Abstract
The theory that AIDS originated from contaminated polio vaccines raises a number of challenging issues with ethical dimensions. The Journal of Medical Ethics dealt with a submission about the theory a decade ago; subsequent developments have raised further issues. Four areas of contention are addressed: whether the theory should be investigated; whether anyone should be blamed; whether defamation actions are appropriate, and whether the scientific community has a responsibility to examine unorthodox theories.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (89.8 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Burr T., Hyman J. M., Myers G. The origin of acquired immune deficiency syndrome: Darwinian or Lamarckian? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001 Jun 29;356(1410):877–887. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0864. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cameron D., Jones I. G. John Snow, the broad street pump and modern epidemiology. Int J Epidemiol. 1983 Dec;12(4):393–396. doi: 10.1093/ije/12.4.393. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Elswood B. F., Stricker R. B. Polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS. Med Hypotheses. 1994 Jun;42(6):347–354. doi: 10.1016/0306-9877(94)90151-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gosling Isobelle, Stone Peter, Grimwood Keith. Awareness, knowledge and attitudes of lead maternity carers towards early-onset neonatal group B streptococcal disease. N Z Med J. 2002 Mar 8;115(1149):106–108. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lecatsas G., Alexander J. J. Safe testing of poliovirus vaccine and the origin of HIV in man. S Afr Med J. 1989 Oct 21;76(8):451–451. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Martin B. Political refutation of a scientific theory: the case of polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS. Health Care Anal. 1998 Jun;6(2):175–179. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1042(199806)6:2<175::aid-hca252>3.0.co;2-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nelson-Rees W. A. Responsibility for truth in research. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001 Jun 29;356(1410):849–851. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0873. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shah K., Nathanson N. Human exposure to SV40: review and comment. Am J Epidemiol. 1976 Jan;103(1):1–12. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112197. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- The river: A journey to the source of HIV and AIDS. Nat Med. 1999 Oct;5(10):1117–1118. doi: 10.1038/13432. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zhu T., Ho D. D. Was HIV present in 1959? Nature. 1995 Apr 6;374(6522):503–504. doi: 10.1038/374503a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]