Abstract

PIP: South African president, Thabo Mbeki, hosted a meeting of more than 30 scientists for a 2-day discussion on HIV and AIDS, particularly on the etiology of AIDS. At least half of the members of the Presidential Advisory Panel on AIDS disputed the orthodox views on AIDS, and many of them do not believe HIV causes AIDS. At the end of the 2-day session, a four-person team was appointed (two ¿orthodox¿ scientists and two dissenting ones). This team and panel will work in a closed Internet session and will review scientific data and construct experiments to deal with questions that may yet be unanswered. The meeting took place against the background of a letter written by President Mbeki to President Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and several other world leaders, expressing his views on HIV and AIDS. Both in the letter and at the meeting, President Mbeki construed the reaction to his views as similar to the tyranny experienced by the oppressed in South Africa during the apartheid era.