In a move which likely to deepen the confusion and controversy surrounding South Africa's attempts to combat its AIDS epidemic, President Thabo Mbeki has appointed the self-styled 'dissident' scientist Professor Peter Duesberg to an expert panel charged with reviewing the country's approach to the epidemic.
Duesberg is one amongst several scientists appointed to the panel who do not accept the scientific consensus that HIV causes AIDS. However, amongst its thirty members, the panel also includes officials from the US Centers for Disease Control.
The panel is due to report in July, just before South Africa hosts the World AIDS Conference in Durban. Fears that the conference will be heavily politicised are being voiced by clinicians and pharmaceutical companies in Europe and North America, following an announcement by South African trade unionists that they will organise a Seattle-style protest against drug pricing on the opening day of the event. The news that Duesberg and other dissidents will be given a platform to air their views in South Africa is causing further disquiet among conference organisers.
Update February 2012
Following the publication of an article by Duesberg in an Italian journal, the Quackdown website explained the scientific evidence that refutes Duesberg's views: www.quackdown.info/article/what-do-we-know-about-aids-deaths-south-africa