Does HIV Really Cause AIDS?
by Terri L. Saunders

Of all the diseases known today, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) elicits more fear than any other.  Most people believe that receiving a positive diagnosis of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) will bring untold suffering and death since there is no known cure for this deadly disease. The assertion that HIV is an infectious virus that causes AIDS has by far been the most accepted hypothesis in the last 15 years as presented in over 200,000 scientific articles written by more than 100,000 scientists whose research has been funded by an astounding $35 billion dollars worldwide. American taxpayers alone contribute roughly $7 billion annually to federal funding of the National Institutes of Health and related agencies for AIDS research and education that support this hypothesis.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has spearheaded the dissemination of AIDS information from the government to the public. Through the media, Red Cross, educational system, religious groups, and AIDS support groups (most of which are funded by the CDC and pharmaceutical companies), we have repeatedly been warned to practice “safe sex” since, we are told, this is the primary way the virus is transmitted, and to be wary of contact with blood or other body fluids for fear of contracting the disease.

Certainly, information contrary to the prevalent HIV-AIDS theory has not been forthcoming in the media, is not taught in schools, and is not generally known by the majority of people. Yet, a growing number of scientists (at least 400 to date), including Nobel Prize winners, leading virologists, doctors and journalists question the relationship HIV has to the more than 30 previously known diseases that are identified with AIDS. It is interesting to note that if an HIV negative person has tuberculosis, it is said they have tuberculosis. However if an HIV positive person has tuberculosis, they are told they have AIDS. The same is true for pneumonia, leukemia, dementia and many other “opportunistic infections” associated with AIDS.

Some scientists assert that HIV has never been properly isolated according to scientific protocol, therefore we have no proof the virus exists. Some researchers claim that the HIV test itself is faulty, yielding false positives and different results in different laboratories. The HIV test relies on the detection of antibodies to the virus, since no actively infectious HIV virus has ever been found in a human being. (The presence of antibodies typically means the microbe has been rendered harmless by the immune system.) Others believe that HIV does exist, but is one of 3,000 harmless retroviruses that have never been proven to cause disease in humans.

In his eye-opening book, Inventing the AIDS Virus, Dr. Peter Duesberg, one of world’s leading microbiologists, a pioneer in the discovery of retroviruses, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals the true story behind the questionable discovery of HIV, the flaws in the HIV-AIDS theory, and the political suppression by the establishment of dissenting views on the cause of AIDS. He also presents convincing evidence that AIDS is caused not by HIV or any infectious microbe, but by the accumulation and toxic effects of recreational drugs and the very medications that are given to HIV patients.  Indeed, since the 1970’s the incidence of recreational drug use has steadily increased in parallel with AIDS.

Dr. Duesberg points out that in the years since the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the number of cases has remained relatively constant, and has not increased in the geometric proportions that would be expected from an infectious epidemic. Of the original AIDS cases, all were in fact either homosexual men who were taking heavy amounts of recreational drugs (particularly, very toxic nitrite inhalants known as “poppers”), and heterosexuals who were injecting hard drugs such as heroin. Since 1981, 94% of all American AIDS cases have been from risk groups that used recreational drugs. Of these, approximately one third were I.V. drug users and two thirds were gay men who took recreational drugs and/or the toxic AIDS drug, AZT. Many of these gay men also had repeated bouts of parasites and venereal disease, routinely taking antibiotics for months or years to prevent re-infection. A small percentage of AIDS patients are hemophiliacs who often have suppressed immune systems from foreign proteins received from blood transfusions. Children who have been diagnosed with AIDS are almost exclusively born to drug addicts. After 15 years, Dr. Duesberg concludes, how could a truly infectious disease not spread to the general population?

Another interesting statistic that has not been readily revealed is that several thousand AIDS patients are actually HIV negative. When the AIDS establishment was asked to explain this, they ingeniously renamed those cases ICL (Ideopathic CD4-lymphocytopenia). Of the one million Americans that were HIV positive in 1985, two thirds had not developed AIDS in ten years. This statistic seriously challenges the latent virus theory which, according to Duesberg, goes against everything that is known about the behavior of viruses. Even the distinguished Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Kary Mullis who discovered the Polymerase Chain Reaction used to detect HIV, could not find one scientist or published paper that demonstrated proof that HIV caused AIDS. Mullis also noted that the CDC admits that 25% of all reported AIDS cases were based on symptoms and not standardized tests.

Regarding the sexual transmission of AIDS, there have been many cases of partners of HIV positive people still testing HIV negative many years after Scientists like Dr. Duesberg are very concerned about the use of DNA chain terminator drugs such as AZT, ddI and ddC for AIDS patients. AZT was invented in 1964 as a form of chemotherapy for cancer patients, but animal experiments showed that it killed healthy cells (including immune cells) along with cancer cells and could cause death from extreme toxicity. The drug was shelved until the advent of AIDS when the pharmaceutical giant, Burroughs-Wellcome, resurrected it for use in AIDS patients. In 1987,without a double-blind placebo controlled study and inadequate trials, the FDA quickly approved the drug for use on AIDS patients. As it turns, out the toxic effects of AZT were so severe that many doctors had to take patients off of the drug. AZT kills dividing cells anywhere in the body, causing ulcerations, hemorrhaging, vomiting blood, suppression of bone marrow with anemia, pneumonia, hepatitis, weight loss, damage to hair and skin, destruction of brain cells, muscle wasting, lymphoma, and the destruction of the immune system. Children are more seriously affected since they have more dividing cells in their bodies. Reports of miscarriages and birth defects in those born to mothers given AZT are not uncommon. In spite of this, in 1990 AZT was approved for the prevention of AIDS, and is given to pregnant mothers who are HIV positive to “protect” the baby from contracting HIV. In 1994, a study called the Concorde Trials found the death rate to be 25% higher in the AZT group than the drug-free control group. When patients stop using AZT, they get better. Of the 200,000 HIV positive patients who are taking AZT and other DNA chain terminators (including those who were previously symptom-free), how many will survive the therapy?

More recently doctors have been prescribing a combination of AIDS drugs, including the newer protease inhibitors which also have undesirable side effects.  As Gary Null points out in his paper “AIDS Dissidents Speak Out” (www.garynull.com), Dr. David Rasnick who spent 20 years developing protease inhibitors, believes that these drugs are the best proof that HIV does not cause AIDS. Protease inhibitors de-activate the enzymes that would enable HIV to infect cells. The fact that AIDS still exists disproves the theory that HIV causes AIDS.

Outspoken scientists like Dr. Duesberg suffer professionally for expressing nonconformist views. He has been denied grants for studying the long-term effects of recreational drugs which could easily prove his hypothesis linking drugs to AIDS. As for the news that AIDS is overtaking Africa, Dr. Duesberg says that too is not true. Of the 8 million HIV positive, mostly heterosexual Africans, only half of 1% were diagnosed with AIDS, and their symptoms (diarrhea, wasting disease, etc.) are typical of third world countries where parasites, malnutrition and poor hygiene are common. AIDS seems to be the only viral disease that manifests differently in different sexes and populations around the world.

With this new information brought to light, perhaps we can get back to the business of taking care of our own health in the way that nature intended. In the many years I have been working with people to improve their health, including those who have been diagnosed HIV positive and even with AIDS, what I have been telling them still holds true. No matter what the disease, if you build the body nutritionally, cleanse the body of toxins, and are willing to address your emotional issues, you can heal yourself of anything. 

Terri Saunders is an Herbalist and Certified Natural Health Professional in Charlottesville, Virginia where she does private consultations, telephone consultations and classes on natural healing. She can be reached at Sunrise Herb Shoppe, a unique holistic resource center for cutting edge natural health products and books. For information call 1-434-984-2665, or visit their web site at www.sunherb.com, or E-mail sunherb@sunherb.com.