The Perth Group: Difference between revisions
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'''The Perth Group''' is a group of [[AIDS denialism|AIDS denialists]] based in [[Perth, Western Australia]] who claim, in opposition to the scientific consensus, that [[HIV]] infection does not cause [[AIDS]]. The group has affected the epidemic of [[HIV/AIDS in South Africa]] through the impact of their work on South African President [[Thabo Mbeki]]'s AIDS policies. In 2007 the testimony of several members was thrown out of court during the trial of [[Andre Chad Parenzee|an HIV-positive man]] charged with reckless transmission of HIV. |
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'''The Perth Group''' is a group of [[AIDS denialism|AIDS denialists]]<ref name="pollard2007">Pollard, Ruth (May 5, 2007). [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shadow-of-doubters/2007/05/04/1177788403414.html Shadow of doubters.] ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''</ref><ref name="Nattrass2007">Nattrass, Nicoli (September 2007). [http://www.csicop.org/si/show/aids_denialism_vs._science/ AIDS Denialism vs. Science.] ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'', 31.5</ref> formed in [[Perth, Western Australia]] by hospital technician [[Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos]] and emergency physician Valendar F. Turner. They have argued that [[HIV]] is not a [[retrovirus]] and cannot be transmitted by [[sexual intercourse]].<ref name="barton2007">Barton, Chris (October 20, 2007). [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/new-zealand/news/article.cfm?l_id=71&objectid=10471028 Unzipping an age-old risk.]</ref> Since the late 1980s, The Perth Group has argued that "the virus has never been isolated or identified properly."<ref name="specter1997">Specter, Michael (March 12, 2007). [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/12/070312fa_fact_specter The Denialists.] ''[[The New Yorker]]''</ref> |
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==Membership== |
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==Views and influence== |
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While overall membership has changed, the core members of the group are [[Biophysics|biophysicist]] technician [[Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos]], [[Emergency medicine|emergency physician]] Valendar F. Turner and [[Pathology|pathologist]] John Papadimitriou.{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false 60-61]}}<ref name = Youde/> The group claims it was founded in 1981.{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA169#v=onepage&q&f=false 169]}} Members of the group work at the [[University of Western Australia]]'s [[Royal Perth Hospital]], though the relationship is disputed. Papadopulos-Eleopulos has been described as a technician at the hospital, while Turner and Papadimitriou are faculty members. The hospital has declaimed any relationship to the Group's beliefs, and made a point of stating Papadopulos-Eleopulos does not work with AIDS patients or conduct any research on HIV.<ref name = Youde>{{cite book | last = Youde | first = JR | title = AIDS, South Africa, and the Politics of Knowledge | pages = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_FHpPXoRulAC&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false 106-107] | year = 2007 | publisher = [[Ashgate Publishing]] | isbn = 978-0-7546-7003-2 }}</ref> |
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==Claims== |
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The Perth Group rejects [[scientific community]] consensus on HIV/AIDS. In the view of the Perth Group, the scientific community has failed to prove: |
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AIDS researcher [[Seth Kalichman]], author of a book on [[AIDS denialism]], described the group's claims as confusing and inconsistent, using complicated explanations and [[rhetoric]]al techniques to "sound scientific" in their incorrect assertions regarding research on [[HIV]] and [[AIDS]].{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false 60-61]}} The group acknowledges that AIDS exists, but denies that it is caused by HIV infection,{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q&f=false 12]}} producing a list of ten positions that attempts to criticize the established science that [[HIV]] causes AIDS. Instead, the group attributes AIDS deaths to on [[redox|oxidative damage]] caused by factors unrelated to viral infection, such as drug use, [[Men who have sex with men|homosexual activity between men]] (primarily exposure to [[semen]]), poverty and the medications used to treat AIDS. Kalichman notes that although oxidation does have an impact on the [[immune system]], none of the processes claimed by the Perth Group cause AIDS, whose cause has been definitively identified as HIV infection.{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q&f=false 179-180]}} The group also denies that AIDS and is transmitted through heterosexual sexual activity.<ref name="pollard2007">{{cite news | last = Pollard | first = R | date = 2007-05-05 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/shadow-of-doubters/2007/05/04/1177788403414.html | title = Shadow of doubters | work = [[Sydney Morning Herald]] | accessdate = 2012-04-19 }}</ref><ref name="Nattrass2007">{{cite journal | last = Nattrass | first = N | year = 2007 | url = http://www.csicop.org/si/show/aids_denialism_vs._science/ | title = AIDS Denialism vs. Science | journal = [[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' | volume = 31 | issue = 5}}</ref><ref name="barton2007">{{cite news | last = Barton | first = Chris | date = 2007-10-20 | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/new-zealand/news/article.cfm?l_id=71&objectid=10471028 | title = Unzipping an age-old risk | accessdate = 2012-04-19 | work = [[The New Zealand Herald]] }}</ref><ref name="specter1997">{{cite news | last = Specter | first = M | date = 2007-03-12 | url = http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2007-03-12#folio=032 | title = The Denialists | work = [[The New Yorker]] | accessdate = 2012-04-19 | authorlink = Michael Specter }}</ref> |
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The group has also denied that the human immunodeficiency virus itself exists,<ref name="specter1997"/><ref name="Nattrass2007"/> claiming to offer a $20,000 reward for anybody who can produce evidence for its existence. [[Peter Duesberg]], an AIDS denialist who claims HIV exists but is harmless, refuted their claims and provided evidence of the existence of HIV, but the group did not provide the money.{{sfn|Kalichman|2009|p = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false 60-61]}} Writing in the ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'', professor of economics and the director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit at the University of Cape Town Nicoli Nattrass suggested that their beliefs may in part be due to misunderstanding of the science involved.<ref name = "Nattrass2007"/> |
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#That HIV exists as a unique, exogenously acquired [[retrovirus]]. |
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#That [[HIV test|HIV antibody tests]] are [[specificity (tests)|specific]] for HIV infection. |
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#That HIV causes acquired immune deficiency (destruction of [[T helper cell]]s, known as AID) or that AID leads to the development of the clinical syndrome [[AIDS]]. |
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#That the HIV genome ([[RNA]] or [[DNA]]) originates in a unique, exogenously acquired infectious retroviral particle. |
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#That HIV/AIDS is infectious, either by blood, [[blood transfusion|blood products]] or sexual intercourse. |
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#That a retrovirus HIV may be transmitted from [[vertical transmission|mother to child]] or that this transmission may be inhibited with [[Zidovudine|AZT]] or [[nevirapine]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.theperthgroup.com/whatargued.html | title = What the Perth Group has argued | publisher = The Perth Group | accessdate = 2010-06-15 | date = nd }}</ref> |
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==Influence== |
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Lawyers for [[Andre Chad Parenzee]] attempted to submit Perth Group claims as evidence in his trial for the reckless transmission of HIV. A supreme court judge threw out those claims as "implausible."<ref name="barton2007"/> Their work has also been cited in controversies about [[HIV/AIDS in South Africa]].<ref name="fourie">Fourie, Pieter; Meyer Melissa (2010). ''The Politics of AIDS Denialism: South Africa's Failure to Respond.'' Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9781409404057</ref> Their work was influential in the positions held by South African President [[Thabo Mbeki]].<ref name="Sparks2003">Sparks, Allister Haddon (2003). ''Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa.'' University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226768588</ref> |
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===Parenzee trial=== |
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{{main|Andre Chad Parenzee}} |
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Members of the Perth Group attempted to testify at the trial of Andre Chad Parenzee, an Australian man charged with endangering human life after having unprotected sex with three women despite knowing he was HIV-positive, but the supreme court judge threw out their claims as "implausible."<ref name="barton2007"/> [[Robert Gallo]], co-discoverer of HIV, testified at the trial and noted that Turner, who had also testified, had incorrectly claimed HIV was identified through the activity of reverse transcription when in fact it was identified through the presence of the [[reverse transcriptase]] [[enzyme]], stating that '"only a fool" would mistake the two'.<ref name="Nattrass2007"/> Gallo pointed out during the trial that Turner lacked any credibilty to testify during the trial regarding HIV infection as he lacked any qualifications as a [[Virology|virologist]] and conducted no research in the field. Gallo later stated in an e-mail that he was amazed at the Perth Group's "mass ignorance coupled with the grandiosity of selling themselves as experts".<ref name = "Nattrass2007"/> Australian Research biologist [[Gustav Nossal]], along with several other Australian scientists, gave evidence during the trail and described the group as '"a very considerable embarrassment" to Australian science'.<ref>{{cite news | last = Roberts | first = J | date = 2007-01-30 | accessdate = 2012-04-19 | title = The Nation Nossal attacks HIV sceptics | url = http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/nossal-attacks-hiv-sceptics/story-e6frg6nf-1111112910341 | work = [[The Australian]] }}</ref> |
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===South African HIV/AIDS policy=== |
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{{main|HIV/AIDS in South Africa}} |
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The Perth Group's claims has also been cited in controversies about HIV/AIDS in South Africa,<ref name="fourie">{{cite book | author1 = Fourie F | author2 = Meyer M | title = The Politics of AIDS Denialism: South Africa's Failure to Respond | pages = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=TABFzo0FSdUC&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false 46] | year = 2010 | publisher = [[Ashgate Publishing]] | isbn = 978-1-4094-0405-7 }}</ref> and was influential in the positions held by South African President [[Thabo Mbeki]] regarding HIV/AIDS in the country.<ref name="Sparks2003">{{cite book|author=Sparks AH | title = Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=dYi0BhQN3AgC | year = 2003 | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]] | isbn = 978-0-226-76858-8 | pages = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=dYi0BhQN3AgC&pg=PA286#v=onepage&q&f=false 286] }}</ref> Papadopulos-Eleopulos and Turner were panelists in the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel established by Mbeki.<ref name = Youde/> |
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==Footnotes== |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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* {{cite book|last = Kalichman | first = SC | title = Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC | year = 2009 | publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media]] | isbn = 978-0-387-79475-4}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www.theperthgroup.com/ |
*[http://www.theperthgroup.com/ Website] |
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{{pseudoscience}} |
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{{Australia-org-stub}} |
{{Australia-org-stub}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perth Group, The}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perth Group, The}} |
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[[Category:AIDS origin hypotheses]] |
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[[Category:AIDS denialism]] |
[[Category:AIDS denialism]] |
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[[Category:Medical controversies]] |
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Revision as of 17:42, 19 April 2012
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
The Perth Group is a group of AIDS denialists based in Perth, Western Australia who claim, in opposition to the scientific consensus, that HIV infection does not cause AIDS. The group has affected the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in South Africa through the impact of their work on South African President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS policies. In 2007 the testimony of several members was thrown out of court during the trial of an HIV-positive man charged with reckless transmission of HIV.
Membership
While overall membership has changed, the core members of the group are biophysicist technician Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, emergency physician Valendar F. Turner and pathologist John Papadimitriou.[1][2] The group claims it was founded in 1981.[3] Members of the group work at the University of Western Australia's Royal Perth Hospital, though the relationship is disputed. Papadopulos-Eleopulos has been described as a technician at the hospital, while Turner and Papadimitriou are faculty members. The hospital has declaimed any relationship to the Group's beliefs, and made a point of stating Papadopulos-Eleopulos does not work with AIDS patients or conduct any research on HIV.[2]
Claims
AIDS researcher Seth Kalichman, author of a book on AIDS denialism, described the group's claims as confusing and inconsistent, using complicated explanations and rhetorical techniques to "sound scientific" in their incorrect assertions regarding research on HIV and AIDS.[1] The group acknowledges that AIDS exists, but denies that it is caused by HIV infection,[4] producing a list of ten positions that attempts to criticize the established science that HIV causes AIDS. Instead, the group attributes AIDS deaths to on oxidative damage caused by factors unrelated to viral infection, such as drug use, homosexual activity between men (primarily exposure to semen), poverty and the medications used to treat AIDS. Kalichman notes that although oxidation does have an impact on the immune system, none of the processes claimed by the Perth Group cause AIDS, whose cause has been definitively identified as HIV infection.[5] The group also denies that AIDS and is transmitted through heterosexual sexual activity.[6][7][8][9]
The group has also denied that the human immunodeficiency virus itself exists,[9][7] claiming to offer a $20,000 reward for anybody who can produce evidence for its existence. Peter Duesberg, an AIDS denialist who claims HIV exists but is harmless, refuted their claims and provided evidence of the existence of HIV, but the group did not provide the money.[1] Writing in the Skeptical Inquirer, professor of economics and the director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit at the University of Cape Town Nicoli Nattrass suggested that their beliefs may in part be due to misunderstanding of the science involved.[7]
Influence
Parenzee trial
Members of the Perth Group attempted to testify at the trial of Andre Chad Parenzee, an Australian man charged with endangering human life after having unprotected sex with three women despite knowing he was HIV-positive, but the supreme court judge threw out their claims as "implausible."[8] Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of HIV, testified at the trial and noted that Turner, who had also testified, had incorrectly claimed HIV was identified through the activity of reverse transcription when in fact it was identified through the presence of the reverse transcriptase enzyme, stating that '"only a fool" would mistake the two'.[7] Gallo pointed out during the trial that Turner lacked any credibilty to testify during the trial regarding HIV infection as he lacked any qualifications as a virologist and conducted no research in the field. Gallo later stated in an e-mail that he was amazed at the Perth Group's "mass ignorance coupled with the grandiosity of selling themselves as experts".[7] Australian Research biologist Gustav Nossal, along with several other Australian scientists, gave evidence during the trail and described the group as '"a very considerable embarrassment" to Australian science'.[10]
South African HIV/AIDS policy
The Perth Group's claims has also been cited in controversies about HIV/AIDS in South Africa,[11] and was influential in the positions held by South African President Thabo Mbeki regarding HIV/AIDS in the country.[12] Papadopulos-Eleopulos and Turner were panelists in the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel established by Mbeki.[2]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Kalichman 2009, p. 60-61.
- ^ a b c Youde, JR (2007). AIDS, South Africa, and the Politics of Knowledge. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 106-107. ISBN 978-0-7546-7003-2.
- ^ Kalichman 2009, p. 169.
- ^ Kalichman 2009, p. 12.
- ^ Kalichman 2009, p. 179-180.
- ^ Pollard, R (2007-05-05). "Shadow of doubters". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ a b c d e Nattrass, N (2007). "AIDS Denialism vs. Science". Skeptical Inquirer. 31 (5).
{{cite journal}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|journal=(help) - ^ a b Barton, Chris (2007-10-20). "Unzipping an age-old risk". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ a b Specter, M (2007-03-12). "The Denialists". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ Roberts, J (2007-01-30). "The Nation Nossal attacks HIV sceptics". The Australian. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
- ^ Fourie F; Meyer M (2010). The Politics of AIDS Denialism: South Africa's Failure to Respond. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 46. ISBN 978-1-4094-0405-7.
- ^ Sparks AH (2003). Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa. University of Chicago Press. pp. 286. ISBN 978-0-226-76858-8.
References
- Kalichman, SC (2009). Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy. Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 978-0-387-79475-4.
External links
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