Editing Discredited HIV/AIDS origins theories

{{Short description|Rejected AIDS origin hypotheses}}
{{About|hypotheses not currently accepted by the majority of the scientific community|the majority view within the scientific community|History of HIV/AIDS}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}

Various fringe theories have arisen to speculate about purported alternative origins for the [[human immunodeficiency virus]] (HIV) and the [[acquired immunodeficiency syndrome]] (AIDS), with claims ranging from it being due to accidental exposure to supposedly purposeful acts. Several inquiries and investigations have been carried out as a result, and each of these theories has consequently been determined to be based on unfounded and/or false information. HIV has been shown to have evolved from or be closely related to the [[simian immunodeficiency virus]] (SIV) in West Central Africa sometime in the early 20th century. HIV was discovered in the 1980s by the French scientist [[Luc Montagnier]]. Before the 1980s, HIV was an unknown deadly disease.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Sharp | first1 = P. M. | last2 = Bailes | first2 = E. | last3 = Chaudhuri | first3 = R. R. | last4 = Rodenburg | first4 = C. M. | last5 = Santiago | first5 = M. O. | last6 = Hahn | first6 = B. H. | doi = 10.1098/rstb.2001.0863 | title = The origins of acquired immune deficiency syndrome viruses: Where and when? | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 356 | issue = 1410 | pages = 867–76 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11405934 | pmc = 1088480}}</ref>
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==Discredited theories==
===Duesenberg hypothesis===
The [[Duesberg hypothesis]] was developed by American biologist [[Peter Duesberg]] who argued AIDS was caused by noninfectious factors, such as recreational and pharmaceutical drug use, and that HIV is merely a harmless passenger virus. This hypothesis is widely regarded as lacking supporting evidence, overlooking contrary evidence, and being conclusively refuted.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Galea P, Chermann JC | title = HIV as the cause of AIDS and associated diseases | journal = Genetica | volume = 104 | issue = 2 | pages = 133–142 | year = 1998 | pmid = 10220906 | doi = 10.1023/A:1003432603348| s2cid = 10793378 }}</ref><ref name="phenom">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.7992043 | last1 = Cohen | first1 = J. | year = 1994 | title = The Duesberg phenomenon | url = http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/cohen/266-5191-1642a.pdf | journal = Science | volume = 266 | issue = 5191| pages = 1642–1644 | pmid = 7992043 | bibcode=1994Sci...266.1642C}}</ref>

===Smallpox vaccination theory===
In 1987 there was some consideration given to the possibility that the "AIDS epidemic may have been triggered by the mass vaccination campaign which eradicated [[smallpox]]". An article<ref>{{Cite news | last = Wright | first = Pearce | title = Smallpox vaccine 'triggered Aids virus' | newspaper = [[The Times]] | location = London | date = 11 May 1987}}<!-- FYI there are some unofficial copies of it on the web, or you can search and pay for the official version at {{cite web
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</ref> in ''[[The Times]]'' suggested this, attributing to an unnamed "adviser to WHO" the quote "I believe the smallpox vaccine theory is the explanation to the explosion of AIDS". It is now thought that the [[smallpox vaccine]] causes serious complications for people who already have impaired immune systems<!-- this is taken from [[Smallpox vaccine#Post-eradication vaccination]] -->, and the ''Times'' article described the case of a military recruit with "dormant HIV" who died within months of receiving it. But no citation was provided regarding people who did not previously have HIV. Currently several professional publications describe HIV as a [[contraindication]] for the smallpox vaccine—both for an infected person and their sexual partners and household members.<ref>
{{Cite journal | last1 = Maurer | first1 = DM | last2 = Harrington | first2 = B | last3 = Lane | first3 = JM | title = Smallpox Vaccine: Contraindications, Administration, and Adverse Reactions | journal = American Family Physician | volume = 68 | issue = 5 | pages = 889–96 | date = 1 September 2003 |url= https://www.aafp.org/afp/2003/0901/p889.html |pmid= 13678138 |access-date= 20 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Questions and Answers About Smallpox Contraindications and Screening | work = Emergency Preparedness and Response | publisher = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | url = http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/faq/screening.asp | access-date = 20 June 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100609100515/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/faq/screening.asp | archive-date = 9 June 2010 }}</ref> Some conspiracy theorists propose an expanded hypothesis in which the smallpox vaccine was deliberately contaminated with HIV.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Kalambuka |first= Angeyo |title= Kenya: Don't Discount Conspiracy Theories on Origin of Aids |newspaper= [[Daily Nation]] |location= Nairobi |date= 1 December 2009 |url= https://allafrica.com/stories/200912011055.html |access-date= 20 June 2010}}
</ref>

In contrast, a research article was published in 2010 suggesting that it might have been the actual eradication of smallpox and the subsequent "ending" of the mass vaccination campaign that contributed to the sudden emergence of HIV. The theory was the possibility that immunization against smallpox "might play a role in providing an individual with some degree of protection to subsequent HIV infection and/or disease progression."<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Weinstein | first1 = RS | last2 = Weinstein | first2 = MM | last3 = Alibek | first3 = K | last4 = Bukrinsky | first4 = MI | last5 = Brichacek | first5 = Beda | title = Significantly reduced CCR5-tropic HIV-1 replication in vitro in cells from subjects previously immunized with Vaccinia Virus | journal = BMC Immunology | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | page = 23 | publisher = BioMed Central | date = 18 May 2010 | issn =1471-2172 | pmid = 20482754 | pmc = 2881106 | doi = 10.1186/1471-2172-11-23 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last = Connor | first = Steve | title = Smallpox vaccine 'helped fight HIV' | newspaper = The Independent | location = London | date = 19 May 2010 | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/smallpox-vaccine-helped-fight-hiv-1976451.html | access-date = 20 June 2010 }}</ref> Regardless of the effects of the smallpox vaccine itself, its use in practice in Africa is one of the categories of un-sterile [[injection (medicine)#Infection|injections]] that may have contributed to the spread and mutation of the immunodeficiency viruses.<ref name=Marx2001>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Marx PA, Alcabes PG, Drucker E |title=Serial human passage of simian immunodeficiency virus by unsterile injections and the emergence of epidemic human immunodeficiency virus in Africa |journal=Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. |volume=356 |issue=1410 |pages=911–20 |date=June 2001 |pmid=11405938 |pmc=1088484 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2001.0867 }}</ref>

===Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) theory===

The dermatologist Alan Cantwell, in self-published books entitled ''AIDS and the Doctors of Death: An Inquiry into the Origin of the AIDS Epidemic'' (1988) and ''Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot'' (1993), said that HIV is a [[genetically modified organism]] developed by U.S. Government scientists. The virus was then introduced into the population through [[hepatitis B]] (via the [[hepatitis B vaccine]]) experiments performed on gay and bisexual men between 1978 and 1981 in major U.S. cities. Cantwell claims that these experiments were directed by [[Wolf Szmuness]], and that there was an ongoing government cover-up of the origins of the AIDS epidemic. Similar theories have been advanced by Robert B. Strecker,<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/5BSZ1vSf1co Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20121018151456/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSZ1vSf1co&feature=related Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |title=The Strecker Memorandum – AIDS is a man made disease |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSZ1vSf1co |via=YouTube |access-date=27 June 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Matilde Krim, and [[Milton William Cooper]].

===Oral polio vaccine (OPV) theory===

In the 1999 version of his [[OPV AIDS hypothesis]], journalist [[Edward Hooper (journalist)|Edward Hooper]] proposed that early batches of the [[oral polio vaccine]] (OPV) grown in cultures of chimpanzee kidney cells, infected with a chimpanzee virus, were the original source of HIV-1 in Central Africa. A small number of scientists thought this a plausible hypothesis, but later studies found no corroboration.<ref name= Lancet>Sarah Ramsay 28 April 2001 [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)04536-0/fulltext "Cold water downstream from The River"] ''The Lancet'' '''357''' (9265) p.1343 {{doi| 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04536-0}}</ref> Other [[molecular biology]] and [[phylogenetic]] studies also contradict the hypothesis, and [[scientific consensus]] regards it as disproven.<ref name=Science>{{cite journal |author=Hillis DM |title=AIDS. Origins of HIV |journal=Science |volume=288 |issue=5472 |pages=1757–1759 |year=2000 |pmid=10877695 |doi=10.1126/science.288.5472.1757|s2cid=83935412 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Birmingham K |title=Results make a monkey of OPV-AIDS theory |journal=Nat Med |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=1067 |year=2000 |pmid=11017114 |doi=10.1038/80356|s2cid=10860468 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="cohen2">{{cite journal |author=Cohen J |title=AIDS origins. Disputed AIDS theory dies its final death |journal=Science |volume=292 |issue=5517 |pages=615a–615 |year=2001 |pmid=11330303 |doi=10.1126/science.292.5517.615a|s2cid=70625478 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.cdc.gov/od/science/iso/concerns/archive/aids_and_vaccines.htm Origin of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS)] [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] website, Accessed 30 January 2007</ref> A 2004 article in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' described the hypothesis as "refuted".<ref name="worobey">{{cite journal |vauthors=Worobey M, Santiago M, Keele B, Ndjango J, Joy J, Labama B, Dhed'A B, Rambaut A, Sharp P, Shaw G, Hahn B |title=Origin of AIDS: contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted |journal=Nature |volume=428 |issue=6985 |pages=820 |year=2004 |pmid=15103367 |doi=10.1038/428820a |bibcode=2004Natur.428..820W |s2cid=4418410 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Additional theories===
These theories generally attribute HIV's origin to the [[US government]] or its contractors:

====Created at Fort Detrick====
[[Jakob Segal]] (1911–1995), a professor at [[Humboldt University]] in then-[[East Germany]], proposed that HIV was engineered at a U.S. military laboratory at [[Fort Detrick]], by splicing together two other viruses, [[Visna-maedi virus|Visna]] and [[Human T-lymphotropic virus|HTLV-1]]. According to his theory, the new virus, created between 1977 and 1978, was tested on prison inmates who had volunteered for the experiment in exchange for early release. He further suggested that it was through these prisoners that the virus was spread to the population at large.

At the end of the [[Cold War]], former [[KGB]] agents [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] and [[Oleg Gordievsky]] independently revealed that the Fort Detrick hypothesis was a propaganda operation devised by the KGB's [[First Chief Directorate]] codenamed "[[Operation Denver]]". This revelation was later supported by officer Günther Bohnensack of section X of East Germany's [[Main Directorate for Reconnaissance]].

It is known that Segal was in close contact with Russian KGB officers and Mitrokhin mentioned him as a central asset of the operation.<ref name="Andrew 1999 319">{{Cite book |last=Andrew |first=Christopher |author2=Vasili Mitrokhin |title=The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB |publisher=Basic Books |year=1999 |isbn=0-465-00310-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/swordshieldmitro00andr/page/319 319] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/swordshieldmitro00andr/page/319}}</ref><ref name="spiegel.de">Johanna Lutterroth: [https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/ddr-verschwoerung-aids-aus-dem-labor-a-947607.html ''Aids-Verschwörung. Das Propaganda-Virus des KGB'']. Spiegel Geschichte, 2012-06-26 (German)</ref> It is not entirely clear whether Segal pursued the hypothesis independently on his own accord or whether he was simply following orders. Segal himself always denied the latter and kept pursuing the hypothesis even after the operation had been canceled and the Cold War had ended.

====Conspiracy to decrease the population====
In ''Behold a Pale Horse'' (1991), radio broadcaster and author [[Milton William Cooper]] (1943–2001) proposed that [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] was the result of a conspiracy to decrease the populations of [[Black people|blacks]], [[Hispanics]], and [[homosexuals]].<ref name="Carroll">{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Robert Todd |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions |year=2003 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=9781118045633 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll |access-date=17 January 2013 |page=175 |chapter=Illuminati |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA175}}</ref>

==Prevalence of conspiracy beliefs==
According to Phil Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles, conspiracy theories are becoming a barrier to the prevention of AIDS since people start to believe that no matter what measures they take, they can still be prone to contracting this disease. A 2005 study suggests this makes them less careful when engaging in practices that put them at risk because they believe there is no point.<ref name=Fears2005>{{cite news |last1=Fears |first1=Darryl |title=Study: Many Blacks Cite AIDS Conspiracy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33695-2005Jan24.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=12 June 2017 |date=25 January 2005}}</ref> "Nearly half of the 500 African Americans surveyed said that HIV is man-made. More than one-quarter said they believed that AIDS was produced in a government laboratory, and 12 percent believed it was created and spread by the CIA&nbsp;... At the same time, 75 percent said they believed medical and public health agencies are working to stop the spread of AIDS in black communities."<ref name=Fears2005 />

==Prominent endorsers of discredited theories==

=== Nation of Islam ===
The [[Nation of Islam]] endorses the view that governments and pharmaceutical companies have pursued genocidal racist policies including the creation and spread of HIV. Consequently, the group called for a boycott of U.S.-sponsored vaccination programs for children. Leonard Horowitz has been cited as influential in the boycott decision.<ref>Knight, Peter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=2y0domliGh8C&q=Leonard%20Horowitz&pg=PA201 Conspiracy Culture: From the Kennedy Assassination to the X-files]'', p. 202 {{isbn|9780415189781}}</ref>

=== Wangari Maathai ===
The 2004 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate and environmental activist [[Wangari Maathai]] was asked by a [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] interviewer if she stood by a previous alleged claim that "AIDS is a biological weapon manufactured by the developed world to wipe out the black race". Maathai responded, "I have no idea who created AIDS and whether it is a biological agent or not. But I do know things like that don't come from the moon.&nbsp;... I guess there is some truth that must not be too exposed."<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Faris, Stephan |title=10 Questions: Wangari Maathai |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=10 October 2004 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,713166,00.html |access-date=2007-03-19}}</ref> Maathai subsequently issued a written statement in December 2004: "I neither say nor believe that the virus was developed by white people or white powers in order to destroy the African people. Such views are wicked and destructive."<ref>[http://greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/key-speeches-and-articles/challenge-of-AIDS from the Green Belt Movement website- Wangari Maathai's "The Challenge of AIDS in Africa"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006082858/http://greenbeltmovement.org/a.php?id=30 |date=6 October 2011 }}.</ref>

=== Manto Tshabalala-Msimang ===
In 2000 [[Minister of Health (South Africa)|South Africa's Minister of Health]] [[Manto Tshabalala-Msimang]] received criticism for distributing the chapter from Cooper's book discussing this theory to senior South African government officials.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news |title=SA Government steps into Aids row |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/924927.stm |access-date=17 January 2013 |publisher=BBC News |date=14 September 2000}}</ref> [[Nicoli Nattrass]], a longtime critic of AIDS denialists, criticized Tshabalala-Msimang for lending legitimacy to Cooper's theories and disseminating them in Africa.<ref name=Nattrass>{{cite book |last=Nattrass |first=Nicoli |title=The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back |year=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780231149129 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aidsconspiracysc0000natt/page/4 4], 23–27 |url=https://archive.org/details/aidsconspiracysc0000natt |url-access=registration |author-link=Nicoli Nattrass |access-date=17 January 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[History of HIV/AIDS]]
** [[Timeline of HIV/AIDS]]
* [[HIV/AIDS denialism]]
* [[HIV/AIDS denialism in South Africa]]
* [[Operation INFEKTION]]
* [[Oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis]]
* [[SV40]]
* [[Zoonosis]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.straightdope.com/21342103/is-aids-a-manmade-disease |title=Is AIDS a manmade disease? |author=Cecil Adams |date=4 June 1993}}

{{Conspiracy theories}}

{{HIV and AIDS}}

[[Category:AIDS origin hypotheses]]
[[Category:Biological warfare]]
[[Category:Health-related conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:HIV/AIDS denialism]]