As a guest of the Spotlight Lecture Series, Dr. Peter Duesberg shared his controversial views on the spread of HIV and the AIDS virus Tuesday with several hundred people at Memorial Union.
Duesberg is a prominent microbiology researcher at the University of California-Berkeley with alternative hypotheses regarding HIV and the AIDS virus.
Contrary to the current beliefs held by most of the medical community, Duesberg argued that HIV and AIDS are indicators of a drug-related lifestyle. He said the 26 diseases that are most commonly associated with AIDS are not randomly distributed across the demographics. Instead, he said that certain diseases are more prevalent among various groups.
Kaposi's Sarcoma, for example, is a form of cancer predominantly found among homosexual males, and, according to Duesberg, has never been found in transplant patients who were infected with HIV.
\This non-random distribution of diseases indicates that we are dealing with lifestyles and specific causes, not random causes,"" Duesberg said. ""Illicit drugs and aphrodisiac drugs are the common denominator among AIDS in America and Europe,"" he said.
According to his information, these drugs gained wide popularity after the Vietnam war and gay liberation, becoming a staple of party life.
The type of AIDS most commonly found in Africa is actually related to malnutrition and contaminated drinking water, according to Duesberg. He also said the AIDS epidemic in Africa is not as serious as people are being led to believe. Often, patients are not even tested for AIDS, but their deaths are attributed to this disease when in fact they could be related to starvation or any number of other illnesses, Duesberg contended.
Duesberg said only one in 1,000 unprotected sexual acts with an infected person would cause another person to become infected. Since only one in 275 people in the United States is HIV-positive, the average person would have to have 275,000 random sexual encounters to become infected. By that reasoning, this was an unlikely basis for an epidemic.
John Blomberg, director of the Contemporary Issues Committee at the Wisconsin Union Directorate, said he was happy with the turnout.
""Neither myself nor the committee endorse the beliefs of Dr. Duesberg; however, we do endorse a diversity of viewpoints on this campus,"" Blomberg said. ""I think it's great that students came out tonight to voice their opinions over his controversial claims.""
Meghan Benson, Sex Out Loud project coordinator and vice president for the Student Global AIDS Campaign, said she disagreed.
""I think it's bad for him to be giving out this information,"" Benson said. ""He's entitled to his opinion, but I think he is disseminating information that could be harmful because it could result in people engaging in risky behaviors.\
