From: ACTUPSF@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 17:18:09 EST
Subject: AIDS Dissidents Meet SF Mayor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE:  January 19, 1999

CONTACT:
Michael Bellefountaine:  (415) 864-6686
Christine Maggiore: (877) 411-AIDS
			
AIDS Dissidents Meet Mayor of San Francisco
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Members of ACT UP and HEAL urge Willie Brown to question popular AIDS beliefs

San Francisco " Members of the controversial direct action AIDS group ACT UP
San Francisco joined forces with HEAL Los Angeles, the world's largest
alternative AIDS information network, to meet January 16th with San Francisco
Mayor Willie Brown. Activists presented compelling evidence that AIDS is not
an epidemic, that it is not caused by a virus, that antibody testing cannot
reliably predict illness or impending death, and that toxic drugs like AZT and
protease inhibitors harm and kill those designated HIV antibody positive.

Mayor Brown listened intently as Christine Maggiore, Executive Director of the
Los Angeles chapter of the Health Education AIDS Liaison, along with David
Pasquarelli and Michael Bellefountaine, from ACT UP San Francisco, outlined
point-by-point their opposition to the theory that AIDS is an epidemic caused
by a virus.

The historic half-hour meeting began with Maggiore, former AIDS educator for
AIDS Project Los Angeles, speaking about her experiences as a woman who has
endured several HIV-positive, negative then indeterminate test results. She
condemned the practice of using antibody testing to "administer death
sentences to people who test HIV-positive" by stating that antibodies can't
cause disease, don't predict future illness, and frequently cross-react.
Maggiore informed Mayor Brown that HIV tests are inaccurate, nonspecific and
non-standardized. She recounted the difficulties she faced as an expectant
mother labelled "HIV-positive" and pointed out that HIV tests are mandatory
for pregnant women despite the fact that pregnancy itself can trigger a
positive test result. Once designated HIV-positive, pregnant women are forced
to take AZT or encouraged to abort. Maggiore called attention to the February
6th trial of parents in Eugene, Oregon charged with negligence and,
ironically, intent to harm for refusing to give the toxic drug AZT to their
HIV-negative infant son. The mother of the boy happened to test HIV-positive
in a routine screening while his father and sister remain HIV-negative. "This
isn't public health policy," Maggiore warned, "this is madness."

Next, Michael Bellefountaine provided moving personal testimony of losing a
lover to AZT poisoning and argued that AIDS simply doesn't qualify as an
epidemic. Bellefountaine informed Brown that according to the November 1997
article in the Journal of AIDS and Human Retrovirology entitled "Projected
Incidence of AIDS in San Francisco: The Peak and Decline of the Epidemic" new
HIV infections inexplicably peaked at 7,600 in 1982, years before the
initiation of any comprehensive safe sex campaigns. According to the article's
author, San Francisco Public Health Director Mitch Katz, also present at this
meeting, "...our analysis shows that San Francisco would have experienced a
significant decline in AIDS cases due to the decrease in HIV seroconversions
even if combination antiretroviral therapy had not been developed."

Last, Pasquarelli presented Brown with two large graphs entitled "AIDS in
Perspective" -- the first of which illustrated the extraordinarily small
number of cumulative AIDS deaths (390,000) from 1981 to 1997 when compared to
fatalities from heart disease (16,150,000) and cancer (8,500,000) during the
same period. The second graph showed a comparatively minute number of total
AIDS diagnoses (633,000) from 1981 to 1997 when compared to truly contagious
cases of sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia (68,000,000), gonorrhea
(13,600,000), and herpes (6,000,000).

Activists ended the meeting by demanding a voice for those who reject HIV
treatment in health department literature and on government bodies that make
decisions about AIDS funding. They also called for an immediate public hearing
on the controversy surrounding the cause, identification and treatment of
AIDS.

###

Video, transcripts and digital or conventional photos of the AIDS dissident
meeting with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown are available from ACT UP San
Francisco and HEAL Los Angeles.

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ACT UP San Francisco * 1388 Haight Street, #218 * San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone: (415) 864-6686 * Fax: (415) 864-6687 * Email: actupsf@aol.com

HEAL Los Angeles * 11684 Ventura Boulevard * Studio City, CA 91604
Phone: (877) 411-AIDS * Fax: (818)780-7093 * Web: www.heal-la.org