AIDS denialism and science

We who try to defend good science and expose sham science are often asked what harm it does to believe in [take your pick of any of scores of unsupported claims]. One area where the harm is almost self-evident is AIDS. Those who deny the overwhelming scientific evidence that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have already caused immense suffering. In countries like South Africa, where AIDS is especially widespread and devastating, progress to contain and treat the disease has long been impeded by steadfast antiscientific beliefs--promoted by President Mbeki and others--that the cause has nothing to do with human-to-human transmission of the HIV virus. Also, a few "dissident" scientists around the world continue to contend that AIDS science is all wrong and that AIDS deaths are caused by malnutrition, narcotics, and the drugs used to treat the disease.

In this issue, Nicoli Nattrass, director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit at the University of Capetown, gives an insightful look at AIDS denialism and the quandaries it poses for the scientific community and the public. Author of a just-published book on the subject, she shows how the denialists try to pretend there is still a scientific "debate" or "controversy" about the cause of AIDS, an echo of tactics used in the West by evolution deniers. As she says, "Dissent and critique are, of course, central to science, but so, too, is respect for evidence and peer review." Where, several decades ago, the pathogenesis of AIDS was less understood and some resistance to the mainstream scientific view was understandable, the science has long progressed far beyond that. We now understand that HIV works by undermining the immune system, making the body vulnerable to all variety of infections. Nattrass outlines the denialists' continued misrepresentations and rhetorical tactics, and she ascribes to them some blame for "unnecessary suffering and deaths."

We were recently shocked to lose a close colleague and friend, Barry Beyerstein. A longtime member of the CSI Executive Council and SI Editorial Board, Beyerstein died unexpectedly of a heart attack June 25, less than a month after his sixtieth birthday (see page 12). We had seen him only ten weeks earlier at a CSI meeting in Washington, and he was to teach, as usual, at our annual Skeptics' Toolbox workshop in Oregon in August. Barry was with the Brain Behavior Laboratory at Simon Fraser University. He had a psychologist's understanding of the human foibles and neurological processes that lead to acceptance of unsupported beliefs and a gentleman's thoughtful delicacy in teaching us about all that. Our hearts go out to his family.

We also lost a thoughtful and talented observer of science and the human condition, who, over the years, used his sharp mind, wit, and literary talents to explore many conundrums about how science works (and sometimes doesn't) and how we often take ourselves too seriously. Ralph Estling's latest, typically wide-ranging Forum essay was going into layout in this issue (see page 57) when he died at his home in Somerset, England, at the age of 77. More on this unique man will be published in a future issue.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning