Harper’s Editor Discusses HIV/AIDS Advocates’ Criticism of Article That Includes Doctor Who Believes HIV Does Not Cause AIDS

Roger Hodge, editor of Harper's Magazine discussed a recent article that he edited, titled "Out of Control: AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science," in an interview on WNYC's "On the Media," an NPR-syndicated program (Gladstone, "On the Media," WNYC, 5/5). The article includes Peter Duesberg, a doctor and professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley who believes HIV does not cause AIDS. The 15-page article, which was published in the March issue of Harper's, examines criticism of a clinical trial that studied the use of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine among HIV-positive pregnant women in Uganda to prevent vertical HIV transmission. The article also examines Duesberg and his relationship with NIH, which funded the trial (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/13). Hodge said the magazine "made it very clear that Duesberg's theories were rejected by the AIDS establishment," but that "the point of the piece is not to enter into that debate directly," as it is "not the place of a magazine article to adjudicate a scientific controversy at that level." Hodge added, "What I do think is interesting is when you have a causality debate about a disease ... when a group of researchers questions, they are shouted down, called murderers, and essentially persecuted" ("On the Media," WNYC, 5/5).
The complete transcript of the segment will be available online by the Tuesday following the broadcast.
The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.