Bruce Alberts, Editor in Chief, Science
Alan Leshner, CEO, AAAS
1200 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC, 20005
Gentlemen:
Twenty-five years after the publication of four foundational articles on HIV and AIDS, prominent scientists, physicians and legal experts are now asking for their removal from the journal Science. I also joining them in their request.
Their request is based upon evidence that Dr. Robert Gallo – the former National Cancer Institute (NCI) researcher who declared he had found the probable cause of AIDS – had actually based his claims on his own unverified last-minute alterations to lab reports and experiments.
The letter’s 37 signatories include medical doctors, chemists, oncologists, university professors, virologists, researchers, pathologists, AND biologists.
After fellow researcher Matthew Gonda PhD informed Gallo that his electron microscopy showed no evidence of a virus in 1984, Gallo used Gonda’s name and photographs to corroborate his claim that he had isolated the virus. Because the majority of all subsequent AIDS research is predicated on the assumption that Gallo’s research was legitimate, the ramification of these findings of fraud raises serious questions regarding past and current US policy toward AIDS research.
It now appears that Gallo never produced any evidence or proof that HIV attacks cells or causes AIDS. As a result of his unchallenged claims, Gallo was officially declared one of two co-discoverers of the HIV in 1984.
Gallo left NCI after the Dept’s of Health’s Office of Research Integrity (ORI) accused him of committing scientific misconduct (1992). Although the evidence against him was considerable a legal technicality prevented criminal charges from being filed.
Gallo shares a patent for HIV tests that generates millions of dollars in annual revenue, although the tests do not detect the presence of the virus itself or any unique or specific components of HIV. No HIV test manufacturer has ever claimed that their tests detect HIV or AIDS. Many of Dr. Gallo’s supporters have received millions of dollars from Dr. Fauci’s NIAID offices – also for dubious research.
The new findings were first admitted into evidence during a Congressional investigation (Dingell-1993) that focused on questions related to Gallo’s alleged theft of cell culture samples. Those hearings never examined the actual fabrication of research.
The ORI reported that Gallo’s “irresponsible laboratory management has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.” Not only did Gallo’s conduct prevent fellow scientists from verifying his research, but Gallo distributed research materials with the express stipulation that his experiments not be repeated.
The Office of Medical & Scientific Justice (OMSJ) has determined that the new evidence does not conflict with the findings of this investigation, which was initiated after a former medical student raised questions about AIDS in Africa.
Please add my name the growing list of those who demand that the editors 1)immediately depublish Dr. Gallo’s work or 2) explain why the work should remain.
