Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Has Plainly Stated His Belief in the Falsehoods of AIDS Denialism

THIS WEEK'S WHOPPER:

RFK Jr. HAS PLAINLY STATED HIS BELIEF IN THE FALSEHOODS OF AIDS DENIALISM

"There are much better candidates than HIV for what causes AIDS" -- RFK Jr., New York Magazine, June 30, 2023

IN SUMMARY:

There are more than four decades of peer-reviewed scientific research literature on HIV/AIDS. Scientific advances transformed the condition from almost universally fatal to treatable with combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the mid-1990s, and have since led to the development and approval of biomedical HIV prevention options that have demonstrated up to 100% efficacy in randomized clinical trials.

The above quote from the current HHS Secretary represents a clear statement of his views on a subject he has sometimes equivocated about, depending on the audience. He has also promoted denialist misinformation about HIV extensively in his 2021 book attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci. The book cites and quotes the intellectually dishonest writings of AIDS denialist figurehead Dr. Peter Duesberg and acknowledges input from longtime acolytes Celia Farber and John Lauritsen. Consistent with his proclivity for whoppers, contrast what he said to New York Magazine in 2023 to how he hedged about his beliefs in the book: "I want to make clear that I take no position on the relationship between HIV and AIDS." And yet RFK Jr’s book includes the prominent AIDS denialists Peter Duesberg, David Rasnick and Harvey Bialy in a list of people he describes as “heroic healers.”

WHY IS THIS A WHOPPER?

AIDS denialism is a deadly threat to the health of people living with HIV and those at risk of exposure. When South African President Thabo Mbeki embraced Peter Duesberg’s falsehoods about HIV in the early 2000s, it led to delays in implementing treatment and prevention that are estimated to have led to over 330,000 avoidable deaths and more than 35,000 avertable cases of HIV acquisition in infants. The total lost benefits of delayed access to ART amounted to at least 3.8 million person-years of life for the period 2000-2005. It was popularized in the U.S. by local and national groups and even promoted by the popular rock band the Foo Fighters.

The toll of AIDS denialist internet propaganda on the well-being of people with HIV can’t be fully measured, but we’ve seen it in cases of individuals stopping prescribed treatment that have played out publicly (see Brian Deer’s 2012 reporting for The Guardian). Here at Defend Public Health, we have personal experience with this: One of our Coordinating Committee members, who followed the subject as a journalist in the 1990s and early 2000s, knew at least six people who got swallowed up by the AIDS denialist cult, refused treatment for HIV, and eventually died of AIDS-related causes.

The causative role of HIV has been incontrovertibly established by scientific research. Tools now exist to pinpoint the exact location where the virus has integrated its DNA into an infected cell, and the disruptions to the immune system that lead to AIDS if HIV replication is unchecked involve accumulations of dysfunctional, exhausted T cells that specifically recognize HIV proteins. The design of antiretroviral therapies targeting deeply researched steps in the HIV life cycle has allowed for the complete suppression of viral replication and  restoration of immune function –  preventing progression to AIDS, eliminating the risk of transmission, and a life expectancy increasingly similar to comparable HIV-negative people. This life-saving impact has been thoroughly documented, and we saw it in the real world – the “Lazarus effect” when effective ART began to be widely available in 1995-96. The only rebuttal AIDS denialists have to this reality is frantic handwaving and falsehoods.
 

WHY IT MATTERS:

During RFK Jr’s tenure as HHS Secretary, both domestic and global HIV funding are being cut and placed under unprecedented threat, and HIV-related research grants have been preferentially targeted for termination by the current administration.

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the highly qualified and recently appointed Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) who has a background in HIV research, was an early target for removal. News has just emerged in the past few days that Dr. Carl Dieffebach, the highly respected Director of the Division of AIDS at NIAID, has also been relieved of his duties by RFK Jr’s HHS. Among a broad portfolio, Dieffenbach was currently leading the renewal process for the four large NIH-funded HIV research networks (ACTG, HPTN, HVTN, IMPAACT).

Shockingly on November 25th, a memo to CDC staff was shared online that states: "The U.S. Government will not be commemorating World AIDS Day this year."

How much of this stems from  RFK Jr’s support for AIDS denialism is unclear, but we’re suspicious, given his abuse of government resources to promote his similarly anti-science views on vaccines. In his 2021 book he even goes beyond AIDS denialism, arguing against germ theory and promoting the long-discredited “terrain” theory (which he erroneously calls “miasma” theory), claiming that infectious microbes aren’t the real culprit.

These false and fundamentally eugenicist claims underpin a recent appalling opinion piece on responding to pandemics authored by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and principal deputy director Matthew Memoli.

RFK Jr’s promotion of the lies of AIDS denialism and endorsement of terrain theory join a growing list of problematic statements and behavior that should have disqualified him from ever being considered for the position of HHS Secretary.

Contributors to this post are: Benedicte Callan, Ph.D., Bruce Mirken, Richard Jefferys, Tara C. Smith, Ph.D.