Updated 11/07/02
Polio, Hepatitis B and AIDS:
An Integrative Theory on a Possible Vaccine Induced Pandemic
By
Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D.,
M.A., M.P.H.
President and Co-Founder,
Tetrahedron, LLC Incorporated, a nonprofit educational organization,
Post Office Box 2033, Sandpoint, Idaho, 83864, USA.
http://www.tetrahedron.org/
E-mail: tetra@tetrahedron.org
The
following paper was accepted for publication in the Journal of Medical
Hypotheses. The final edited manuscript was published May 2001,
Vol. 56, No. 5, pp. 553-694. Slight differences exist between this
paper and the final publication.
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. David F. Horrobin,
Laxdale Limited
Kings Park House, Laurelhill Business Park,
Stirling FK7 9JQ, UK
Abstract
The
hypothesis that simian virus 40 (SV40) infected polio vaccines may
be linked to the evolution of acquired immunodeficiency disorder
(AIDS), and certain cancers, has been advanced. Most recently, investigators
discussed the likelihood of "gene-reshuffling" following SV40 infection
as a precursor to acquired immune dysfunction. Findings of recent
SV40 infections in four children born after 1982 suggest infections
were transmitted vertically along gene lines. Earlier observations
proved activation of a retrovirus gene by a hepatitis B virus (HBV)
protein. This paper proposes a new integrative theory on the origin
of AIDS. It advances the possibility of genetic recombinations with
oncogene activation by HBV involving SV40, chimpanzee immunodeficiency
virus (SIVcpz), and other simian viruses containing reverse transcriptase,
that likely infected polio vaccinated blood donors to the initial
hepatitis B (HB) vaccine trails conducted on gay men in New York
City and other minority groups including Blacks in Uganda in the
early to mid-1970s.
Introduction
and Background
Scientific
reports have advanced a theory of a polio vaccine linked evolution
of AIDS and certain cancers.(1-4) A possible link between SV40,
that contaminated early Salk and Sabin polio vaccines, and AIDS,
was initially explored by Kyle in The Lancet in 1992.(4) Investigators
Urnovitz(1), Butel(2-3) and others(4), discussed the likelihood
of "gene-reshuffling" following SV40 infection as a precursor to
acquired immune dysfunction and the development of certain cancers.
Likewise, Butel revealed evidence of recent SV40 infections in four
children born after 1982.(3) Her team advanced the likelihood that
the infections were transmitted vertically, along gene lines, from
parents who had received tainted polio vaccines. Earlier, she observed
the activation of a HTLV-1 retrovirus gene by a HB virus protein.(5)
With
an acknowledged threat of SV40 recombination in association with
immune suppression, and possible oncogene development or activation
in polio vaccine and possibly HB vaccine recipients and their offspring,
this paper advances an integrative theory on the origin of AIDS.
It asserts the possibility of genetic recombinations between SV40,
chimpanzee immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz), and/or other simian
viruses containing reverse transcriptase such as the foamy retroviruses
(SFR), that likely infected blood donors who had first received
contaminated polio vaccines in the 1950s and early 1960s, before
volunteering for the HB vaccine trails conducted on gay men in New
York City (NYC), Blacks in central Africa, and other minority groups
in 1974 through 1975.
Ten
years later, in 1984, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) first responded to concerns that experimental HB vaccines,
administered during the 1970s to homosexual men in the United States,
were somehow linked to the AIDS epidemic.(6) Anonymous authors representing
the CDC, along with others from Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD),
and the State University of New York (SUNY), reported no trace of
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) in samples of vaccine supplied
by MSD. Further, their epidemiologic analyses, conducted on gay
HB vaccine trial subjects in Denver and San Francisco, showed no
relationship between AIDS cases and HB vaccine exposure. For unexplained
reasons, homosexual males from New York City were not included in
their study.
Genetic
Analyses Elucidating HIV-1's Origin
Recently,
reports by a Spanish team suggested an early genetic evolution of
HIV-1.(7) Relatedly, in 1998, Zhu et al. described an African HIV-1
sequence from 1959 and its implications regarding the origin of
the AIDS pandemic.(8) Later, Gao et al.(9) provided additional evidence
of HIV's link to African chimpanzees by "amplifying" two DNA sequences,
from two of six HIV genes, into "four overlapping subgenomic fragments
that together comprised a complete pro viral genome," which they
termed SIVcpzUS. In an editorial accompanying this report by Weiss
and Wragham,(10) it was noted that the chimpanzee Gao et al. studied,
"Marilyn," came to the United States Air Force primate center in
New Mexico like most other African primate infants--free of sexually
transmitted viruses. They implied that Marilyn's infection could
have originated in a laboratory.
Zhu
et al. further advanced an iatrogenic theory of HIV's origin when
they confessed, "the factors that propelled the initial spread of
HIV-1 in central Africa remain unknown: the role of large-scale
vaccination campaigns . . . should be carefully examined . . ."
Although the possible role contaminated vaccines might have played
was not addressed by these authors, they provided additional insights
into the inherent risk of in vitro and in vivo viral recombination(s)
when their data is compared with earlier scientific reports concerning
the HB vaccine.
Zhu et al. advanced a curious association that "[f]or most regions
of the HIV-1 genome, subtypes B and D are more closely associated
with each other than are any other subtypes with the major group."(8)
Of the six major AIDS virus subtypes, the B subtype is most common
to North America. The D subtype is most common to Uganda, and the
F subtype is most common in Zaire.(11) These authors' analysis showed
an "unusual B/D/F clustering found in [their] phylogenetic analyses."
In
1993, Myers and colleagues published their "big bang" theory on
the origin of AIDS and HIV-1 based on sophisticated genetic analyses
conducted at the U.S. Government's Los Alamos Laboratory. They concluded
that subtypes B, D, and F, along with close African/Indian virus
relatives A, E and C, simultaneously emerged on three distant contents,
in behaviorally divergent populations no less, during the early
to mid-1970s, despite recognizing simian virus gene sequences of
earlier evolution.(11)
Epidemiological
Common Sense
Based
on the above background and genetic findings, an iatrogenic mode
of transmission, as opposed to an isolated natural cross-species
jump, appears to more likely explain how HIV-1 might have simultaneously
emerged on three far removed continents among behaviorally divergent
populations during the early to mid 1970s.
Several
non-iatrogenic origin and cross species transmission rumors have
been advanced regarding HIV-1 and its closest relative SIVcpz. The
genetically more distant relative HIV-2, and the even more divergent
African green monkey virus (SIVagm), are all believed, like HIV-1,
to have spontaneously leaped from the African jungle. Related explanations
included unprotected sex with nonhuman primates, monkey bites, dining
on bloody primate meat, needlestick injuries in primate containment
facilities or African hospitals, intercontinental infected passenger
travel, and even viral mutations associated with global warming
and jungle deforestation.(12) All these theories seem tenuous, if
not ludicrous, when considered in light of the evidence compiled
herein.
Given
the above, including the findings of Urnovitz(1), Butel(2-3) and
others(4), it is most reasonable to consider the polio vaccine as
a likely factor in the origin of AIDS. As reported by Essex, African
green monkey derived oral polio vaccines (OPV) were a constant reservoir
for SIV.(13) During OPV manufacturing procedures, viral mutations
and vaccine contaminations routinely occurred without much ado.
In America, for instance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
even to the time of this writing, have not been able to assure the
quality and safety of vaccines, including those for polio and HB.(14)
Regarding the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines, according to Martin
(a previous FDA vaccine and cancer virus official) and Kyle's report,(4)
doses of OPV routinely contained as many as 100 simian virus particles,
including SV40, SIVs, and SFRs overlooked by FDA overseers to uphold
pharmaceutical industry and regulatory standards.
However,
as per Myers's findings, HIV contaminated polio vaccines alone would
not account for the 1970s "big bang." Given the generally recognized
seven to ten year incubation period for HIV/AIDS expression, an
early polio vaccine transmitted pandemic would have likely prompted
initial indentifications of non-gay AIDS cases before 1970, and
certainly no later than 1975. Instead, the first gay-related-immunodeficiency
disease (GRID) cases were heralded in New York City in 1981.(15)
Moreover, had the Salk or early Sabin vaccines transmitted HIV between
1955 and 1965 as some have advanced,(1-4) then Myers's conclusion
would have likely reflected this, as would a North American AIDS
outbreak not initially confined to homosexual males.
Thus,
it seems prudent to consider the findings of Butel(5) concerning
HB as a potential retrovirus (e.g. HIV or HIV progenitor) activating
agent, and cofactor, delivered with the 1970-75 HB vaccines involving
New York's gay men, Willowbrook State School (WSS) mentally retarded
children, and Ugandan Blacks who had approximately ten years earlier
received monkey virus contaminated polio vaccines.
Integrating
Polio and HB Vaccine Theories of AIDS
Given
the administration of simian virus contaminated, monkey kidney tissue
derived, polio vaccines in North America and Subsahara Africa from
the mid 1950s through at least the early 1960s; then later, in the
same or overlapping populations, the pilot testing of HB vaccines
in these same regions from 1973 to 1975, the major group subtypes,
B/D/F, as well as strains A/E, might have evolved in experimental
chimpanzees, and/or human test subjects, during the viral vaccine
production and testing processes. Subsequent HB vaccine production
methods for later trials incorporated additional contamination risks
with the mixing of chimpanzee incubated HB virus with human blood.
According to a 1975 report by Robert Purcell from the Laboratory
of Infectious Diseases of the National Institute for Allergies and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), this blood was subsequently pooled
to produce four subtypes of experimental HB vaccine (referred to
as adw, ayw, adr, and ayr).(16,17) These experimental HB vaccine
subtypes were tested primarily in NYC and portions of Africa-regions
largely overlapping the predominance of major HIV-1 strains B, D,
and F. According to a 1979 NIAID task force report,(16) the four
live HB viral subtypes were subsequently transmitted to "high risk"
humans.
As
explained in contemporary medical bioethics texts, the "high risk"
label, applied to groups predisposed to blood borne pathogen infections,
served to also justify gross violations of bioethics and informed
consent particularly during the HB vaccine experiments conducted
by Krugman and colleagues at the New York University Medical Center
(NYUMC) and affiliated NYC Blood Center labs.(18)
Dr.
Krugman was credited with "isolating" the first HB (MS-2) strain
of virus from a mentally retarded child. This pathogen was originally
called the "Australian antigen (AuAg)" due to its earlier identification
in Australia. Subsequently, Krugman et al., cultured the virus in
mentally retarded children before extracting AuAg for subsequent
HB vaccine trials. In related studies, a report by Litton Bionetics
staff to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed that by 1968,
AuAg had been extracted from human "plasma/serum" and injected into
eleven simians. Seven were reported "dead or transferred" by 1971.(19)
Litton
Bionetics was reported to be the leading supplier of African simians
for the NCI and America's biomedical community.(19) They were also
the U.S. military's sixth leading biological weapons contractor
according to the 1969 Congressional Record.(20) The question of
laboratory contamination is raised here by NCI documents showing
hepatitis, herpes, and retrovirus recombinants (including acute
lymphocytic leukemia virus hybridized with influenza or parainfluenza
viruses to propagate airborne leukemia) were being cultured and
tested before 1971 at Bionetics and collaborating laboratories in
northwest Uganda and near Bethesda.(19) Bionetics also administered
the "Special Virus Cancer Program" for the NCI and National Institutes
of Health (NIH) including HB collaborative studies between New York
investigators representing the Merck pharmaceutical company and
the International Agency for Research on Cancer operating in France
and Uganda.(19)
Experimental
subjects for these HB vaccine trials included homosexual males in
NYC, Willowbrook State School (WSS) mentally retarded children on
Staten Island, and African Blacks. All subjects were not informed
that the four subtype HB vaccines being tested were partially processed
in live potentially contaminated chimpanzees, shipped from Africa
by Bionetics, then housed in NYC where biohazard and containment
problems, including the horizontal transmission of infectious diseases,
was routine.(17,18)
Further
scrutinizing the development and testing of these four HB vaccine
subtypes, the blood from these experimentally infected human subjects
was later pooled and used to develop "perhaps 200,000 human doses"
according to Merck's vaccine chief, Maurice Hilleman.(18) Again,
these doses containing HB viruses serially passed from Australian
humans, to WSS children, into African chimpanzees before being reinoculated
into New Yorkers and central Africans by way of vaccines by 1975.(21)
This was perfect timing for the initial outbreak of GRID/AIDS cases
in these regions by the late 1970s.
Relatedly,
in a recovered interview, Dr. Hilleman reported unwittingly importing
AIDS virus into North America in contaminated monkeys destined for
vaccine research and development at Merck.(22) Likewise, Dr. Hilleman's
coauthor and senior Merck vaccine developer, Benjamin Sweet, expressed
regret that their early SV40 contaminated polio vaccines may have
contributed to contemporary cancer epidemics. "[N]ow, with the theoretical
links to HIV and cancer," he reported in 1998 on the internet, "it
just blows my mind."(23)
HIV-2
and the Possible Iatrogenic Origin of HIV-1
Ample
scientific evidence exists to advance the generic thesis of vaccine
laboratory contamination associated with retroviral transmissions
risking epidemic outcomes. A classic example intimately related
to this polio/HB vaccine/AIDS hypothesis is the identification of
HIV-2 by Max Essex and colleagues at the Harvard AIDS Institute.
These investigators published discovering HIV-2 among healthy Senegalese
female prostitutes.(24) In Senegal, prostitution is legal and the
sex workers are required to report for clinical examinations and
HB vaccinations periodically for relicensure. Eventually investigators
determined that the simian immunodeficiency virus from the macaque
monkey (SIVmac) and Essex's HIV-2 were genetically identical.(25,26)
Moreover, wild macaques were found not to harbor this virus whatsoever.
SIVmac was only found in laboratory contaminated primates.(27) Thus,
Shultz concluded that culturing monkey viruses in human tissues,
as is often done in viral vaccine production labs, risks activating
previously benign "retroviral genomes carried in the germline for
millions of years" into pathogens capable of inducing immune dysfunction.
He, therefore, advised reexamining "any remaining [polio] vaccine
lots by the polymerase chain reaction" so as to identify HIV or
related lentiviruses.(27) Given the above evidence, the same should
be urged for the earliest HB vaccine lots.
Following
Dr. Essex's 1996 presentation at the National AIDS Update Conference
in San Francisco, I had the opportunity to question him as to, "How,
other than through contaminated vaccines, could a monkey virus that
doesn't exist in the wild, end up infecting Senegalese female prostitutes?"
Evading the question he replied, "I can tell you how my monkeys
got infected. . . . Researchers had inoculated the monkeys with
human tissues during experiments [unrelated to HIV] prior to them
coming to my lab."(21)
Though his comment failed to explain how HIV-1 and HIV-2 got into
Black Africans in the first place, it did provide a unique admission
of human error commonly associated with laboratory contaminations,
including the threat of viral particles crossing species barriers.
In this case, once again, the HB vaccine is logically implicated.
More
Support For A HB Vaccine AIDS Link
During
the early 1970s, researchers at the NYUMC led the world in determining
blood group compatibility between humans and simians. Investigators
here set the stage for the use of monkey blood in human vaccine
trials.(21) NYUMC dermatologists and hematologists were credited
with the discovery and analysis of the first gay Kaposi's sarcoma
(KS) lesion.(28) Across town, at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for
Cancer Research, Dermatology Department, Dr. Eleanor R. Lappano-Colletta
was busy studying viral infected tissue taken from young gay men
with KS. Between 1973 and 1974 she revealed, her dermatology department
directors were routinely communicating with NCI chiefs and Litton
affiliates including their 1971 retrovirus "project officer," Dr.
Robert Gallo, regarding the subject of her investigation-the unique
retroviral particles she was studying in the tissue samples taken
from gay KS victims.(29)
Dr.
Lappano-Colletta's testimony raises the spectre that the 1984 contested
discovery of HTLV-III (i.e., HIV-1) by Dr. Gallo, actually followed
his learning about the teratogenic effects of a pathogenically related
virus in gay men ten years previously, and just prior to the administration
of the suspected HB vaccines in the same city and same unique population.
Besides
Litton Bionetics, the NYUMC was also listed among the Army's top
biological weapons contracting labs by 1969.(20) Under Army contract
Dr. Krugman routinely used mentally retarded children and gay men
to grow/culture and/or test HB viral strains and vaccines following
his MS-2 studies.(30) The pilot HB vaccines theoretically linked
here to the earliest GRID cases in NYC was overseen as well by an
advisory committee chaired by Dr. Krugman,(31) and researched by
intimate Krugman collaborator, Abbott Laboratory's L. R. Overby.
Together, Krugman and Overby evaluated HB susceptibility and vaccination
methods on NYC subjects between 1965 and the mid-1970s.(18,30,32)
Subsequently, Abbott Labs began commercially marketing MSD's HB
vaccine.(28,32,33) Later, large scale HB vaccine trial marshal Wolf
Szmuness, also affiliated with the NYC Blood Center explained the
selection criteria for Dr. Krugman's early, and his later, HB vaccine
experiments. He wrote:
Several
populations in the United States with a high risk of HBV infection
were considered for such a trial: patients institutionalized for
mental retardation, patients undergoing hemodialysis, members of
the medical staff of dialysis centers, American Indians, and homosexual
men. Of these groups, a population of HBV-susceptible homosexual
healthy young men appeared to be the most suitable. Their risk of
HBV infection is unusually high, they are readily accessible through
numerous gay organizations, and their cooperation in previous studies
has been excellent.(31)
It
is well known that HIV/AIDS rates among native Americans, people
of color, blood product recipients, and homosexual males, have far
exceeded those of the general population. It might be this overlap
between populations most affected by HIV/AIDS and those selected
for early and later HB vaccine experiments, more than lifestyle
risks, provides as a common denominator for the AIDS pandemic. Given
this fact alone, the report by Poiesz et al., including anonymous
CDC authors, excluding gay NYC HB vaccine study participants, is
highly irregular at best.(21)
Considering
the epidemiology suggestive of a HB vaccine triggered outbreak of
GRID in America, the data below is noteworthy: Following HB vaccine
pilot studies as discussed above, additional trials were conducted
during the mid-1970s in NYC.
In
1976, the WSS was forced to close allegedly due to abuses sustained
by the children at the hands of school administrators. Based on
the information documented above, it is likely that many of the
approximately 5,000 children sent back to their communities in 1976
were among the world's first AIDS victims.(21)
Larger
scale HB vaccine trials in NYC began after the closing of WSS. In
1978, 1,083 gay men were inoculated with the Merck developed and
Abbott marketed vaccine. In March, 1980, approximately eighteen
months after the NYC inoculations ended, gay men in five other American
cities began to receive the vaccine. These cities included Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Denver, St. Louis, and Chicago from where 1,402 homosexuals
were initially recruited from VD clinics. Later, thousands more
joined additional HB vaccine trials.
Between
1978 and 1984 the percentage of HIV-positive gay men in NYC rose
dramatically. In other HB vaccine study populations the rise in
HIV-1 sero-prevalence and AIDS was also disconcerting. In San Francisco,
for instance, among those who had been subjects in the trials (n=6,875)
the HIV/AIDS rate rose from 4 to 68 percent between 1978 and 1984.(18)
This increase was precipitous contrasting the rate of HIV infection
among homosexual men reported elsewhere in 1989. Across the U.S.
HIV/AIDS rates varied from 0 percent in many communities to 70 percent
in NYC, with significantly less in San Francisco.
In
1982, concerns were expressed at the Pasteur Institute regarding
the possible link between AIDS and the Merck-manufactured HB vaccine.
Luc Montagnier was then assured by CDC HB chief Don Francis, Max
Essex's protege, that "no link between AIDS and the [HB] vaccine
inoculations" had been found. Yet, a year later, Dr. Francis sent
Dr. Montagnier thirteen blood samples from GRID patients all of
whom received experimental HB vaccines.(21, 33)
Dr.
Francis had expressed concern regarding the apparent association
between feline leukemia virus like illness striking gay men in NYC,
Los Angeles, and San Francisco and the distribution of HB cases.
"Combine these two diseases-feline leukemia and hepatitis-and you
have the immune deficiency," he surmised.(34) This was much like
what a NATO scientific audience discussed in 1971 when Gallo et
al., explained combining synthetic RNA and feline leukaemia virus
(FELV) "template" with "human type C" viruses-those associated with
cancers of the lymph nodes-to increase the rate of DNA production
(and subsequent provirus and virus reproduction) "as much as thirty
times."(35) Such hybrid viruses, these researchers reported, caused
many cancers besides leukemias and lymphomas, including sarcomas.
Other Gallo, NCI, and Litton Bionetics teams reported modifying,
at that time, SV40 by infusing it with nucleic acids from other
species including FELV, avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV), both associated
with leukemia and sarcoma development, and mouse sarcoma RNA to
make them severely immunosuppression for primates(36)
Additionally,
in 1985, Harold Jaffe, deputy director for AIDS science at the CDC,
with co-worker Andrew Moss, "presented data from the San Francisco
HB study that found the virus was present in blood of 4.5 percent
of the study's subjects in 1978, 20 percent in 1980, and 67 percent
by late 1984."(37) In contrast, "only about 40 percent of a randomly
selected sample of gay men [also in San Francisco at that time]
were infected. Based on this evidence, again considering the 7-10
year incubation period for HIV/AIDS, the "big bang" most likely
occurred as Myers proposed during the early to mid-1970s with the
HB vaccine cohort preceding the general gay, and later heterosexual,
populations for epidemic onset.(11)
To
further examine this predominance of HIV/AIDS cases among NYC and
San Francisco HB vaccine recipients, Francis examined the blood
collected from 6,800 gay men enrolled in the larger (post-pilot)
HB vaccine trials. From samples drawn between 1978 and 1980, he
recorded a 25 percent rise in HIV positivity. He too concluded that
the new pathogen had appeared among gay men by 1976 or 1977 and
spread quickly from there.(38)
Corroborating
data is cited by CDC official Paul O' Malley who concluded his investigation
into a suspected GRID/HB vaccine link as follows: "[A]n inordinate
number of GRID victims," he stated were in the HB vaccine trial.
"Of the first twenty-four GRID cases in San Francisco, in fact,
eleven were in the hepatitis B cohort."(34)
Based
on CDC reports, as scrutinized by investigative journalist and gay
physician Alan Cantwell, the first 26 AIDS cases were all homosexual
men-20 were from NYC, and 6 were from Los Angeles.(17, 39) Conducting
an independent study paralleling this author's,(21) and drawing
similar conclusions, Dr. Cantwell reported a gross absence of scientific
prowess on the part of CDC officials investigating an apparent HB
vaccine AIDS link.(39) Conflicting interests, he concluded, best
explained the blatant biases and flawed methods used by official
investigators during studies used to reassure the scientific/medical
communities, and the general public, regarding the safety of HB
vaccines.(21,28, 39-41)
Conclusions
A
possible route of HIV evolution, and/or transmission, is this: 1)
From the mid-1950s through at least the 1960s, simian virus infected
polio vaccine recipients were exposed to SV40, SFR, and SIVagm,(1-5)
including gay men and mentally retarded children in New York, along
with Blacks in central Africa;(17) 2) Researchers in NYC "isolated,"
and then inoculated into human vaccine study "volunteers" the MS-2
strain of HB virus. Between 1965 and 1970, these injections and
pilot HB vaccine studies may have activated an endogenous or exogenous
HIV-related retroviral gene in one or more WSS children and/or gay
males;(1,2,5,18) 3) These human derived HB viruses, and potentially
activated retroviral sequences, were then transferred to chimpanzees,
then back again to humans in NYC and central Africa during the development
and testing of four genetically altered subtypes of the 1974-1975
experimental HB vaccine; 4) Contamination risks were increased by
the subsequent pooling of blood donated by the test subjects who
had been injected with the chimpanzee cultured HB strains, along
with biohazard and containment problems reported by principle investigators;
and finally, 5) The four pooled blood derived HB vaccines were then
administered to thousands of test subjects including gay males in
NYC, WSS children once again, and central African Blacks.(15)
This
hypothesis might best explain the conclusion reached by Gerald Myers,
chief of the special HIV Sequence Database AIDS Project at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory, that "the preponderance of evidence
still argues for an explosive event in the mid-1970s."(11) With
the sudden, virtually simultaneous, appearance of several HIV major
group subtypes primarily striking Africa and NYC by 1978, given
the seven to ten year incubation period of HIV/AIDS, the HB vaccine
trials, begun as early as 1965 in New York and Uganda, and in NYC
gay populations soon after, likely played a catalytic role in the
origin of the AIDS pandemic.
Additional
research using PCR analysis of suspected polio and HB vaccine lots,
particularly those given to gay men and WSS children in New York
before 1976, is urgently indicated to identify possible retroviral
contaminants related to HIV/AIDS. Epidemiological efforts should
also be made to contact the families of the WSS children, as well
as the gay men in NYC who participated in the pre 1976 HB vaccine
pilot studies, to document histories relevant to further considering
this hypothesis.
Obviously,
due to the lethal nature and severe cost of the AIDS pandemic, should
this premise be firmly established, it would beg a global reevaluation
of vaccination science, politics, and policies. Based on the preliminary
findings reported here, and in the author's earlier investigative
report,(14) at least two Third World nations have already moved
in this direction.(42)
Not
readily embraced by individuals, organizations, institutions, and/or
government agencies biased by special interests, the dire implications
of neglecting this hypothesis, and its further investigation, are
unfathomable. It may be that the health and welfare of civilization,
as we know it, depends on silencing the arrogant voices that have
directed disinterest, and even antagonism, towards the study of
AIDS's origin. Reflecting on the publication of this material, their
actions strain the ethical fabric of science, our moral obligations
as global citizens, and as a result, may be contributing to a worsening,
irreversible, and unprecedented attack against humanity.
____________________
Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D., M.A., M.P.H. is a Harvard School of
Public Health graduate, independent investigator, and the president
and cofounder of Tetrahedron, LLC Incorporated. Please address correspondence
to: Post Office Box 2033,
Sandpoint, Idaho 83864; E-mail: tetra@tetrahedron.org; internet
address: http://www.tetrahedron.org/
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions in this field,
and/or personal advice provided, by Alan Cantwell, Jr., M.D., Robert
Strecker, M.D., John Seale, M.D., Walter Kyle, J.D., and John Martin,
M.D., Ph.D, and the support, financial and otherwise, of thousands
of well-wishers since this investigation began in 1993. Special
thanks go to Dr. David Horrobin and the peer review committee of
Medical Hypothesis for objectively evaluating this thesis, and having
the heroic fortitude and scientific integrity to commit it to print.
This paper is
dedicated to the fine efforts and genuine honesty of the late Jonathan
Mann who, with his wife, a HB vaccine investigator, met an untimely
fate on Flight 111. Far more than a medical problem, Dr. Mann believed,
AIDS is a socio-political imposition.
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P. The origins of the AIDS virus. Scientific American 1988;259:64-71.
14) Horowitz LG
and Martin JW. Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola. Tetrahedron,
LLC, 1998, pp. XVI-XVII; 488-493.
15 ) CDC staff.
Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia among homosexual men-New
York City and California. MMWR 1981;30:305-308.
16) USDHEW. Virology:
Volume 4-Control of Viral Infections. NIAID Task Force Report. Bethesda,
MD: Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health (NIH) 79-1834,
1979, p. 20-65-78.
17) Purcell RH.
Current understanding of hepatitis B virus infection and its implications
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Virology IX. The Gustav Stern Symposium. New York: Academic Press,
1975, pp. 49-76.
18) Krugman S.
Viral hepatitis type B: Prospects for active immunization. In: International
Symposium on Viral Hepatitis, Milan, Dec. 1974. Develop. biol. Standard.
Vol. 30, Munich: S. Karger Basel, 1975, pp. VI; 363-367; relevant
general discussion can be found on pp.375-379; See also: Krugman
S, Giles JP, Hammond J. Hepatitis virus: effect of health on the
infectivity and antigenicity of the MS-1 and MS-2 strains. J Infectious
Disease. 1970;122:432-6; Krugman S, Giles JP, Hammond J. Viral hepatitis,
type B (MS-2 strain): Studies on active immunization. JAMA 1971;217:41-5;
Krugman S, Giles JP. Viral hepatitis, type B (MS-2 strain); further
observations on natural history and prevention. New England Journal
of Medicine 1973;288:755-60; and Krugman S, Overby LR, Mushahwar
IK, Ling C-M, Forsner GG and Deinhardt F. Viral hepatitis, type
B: Studies on natural history and prevention reexamined. New England
Journal of Medicine 1979;200:101-6.
19) NCI staff.
The Special Virus Cancer Program: Progress Report #8 [and #9]. Office
of the Associate Scientific Director for Viral Oncology (OASDVO).
J. B. Moloney, Ed., Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing
Office, 1971 [and 1972]. Note: This is a very hard publication to
find. Few library data bases have it listed, including the NCI Library
at Fort Detrick. It is available through the Davis Library, The
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Government Documents
Department Depository, Reference # HE 20.3152:V81. The Litton "support
services" contracts that included primate supplies are found on
pp. 187-88 and 326-327 of the reports. Litton's list of mutant viruses,
including retroviruses, and other experimental infectious agents
including AuAg is found on pp. 279-280 and 284 of Project Report
#8, of 1971; for additional documentation on hepatitis and herpes
experimentation in Uganda before 1971 see: Higginson J and Muir
CS. Epidemiologic program of the International Agency for Research
on Cancer (IARC). In: The National Cancer Program and International
Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute Monograph, 1974; 40:65.
20) Department
of Defense Appropriations for 1970: Hearings Before A Subcommittee
of the Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives, Ninety-first
Congress, First Session, H.B., 15090, Part 5, Research, Development,
Test and Evaluation of Biological Weapons, Dept. of the Army. U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1969, p. 689.
21) Horowitz LG
and Martin JW. Op. cit., pp. 250-51; for detailed analysis on flawed
HB vaccine/gay AIDS study involving the CDC see pp. 240-241, and
for Dr. Poiesz's potential conflicts of interest in this regard
see p. 249; for data concerning precipitous rise in HIV/AIDS rates
among HB vaccine recipients see pp. 242-243; for dialogue with Max
Essex, see pp.131-32; for NYUMC blood grouping discussions and references
see pp. 443-444; for WSS closing discussion see p. 254.
22) Shorter E.
The Hilleman interview, February 6, 1987. A recording for background
research in preparation of The Health Century, a companion to the
PBS television series. New York: Doubleday, 1987, pp. 67-69; 195-204.
Bethesda, Maryland: Audio Archives, National Library of Medicine,
1987.
23) Moriarty TJ.
The polio vaccine and simian virus 40: After thirty years, prominent
polio vaccine researcher confirms suspicions about monkey-virus
contamination. http://www.chronicillnet.org/online/bensweet.html#anchor714274.
24) Kanki PJ,
Barin S, M'B oup, et al., New human T-lymphotropic retrovirus (HTLV-IV)
related to simian T-lymphotropicvirus Type III (STLV-IIIagm). Science
1986;232:238-43; see also Essex M, Kanki P. The origins of the AIDS
virus. Scientific American 1988;259:64-71.
25) Kanki PJ,
M'Boup S, Marlink R, et al., Sequence of simian immunodeficiency
virus and its relationship to the human immunodeficiency viruses.
Nature 1987;328:539-43.
26) Chakrabarti
L, Guyader M, Alizon M, et al., Sequence of simian immunodeficiency
virus from macaque and its relationship to other human simian retroviruses.
Nature 1987;328:543-47.
27) Schulz TF.
Origin of AIDS (letter to the editor). The Lancet 1992;339:867.
28) Cantwell Jr.
A. Queer Blood. Los Angeles: Aries Rising Press, 1993 p. 104.
29) Personal communication
January 25, 1997, with Dr. Eleanor R. Lappano-Colletta, 22A Edmond
Court, Jackson, NJ, 08527. For more information call 732-928-9102.
30) Krugman S,
Giles JP and Hammond J. Infectious hepatitis: Evidence for two distinctive
clinical, epidemiological, and immunological types of infection.
JAMA 1967;200;5:366-373(96-103).
31) Szmuness W,
Stevens CE, Harley EJ, Zang EA and Oleszko WR et al. Hepatitis B
vaccine: Demonstration of efficacy in a controlled clinical trial
in a high-risk population in the United States. New England Journal
of Medicine 1980;303;15:833-841.
32) Krugman S,
Overby LR, Mushahwar IK, Ling C-M, Forsner GG and Deinhardt F. Viral
hepatitis, type B: Studies on natural history and prevention reexamined.
New England Journal of Medicine 1979;200:101-6.
33) Shilts R.
And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic.
New York: Penguin Books, 1987, pp. 202-203; 371; 409.
34 ) Ibid., p.
186.
35) Gallo RC,
Sarin PS, Allen PT, Newton WA Priori ES, Bowen JM and Dmochowski
L. Reverse transcriptase in type C virus particles of human origin.
Nature New Biology 1971;232:140-142; see also Gallo RC. Transfer
RNA and transfer RNA methylation in growing and "resting" adult
and embyonic tissues and in various oncogenic systems. Cancer Research
1971;31:621-29.
36) Herrera F,
Adamson RH and Gallo RC. Uptake of transfer ribonucleic acid by
normal and leukemic cells. Proc Nat Acad Sci 1970;67;4:1943-1950.
This paper was presented before NATO scientists at the "International
Symposium on Uptake of Informative Molecules by Living Cells, Mol,
Belgium,1970"; see also: Gallo RC and Perry S. Enzymatic abnormality
in human leukaemia. Nature 1968;218:465-466; and Gallo RC, Yang
SS and Ting RC. RNA dependent DNA Polymerase of human acute leukaemic
cells. Nature 1970;228:927-929.
37) Shilts R.
Ob cit., p. 553.
38 Shilts R. Ob
cit., p. 125; 458.
39) Cantwell,
Jr. A. Is AIDS a man-made disease? Internation Journal of Medicine
1998;1;2-4:94-104. See also Cantwell's book AIDS and the Doctors
of Death: An Inquiry into the Origin of the AIDS Epidemic, Los Angeles:
Aries Rising Press,1992, pp. 83-109.
40) CDC staff.
Hepatitis B virus vaccine safety: Report of an inter-agency group.
MMWR 1982;31:465-467.
41) CDC staff.
The safety of hepatitis B virus vaccine. MMWR 1983;32:134-136.
42) Personal communications:
from Major Caleb Gwambo, Director, Department of Defense, Office
of the President, P. O. Box 40668, Nairobi, Kenya (2542 884466;
2542583542); and Dr. Alim Muhammad, Health Minister, Nation of Islam,
202-397-4000; 301-894-9345)
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