Peter Duesberg and HIV/AIDS denialism

Hmm, I've got to be careful with that word denialism. I know I complain about being described as a climate change "denier" (get it? Same as Holocaust denier!). But I'd hope that I can plead adherence to a simple principle - evidence. Anyhoo: Pity poor Peter Duesberg. Back in the 1980s, he was on the top of the world, scientifically speaking. A brilliant virologist with an impressive record of accomplishment, publication, and funding, he seemed to be on a short track to an eventual Nobel Prize. Then something happened. The AIDS epidemic happened. Something about the AIDS epidemic led this excellent scientist in the late 1980s to fall directly into pseudoscience and crankery by latching onto and promoting the idea that HIV does not cause AIDS. And: Oh. My. God. Does it get any lower than having your article withdrawn by Medical Hypotheses? Medical Hypotheses? The same crank journal that's published utter pseudoscientific speculation by Mark Blaxill claiming that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and similarly pseudoscientific idiocy by Mark and David Geier? The same journal that will publish virtually anything. It isn't even a properly peer-reviewed journal And Duesberg's stuff was too crappy even for Medical Hypotheses. He. Hehehehehehe. Hehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahaha. Excuse me. I couldn't help myself. So what was the article that was so bad that even Medical Hypotheses decided to withdraw it? Read the rest of the post to find out.

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