Nicoli Nattrass
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231149136
- eISBN:
- 9780231520256
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231149136.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors ...
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Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors prolonging the erroneous belief that the American government manufactured the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be used as a biological weapon, as well as the myth's consequences for behavior, especially within African American and black South African communities. Contemporary AIDS denialism, the belief that HIV is harmless and that antiretroviral drugs are the true cause of AIDS, is a more insidious AIDS conspiracy theory. Advocates of this position make a “conspiratorial move” against HIV science by implying its methods cannot be trusted and that untested, alternative therapies are safer than antiretrovirals. These claims are genuinely life-threatening, as tragically demonstrated in South Africa when the delay of antiretroviral treatment resulted in nearly 333,000 AIDS deaths and 180,000 HIV infections—a tragedy of stunning proportions. The book identifies four symbolically powerful figures ensuring the lifespan of AIDS denialism: the hero scientist (dissident scientists who lend credibility to the movement); the cultropreneur (alternative therapists who exploit the conspiratorial move as a marketing mechanism); the living icon (individuals who claim to be living proof of AIDS denialism's legitimacy); and the praise-singer (journalists who broadcast movement messages to the public). It also describes how pro-science activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist AIDS conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence-based medicine.Less
Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors prolonging the erroneous belief that the American government manufactured the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be used as a biological weapon, as well as the myth's consequences for behavior, especially within African American and black South African communities. Contemporary AIDS denialism, the belief that HIV is harmless and that antiretroviral drugs are the true cause of AIDS, is a more insidious AIDS conspiracy theory. Advocates of this position make a “conspiratorial move” against HIV science by implying its methods cannot be trusted and that untested, alternative therapies are safer than antiretrovirals. These claims are genuinely life-threatening, as tragically demonstrated in South Africa when the delay of antiretroviral treatment resulted in nearly 333,000 AIDS deaths and 180,000 HIV infections—a tragedy of stunning proportions. The book identifies four symbolically powerful figures ensuring the lifespan of AIDS denialism: the hero scientist (dissident scientists who lend credibility to the movement); the cultropreneur (alternative therapists who exploit the conspiratorial move as a marketing mechanism); the living icon (individuals who claim to be living proof of AIDS denialism's legitimacy); and the praise-singer (journalists who broadcast movement messages to the public). It also describes how pro-science activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist AIDS conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence-based medicine.
Nicoli Nattrass
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231149136
- eISBN:
- 9780231520256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231149136.003.0005
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter critiques South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki's skepticism of HIV science and his move to halt the distribution antiretroviral drugs in South Africa. When Mbeki became the ...
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This chapter critiques South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki's skepticism of HIV science and his move to halt the distribution antiretroviral drugs in South Africa. When Mbeki became the president, almost one in five South African adults was already infected with HIV. Rather than immediately developing AIDS policy based on scientific consensus, Mbeki took seriously the claim that HIV science was fundamentally flawed and corrupted by the pharmaceutical industry. He convened the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel with half the seats allocated to HIV critics, and half to HIV scientists and clinicians. The conflict between the opposing parties delayed the distribution of antiretroviral drugs. The chapter argues that Mbeki's skepticism mirrors three key characteristics of AIDS denialism: extreme cynicism toward the science of HIV pathogenesis; ignorance of advances in antiretroviral treatment; and the active promotion of alternative, unproven therapies in its place.Less
This chapter critiques South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki's skepticism of HIV science and his move to halt the distribution antiretroviral drugs in South Africa. When Mbeki became the president, almost one in five South African adults was already infected with HIV. Rather than immediately developing AIDS policy based on scientific consensus, Mbeki took seriously the claim that HIV science was fundamentally flawed and corrupted by the pharmaceutical industry. He convened the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel with half the seats allocated to HIV critics, and half to HIV scientists and clinicians. The conflict between the opposing parties delayed the distribution of antiretroviral drugs. The chapter argues that Mbeki's skepticism mirrors three key characteristics of AIDS denialism: extreme cynicism toward the science of HIV pathogenesis; ignorance of advances in antiretroviral treatment; and the active promotion of alternative, unproven therapies in its place.
Nicoli Nattrass
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231149136
- eISBN:
- 9780231520256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231149136.003.0007
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter considers how the scientific community responded to Peter Duesberg's AIDS denialism. Particular attention is paid to the action taken against the journal Medical Hypotheses for ...
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This chapter considers how the scientific community responded to Peter Duesberg's AIDS denialism. Particular attention is paid to the action taken against the journal Medical Hypotheses for publishing a paper by Duesberg and others without first subjecting it to meaningful editorial review. It argues that the journal should not count as scientific and should no longer be listed under Medline, or have the scientific status of being searchable through PubMed. Two normative issues are evident in the Medical Hypotheses saga: anger at Duesberg for ignoring HIV science and contributing to, and subsequently defending, Mbeki's AIDS policy tragedy; and anger at the way in which Medical Hypotheses, with its scientific journal facade, was seen as inappropriately giving Duesberg's article the status of being scientific, even though it was published without adequate editorial review.Less
This chapter considers how the scientific community responded to Peter Duesberg's AIDS denialism. Particular attention is paid to the action taken against the journal Medical Hypotheses for publishing a paper by Duesberg and others without first subjecting it to meaningful editorial review. It argues that the journal should not count as scientific and should no longer be listed under Medline, or have the scientific status of being searchable through PubMed. Two normative issues are evident in the Medical Hypotheses saga: anger at Duesberg for ignoring HIV science and contributing to, and subsequently defending, Mbeki's AIDS policy tragedy; and anger at the way in which Medical Hypotheses, with its scientific journal facade, was seen as inappropriately giving Duesberg's article the status of being scientific, even though it was published without adequate editorial review.
