Nick Bennett has a blog which he uses to bash people like me who question the association between HIV and AIDS:
aidsmyth.blogspot.com
In it he claims that “I have never recieved [sic] funding from any pharmaceutical company that makes HIV antivirals.”
When I emailed and asked him about this he acknowledged that he had actually taken substantial sums of money from pharmaceutical companies, in the form of a subsidy covering his PhD studies. But this was from AstraZeneca, a company that does not make “HIV antivirals”.
People should know this. Does it bias his comments about the HIV/AIDS paradigm and the people who criticize it?
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
This blog will mainly discuss my interest in HIV/AIDS, other supposedly infectious diseases (that really aren't) and various aspects of modern 'industrial' medicine.
Websites created by me that discuss these issues are:
Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society
David Crowe’s Personal Website
Justice for Eliza Jane Scovill (and her parents)
My book project - The Infectious Myth
Websites created by me that discuss these issues are:
Alberta Reappraising AIDS Society
David Crowe’s Personal Website
Justice for Eliza Jane Scovill (and her parents)
My book project - The Infectious Myth
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
AIDS Deaths in Africa
No, Parket Mitchell and George Roter, it is not universally agreed that 40,000 people in Africa die of AIDS every week! Even the estimates (not actual numbers) of WHO/UNAIDS are only about one-fifth of that. [from: WHO/UNAIDS - AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2004]
But the bigger question is: What is AIDS in Africa? Few people seem to know, or care, or realize the significance of it being a completely different condition than in richer countries. No HIV test is generally performed. Instead, three of these four symptoms -- persistent cough, fever, diarrhea, weight loss (>10% of weight) -- get you an AIDS diagnosis (according to WHO's 'Bangui' definition). Does this sound like malaria, TB or the effects of malnutrition to you?
But the nice thing, from the point of view of multinational drug companies, is that people are falling over themselves to spend money on antiretroviral drugs. These people not only don't know what AIDS really is, but they must have no clue about the serious, often fatal, side effects of these drugs. Only by concluding that everyone with fever, cough, diarrhea and weight loss is going to die could such toxic compounds be prescribed.
Many people taking AIDS drugs in North America become dependent on blood transfusions to live because severe anemia is a common side effect. Anemia is already a huge problem in Africa and transfusions or exotic drugs to counter it are not common.
So, send your money to the Tsunami victims, or to old-fashioned third world development, don't send it to AIDS charities unless you know what AIDS is and unless you're comfortable with the toxicity profile of the drugs.
But the bigger question is: What is AIDS in Africa? Few people seem to know, or care, or realize the significance of it being a completely different condition than in richer countries. No HIV test is generally performed. Instead, three of these four symptoms -- persistent cough, fever, diarrhea, weight loss (>10% of weight) -- get you an AIDS diagnosis (according to WHO's 'Bangui' definition). Does this sound like malaria, TB or the effects of malnutrition to you?
But the nice thing, from the point of view of multinational drug companies, is that people are falling over themselves to spend money on antiretroviral drugs. These people not only don't know what AIDS really is, but they must have no clue about the serious, often fatal, side effects of these drugs. Only by concluding that everyone with fever, cough, diarrhea and weight loss is going to die could such toxic compounds be prescribed.
Many people taking AIDS drugs in North America become dependent on blood transfusions to live because severe anemia is a common side effect. Anemia is already a huge problem in Africa and transfusions or exotic drugs to counter it are not common.
So, send your money to the Tsunami victims, or to old-fashioned third world development, don't send it to AIDS charities unless you know what AIDS is and unless you're comfortable with the toxicity profile of the drugs.
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