Sunday Times, South Africa - June 25, 2000
Ranjeni Munusamy.
It will be signed by doctors and researchers attending the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, committing them "unequivocally" to the conventional theory that AIDS is caused by HIV.
The declaration, which has already been circulated among the world's top scientists, was to have been kept a secret until its release a week before the conference.
It was drafted by 57 prominent AIDS scientists, including the conference's chairman, South Africa's Professor Hoosen Coovadia.
Its intention is to bring finality to the debate and to offset any attempts by dissident groups to raise the matter at the summit. The document reads: "There is no question in the scientific community as to the origins of AIDS, nor should there be any doubt in anyone's mind.
"The scientific evidence is overwhelming that AIDS is caused by HIV-1 or HIV-2. It is unfortunate that a vocal minority continues to doubt the origins of AIDS . . . We declare, once and for all time, that HIV is unequivocally the cause of AIDS."
Coovadia said he was bound by confidentiality and could not comment. "All I can say is that it . . . will be released at a time when it will get maximum publicity," he said.
Mbeki caused an international storm when he aligned himself with US AIDS dissidents Peter Duesberg and David Rasnick. The controversy intensified when he wrote to US President Bill Clinton, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other heads of state to defend the dissidents. It is feared that, emboldened by Mbeki's support, they will try to shift the focus of the Durban summit.
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