Did a Polio vaccine cause AIDS?
Kill or cure?
Ever since it was first recognized by American doctors in 1981, the origin of the virus that causes AIDS — a disease that has killed as many as 16 million people and infected another 36 million worldwide — has been one of the great mysteries of science.
After nearly a decade of research, investigative journalist Edward Hooper, a former official of the United Nations, has written The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS, a book that may provide some answers. Evidence uncovered through interviews and literary searches suggests that the AIDS virus was not the byproduct of a communist plot or a form of divine punishment, but that it may be the result of a contaminated experimental polio vaccine program conducted in Africa in the late 1950s.
The vaccine in question was developed by Hilary Koprowski and Stanley Plotkin.
Remember those names, we’ll come back to them in a little bit.
Before we continue, let us consider two very important facts:
- Edward Hooper, the man pushing this theory, is an investigative journalist, NOT a scientist.
- Hooper’s “evidence” consists of interviews and literary searches, NOT scientific testing.
We have our first red flag right there- serious scientific inquiry demands scientific testing. Remember: the rules of evidence used in a court of law are NOT the same as the rules of evidence used by science. Testimony can convict you in a court of law, but in the context of any credible science, it is merely a worthless anecdote.
What does science have to say about this matter?
Wiki Article: OPV AIDS Hypothesis:
The OPV AIDS hypothesis has been examined and criticized by members of the scientific and medical communities as being unsupported or directly contradicted by available data, and inconsistent with HIV epidemiology.
Remember the names Koprowski and Plotkin? Check the sources for this article; these scientists are well-aware of this theory, and have already ripped it to pieces.
It is also interesting to note: Hooper’s theory regarding oral polio vaccination as the cause of AIDS is not original.
Wiki Article: OPV AIDS Hypothesis:
In May 1987, Louis Pascal [...] concluded that Hilary Koprowski’s CHAT Type 1 vaccine administered in Belgian Congo between 1957 and 1960 was a likely source [of AIDS].
[Pascal] dismissed contradicting evidence as “clear attempts at whitewash”.
So the last guy who had this theory, when faced with insurmountable scientific evidence to the contrary, played the ‘ole “it’s all a massive coverup” card, which is a fancy way of saying “I got nothing, but that’s proof of my conspiracy theory”. Coincidentally, this line of thinking is total bunk in both science and courts of law.
It gets better:
In 1987, journalist Tom Curtis published a story about Hooper’s (then Pascal’s) theory in Rolling Stone Magazine. Hilary Koprowski was so outraged by this accusation that she sued for defamation- and won. Rolling Stone Magazine was forced to pay a million dollars in compensation.
So to recap:
- Science has already completely debunked this theory.
- The only people willing to even touch it are journalists; no credible scientist is even slightly interested because the matter is resolved beyond all reasonable doubt.
- The last time someone published this theory as fact (Rolling Stone Magazine), they were sued for defamation- and lost.
Three strikes and you’re out. Consider this nonsense debunked.
