Semmelweis Endorses Scientists’ Call for Science to RETRACT Fraudulent Reports on HIV

Washington DC, Dec 9 – Nearly 25 years after the publication of four foundational articles on HIV and AIDS, prominent scientists, physicians and legal experts are now asking for their removal from the journal Science.

Their request is based upon new evidence that Dr. Robert Gallo - the former National Cancer Institute (NCI) researcher who declared he had found the probable cause of AIDS - had actually based his claims on his own unverified last-minute alterations to lab reports and experiments.

The letter’s 37 signatories include medical doctors, chemists, oncologists, university professors, virologists, researchers, pathologists, AND biologists.

After fellow researcher Matthew Gonda PhD informed Gallo that his electron microscopy showed no evidence of a virus in 1984, Gallo used Gonda’s name and photographs to corroborate his claim that he had isolated the virus. Because the majority of all subsequent AIDS research is predicated on the assumption that Gallo’s research was legitimate, the ramification of these findings of fraud raises serious questions regarding past and current US policy toward AIDS research.

It now appears that Gallo never produced any evidence or proof that HIV attacks cells or causes AIDS. As a result of his unchallenged claims, Gallo was officially declared one of two co-discoverers of the HIV in 1984.

Gallo left NCI after the Dept’s of Health’s Office of Research Integrity (ORI) accused him of committing scientific misconduct (1992). Although the evidence against him was considerable a legal technicality prevented criminal charges from being filed.

Gallo shares a patent for HIV tests that generates millions of dollars in annual revenue, although the tests do not detect the presence of the virus itself or any unique or specific components of HIV. No HIV test manufacturer has ever claimed that their tests detect HIV or AIDS.

The new findings were first admitted into evidence during a Congressional investigation (Dingell-1993) that focused on questions related to Gallo’s alleged theft of cell culture samples. Those hearings never examined the actual fabrication of research.

The ORI reported that Gallo’s “irresponsible laboratory management has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.” Not only did Gallo’s conduct prevent fellow scientists from verifying his research, but Gallo distributed research materials with the express stipulation that his experiments not be repeated.

Semmelweis Society International (SSI) has determined that the new evidence does not conflict with the findings of its own investigation, which was initiated after a former medical student raised questions about AIDS in Africa.

For additional information, contact Clark Baker (clark@semmelweis.org) or visit www.semmelweis.org.

(Semmelweis Society International, Inc., is a registered 501c3 non-profit corporation. Comprised of physicians, nurses, attorneys and university professors, its primary mission is to promote patient safety by ending retaliation against scientists, physicians, and nurses who report dangerous conditions, fraud, and corruption within hospitals and the US healthcare industry.)