HIV, Fact, Fiction or Fraud?

While there is little doubt that there are factors which are destroying the body's immune system in a lot of people afflicted with what we call AIDS, the real and perceived causes are subject of heated debate. That HIV causes AIDS has been the accepted 'PartyLine' since the early 1980's, though the list of dissenting scientists is steadily growing.

Last December, a group of scientiests challened the Magazine 'Science' to revisit the May 4, 1984 papers by Dr Robert Gallo, which established the basis for everything we today believe to be true about HIV and ultimately, AIDS. [read the letter at: http://www.rethinkingaids.com/Home/tabid/146/Default.aspx]

The letter alleges that the published papers include some faulty research, as well as that the conclusions represent a serious divergence from scientific protocol, questioning the integrity of the original papers, as well as other papers which have built upon the alleged errors of the first one.

I will restate some of the allegations made. References to certain statements can be found at the link given above.

According to the letter to 'Science', the Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health and Human Services expressed serious concerns with the published paper, stating that it was “fraught with false and erroneous statements,” and that the “ORI believes that the careless and unacceptable keeping of research records...reflects irresponsible laboratory management that has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.”

The letter by these Scientists continues with a statement that Dr Robert Gallo, often cited as the co-discoverer of HIV, made many unreported deletions and unjustified alterations to the lead paper. Popovic, who carried out and recorded the findings of the experiments while Gallo was in Europe, produced a typewritten draft report which was subsequently substantially altered by Gallo upon his return, days before it was submitted to 'Science'. All the while it has been stated that the results of the experiments had never been peer reviewed. The ORI concluded that
“Dr. Gallo systematically rewrote the manuscript for what would become a renowned LTCB [Gallo's laboratory at the National Cancer Institute] paper.”

While Popovic reveals in the draft that he was using the samples provided by Institut Pasteur, Gallo deleted this revelation, and renamed the samples HTLV-III, perhaps in order to claim the credit for discovery.

The letter to 'Science' continues that Popovic's original draft clearly states that "despite intensive research efforts, the causative agent of AIDS has not yet been identified,” which Gallo then replaced with a statement claiming the opposite, namely “that a retrovirus of the HTLV family might be an etiologic agent of AIDS was suggested by the findings.”

So here we have Popovic, who performed the actual experiments, saying that the cause of AIDS had indeed not been found, in the very paper which days later became the cornerstone of the accepted dogma that HIV leads to AIDS, due to the changes made by Robert Gallo.

Robert Gallo's alterations to the original findings by Popovic, his attempts to conceal the origin of the sample provided by Institut Pasteur to claim credit for a 'great discovery', speaks of someone consumed by the pursuit of prestige and recognition, rather than someone who is focused on bettering the world through selfless scientific research. Robert Gallo's alleged lending of his scientific credentials to biological weapons research - an effort at attempting to create weapons of indiscriminate death to be unleashed upon humanity - for nearly two decades prior to the dissemination of these falsified findings to 'Science', also does not add any credit to his credentials.


Notations:

Draft of M. Popovic's May 4 1984 Science article, with accompanying alterations made by Gallo.
http://sciencefictions.net/pdfdocs/draft_of_m_popovic_05.04.84_science_article_undated.pdf

Letter from Dr. M. Gonda to Dr. M. Popovic (cc R. Gallo). 1984 Mar 26, stating that the microscope fotos taken do NOT show virus. Gallo subsequently submitted the fotos to Science to be published in conjunction with his paper, claiming that the fotos show virus. http://sciencefictions.net/pdfdocs/Letter_from_M_Gonda_to_M_Popovic_03.26.84.pdf