Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV-AIDS Hypothesis

The Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis is a group of AIDS dissidents (that is, people who do not accept the scientific consensus that HIV is the cause of AIDS). In 1991, The Group submitted a letter questioning HIV as the cause of AIDS to the editors of Nature, Science, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine. It stated, in part:

"It is widely believed by the general public that a retrovirus called HIV causes the group diseases called AIDS. Many biochemical scientists now question this hypothesis. We propose that a thorough reappraisal of the existing evidence for and against this hypothesis be conducted by a suitable independent group. We further propose that critical epidemiological studies be devised and undertaken."

The letter was not published. However, in 1995 a similar letter was published in Science, again arguing that the causative role of HIV in AIDS was unproven, and requesting an "independent" audit of the Centers for Disease Control records on the AIDS epidemic.

Signatories
Signatories of the letter included:


 * Eleen Baumann
 * Tom Bethell
 * Harvey Bialy
 * Peter Duesberg
 * Celia Farber
 * Charles Geshekter
 * Phillip Johnson
 * Robert Maver
 * Russell Schoch
 * Gordon Stewart
 * Richard Strohman
 * Charles A. Thomas Jr.

The signatories are a fairly diverse group; Celia Farber is a journalist and activist; Harvey Bialy, Peter Duesberg, and Richard Strohman are scientists; others, such as Tom Bethell and Phillip Johnson, promote a wide range of pseudoscientific views such as global warming skepticism and intelligent design.

Response from scientific community
The so-called "dissident" views expressed in the Group's letters have been examined and roundly rejected by the scientific community; there is scientific consensus regarding the causative role of HIV in AIDS.