Conspiracy Theories
In the early 1980s, what came to be known as AIDS seemed to appear suddenly and mysteriously out of nowhere, striking with an unrelenting and deadly aim that killed those infected very quickly. Not surprisingly, this phenomenon caused much fear, which, co
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In the early 1980s, what came to be known as AIDS seemed to appear suddenly and mysteriously out of nowhere, striking with an unrelenting and deadly aim that killed those infected very quickly. Not surprisingly, this phenomenon caused much fear, which, compounded by institutional mistrust in some cases, led to rampant speculation about the origins or cause of the disease. Resulting “conspiracy theories” frequently built upon or exacerbated that fear and mistrust with misconceptions surrounding the illness, how people became infected, and treatment options and effectiveness. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic now enters its fourth decade, HIV/AIDS conspiracy theories continue to hinder prevention, treatment, and research efforts across the globe. These assorted theories imply some sort of secret collusion on the part of government or other institutions. They can roughly be grouped into categories of man-made or iatrogenic origins of HIV or AIDS; HIV/AIDS denialism; divine intervention, that AIDS is a plague sent by God to punish homosexuals and American society for tolerating homosexuality; and prevention and treatment. By far the largest category, man-made or iatrogenic origins of AIDS, includes the following beliefs. (1) AIDS is a biological weapon manufactured by the developed world to eliminate large numbers of Blacks/Africans/African Americans and homosexuals, possibly under the auspices of the U.S. federal Special Cancer Virus Program (SCVP), possibly with the help of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (2) HIV was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense or defense contractors through research seeking a new virus that would be capable of destroying the human immune system with no antidote in order to give the USA absolute military supremacy, for biowarfare, and/or for population control. (3) HIV was engineered between 1977 and 1978 at a U.S. military laboratory by splicing together two other viruses, a retrovirus that causes T-cell leukemia (HTLV-1) and a sheep virus (Visna); it was tested on prison inmate volunteers, in exchange for early D.J. O’Shea (*) Public Health Service, County of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Loue (ed.), Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide to HIV/AIDS, 155 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-5283-6_24, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
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release, from whom it spread into general population. (4) U.S. government scientists developed HIV by genetically modifying a sheep virus (Visna) and then deliberately, in conjunction with a pharmaceutical company, added it to an experimental hepatitis B vaccine given to gay and bisexual men and African Americans in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles from 1978 to 1981, from which it spread to other populations. (5) AIDS was triggered by the mass vaccination campaign which eradicated smallpox. One theory suggests the vaccine was deliberately laced with HIV, another that smallpox vaccinations provided some protection against HIV so that eradication of smallpox and ending the mass vaccination ca
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