment. N Engl J Med, 355, 2283-96.

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Facts versus the predictions ofthe virus- and chemical AIDS theories

AIDS facts ViralAIDS

ChemicalAIDS

1 No vaccine, despite 21 years of r esearch – +

2 No virus, only ant i- HIV a nt ibodies inAIDS

– +

3 Ant i- viral dru gs do not cure AIDS – +

4 AIDS only 5- 10 y ear s aft erneutra lizat ion of HI V by immunity

– +

5 Time courses of AI DS epidemics followlife sty les, not s elf- limiti ng by nat ura limmunit y

– +

6 In t he US and Europe AIDS epidemicsar e restr ict ed t o dr ug-u sing malehomosexua ls and intra venous dru gaddicts

– +

7 AIDS epidemic ra ndom in Africa + +

8 No AIDS fr om c ontact infecti on b y930,000 pat ient s in 21 year s, d espiteab sence of vacc ine

– +

9 No pediatr ic AIDS epidemic f romper inata lly-t ransmit t ed HIV

– +

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END

To disprove chemical AIDS: 1)Find contagious AIDS in drug

free subjects.2)Show that in two matched

groups of US soldiers only HIV-positives get AIDS.