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I never bookmarked where I originally read about it, but here is one paper discussing the issue within the larger context of TRIPS:
http://www.aids-freeworld.org/content/view/162/71/

Here's reporting on the "chilling effect" of the foundation's funding:
http://www.aegis.com/news/wsj/2002/WJ020509.html

Implied impact on canadian proxy manufacturing:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/3731

It would seem a tiny user id and an assertive tone is what passes for 'informative' 'round here.

http://www.aegis.com/news/newsday/1998/ND980701.html

The first known case of HIV was in 1959, determined posthumously by samples taken from an exhumed body. The virus is older than that, and like ebola is thought to have crossed over from an animal vector due to the ingestion of bush meat. In the late 1970's unusual symptoms began manifesting themselves in certain populations.

You are correct that the virus was not officially "discovered" until the 1980's, but its effects were first noticed in the 1970's, and tests have determined it was active in the human population long before that. :) Giving the original poster the benefit of a doubt, perhaps they meant to state that the effects of HIV were first discovered in the 1970's?

Peace,

-Joe G.

YEAH, that bastard never helps anyone except himself.

Category 1:
60.8%: men from unprotected homosexual contact or shared-IV drug usage
7.2%: females engaging in shared-IV drug usage
= 68% idiots

Category 2:
11.9%: men from unprotected heterosexual contact
18.9%: females from unprotected heterosexual contact
= 30.7% people who should be using protection from the idiots in Category 1

And as for Africa (home to 2/3 of the world's AIDS population), there is even more evidence of blatant ignorance, even amongst government officials. The Internet also keeps its share of idiot-run websites denying the link between HIV and AIDS.

I'd say idiots are both the primary cause of AIDS transmission, and are also the disease's primary victims. That's pretty uncontroversial when you look at the evidence.

But I have much more sympathy for the idiots in Africa (who have no chance to get a decent education) than I do for idiots in the U.S. and the industrialized world who know better.

I'm sure I am not the only one that has seen documentries that include African prostitutes that have gathered a similar immunity to the virus. One of them was a Nova episode that aired on PBS last week (atleast I think it was last week). The women are exposed to the disease many times per day but seem unnafected by it. This sounds like a similar case for the following reasons:

Article

The article states that 1) The prostitutes are completely void of the virus and 2) The trait is not genetic. Therefore I assume that the people contract the virus and their immune system then deals with it. In this man's case if the first test was done before his immune system kicked in and the second one after then this could explain the result.

P.S. I am not a doctor or in the medical field so I leave myself open to corrections. (and not just for my english ;0)

AFAIK Brazil ignores patents for AIDS drugs (or ignored in the past - not sure about what is being done now). Refer to Brazil to Ignore Patent on AIDS Drug, Brazil to Ignore Patent on AIDS Drug

And the Left's dominance of the intellectual realm for over a hundred years, to the effect of near-complete destruction of the humanities and increasing corruption of the epistemoplogical base of science has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

As far as America and its Aristotelian intellectual foundations are concerned, the Left is to the religious "right" what AIDS is to Kaposi's sarcoma.

He thinks AIDS might not be caused by HIV but by some critical mass/combination of retroviruses.

If that's a strange thought, consider the possiblity that retroviruses alter social structure after reading this about AIDS neuropathy:

As with rabies, it appears some sexually transmitted diseases have evolved the ability to alter the amygdala of their victims so as to facilitate their transmission. In the case of rabies, the amygdala alterations generate aggressive behavior, matching the mode of transmission of the virus which tends to be via bites. Sexually transmitted diseases should produce different changes in the amygdala enhancing, not aggressive, but rather sexual behavior.

Here is evidence that increased indiscriminate sexual behavior is an extended phenotype of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus affected by amygdalar damage in the infected population:

Kluver-Bucy syndrome is described below as involving: "a profound reduction in the animals aggression and fear, a hypoemotionality, a tendency to over react to any visual stimulus, hypersexuality and an excessive oral tendency (i.e. mouthing any objects). The monkeys also tended to eat meat and feces." Note further that " destruction of the amygdala alone was sufficient enough to produce the symptoms of the Kluver-Bucy syndrome."

Finally note although the full hypersexuality component of Kluver-Bucy syndrome in humans is rare and may require damage to tissues adjacent to the amygdala, as well as the amygdala, that damage from HIV (HTLV-III) infection focuses on the amygdala, radiating outward in its degenerative effect to include all tissues destroyed in the 1930's experiments of Kluver and Bucy .

http://www.aegis.com/pubs/aidsline/1987/jul/M87702 77.html
"Subacute encephalomyelitis of AIDS and its relation to HTLV-III infection."
...
Subacute encephalitis was mainly distributed in the frontal (58%) and temporal (69%) lobes, basal ganglia (77%), amygdala (80%) , and hippocampus (64%).

(It should be noted that Simon LeVay also observed systematic differences in the brain structures of homosexuals who died of AIDS although he did not attribute such differences to HIV infection per se but rather to congenital homosexual orientation. LeVay appears not to consider the possibility that changes in brain structure might be due to a pathogen in addition to HIV.)

http://neuroscience.ucdavis.edu/amaral/Emery_Home_ Page.html
"I recently joined the lab of Dr David Amaral, Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, where I am further investigating the role of the amygdala in monkey social behavior. We are looking at whether excitotoxic lesions (ibotenic acid) of the whole amygdala disrupt normal social behavior and communication in rhesus monkeys. The link between the amygdala and social behavior began with the work of Kluver and Bucy in the 1930's, when they lesioned the entire anterior temporal lobe (including temporal pole, amygdala, hippocampal formation and basal ganglia). They found a profound reduction in the animals aggression and fear, a
hypoemotionality, a tendency to over react to any visual stimulus, hypersexuality and an excessive oral tendency (i.e. mouthing any objects). The monkeys also tended to eat meat and feces. These results were replicated many times and it was found that destruction of the amygdala alone was sufficient e

The source is the LA Times:

http://www.aegis.com/news/lt/1988/LT881104.html

See how the "crime" of being HIV infected has had the result of a lifetime prison sentence. Note the lack of the 'usual suspects' in the source (no right-wing media, no pro-democracy activists in Florida...nothing until you get to a Republican proposing legislation at the end).

This type of oppression goes even beyond the dreams of Pat Robertson.

The answer is E) none of the above. Chairman Bill is a hypocrite who donates a few hundred million dollars, which he won't miss because he deducts it from his income tax, at the same time he gets tens of billions dollars from his illegal monopoly

You really have no clue; first, Bill Gates donated over 25 billion dollars, not "a few hundred million". Second, the amount deductible from taxes is only 30% of the individual's income or 20% in the case of securities (as were most of Gates's donations). And even if he'd be able to deduct all of it, he'd still only save the part of it that's taxable for his income level, which is probably 35%. You have to be pretty silly to say he's giving away 100 dolars to save 35.

Well, he may not be a religious leader, but he's a religious leader: George W Bush, for starters. I'm told his administration has severely cut funding abroad for birth-control initiatives which even slightly chafe with his own religious convictions.

For instance if an organisation puts out literature on birth control which even mentions the word 'abortion', they're automatically de-funded. this is a side-effect rather than a direct effect but it stems directly from religious conviction.

Admittedly this is not a direct problem, but a consequence of a web of relationships.

I'm also told that numerous muslim "scholars" have spoken out against condom use.

Still, these major reports are the tip of the iceberg - regional religious authorities are far more likely to go against it than national or global ones which may have to respond to international attention.

And let's not even start on the falwells of this world that believe AIDS is God's Will

This is China's constitution. It forbids detention of pregnant women or breastfeeding moms. It also forbids executing pregnant women. So, I guess pregnant women are above the law. Or at least special care is taken to make sure the third party, the baby, isn't hurt.

Link: http://www.aegis.com/news/lt/2004/LT040818.html

"In cities across China, women hustle porn on pedestrian overpasses and at tunnel entrances. Many are pregnant; others carry 1-year-olds, often rented for as little as a dollar a day. The babies are both props and shields: They enable buyers to immediately identify the sellers, and the women exploit a loophole in Chinese criminal law that allows for only a brief detainment of pregnant women or those with infants."

As for porn videos... no, you can't see them in the stores, for the same reason you can't see the prostitution going on in many of the "meirongyuan" (beauty parlors). You need to ask what you want!

Cuba's AIDS Quarantine Center Called 'Frightening'

Bayer said he was told by Cuban health officials that one-third of the nation's 10.2 million people have been tested so far and that 240 Cubans--171 men and 69 women--have been placed in the camp, where they are required to spend the rest of their lives. They are removed from their jobs but continue to be paid.

a dead virus is one that is no longer infective. your description of a virus is accurate, in that they are protein shells around genetic material (most of them, at least, some have enzymes in there and/or different shells)

From what I gather reading the actual article abstract, they're inactivating or killing them with a compound that breaks off small portions of the capsid (general idea abstracted here), but leaves the majority of the capsid intact. The slightly damaged capsid is unable to initiate infection, giving the host time to mount a defense against the real thing.

(Yes, I know not believing everything you read is genereally bad for the karma. So mod me down).

The wonders of google:

CCR5 Mutant Gene Sequence Patented for AIDS diagnoses :: Patent 6,692,938 "

Actually this one is more appropriate: Here is another article on a general CCR5 Gene Patent from Human Genome Sciences. This article goes quite in depth w/ regards the consequence of the patent filing on drug research w/ CCR5 inhibitors.

-bloo

Geneva - Researchers have uncovered unusual behaviors of human immune systems that seem to have protected certain babies in Canada, prostitutes in Thailand and Africa, and gay men in San Francisco from HIV, despite exposure to the AIDS virus.

The protections do not appear to be genetic, and may offer some critical clues to those hoping to make a vaccine against HIV.

At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Kelly MacDonald and a team of pediatricians noticed something odd earlier this year: HIV-positive mothers did not pass the virus to babies who were born with immunologically incompatible blood. In cases of incompatibility, the mother has one genetic type of immune system markers, and the baby a different set. This can put the baby at risk of being attacked by the mother's immune system.

But, in the case of HIV-infected mothers, this immunological incompatibility saved the babies from HIV, MacDonald reported yesterday. The finding was based on a study of 111 mother / child pairs.

MacDonald believes that a key factor in the babies' genetic makeup - called A2/A6802 supertype - by fortunate coincidence prevents HIV from infecting the child. When the mother and child share the same genetic makeup in their immune system, MacDonald discovered, the child is 2.63 times more likely to get infected with HIV.

Since approximately 40 percent of the population worldwide has the A2/A6802 supertype, it makes it an attractive target for vaccine design, MacDonald said.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 280 prostitutes in Thailand who had worked in brothels for three years or more, and a group of non-prostitute Thai women. Not surprisingly, the prostitutes were far more likely to be infected with the virus, and 47 percent were HIV-positive, the CDC reported yesterday.

Remarkably, however, nine of the prostitutes were negative for HIV, even though they had genital herpes and syphilis - clear indications of unsafe sexual behavior. The women did not have any of the genetic mutations that have been shown to protect some Caucasians from HIV. But they did apparently have complete immunity. Cells of their immune systems were killing every HIV to which they were exposed, the CDC team discovered. And laboratory studies revealed that their CD8 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, were secreting a factor which, when mixed in a petri dish with human cells and HIV, stimulated immune cells to destroy the virus.

Dr. Jay Levy of the University of California in San Francisco has presented evidence of a CD8-produced factor that stops HIV, as well. For years he has tried to isolate the mysterious substance, to no avail. But it could result, he said in a speech, in a way to maintain control of the virus without the need for antiviral drugs.

Sharon Stranford, a researcher in Levy's laboratory, examined the immune system cells of gay San Francisco men who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV and never become infected. She said that the CD8 cells in these men make a mysterious factor that protects against HIV. But it is not the same as the one discovered in Thai prostitutes, Stranford said, because it blocks HIV without prompting immune system cells to kill the virus. It works by blocking the ability of HIV to make copies of itself, Levy said.

Finally, a CDC team working in Abijan, Ivory Coast, has also found a group of uninfected prostitutes. They, too, lack any genetic protection. And their ability to fight off HIV is also immunological. The team hasn't yet worked out the details, researchers said, but it is clear that immune system cells in the African prostitutes are highly activated, as if constantly ready to go to war.

Geneva - Researchers have uncovered unusual behaviors of human immune systems that seem to have protected certain babies in Canada, prostitutes in Thailand and Africa, and gay men in San Francisco from HIV, despite exposure to the AIDS virus.

The protections do not appear to be genetic, and may offer some critical clues to those hoping to make a vaccine against HIV.

At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Kelly MacDonald and a team of pediatricians noticed something odd earlier this year: HIV-positive mothers did not pass the virus to babies who were born with immunologically incompatible blood. In cases of incompatibility, the mother has one genetic type of immune system markers, and the baby a different set. This can put the baby at risk of being attacked by the mother's immune system.

But, in the case of HIV-infected mothers, this immunological incompatibility saved the babies from HIV, MacDonald reported yesterday. The finding was based on a study of 111 mother / child pairs.

MacDonald believes that a key factor in the babies' genetic makeup - called A2/A6802 supertype - by fortunate coincidence prevents HIV from infecting the child. When the mother and child share the same genetic makeup in their immune system, MacDonald discovered, the child is 2.63 times more likely to get infected with HIV.

Since approximately 40 percent of the population worldwide has the A2/A6802 supertype, it makes it an attractive target for vaccine design, MacDonald said.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 280 prostitutes in Thailand who had worked in brothels for three years or more, and a group of non-prostitute Thai women. Not surprisingly, the prostitutes were far more likely to be infected with the virus, and 47 percent were HIV-positive, the CDC reported yesterday.

Remarkably, however, nine of the prostitutes were negative for HIV, even though they had genital herpes and syphilis - clear indications of unsafe sexual behavior. The women did not have any of the genetic mutations that have been shown to protect some Caucasians from HIV. But they did apparently have complete immunity. Cells of their immune systems were killing every HIV to which they were exposed, the CDC team discovered. And laboratory studies revealed that their CD8 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, were secreting a factor which, when mixed in a petri dish with human cells and HIV, stimulated immune cells to destroy the virus.

Dr. Jay Levy of the University of California in San Francisco has presented evidence of a CD8-produced factor that stops HIV, as well. For years he has tried to isolate the mysterious substance, to no avail. But it could result, he said in a speech, in a way to maintain control of the virus without the need for antiviral drugs.

Sharon Stranford, a researcher in Levy's laboratory, examined the immune system cells of gay San Francisco men who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV and never become infected. She said that the CD8 cells in these men make a mysterious factor that protects against HIV. But it is not the same as the one discovered in Thai prostitutes, Stranford said, because it blocks HIV without prompting immune system cells to kill the virus. It works by blocking the ability of HIV to make copies of itself, Levy said.

Finally, a CDC team working in Abijan, Ivory Coast, has also found a group of uninfected prostitutes. They, too, lack any genetic protection. And their ability to fight off HIV is also immunological. The team hasn't yet worked out the details, researchers said, but it is clear that immune system cells in the African prostitutes are highly activated, as if constantly ready to go to war.

Geneva - Researchers have uncovered unusual behaviors of human immune systems that seem to have protected certain babies in Canada, prostitutes in Thailand and Africa, and gay men in San Francisco from HIV, despite exposure to the AIDS virus.

The protections do not appear to be genetic, and may offer some critical clues to those hoping to make a vaccine against HIV.

At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Kelly MacDonald and a team of pediatricians noticed something odd earlier this year: HIV-positive mothers did not pass the virus to babies who were born with immunologically incompatible blood. In cases of incompatibility, the mother has one genetic type of immune system markers, and the baby a different set. This can put the baby at risk of being attacked by the mother's immune system.

But, in the case of HIV-infected mothers, this immunological incompatibility saved the babies from HIV, MacDonald reported yesterday. The finding was based on a study of 111 mother / child pairs.

MacDonald believes that a key factor in the babies' genetic makeup - called A2/A6802 supertype - by fortunate coincidence prevents HIV from infecting the child. When the mother and child share the same genetic makeup in their immune system, MacDonald discovered, the child is 2.63 times more likely to get infected with HIV.

Since approximately 40 percent of the population worldwide has the A2/A6802 supertype, it makes it an attractive target for vaccine design, MacDonald said.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 280 prostitutes in Thailand who had worked in brothels for three years or more, and a group of non-prostitute Thai women. Not surprisingly, the prostitutes were far more likely to be infected with the virus, and 47 percent were HIV-positive, the CDC reported yesterday.

Remarkably, however, nine of the prostitutes were negative for HIV, even though they had genital herpes and syphilis - clear indications of unsafe sexual behavior. The women did not have any of the genetic mutations that have been shown to protect some Caucasians from HIV. But they did apparently have complete immunity. Cells of their immune systems were killing every HIV to which they were exposed, the CDC team discovered. And laboratory studies revealed that their CD8 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, were secreting a factor which, when mixed in a petri dish with human cells and HIV, stimulated immune cells to destroy the virus.

Dr. Jay Levy of the University of California in San Francisco has presented evidence of a CD8-produced factor that stops HIV, as well. For years he has tried to isolate the mysterious substance, to no avail. But it could result, he said in a speech, in a way to maintain control of the virus without the need for antiviral drugs.

Sharon Stranford, a researcher in Levy's laboratory, examined the immune system cells of gay San Francisco men who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV and never become infected. She said that the CD8 cells in these men make a mysterious factor that protects against HIV. But it is not the same as the one discovered in Thai prostitutes, Stranford said, because it blocks HIV without prompting immune system cells to kill the virus. It works by blocking the ability of HIV to make copies of itself, Levy said.

Finally, a CDC team working in Abijan, Ivory Coast, has also found a group of uninfected prostitutes. They, too, lack any genetic protection. And their ability to fight off HIV is also immunological. The team hasn't yet worked out the details, researchers said, but it is clear that immune system cells in the African prostitutes are highly activated, as if constantly ready to go to war.

Geneva - Researchers have uncovered unusual behaviors of human immune systems that seem to have protected certain babies in Canada, prostitutes in Thailand and Africa, and gay men in San Francisco from HIV, despite exposure to the AIDS virus.

The protections do not appear to be genetic, and may offer some critical clues to those hoping to make a vaccine against HIV.

At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Kelly MacDonald and a team of pediatricians noticed something odd earlier this year: HIV-positive mothers did not pass the virus to babies who were born with immunologically incompatible blood. In cases of incompatibility, the mother has one genetic type of immune system markers, and the baby a different set. This can put the baby at risk of being attacked by the mother's immune system.

But, in the case of HIV-infected mothers, this immunological incompatibility saved the babies from HIV, MacDonald reported yesterday. The finding was based on a study of 111 mother / child pairs.

MacDonald believes that a key factor in the babies' genetic makeup - called A2/A6802 supertype - by fortunate coincidence prevents HIV from infecting the child. When the mother and child share the same genetic makeup in their immune system, MacDonald discovered, the child is 2.63 times more likely to get infected with HIV.

Since approximately 40 percent of the population worldwide has the A2/A6802 supertype, it makes it an attractive target for vaccine design, MacDonald said.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 280 prostitutes in Thailand who had worked in brothels for three years or more, and a group of non-prostitute Thai women. Not surprisingly, the prostitutes were far more likely to be infected with the virus, and 47 percent were HIV-positive, the CDC reported yesterday.

Remarkably, however, nine of the prostitutes were negative for HIV, even though they had genital herpes and syphilis - clear indications of unsafe sexual behavior. The women did not have any of the genetic mutations that have been shown to protect some Caucasians from HIV. But they did apparently have complete immunity. Cells of their immune systems were killing every HIV to which they were exposed, the CDC team discovered. And laboratory studies revealed that their CD8 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, were secreting a factor which, when mixed in a petri dish with human cells and HIV, stimulated immune cells to destroy the virus.

Dr. Jay Levy of the University of California in San Francisco has presented evidence of a CD8-produced factor that stops HIV, as well. For years he has tried to isolate the mysterious substance, to no avail. But it could result, he said in a speech, in a way to maintain control of the virus without the need for antiviral drugs.

Sharon Stranford, a researcher in Levy's laboratory, examined the immune system cells of gay San Francisco men who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV and never become infected. She said that the CD8 cells in these men make a mysterious factor that protects against HIV. But it is not the same as the one discovered in Thai prostitutes, Stranford said, because it blocks HIV without prompting immune system cells to kill the virus. It works by blocking the ability of HIV to make copies of itself, Levy said.

Finally, a CDC team working in Abijan, Ivory Coast, has also found a group of uninfected prostitutes. They, too, lack any genetic protection. And their ability to fight off HIV is also immunological. The team hasn't yet worked out the details, researchers said, but it is clear that immune system cells in the African prostitutes are highly activated, as if constantly ready to go to war.

claiming that the HIV virus, the virus that causes AIDS, is a virus that was manufactured in American laboratories between 1962 and 1978.

The US government's claim to invention may be invalidated by prior art. HIV was around before 1959 (though there is some dispute ).

If you look up the patent that supposedly proves that Gallo invented HIV, you will see that it is NOT a patent on HIV, it is a patent on a method of reproducing HIV extracted from humans and it was filed after public research on HIV. Reproducing a pathogen is an important part of conducting research, both as an amplifier for presence tests, to make large numbers of identical samples to experiment on, to allow the American Type Culture Collection to archive the virus and make copies of it, and to allow others to reproduce research. It is much better to copy one virus particle than try to extract lots of HIV, and only HIV, from blood. Now, whether patenting such a process rather than placing it in the public domain is assinine is another discussion.

All the Copyright notices by Zygote Media on many of the web sites that report this do not inspire confidence, either. "Media" in the name sure sounds more like a for-profit venture than an activist to me.

For a total of something like $1000, Boyd Graves will sell you copies of public domain government documents that supposedly support his claim. But given that he misrepresents a patent for reproducing HIV as a patent on HIV itself, your money will not be well spent. And if he sent the spams, you would be supporting a spammer.

There are many urban legends about man made HIV.

(Note: Not Loundry)

Better yet, answer me this: how many AIDS deaths were actually caused by AZT poisoning?

Well, there's at least one that wasn't. Oh, and here's a nation of them. Most of the AIDS deaths in Africa, really, since most people can't afford AIDS drugs (or most Western medicine, for that matter).

There is no such thing as a free lunch. When the government gives or provides "free" services in one place, it is taking from another place

Get a clue. Pharmaceuticals cost a fortune because most of them are patented. The government dictates how strong patents are. Unlike the US, Canada has compulsory licensing for pharmaceuticals. If a competitor wants to make a patented drug, they are free to do so as long as they pay a licensing fee set by the government.

Canada's lower drug prices have nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with competition.

sorry to reply to my own post, if you would like a very good timeline about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, see this Link Thanks

The rates are not extraordinarily high. On the order of a thousand cases in New York a year, similar in other large cities. Surprisingly low in Denver. People generally recover from Hep A... but it's much, much worse than the flu.

Don't lick a toilet.

Hepatitis B is spread through contact with bodily fluids. You can get it by sharing toothbrushes. Hep B carriers (1-12% of total cases) are contagious for life.

Women menstruate. Some people have hemmrhoids. People with herpes have open sores around the crotch... you won't catch herpes from a toilet seat, but open sores leave body fluids on the seat, which can transmit Hep B. Don't lick a toilet.

Don't kid yourself about hepatitis transmission... it's surprisingly contagious in certain situations.

"Cholera? Dear ghod - when did you last work in a doctor's office?"

During the mandatory Canadian Doctor's Office work program that all Canucks enter when they reach the age of majority.

I'm kidding. I've never worked in a doctor's office. I wasn't aware the majority of the population had.

More seriously...

"It's been wiped out in America to the point that there is no vaccine made anymore."

The vaccine is still made for travel purposes and of course, they still need it in Africa. It's true that cases are rare in the United States.

"It's not far off from influenza in fatality."

I expect that's true. According to this study, the current rate of influenza is in an environment of bad sanitary practices in offices. Our relatively good bathroom habits have reduced the level of cholera to almost nil. We don't lick toilets, after all.

If being careless about the flu and careful about cholera lead to the same rate of fatality, I'd suppose that cholera is more dangerous, and we should continue being careful about cholera. That's just me. So cholera is one of the many reasons I wouldn't lick a toilet.

All that said, clearly you shouldn't lick a desk either!

For instance, we have a boner pill (Viagra) and a baldness pill (Rogaine I think), but no AIDS pill (at least that I'm aware of).

Just as a side note:
Rogaine's an ointment, and it does practically nothing. AIDS victims could take AZT. Not a cure by any means, but certainly does a whole lot more than Rogaine.

• I'm sorry, but you forgot to think the simple fact of economics that choices are made by supply and demand.

Should it be? Or should it be determined by need?

• Supply of HIV-infected people will create demand for HIV pills.

There is no place in the world more AIDS-ridden than Africa. However, Africa is a poor continent, and can't pay up full price. Nevermind it has the world biggest market for these drugs.

Guess what, patents are being used to make sure they don't get any medicine at all.

Admit it. Drugs is a bad example to prove your point.

In fact, I think the drugs angle on patenting shows that patent-law now is as equally corrupted as copyright-law, when compared to the original intents of these laws.

We'll just have to bow down and kiss boot for our corporate-overlords one day or another anytime soon now. What? That's a problem?

... why not just buy an an independant song off of iTunes yourself?

Because i'm not gay.
From the article:
In fact, in what is thought to be the first time anti-gay politicians have mounted a campaign against a private company that offers health-care benefits to the same-sex partners of employees, two county commissioners in Williamson County near Austin, Texas, are trying to block Apple Computer Inc. from obtaining tax benefits for a customer support service center. Apple extended domestic-partner benefits to gays and lesbians in February, and spokesman Bill Keegan said Apple won't back down.

I think that those billions of American taxpayer dollars that Bush pledged for aid and AIDS relief in Africa would be better spent on this program, don't you?

NC has had this for a while too:

http://sbi.jus.state.nc.us/DOJHAHT/SOR/Default.htm

Overall I consider it a good idea, as I am personally not very lenient when it comes to the rights of convicted felons.

However, I was shocked to discover that a guy I knew during high school and worked with during high school summers was on the list. Even his picture. Later I discovered that he had been hooking up with a 17-year old girl in a mutually consenting relationship (some even said *she* pursued him) and he was I think 27, when her father found out, reported him, and pressed charges. Kind of a shitty deal for him, and made me start to wonder about current laws of consent. In a world where kids know all about sex from the Internet and Britney, and 40% of 16 year old girls are not virgins, is it just to charge an older guy for becoming involved with a significantly younger girl, even though she's no longer innocent and may have been just as much the instigator of the relationship as he was? The assumption of the law is that the older male is, by nature of experience, hormones, and ability to manipulate the young and naive, the instigator. But if that assumption is incorrect, should the law still apply?

The United States is a major violator of International Law pertaining to access to contreception by minors clicky It seems once again that the merger between state and religion has failed

There are no "Rules of Isolation" you assclown. http://www.aegis.com/topics/hiv_exist.html

Unfortunatly, you're right. De jure nullification is dead. But de faco nullification is alive and kicking. Take your marijuana example: locally, Californian state officials generally don't enforce the federal marijuana laws. They don't have to. That's why you get federal officers doing most of the drug-busting in California, which costs the federal government a load of cash and time.

And what happens to people in California, when they're found guilty of growing or posessing medical marijuana? They get just one day in jail.

Now, apply this to ink. Granted, it's a lot different that marijuana laws - but, the state will wind up doing nothing to help the federal government in this matter, which is a big win. And it'll turn a blind-eye to anyone who wants to keep producing 3rd-party ink. Another win.

The idea of nullification now'a'days is just to be such a pain in the ass that the federal government has to eventually rethink their position. Hell, look at all the anti-patriot act bills floating around.

Aids Patents harm Africa

see for yourself

A Norwegian family that died in 1976 has the earliest proven case.

Coz by the time high school is over (1984), there's gonna be this incurable STD that KILLS. Wear a condom--just to be on the safe side.

I don't have much time to discuss it and I'm not a virologist, but I can suggest some reading.

The Barcelona report, the result of a conference last year. The link "The Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic" is particularly informative in showing it isn't just a "handful of sufferers". I suggest browsing around theUNAIDS home page too.

About the HIV/AIDS link, if you have some time and an open mind, I suggest this site's links, this one being particularly useful.

About your questions, I don't know what you mean by epidemic patterns (I'm not an expert) but I don't think that question is important, if it's just a matter of calling it epidemics or not - there are many people infected and dying, and I've seen it referred as epidemics in many places; AZT is covered thoroughly in the links I gave you; I read somewhere that, although not clinically proven, statistics say amyl nitrate increases the chances of HIV infected people developping Kaposi's syndrome, but I don't know what is your point; diseases that are associated with AIDS are opportunistic diseases that take advantage of the damage to the immune system, I don't see a problem with that list changing.

Of course, if you don't want to believe, it's pointless. You can come up with a huge conspiracy theory involving thousands of scientists all over the world, and think whatever you want. Those who are affected by the disease deserve treatment though, and everyone deserves information, because denial theories could prompt people to stop being careful about prevention and to be hopeless about treatment.

That said, science lives off people like you, who are skeptic and don't accept things blindly. Contrary to what you may think, or not, scientists are encouraged to question and go against the establishment, that's very important and science isn't static, but at the end of the day the theory that survives is the one that's supported by the facts. New evidence could come up, and there might be a report tomorrow, saying that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, but based on current evidence, most people strongly believe HIV causes AIDS.

Some other silly stuff from this judge:

• Uhh, it's like way too confusing, dude Unable to reconcile federal and state laws. Ugh, week is illegal. This may or may not be a good thing, but the law is clear.
  
• no harm done! No one died, so US must be right.
  
• Wierd Would you believe that my grandfater lost two trucks of gold?
  
• From a Swamp of incompetence Seitz cries foul!
  
• I'm sure there's more but it's off topic.
  

Web designers must now take it on themselves to dissavow propriatory and impossible garbage such as activeX, and Flash when designing important sites. Google reduces the entire web with simple text, ticket sales should be so easy. Please use only published and open standards for important public services. Hint, you should be able to navigate it easily with lynx, a text based browser.

Couple that with people's attitudes towards cloning, and what kind of chance do half-human pigs have?

I am sorry to bring you to the real world, but our program against AIDS, which distributes medicine for free, and ignores the patent laws for these medicines is a pioneer.

Even the US backed up his case due to the international pressure. (This happened in time when US used to listen to the international community).

You can say that about the debts, but better dig some info before talking about AIDS in BRA.

It's been all over the news lately.

Lonely Mission Stephen Donaldson Wants to Stop the Sexual Abuse of Inmates by Inmates

Chicago Tribune (CT) - FRIDAY, June 23, 1995

In a comfortable downtown Chicago restaurant, Stephen Donaldson is suddenly silent, his face turning a deep red, his eyes staring at nothing. Donaldson is trying to describe something so horrible, so sickening, so painful that it almost destroyed him.

It is very difficult for me to talk about it, Donaldson says, taking a deep breath and pushing away his plate. This is a good way to lose an appetite.

It began Aug. 9, 1973, when Donaldson--by then a college graduate, Navy veteran, journalist and Quaker pacifist--participated in a pray-in at the White House on the 28th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.

Donaldson was arrested for trespassing and sent to the Washington, D.C., jail, where he refused on moral grounds to post a $10 bond. Donaldson believed the bail system discriminated against poor people and minorities.

At first, Donaldson was housed in a section of the jail reserved for older and non-violent detainess. He spent an uneventful week playing chess and talking with other inmates.

But Donaldson said jail officials began pressuring him to pay his bail and get out. I refused, Donaldson recalled. I said I was going to stay until trial.

Soon after, Donaldson was transferred into the jail's general population--something officials evidently hoped would force Donaldson to pay the bail. Almost immediately, a young inmate who introduced himself only as Baseball approached Donaldson and said a group of inmates wanted to talk to him about his politics.

Not suspecting any threat, Donaldson followed Baseball into the inmate's cell. Eight men were waiting for him.

They blocked the exit and told me to take my pants off, Donaldson recounted. I said, 'Like hell.' They picked me up and began ramming my head against the iron railing of the top bunk. They sat me down on the toliet seat and Baseball stood in front of me.

Baseball ordered Donaldson to perform oral sex. Donaldson refused. He started punching me, Donaldson said. There just wasn't any way out. I was totally surrounded. I was terrified. They said if I said anything about it, they would kill me. At that point I gave in.

Donaldson was forced to have oral sex with Baseball. A second inmate demanded anal intercourse. When Donaldson refused, the inmate tore off Donaldson's pants, shoved a pillow over his head so that he couldn't scream and raped him. It was excruciatingly painful, said Donaldson.

For the next four hours, several dozen inmates dragged Donaldson from cell to cell raping him.

Baseball collected two packs of cigarettes from each inmate who raped Donaldson. That was the price of sex in the D.C. jail. This is just the way we welcome new kids on the first night, one of the rapists told Donaldson.

You won't have to go through all this again. The inmate lied. The next night Donaldson was gang-raped again. It was devastating psychologically, says Donaldson, his voice almost inaudible. It seemed like I was going to spend the rest of my life . It was like the end of all hope.

Donaldson managed to escape his attackers and run to the nearest guard post, where he collapsed. The next day, after posting bail and being released, Donaldson held a press conference to tell the world about what had happened to him.

Since then, Donaldson hasn't stopped talking about the problem of prison rape, which he estimates affects more than 300,000 inmates each year at juvenile centers, adult jails and prisons nationwide.

As president of the New York City-based Stop Prisoner Rape--the nation's only advocacy group dedicated to the problem--Donaldson speaks to state legislators, law school students, psychologists, private attorneys, correctional officials, talk show hosts and just about anyone else who will listen.

Working out of his New York apartment on a shoestring budget, Donaldson corresponds with about 300 inmate victims of sexual assault and wrote a friend of the court brief in a landmark 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that holds correctional officials liable if they fail to protect inmates against sexual assault. Donaldson also helped put together two groundbreaking audio tapes and manuals used in prisons to educate inmates and correctional officers about prison rape.

Hitting rock bottom

For Donaldson, it's been a lonely, difficult and bitter personal struggle. Donaldson, 48, has been imprisoned four times since his first jailing and raped repeatedly during each incarceration.

He dropped out of two graduate schools, bagged a promising journalism career and drifted from one job to another. He was briefly homeless, arrested twice for drug possession, started carrying a gun, and suffered through alternative bouts of rage, paranoia, helplessness and depression.

For years, Donaldson said his whole body would shake uncontrollably for no apparent reason. He suffered panic attacks when there were a lot of men around. He has suffered chronic insomnia and he attempted suicide in 1977.

Donaldson hit rock bottom in 1980 when he fired a handgun in the emergency room of a New York City hospital after he was denied treatment for a cut on his hand. Nobody was hurt, but Donaldson was convicted of assault with intent to commit murder and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

He was released after serving four years, started therapy for rape trauma syndrome and eventually became a rape counselor. Donaldson also intensified his efforts to publicize the problem of prison rape--something he describes as his mission in life.

But that, too, has been a difficult and frustrating experience.

Despite the publicity his case initially generated--hearings were held in the District of Columbia City Council in the early 1970s--Donaldson says his words have fallen mostly on deaf ears. The D.C. jail guards, who he alleges allowed him to be raped, were never punished. And Donaldson can't remember how many letters he's written about prison rape to politicians and prison officials that were never answered.

The public also hasn't been too interested in inmates being sexually abused behind bars. And correctional officials nationwide tend to downplay sexual assault in prison, saying that sex behind bars is rare and more often than not consensual.

I don't want to minimize the problem, but I think that the number is relatively low, says Tom Metzger, speaking for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs 81 institutions with about 97,000 inmates. There are a number of individuals who suggest that this is a much greater problem than we think it is.

But research tends to support Donaldson's contention that prison sexual assaults are not infrequent. A 1982 study found a 14 percent sexual assault rate in one California prison, while a 1984 study reported that 28 percent of the inmates in six New York state prisons had been the target of sexual aggression at least once.

A 1994 study found that 22 percent of male inmates at three Nebraska prisons reported they had been pressured or forced into sexual contact ranging from grabbing the genitals to oral or anal sex. Only 29 percent of the Nebraska inmates who had been sexually assaulted said they reported the incident to prison staff, the study found.

This problem needs to be addressed, said Donaldson, who held a series of meetings in Chicago in May. Even those members of the public who don't care about the humane treatment of prisoners need to understand that prison rape is a serious public safety issue.

The rape system is an assembly line which takes young, non-violent newcomers and efficiently fills them with rage and a desire for revenge and then deposits them on our doorsteps, Donaldson added. If they've also been infected with HIV, we've given them a death sentence which they in turn will spread. That will come back to haunt us all.

---

Criminiologists say prison rape has been around as long as there have been prisons. It has nothing to do with sex. It's an act of aggression, power and control.

The whole idea is to force someone--to take away someone's manhood, said Wayne Wooden, who co-authored the California study and is coordinator of the Criminal Justice and Corrections program at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Calif.

Wooden said that new inmates usually are targeted by sexual predators within three days of the newcomers' arrival in prison. The predators, called jockers or studs, primarily go after young, attractive, heterosexual men.

Most of the victims are non-violent offenders who are unfamiliar with the Darwinian rules that govern life behind bars, criminologists say. And most of the targeted inmates are not affiliated with powerful street gangs that dominate life inside many prisons.

Wooden says that unless the targeted inmate fights back and wards off the attack, he will get a reputation that he can be taken and he will be victimized. Predators also use a variety of tricks to lure weaker inmates into sexual relationships.

As soon as a fish walks into prison, all the normal issues of survival come to the forefront, said Michael Mahoney, president of the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison watchdog group. Weaker inmates have to hook up with stronger inmates or with a gang and part of that may be for sex. In other situations, they just decide they are going to rip you off for sex.

The perfect target

In many ways, Donaldson was the perfect target. A middle class kid born into a military family in Norfolk, Va., Donaldson was valedictorian of his high school class in Long Branch, N.J., and a graduate of Columbia University.

Before he was jailed in D.C., Donaldson had had only one brush with the law: He had been jailed for one night in 1968 after being arrested for trespassing during an anti-war protest at Columbia. Donaldson was also very spiritual, placing his trust in God to protect him.

I was very naive. I wasn't prepared for anything monstrous like that, said Donaldson, referring to his jailhouse rape. I knew that there were fights in jail, but I had never heard about gang rape.

Inmate Michael Blucker also says he wasn't prepared for what happened to him at Illinois' maximum-security Menard Correctional Center. Blucker, who filed a lawsuit last month in federal court against the Illinois Department of Corrections, alleges he was repeatedly raped by gang members between May, 1993, and April, 1994.

Blucker says he contracted the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, after being sexually assaulted--and that corrections officers failed to protect him even after he reported the attacks. A former resident of Crystal Lake, Blucker is incarcerated at the Dixon Correctional Center and is serving a 10-year sentence for residential burglary and automobile theft.

I became a gang slut, said Blucker, 25, in a telephone interview. I became my cellie's sex slave. He sold me for cigarettes, coffee, sometimes for nothing. You can't get over something like this. Everyday I think about it. Everyday I dream about it.

Blucker, a non-gang member, said the first rape occurred several days after his arrival at Menard when three gang members cornered Blucker in his cell, brandished homemade knives and wrapped an electrical cord around his neck. In another incident, several inmates beat Blucker over the head with bricks before gang-raping him in the shower room.

I didn't do nothing unless my gang member told me to, Blucker said. I feared for my life. I'd seen what they had done to other gang members. I wanted to come home alive, not in a box.

Howell of the Illinois Department of Corrections refused to comment on Blucker's lawsuit. But Richard Ahmad, executive director of the Prison Action Committee, a Chicago-based group that aides ex-cons, said it is highly likely that Blucker could have been sexually assaulted.

The officers often leave the cellhouses totally unattended, said Ahmad, who served 17 years in six state prisons--including Menard--for murder. The guards really don't have control over the cellhouses now.

A. Nicholas Groth, a Florida psychologist who has worked in the Massachusetts and Connecticut prison systems counseling victims of sexual assault, said the most traumatized rape victims are inmates like Donaldson.

In Donaldson's case, he was not a hardened criminal who had adopted that value system and lifestyle, Groth explained. To him, it would have been much more devastating psychologically than someone whose life has been marked by abuse, neglect, mistreatment, and institutionalization.

---

Donaldson is walking down Michigan Avenue and people are staring at him. With his Lincolnesque beard, thick glasses and white baseball hat that reads, Stop Prisoner Rape, Donaldson does not fit into the crowd. He looks and acts like an outsider. Rape does that to a person, Donaldson explains.

You feel alienated from everybody around you, said Donaldson. I became extremely alienated from all power structures. Rape is ultimately a power issue. I started feeling like an outlaw--being outside the shelter and protection of the law.

In recent years, Donaldson has sought spiritual solace in the Buddist and Hindu religions. And he has found an outlet for his anger and rage in the punk scene, where Donaldson spends most weekends listening to jarring music and slam-dancing. He writes for several alternative music magazines under the byline Donny The Punk.

But like many survivors, it is Donaldson's cause--stopping prison rape--that has given him a reason to continue living in a world that has brought him so much pain and suffering. With an IQ of 180 and boundless energy, Donaldson has become a walking encyclopedia on the issue on sexual assault.

I don't know anybody who is more knowledgeable about this issue both intellectually and through experience, said Fay Honey Knopp, former director of the Safer Society, a Vermont-based group that hired Donaldson to produce the audio tapes and manual about sexual assault in prisons.

During his two-day Chicago visit, Donaldson was in perpetual motion. He spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times' and Chicago Tribune's editorial boards, held a press conference with Michael Blucker's mother and the mother of another alleged Illinois prison rape victim and talked to psychologists at the Midwestern Psychological Association meeting.

He also met with a dozen private attorneys, American Civil Liberties Union officials, Mahoney of the John Howard Association, and State Rep. Cal Skinner (R-Crystal Lake), who is sponsoring legislation requiring state prison officials to inform new inmates how to avoid and prevent sexual assault, provide literature and tapes to inmates on rape and rape trauma and allow access by rape crisis counselors to inmate victims.

The bill, which Skinner says has little chance of being approved by legislature this year, also would require all prison officials to receive training on how to identify and prevent prison rape, and require guards notify the warden when they recieve a report about an actual or threatened sexual assault.

Donaldson supports the legislation, though he doesn't believe it goes far enough.

He is encouraging lawyers in Illinois and nationwide to file class action suits against correctional officials to force them to house weaker inmates away from sexual predators. Donaldson also wants prisons and jails to distribute condoms to inmates to slow the spread of AIDS behind bars.

It's an ambitious agenda. Donaldson is doing most of the heavy lifting himself. But Donaldson feels optimistic.

I feel like I am finally able to get something done, said Donaldson. To feel that somebody is listening to me, that gives me self-confidence. I don't feel as vulnerable as I used to.

CAPTION: PHOTO: Stephen Donaldson, president of Stop Prisoner Rape, estimates that more than 300,000 inmates are abused each year. Tribune photo by Walter Kale.

There are problems with that theory.

Deusberg claims AIDS is caused by recrational drugs/AZT.

How do you explain Africa's AIDS problem? Not like they have a lot of spare cash laying around for recreational IV drugs, nor are they exactly awash in AZT.

...why so much money is spent on research when there are easier, cheaper, and more effective methods to stop AIDS?

I'm perfectly willing to have a rational discussion about this with anyone, and I'm perfectly willing to listen to skepticism -- that's what makes good science happen. However, just giving names and stating beliefs isn't a persuasive argument. You've given me no substantive reason to doubt what I currently believe.

I know of Duesberg and read his papers on this matter, and I don't agree with his conclusions. I know of Mullins, and think he's a genius, but even a genius isn't infallible. In fact, I think it ironic that his own PCR has disproven one of Duesberg's famous early claims: that HIV is undetectable in some AIDS patients.

Listing names isn't convincing without a reason behind those folks' beliefs. I can look at those names, and still not have any idea why they would be skeptical of the retroviral hypothesis. You list 5,500 names but I expect that 550,000 (or more) scientifically trained folk would take the other side of the argument. Names don't mean anything in good science, nor do numbers. I don't even know if those names are real. Facts and hypothesis-testing do mean something, for they can be tested and put through trials.

I've stated in my prior post why I think Duesberg and others who deny the retroviral theory are wrong. I've stated why I think HIV comes very, very close to fulfilling Koch's postulate (even though we'er dealing with a viral agent, not a bacterial one, here). I've pointed out that almost everything Duesberg has said initially about HIV/AIDS turned out to be untrue. I can even direct you to a relatively recent paper here that gives a good basic overview why HIV seems to fit the bill as the causative agent for AIDS.

So far, nothing I've seen has conflicted with those points I made, and until they do, I really have no reason to question the HIV/retroviral theory of AIDS causation...And I have to wonder the specifics behind why you do.

here's a link saying why that's crap. Basically, the vaccine makers never used chimps in their research (there's no chimp DNA in the results). There is no SIV in the results.

The most telling line is this one though: Hooper argues that that theory lacks scientific proof and that no one has as yet produced scientific evidence to contradict his theory

In other words, "no one can disprove this, so it must be true!", or, in other words "It's total crap!". No legitimate scientist would ever say that, Its the same kind of crap spouted by people who don't believe in evolution or global warming.

The theory that AIDSs was created via a polio vaccine which used Monkey tissue and from which AIDS developed is highly likely to be false.

Here is one link that discusses it. At the end of this article there is reference to work being done on earlier AIDS cases. I even recall reading something that said this had been done, but I could be wrong.

The point about Nuclear Energy is interesting, however presumably there has also been concern about the creation of huge electronic brains that would rule the earth. What if people had banned research on computers because of these fears ?

*Sigh*

Jon, there is no such thing as a new reality. Reality has always been the same. It is this reality we've seen in Europe, rarely but occasionally, in not so distant past, and it's the daily reality of people in countries like India, Israel, Sri Lanka, and a bunch of other less public places.

The only thing that changed is that that strange USian dream of beeing somhow isolated from all that has been scratched substantially. So, hello and welcome to the club, but given the grim circumstances, we're not really glad to see you here now.

What does that mean ? Well, the real challenge for a democracy is not compromising on their principles because of it.

Another thing is really asking yourself about your relation to the rest of the world. Unfortunately the US morals and principles all too often sharply end at your borders. Outsiders are, in any way, "fair game" - in the worst meaning of this term. For many people in third world countries, the United States simply is the oppressor. American companies with very close ties to the White House can get away with mass murder, can deprive thousands of terminally ill people of their needed medicine (ironically the companies suing here are from all western states, but only the US government is openly threatening the affected third-world-countries) - just to name two examples in a list that could be enhanced for pages.

Essentially, the US is openly beeing a Bad World Citizen, World schoolyard Bully, and is openly saying that rules are there for others to obey, not for them. Even when they right, the tone and habit often prevents them from effectively reaching the intended audience.

Instead we see a US that is only and exclusively bothered by its own interests, and puts most moral asisde as soon as its economic or strategical matters are affected. And you even have the chuzpah to claim moral superiority when doing that - this hypocrisy probably inflames people more than the actual policy it concerns. You run around and preach about reducing government corruption - while sufficient large companies can buy just about any law in DC (I don't even start debating presidential elections). You run around preaching about environmental issues - while you are the worst offender in most categories there. You have the incredible audacity to run around and preach about human rights while you put thirteen year olds to prison for life, juveniles onto death row and have more people per capita in your prisons than just about any fucking police state.

If there is a war for the hearts and the minds of the world, you are loosing it. Big time.

So what's the new reality here ? The new reality is that an utterly delusional US of A got slightly tighter grip to the "real" reality out there. Yes, the US will go after Bin Laden and his cronies - finally, I might say, as you have practically grown and financed him for years. And yes, there will be major action against Afghanistan and maybe a few others, and numerous innocent people will loose their life. This is the way the internatinal power play works, and it's probably a necessity. But will you also learn from it ? Will the US change its habits, alter ist ways ?

This is the real "new reality". You got more insights. You can learn. Improve.

Will you ?

f.

• This article goes into the production of the drugs
• and this article goes into the US dropping the case on the previous moves by Brazil

• This article goes into the production of the drugs
• and this article goes into the US dropping the case on the previous moves by Brazil