AIDSTruth.org - In the news

"Professor Billy" withdraws advertising of AIDS cure after complaint

AIDSTruth — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:29:53 +0000

Professor Billy advertised an AIDS "cure" in South Africa. The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa has often ruled against advertisements like these after complaints by the Treatment Action Campaign and others. In this case the company has agreed to withdraw the advertising. The ruling of the ASASA is attached.

Combination Therapy Lengthens Lifespan for HIV Patients

Eduard Grebe — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Medpage Today reports:

Although the life expectancy for HIV patients on combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has increased steadily since 1996 in developed countries, it still falls short of that in the general population, researchers found.
The remaining life expectancy for a 20-year-old HIV patient on cART increased from 36.1 years in 1996-1999 to 49.4 years in 2003-2005, Robert Hogg, Ph.D., of the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS here, and colleagues reported in the July 26 issue of The Lancet.

Huffington Post on climate change denialism and AIDS denialism

AIDSTruth — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:56:36 +0000

Bob Ostertag writes on the Huffington Post on the parallels between climate change denialism and AIDS denialism:

As with climate change denialists, AIDS denialists piece together their arguments from misinterpretations of valid scientific papers, from the comments of respected scientists venturing out of their specialty and writing in non-peer reviewed journals, and the political support of conservative institutions. And again, as with climate change denialism, the whole package gets its momentum and false air of rigor from being endlessly circulated on the Internet.

Google removes HIV "cure" ad after complaints

AIDSTruth — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:26:46 +0000

Internet company Google has said that advertisements supplied by its AdSense service to websites across the country should not have included ones that claim to "cure" HIV. – Pinknews.co.uk

Court interdicts Matthias Rath and orders SA Government to enforce the law

AIDSTruth — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:35:01 +0000

Today a South African court handed down a landmark judgment in a case initiated by Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) against Matthias Rath and the Government of South Africa.

This judgment unequivocally establishes the duty of the state to enforce the scientific governance of medicines as defined in the country's Medicines Act. The case demonstrated how the South African Minister of Health wilfully obstructed the rule of law and promoted pseudoscience, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of many people.

The judgment is effectively a stern warning to all purveyors of untested and unregistered medicines, especially those selling so-called “cures” for HIV/AIDS. (AIDSTruth has reported on a number of such cases, including the Minister of Health's support for the untested "Ubhejane" treatment.)

Read a summary of the judgment and the TAC's statement here.
Read the full judgment here.
Read background on the case.

Here is some media coverage of the court victory:

BBC – S Africa bans Aids vitamin trials
Reuters – South African court bans AIDS vitamin trials
IRIN PlusNews – TAC prevails over Rath
Health-e – It's all over for Rath
Health24.com – Fire Manto over Rath: TAC
The Times – TAC calls for Manto’s head over Rath

From the Judgment by Justice Zondi:

The first, second, fourth and fifth respondents are interdicted from conducting unauthorised clinical trials in South Africa
The first, second, fourth and fifth respondents are interdicted from publishing advertisements concerning the medicinal effects of VitaCell on persons with AIDS pending submission by the aforementioned respondents of the VitaCell to the MCC to review its medicinal claims.
It is declared that the eighth (Minister of Health) and the ninth respondents [Director General, Department of Health] are under a duty to take reasonable measures to:
- present the first, second, fourth and fifth respondents from conducting unauthorised clinical trails
- prevent the first, second, fourth and fifth respondents from publishing advertisements concerning the medicinal effects of VitaCell on persons with AIDS pending the submission by the aforesaid respondents of VitaCell to the MCC to review its medicinal claims

WHO and UNAIDS Corrects errors in coverage of extent of the global HIV epidemic

AIDSTruth — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:37:28 +0000

The World Health Organisation and UNAIDS issued this statement on 12 June.

Correction to AIDS story in Independent article 8 June 2008

We wish to clarify misinterpretations concerning WHO and UNAIDS positions on the status of the AIDS epidemic in recent media articles. The story in the Independent on Sunday titled: “Threat of world AIDS pandemic among heterosexuals is over, report admits” contained a few seriously misleading statements that have led to inferences and conclusions that bear no relation to the highly complex realities of the HIV epidemic.

First and foremost, the global HIV epidemic is by no means over. At the end of 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV. Some 2.5 million people became newly infected that year, and 2.1 million died of AIDS. AIDS remains the leading cause of death in Africa.

Worldwide, HIV is still largely driven by heterosexual transmission. The majority of new infections in Sub-Saharan Africa occur through heterosexual transmission. We have also seen a number of generalized epidemics outside of Africa, such as in Haiti and Papua New Guinea.

Heterosexual transmission continues to drive the epidemic among sex workers, their clients, and their clients' partners. In addition, prisoners, injecting drug users, as well as men who have sex with men, may also engage in heterosexual relationships. In sub-Saharan Africa almost 60% of adults living with HIV were women: 48% in the Caribbean.

HIV prevention and treatment efforts are showing results. Building on these successes will require improved outreach to populations most at risk with evidence-informed approaches based on local HIV epidemiology — an approach we call “knowing your epidemic.” In all settings, a supportive environment is required, free from stigma and discrimination, legal barriers or other obstacles that prevent access to services. AIDS awareness campaigns and school-based efforts are essential to promote sexual and reproductive health, ensuring young people have the knowledge and ability to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases, and teenage pregnancy.

UNAIDS and WHO remain focused on strengthening monitoring of the epidemic to refine responses further and to recognize changes in transmission patterns should they occur.

To recap: AIDS remains the leading infectious disease challenge in global health. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible and misleading.

Dr Kevin M. De Cock
Director
Department of HIV/AIDS
WHO, World Health Organization

Dr Paul De Lay
Director
Department of Evidence, Monitoring and Policy
UNAIDS, Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS

IAS publishes list of unproven AIDS 'cures'

AIDSTruth — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:02:39 +0000

The International AIDS Society has published a list of fake AIDS "cures" on their website. While there are unfortunately more "cures" that could be added to this list, it is important that the IAS as the representative body of HIV/AIDS scientists has taken a strong stand against this dangerous and exploitative form of pseudoscience.

In the article Unproven AIDS "cures" they say:

The IAS urges its worldwide membership to hold their governments to account for unproven claims of AIDS cures. We advise health care workers and policy makers throughout the world to continue to implement ARV treatment programmes for all who need them, and to clarify the proven dangers of stopping ARVs, including the risk of disease progression and the development of drug resistance.

SA Health Minister backs denialists and quack AIDS cures

AIDSTruth — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:38:03 +0000

The South African Sunday Times newspaper ran an exposé today about a meeting of quacks in the port city of Durban, the major city in the epicentre of SA's HIV epidemic. The meeting was attended by the provincial health minister for KwaZulu-Natal Peggy Nkonyeni and addressed by the national Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

The Sunday Times reports:

The KwaZulu-Natal Health Department is actively promoting Aids denialists and quack Aids cures — with the blessing of Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Last Friday, the department hosted an “information workshop on HIV treatment” at a Durban hotel, where speakers condemned antiretroviral drugs and called for traditional medicine to be promoted instead. The meeting was opened by the KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Peggy Nkonyeni. Tshabalala-Msimang delivered the keynote address. Read full story.

Also see the editorial in the same newspaper Manto, people are dying.

Denialism again rears its head in South Africa's worst-hit province

AIDSTruth — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:46:50 +0000

Peggy Nkonyeni, provincial Minister of Health in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal, the province that accounts for a quarter of HIV cases in that country, has been in the news recently for a denialist-inspired crusade against her own doctors. Earlier this year, a doctor at the rural Manguzi hospital was threatened withbdisciplinary action for providing two drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, allegedly in contravention of national guidelines (the dual therapy protocol is standard, recommended by the WHO and superior to the Nevirapine-only protocol used until recently in South Africa). After threatening a doctor for not unnecessarily letting infants be infected, she made the following extraordinary statement:

AZT is toxic and must be controlled. Dual therapy has not been agreed upon. ... We have a problem with doctors who work in rural areas. They do not care about people. It is all about profit and not about caring for people.

She then had another doctor suspended who placed her portrait in a dustbin in anger at this statement. (See Jonathan Berger's piece More Manto than Manto.) The Treatment Action Campaign and AIDS Law Project in South Africa have now laid a complaint with the country's Human Rights Commission.

That she is being influenced by denialist ideas is clear. This is a woman who has been observed consulting books by the notorious vitamin entrepreneur and denialist Matthias Rath. She has also argued that HIV is a "bioterrorism" or "biological warfare" agent manufactured to "target a particular community", echoing the mad conspiracy theories that Jeremiah Wright also recently cited.

It seems the fight against official denialism in South Africa is far from over.

AIDS denialists disinvited from Congressional hearing

AIDSTruth — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000

It seems others share our interpretation of RA's "victory". See the Housing Works AIDS Issues Update story. Money quote:

D.C. Fights Back member and Whitman-Walker client Mark Fischer says the only time he got an opportunistic infection was when he stopped taking his meds. "These aren't whistleblowers. They're divergent thinkers who are 21st century snake oil salesmen. And especially in D.C., where there are so many reasons why people don't get treatment, we don't need this," Fischer said.

Discover story on AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg shows he's a narcissist, racist and homophobe

AIDSTruth — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:10:09 +0000

AIDSTruth does not normally welcome the publication of any article in a mainstream magazine that features Peter Duesberg or any other AIDS denialist. Any publicity for AIDS denialists and their scientifically rejected views could increase the chances that vulnerable individuals will die, either by believing that HIV is harmless or that ARVs cause AIDS. That AIDS denialism kills is unquestionable (see, for example, our pages on denialism and politics as well as about denialists who have died).

The recent article in Discover Magazine (Peter's Principles, by Jeanne Lenzer) is an exception, however, so we are pleased to post it on AIDSTruth. There is much in the article with which we do not agree - it does not make it clear enough that Duesberg and his fellow denialists are simply wrong on all aspects of the science that they attempt to promote. However, the article confirms what we have been saying on AIDSTruth:

Duesberg's career was in terminal decline before he declared that HIV was not the cause of AIDS, because of his maverick and scientifically flawed views on oncogenes and cancer.
Duesberg's current views on cancer have been rejected by the relevant research community, because they are as mistaken as his opinions on HIV/AIDS.
Duesberg is a racist homophobe who utters hateful words without thinking of their impact.
Duesberg has sought controversy throughout his career for the sake of it, because he craves personal publicity and because he resents the success of other scientists with more talent and better judgment than he himself possesses.

We therefore urge people to read this article, and ask themselves why it is that the views promoted by a man like Peter Duesberg have helped kill so many innocent people all over the world, and particularly in South Africa. Is President Mbeki truly comfortable seeking the advice of a man who refers to the majority of the South African population as "Schwarzes" (the German equivalent of the N-word)?

Bloggers respond to Discover Magazine article featuring denialists

AIDSTruth — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:42:22 +0000

Apparently the latest issue of Discover Magazine contains a spread featuring Peter Duesberg. For more on why Duesberg should not be taken seriously, see our page on who the denialists are.

Early reactions from scientific bloggers reveal disgust: see Denailism blog and ERV.

Aids deaths drop in Malawi

AIDSTruth — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:12:52 +0000

Distributing free anti-HIV drugs in a district of Aids-ravaged Malawi helped cut the death toll by 10 percent within eight months, according to a new study to be published in The Lancet. Independent On-Line covers the story here.

Deadly consequences of denial

AIDSTruth — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:17:38 +0000

The Montreal Gazette has run an important story on AIDS denialism. It shows how the untruths spread by denialists (such as that HIV doesn't exist, is harmless or is not sexually transmitted) can confuse and ultimately kill if people do not seek treatment or expose others to the virus.

But perhaps it does not adequately distinguish between personal denial about one's HIV status and the ideological denial that HIV causes AIDS. Although most people with HIV go through some degree of personal denial, very few actually deny that HIV causes AIDS or that ARVs are effective. The former is a psychological state, quite normal when faced with a highly stigmatized life-threatening disease; the latter is a dangerous ideological scourge with deadly consequences.

Gary Null a denialist and crank

AIDSTruth — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:32:16 +0000

Now it's official: Gary Null, HIV Denialist and Crank — Mark Hoofnagle's Denialism blog outs "alternative medicine" guru Gary Null (whose infomercials are broadcast on PBS) as an AIDS denialist.

South African AIDS quack's advertising banned

AIDSTruth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +0000

The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa has upheld a complaint laid by the Treatment Action Campaign against Zeblon Gwala for advertising his fake AIDS cure 'Ubhejane'.

Update: The National Press Foundation's NPF Helpdesk resource for journalists has picked up the story .

The video below exposes Gwala's quackery:

The AIDS Conspiracy Handbook

AIDSTruth — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +0000

The AIDS Conspiracy Handbook (Jeremiah Wright's paranoia in context) - Slate.com.

Only 16 AIDS cases with repeatedly HIV-negative results

AIDSTruth — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Repeatedly HIV-negative patients with very advanced HIV disease: only 16 cases ever reported - Aidsmap.

Older news from AIDSTruth

AIDSTruth — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:32:08 +0000

Welcome to the new AIDSTruth.org site. Most of the material from the old site is still available here. If you want to view the news updates from external sources published on the old site (up to 27 April 2008), click this link.