25 years after the first case of HIV was diagnosed, and 10+ years after TLC stapled condoms to their clothes and championed safe sex, Black people, and in particular Black women, are contracting HIV at an alarming rate.
Newsweek recently released a series on its website regarding "The Crisis In America," dealing with HIV/AIDS in the Black Community. Although black people make up only 13% of the population of the US, we account for more than 50% of new HIV patients. Furthermore, according to medical professionals, there are approximately 1 million people who have the HIV virus and do not know it. Because of this, the CDC released new guidelines to recommend conducting voluntary HIV testing for everyone between the ages of 13 to 64 during physicals (read them here).
Let me preface this by saying, I am not as well versed as I probably should be about this issue, but I am very curious.
In a controversial new article, "Out of Control: AIDS and the corruption of medical science," scientific journalist Celia Farber argues that AIDS is a "chemical syndrome, caused by accumulated toxins from heavy drug use." Furthermore, "many cases of AIDS are the consequence of heavy drug use, both recreational (poppers, cocaine, methamphetamines, etc.) and medical (AZT, etc.)." Farber writes...
Nobel laureate Kary Mullis, who discovered the revolutionary DNA technique called the polymerase chain reaction, has long been a supporter of Duesberg, but he has grown weary of the AIDS wars and the political attacks on contrarian scientists. "Look, there's no sociological mystery here," he told me. "It's just people's income and position being threatened by the things Peter Duesberg is saying. That's why they're so nasty. In the AIDS field, there is a widespread neurosis among scientists, but the frenzy with which people approach the HIV debate has slacked off, because there's just so much slowly accumulating evidence against them. It's really hard for them to deal with it. They made a really big mistake and they’re not ever going to fix it. They're still poisoning people."
Duesberg thinks that up to 75 percent of AIDS cases in the West can be attributed to drug toxicity. If toxic AIDS therapies were discontinued, he says, thousands of lives could be saved virtually overnight. And when it comes to Africa, he agrees with those who argue that AIDS in Africa is best understood as an umbrella term for a number of old diseases, formerly known by other names, that currently do not command high rates of international aid. The money spent on antiretroviral drugs would be better spent on sanitation and improving access to safe drinking water (the absence of which kills 1.4 million children a year). (read the entire article)
This article is both loathed my medical professionals and embraced by those who think that HIV is a man-made tactic to wipe out certain groups of people. Last year, the Washington Post covered a study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, that found that nearly half of the 500 black people surveyed believed that HIV was either cooked in a lab to kill people or was created and spread by the CIA.
Whether you believe AIDS is a man-made phenomenon or a natural catastrophe, as black people we must stand up and do our part to educate and protect each other. If we don't, no one will.
UPDATE: I meant to post this article about the origins of AIDS. According to this MSNBC article, the virus originated in wild chimps in Cameroon (read more).
Related Tags: HIV, AIDS, HIV and AIDS, AIDS in Africa, Black People and HIV, Origin of HIV, Origin, Politics, HIV drugs, AIDS treatment, activism
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To me it certainly seems true that Africa has gotten a terrible deal. First colonial rule, and a continent left in chaos. Then, whether it's racism or the focus of big corporations on profits, profits, profits, and of politicians on power, the wealthy countries of the world have basically been saying, "Whatever..." to Africa's difficulties.
Like you, my knowledge about AIDS is limited, but I'd find it hard to go for the conspiracy against black people idea. I don't know... Maybe because the disease itself is color-blind. Letting that genie out of the bottle to attack a specific race or continent just seems like such a risky and foolish approach. I mean, any scientist would know we don't have that kind of perfect control on how diseases spread...
While I have always believed it to be a conspiracy to annihilate Black people (remember Tuskeegee?)...I am convinced that what you have posted is true. Thanks to the brilliant, informed, and enlightened Miss Cynthia Daniel of Cynthia's Interests: http://cdaniels225.blogsome.com/
Here is a link to some very convincing research and stats: http://www.peaceandlove.ca/AIDSsexmyth.html
Or email Cynthia, she is busy with her thesis but, she is a font of reliable information and can set you on the path to more knowledge on this subject.
I agree with Pamela in reference to The Tuskegee Experiment. The AIDS epidemic is on a grander scale, but nothing surprises me when it comes to the US and the nefarious practices that take place behind closed doors.
We must keep in mind that population control is a concern among governments.
For example, this was the conclusion of the Nixon Administration in 1974 concerning NSSM 200:
"World population growth is widely recognized within the Government as a current danger of the highest magnitude calling for urgent measures.... There is a major risk of severe damage [from continued rapid population growth] to world economic, political, and ecological systems and, as these systems begin to fail, to our humanitarian values."
I don't know if AIDS and other diseases are allowed to continue because of this, but again...it wouldn't surprise me.
(NSSM 200 was the definitive interagency study of world population growth and its implications for United States global security)
source: http://www.fathersforlife.org/health/popcontrol.htm