AIDS: The Biggest Medical Mistake Of All Time?

Originally published in 2005

Although I have a lot of respect for celebrities like Bono who are trying to increase public awareness of the poverty and health challenges faced by millions of people in Africa, I find it painful to see them promoting conventional drug therapy for AIDS.

"There's no excuse to let people in Africa die of AIDS when we have the drugs that can cure them," Bono has said on Oprah and most recently during Live 8.

Clearly, Bono is like most of the general public in that he has accepted the widely believed theory that HIV causes AIDS.

If you believe that HIV causes AIDS, please consider the following:

1. AIDS is a category, not an illness.
2. There are 29 familiar conditions in this category including pneumonia, salmonella, certain cancers, and yeast infections.
3. None of these conditions are new.
4. None of these conditions appear only in people who test HIV positive.
5. All of these conditions appear in people who test HIV negative.
6. All of these conditions have documented causes not related to HIV.

Let's remember that AIDS is a label that health officials have created to give to people who have health conditions related to weakened immune systems. All of the health conditions associated with AIDS were around long before the label of AIDS was created.

To put it simply, there is no proof that HIV causes AIDS. In fact, all of the epidemiological evidence that I have looked at, put together with an understanding of basic principles of microbiology have me convinced that there is no way that HIV causes AIDS.

If this is the first time that you have heard someone say that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, you may be thinking that I've become a conspiracy theorist, given that federal governments, the medical establishment, and scientists around the world are treating AIDS with the belief that it is caused by HIV.

The fact is, there are numerous scientists who have publicly challenged the HIV - AIDS connection over the years. The most prominent of these scientists may be Dr. Peter Duesberg, professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Duesberg first challenged the HIV - AIDS connection in 1987, only to be ridiculed by many of his colleagues and lose most of the funding he needed to continue on with his research.

Dr. Duesberg's work in this area for the past two decades has led him to believe that in industrialized countries, the most likely causes of AIDS are long term exposure to recreational drugs like cocaine and heroine, and the use of AZT to treat AIDS. If you want to learn more about Dr. Duesberg's work, don't miss the electrifying lecture that he gave to alumni of the University of California in 1993.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati is another well known scientist who has publicly challenged the HIV/AIDS connection. Dr. Al-Bayati believes that in industrialized countries, AIDS is caused mainly by long term use of cocaine, heroine, drugs that suppress the immune system, such as powerful glucocorticoids, and other drugs that are toxic to human cells. You can read more of Dr. Al-Bayati's views by clicking here.

Both Dr. Duesberg and Dr. Al-Bayati believe that AIDS in less developed countries like Africa is caused mainly by malnutrition and poor sanitation.

So, what makes sense to you? Do you think that suppression of the immune system (AIDS) is caused by a virus (HIV) that takes about ten years to produce its effects and isn't even found in many of the sick people in question? Or do you think that immune system suppression is more likely caused by long term exposure to cocaine, heroine, other powerful drugs, malnutrition, and lack of hygienic living conditions?

Sadly and predictably, the reasons why the leaders of our world and the medical establishment are hooked on the HIV - AIDS connection boil down to money. Do you know how much money is spent on HIV testing in the United States per year? Back in 1993, 20 million HIV tests were performed; 12 million on blood donations, 2.5 million on Army recruits, and most of the remainder at maternity clinics, the United States Job Corps, and on AIDS patients. Twenty million tests at $50.00 per test adds up to a billion dollars. And that's just for HIV testing that was done in 1993 when the population of the United States was around 200 million.

Who knows what the numbers are today with a population of around 330 million and the steadily increasing number of HIV tests that are ordered these days for life insurance policies?

And we haven't even talked about the amount of money that is spent on anti-viral drugs that are aimed solely at dealing with HIV, a virus that is harmless relative to the drugs used to treat it.

I have no hope that this article will do anything to change the direction that governments and health officials are taking with AIDS. What I do hope is that you will send this article to anyone you know who has tested HIV positive or has been diagnosed with AIDS. I want these people to know that taking anti-viral and immunosuppressive drugs may not be their best options. I want them to know about Dr. Duesberg's site and a site called AliveAndWell.org. Most of all, I want them to know that they can choose to deal with a diagnosis of AIDS or HIV-positive in a way that builds their immune systems through health-enhancing food and lifestyle choices.

As for those who suffer from immune system suppression due to poverty, I'm grateful for the efforts of Bono and all of the other celebrities who took part in Live 8.

Every choice we make affects the rest of the world.

Let's try to remember this every day.