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When her best friend commits suicide on discovering she was HIV-positive, Core Fletcher, an attractive journalist, decides to investigate the validity of the publicly accepted theory of the cause of AIDS. Using her skills in reporting and scientific research, she begins her investigation in the institutions of healthcare, government and the media, to which the public has delegated all handling of the problem. Uncovering a tangle of fears, taboos, myths, greed, lust for power and privilege according to caste, she discovers that virtually everything the public has been told about AIDS is false, and is known to be false at the highest levels of Government, including the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control. HIV is not in fact the cause of AIDS, and some scientists, despite severe obstacles, are exposing the biggest scientific, medical blunder of all time.
A Cure Too Far takes the reader back to the bleak time in Africa when doctors stood by helplessly and watched in horror as their distraught patients were hijacked by a ragtag army of cocky healers. It describes an obstacle-strewn struggle to stop peddlers of fake AIDS drugs and other detractors while trying to find a scientifically proven solution to alleviate the carnage. This story is informed by incredible personal accounts of individuals who played different roles in the war for survival, and of those who found the agony too much to bear, as the relentless scourge ripped apart thousands of years of cultural practices. Even when hope appeared in January 2003, through the President's Emergancy Programme for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a devastating financial crunch hit, threatening to undo all that had been achieved!
The nature of scientific activity has changed dramatically over the last half century, and the objectivity and rigorous search for evidence that once defined it are being abandoned. Increasingly, this text argues, dogma has taken the place of authentic science. This study examines how conflicts of interest--both institutional and individual--have become pervasive in the science world, and also explores the troubling state of research funding and flaws of the peer-review process. It looks in depth at the dominance of several specific theories, including the Big Bang cosmology, human-caused global warming, HIV as a cause of AIDS, and the efficacy of anti-depressant drugs. In a scientific environment where distinguished experts who hold contrary views are shunned, this book is an important contribution to the examination of scientific heterodoxies.
“Farber [is] a lucid and courageous witness to the power-play behind the first ‘scamdemic,’ . . . [Her] work is journalism at its best—solid, lucid, and humane, attacking wrongs that few dare touch, and thereby helping right them.” —Mark Crispin Miller, bestselling author and professor of media studies at NYU On April 23, 1984, in a packed press conference room in Washington, DC, the secretary of health and human services declared, “The probable cause of AIDS has been found.” By the next day, “probable” had fallen away, and the novel retrovirus later named HIV became forever lodged in global consciousness as “the AIDS virus.” Celia Farber, then an intrepid young repor...
Much has happened since the first appearance of AIDS in 1981: it has been identified, studied, and occasionally denied. The virus has shifted host populations and spread globally. Medicine, the social sciences, and world governments have joined forces to combat and prevent the disease. And South Africa has emerged as ground zero for the pandemic. The editors of HIV/AIDS in South Africa 25 Years On present the South African crisis as a template for addressing the myriad issues surrounding the epidemic worldwide, as the book brings together a widely scattered body of literature, analyzes psychosocial and sexual aspects contributing to HIV transmission and prevention, and delves into complex in...
Through an in-depth examination of the interactions between the South African government and the international AIDS control regime, Jeremy Youde examines not only the emergence of an epistemic community but also the development of a counter-epistemic community offering fundamentally different understandings of AIDS and radically different policy prescriptions. In addition, individuals have become influential in the crafting of the South African government's AIDS policies, despite universal condemnation from the international scientific community. This study highlights the relevance and importance of Africa to international affairs. The actions of African states call into question many of our basic assumptions and challenge us to refine our analytical framework. It is ideally suited to scholars interested in African studies, international organizations, global governance and infectious diseases.
Paralleling the discovery of HIV and the rise of the AIDS pandemic, a flock of naysayers has dedicated itself to replacing genuine knowledge with destructive misinformation—and spreading from the fringe to the mainstream media and the think tank. Now from the editor of the journal AIDS and Behavior comes a bold exposé of the scientific and sociopolitical forces involved in this toxic evasion. Denying AIDS traces the origins of AIDS dissidents disclaimers during the earliest days of the epidemic and delves into the psychology and politics of the current denial movement in its various incarnations. Seth Kalichman focuses not on the “difficult” or doubting patient, but on organized, wide...
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As a spokesman for a country, a continent and the developing world, Thabo Mbeki played a crucial role in world politics, but to many people he remained an enigma throughout his presidency. Is this simply because he was a secretive man, or were there complicated political factors at play? Who was the real Mbeki? In this book, multiple-award-winning journalist William Mervin Gumede chronicles Mbeki’s spectacular rise to dominate Africa’s oldest liberation movement. He explores the complex position that Mbeki occupied – following in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps, holding together an alliance with deep ideological differences, and ruling an intensely divided country. Revealing the political and personal tensions behind the scenes, Gumede explains how Mbeki sought to mould the ANC into his image through tight control, and exposes the intrigues behind the battle for succession. Covering Mbeki’s attempts to modernise the economy and kick-start an African Renaissance, and investigating his controversial stance on issues from AIDS to Zimbabwe, the book offers invaluable insights into the arcane machinations behind political decisions that touch the lives of millions every day.