So Dr. Julio Montaner wants to test everyone for HIV [“Canada advances and retreats in AIDS war”, Nov. 30–Dec. 7].

Testing HIV–positive means one, presumably, has been exposed to the virus that is alleged to cause AIDS. Eighty different conditions—including pregnancy, malnutrition, multiple infections, multiple sclerosis, measles, and exposure to a flu or hepatitis B shot—are known to trigger a false HIV–positive.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine: “The techniques of the HIV test have not been standardized, and the magnitude and consequences of inter laboratory variations have not been measured. Its results require interpretation, and the criteria for the interpretation vary not only from lab to lab, but also from month to month.”

Because of so many variables involved, the many HIV tests are seriously flawed and invalid. The consequences of this fact are that many people, including pregnant women and newborns, are being treated for a condition they do not have. In fact, the disclaimer by the manufacturers of the test kits specifically states that the tests are not to be used to diagnose or treat HIV/AIDS. They are not licensed for that purpose.

Virus tests without virus isolation? Controversy rages in scientific circles as to whether or not the AIDS virus even exists. Since HIV/AIDS emerged in the early ’80s, all known and accepted scientific investigative techniques have failed to prove the existence of a virus. No electron photograph (micrograph) of an isolated HIV particle has ever been published. Virologists have yet to develop a vaccine that does not kill or cause serious adverse reactions. No virus, no vaccine, no Nobel Prize.

People are being frightened into needlessly seeking treatments for a virus that does not exist. Antiretroviral drugs are so poisonous and immune-suppressive that they have become part of a self-fulfilling prophecy in support of the HIV/AIDS hypothesis. Disclaimers by the drug companies that their antiretroviral drugs do not cure AIDS and that risks include death and damage speak volumes.

Montaner should supply the specific scientific tests—verified by independent virologists who hold no patents on antivirals nor are dependent on government or corporate grants—that demonstrate that HIV exists.

Finally, if an HIV vaccine is ever developed that does not injure or kill, how will anyone know that it works? By testing HIV–positive?

> Croft Woodruff / Burnaby