The obituaries of Michael Callen, like those in the New York
Times or the CDC AIDS Daily Summary, have failed to mention that
he was an AIDS-dissident -- someone who for ten years refused to
go along with the "AIDS virus" model of pathogenesis or with the
officially approved AIDS drugs, AZT, ddI, and ddC.
      When Michael appeared in the British television documentary,
"The AIDS Catch" (1990), he said with emphasis: "I have *never*
believed that HIV is the cause of AIDS".  With equal bluntness,
Michael referred to AZT as *Drano*.
      I first met Michael in 1983, when we were both members of
the New York Safer Sex Committee -- a small group of physicians,
PWAs and others -- which formulated the first comprehensive set of
risk-reduction guidelines.  At the time there was speculation
about the possible role of various viruses, both known and yet-to-
be-discovered, but the official proclamation had not been made. 
Michael, Joseph Sonnabend, Richard Berkowitz, Artie Felson, and I
opposed the notion that a novel infectious agent was responsible
for all of the symptoms comprising the Acquired Immune Deficiency
*Syndrome*.  In practical terms, this meant that our risk-
reduction guidelines were multifactorial -- not only concerned
with avoiding infection with a hypothetical microbe, but with
avoiding other health risks as well.  The brochure we produced,
"Healthy Sex is Great Sex", did lay down the guidelines for "safer
sex", but also warned against the health risks of drinking too
much, drug abuse, poor nutrition, stress, and so on.  Our
guidelines came right out and said: "Avoid drugs.  Shooting up
kills.... Poppers are also dangerous."
      Michael strongly believed in free speech, and was often
shocked and indignant over the types of censorship that were
practised by the media, the Public Health Service, and the
mainstream AIDS organizations.  In the several years that he was
editor of the PWAC Newsline, he published a wide range of
viewpoints: articles of mine attacking the HIV-AIDS hypothesis and
AZT therapy, but also many more articles advocating these things.
      Michael was one of the speakers, along with Peter Duesberg,
Harvey Bialy, Joseph Sonnabend, Nathaniel Lehrman, Frank
Buianouckas and myself, at a conference held at Bronx Community
College on 16 December 1988: "What Really Causes AIDS?".  This was
the first public forum to challenge the HIV-AIDS hypothesis.
      He was one of the keynote speakers at the first
international alternative AIDS conference, "AIDS: A Different
View", held in Amsterdam in May of 1992.  At the time he had been
diagnosed as having KS of the lungs, and did not expect to live a
great deal longer.  Nevertheless, his speech was delivered with
verve and vigor.
      Michael's courage -- his wonderful fighting spirit and sense
of humor -- can only be appreciated fully in the context of his
opposition to AIDS-orthodoxy.  How contemptuous he was of the herd
mentality!  He took plenty of abuse for bucking the crowd, but for
an entire decade, against all obstacles, he stuck to his guns.