July 09, 2002
Cheerful Topics: HIV and WTC

A page about the distinct possibility that AIDS was originally spread from an unproven polio vaccine which was administered to 1 million Africans between 1957 and 1960. If this site isn't misrepresenting facts and changing the articles it has published, both the timing and the location of the disease point to the vaccine. Given the implications, it's not suprising that publications have been pressured to keep research and articles out of circulation.

Although the theory has not been properly examined, many people seem to believe it has been refuted. Hilary Koprowski published a letter in Science in 1992 attacking the theory. In 1993, Rolling Stone, which had published a widely publicised article by Tom Curtis about the theory, published an "update", interpreted by Science as a retraction. The public record thus suggests that these contributions have been the final word.

Actually, this appearance of "refutation" was due to the exercise of power, not scientific judgement. Science refused to publish a reply to Koprowski's letter by Curtis and, later, another reply by eminent biologist W. D. Hamilton. Nature has received substantial submissions about the theory from at least six scholars but has not published any of them. Rolling Stone's "update" was the aftermath of a legal action for defamation by Koprowski against Rolling Stone and Curtis. Thus, it has been editorial prerogative and legal action that have given the impression that critics of the theory have been unanswered.

Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse, by Juan Gonzalez.

Within days of the September 11th attack in New York City, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman, together with Time Man-of-the-Year Rudy Giuliani, reassured New Yorkers that air "contaminants are either not detectable or are below the Agency’s concern levels."

In fact, EPA tests taken at the time showed high concentrations of toxic materials in the air downtown, including asbestos, dioxins, and heavy metals. Con Edison and the Port Authority revealed—two months after the attack—that nearly 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel and transformer oils, much of it contaminated with low-level PCBs, had escaped beneath Ground Zero. And independent measurements of indoor air, widespread because the agency declined to test private buildings, showed astronomically higher readings.

NY Daily News: Asbestos Fallout Is Found In Co-op Near WTC Site, also by Juan Gonzalez.

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