Editing Peter Duesberg (section)

===Cancer===
In the 1970s, Duesberg won international acclaim for his groundbreaking work on cancer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cartwright |first1=Jon |title=AIDS contrarian ignored warnings of scientific misconduct |journal=Nature |date=4 May 2010 |doi=10.1038/news.2010.210}}</ref> Duesberg's early work on cancer included being the first to identify the [[oncogene]] ''[[Src (gene)|v-src]]'' from the [[genome]] of [[Rous sarcoma virus]], a chicken virus believed to trigger tumor growth.<ref name=Newsweek/> Duesberg disputes the importance of oncogenes and [[retrovirus]]es in cancer. He supports the [[aneuploidy]] hypothesis of cancer that was first proposed in 1914 by [[Theodor Heinrich Boveri]].<ref name="Newsweek" /><ref>[http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php?id=thepersontheodor Biozentrum Universitaet Wuerzburg: Theodor Boveri] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224131220/http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php?id=thepersontheodor |date=February 24, 2012 }}</ref>

Despite having discovered an oncogene, Duesberg rejects the importance of mutations, oncogenes, and anti-oncogenes entirely.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kalichman |first=Seth C. |date=2015 |title=Commentary on "Questioning the HIV-AIDS Hypothesis: 30 Years of Dissent" |journal=Frontiers in Public Health |volume=3 |pages=30 |doi=10.3389/fpubh.2015.00030 |doi-access=free |issn=2296-2565 |pmc=4326726 |pmid=25729747 |quote=While it is true that he was part of the group that isolated the first cancer gene and mapped the genetic structure of retroviruses in 1970, Duesberg later claimed, and still claims, that no such genes exist.}}</ref> In 1998, Duesberg co-authored a paper reporting a [[Correlation does not imply causation|correlation]] between chromosome number and the genetic instability of cancer cells, which they dubbed "the ploidy factor,"<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Duesberg P, Rausch C, Rasnick D, Hehlmann R |title=Genetic instability of cancer cells is proportional to their degree of aneuploidy |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=95 |issue=23 |pages=13692–7 |date=November 1998 |pmid=9811862 |pmc=24881 |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.23.13692 |bibcode=1998PNAS...9513692D |doi-access=free}}</ref> confirming earlier research by other groups<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Wahlström B, Branehög I, Stierner U, Sunzel H, Holmberg E |title=Association of ploidy and cell proliferation, Dukes' classification, and histopathological differentiation in adenocarcinomas of colon and rectum |journal=Eur J Surg |volume=158 |issue=4 |pages=237–42; discussion 242–3 |date=April 1992 |pmid=1352139}}</ref> that demonstrated an association between degree of aneuploidy and metastasis.

Although unwilling to concur with Duesberg in throwing out a role for cancer genes, many researchers support exploration of alternative hypotheses.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Gibbs WW |title=Untangling the roots of cancer |journal=Sci. Am. |volume=289 |issue=1 |pages=56–65 |date=July 2003 |pmid=12840947 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0703-56 |bibcode=2003SciAm.289a..56G}}</ref> In 2007, ''[[Scientific American]]'' published an article by Duesberg on his aneuploidy cancer theory.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Duesberg P |title=Chromosomal chaos and cancer |journal=Sci. Am. |volume=296 |issue=5 |pages=52–9 |date=May 2007 |pmid=17500414 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0507-52 |bibcode=2007SciAm.296e..52D}}</ref> In an editorial explaining their decision to publish this article, the editors of ''Scientific American'' wrote: "Thus, as wrong as Duesberg surely is about HIV, there is at least a chance that he is significantly right about cancer."<ref>{{Cite journal |title=When pariahs have good ideas |journal=Sci. Am. |volume=296 |issue=5 |pages=10 |date=May 2007 |pmid=17500402 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0507-10 |bibcode=2007SciAm.296e..10.}}</ref> 

A consequence of Duesberg's aneuploidy theory of cancer is his opposition to the [[HPV vaccine]] (against the virus that causes [[genital warts]]),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duesberg |first1=Peter |title=Can Anti-Viral Vaccines Prevent and Cure Cervical and Oral Cancers? |url=https://odysee.com/@iaomt:5/peter-duesberg-phd:d |date=2019}}</ref> as the idea that a virus could cause most cases of [[cervical cancer]] is inconsistent with his claims about what causes cancer.{{sfn|Duesberg|1996|pp=110-111}} Although Duesberg generally favors vaccination, he vehemently opposed the rollout of the HPV vaccine, saying the vaccine was "all risk and no benefit".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duesberg |first1=Peter |title=What if HPV does NOT cause cervical cancer? |url=http://www.robertscottbell.com/government/what-if-hpv-does-not-cause-cervical-cancer-by-norma-erickson-and-peter-h-duesberg-phd/ |website=Robet Scott Bell |date=January 21, 2015 |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625143516/http://www.robertscottbell.com/government/what-if-hpv-does-not-cause-cervical-cancer-by-norma-erickson-and-peter-h-duesberg-phd/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>