A film that denies the link between HIV and AIDS is being screened in the UK by the Spectator, in the name of "spurring debate." The Spectator's editor, Fraser Nelson, describes his motivation: "It's one of these hugely emotive subjects, with a fairly strong and vociferous lobby saying that any open discussion is deplorable and tantamount to Aids denialism. Whenever any debate hits this level, I get deeply suspicious."
And here comes our Ben Goldacre, explaining why "deeply suspicious" (which, to my ears, is a foreshortened phrase whose entirety is "deeply suspicious that I might sell a crapload of newspapers through a reckless disregard for public safety and the truth") is deeply stupid and deeply dangerous:
Of course people will have some concerns. Despite international outcry, from 2000 to 2005 South Africa implemented policies based on the belief that HIV does not cause Aids, and declined to roll out adequate antiretroviral therapy. It has been estimated in two separate studies that around 350,000 people died unnecessarily in South African during this period.
We should also remember that "teach the controversy" is a technique beloved of American creationists, and of antivaccination campaigners (with whom Fraser Nelson has also, oddly, flirted). These groups know that in our modern media, where truth is halfway between the two most extreme views, to insert doubt is to win.But debate is also good. So what kind of debate will the Spectator be hosting? They advertise a panel of "leading medical authorities". There are four people on this panel. One is Lord Norman Fowler. He is not a "leading medical authority".
Charles Geshekter is a professor of African history from the University of Chicago, and is therefore also not a "leading medical authority". He says there is no AIDS epidemic in Africa, simply poverty, and that belief in the epidemic was a product of racism and "western sexual stereotypes". In fact he calls it "The Plague That Isn't", and was on President Thabo Mbeki's notorious Aids Advisory Panel in South Africa in 2000.
