Farrell Timlake http://www.homegrownvideo.com writes: "Hello, just had to drop my two cents in on the PCR testing issue. About two years ago, Jeanna Fine and myself attended a lecture by esteemed Berkeley Microbiologist Dr. Peter Duesberg, Ph.D., and we had the opportunity to meet Nobel Laureate Dr. Kary B. Mullis, Ph.D. We enjoyed dinner with him and listened intently to his criticism of the PCR test, the Elisa, and the Western Blot as indicators of HIV infection.
"As a result of this conversation, Duesberg's lecture, personal experience with infected friends, and my own research into the subject, I have formed a controversial opinion upon this issue. With the Internet, much of the current scientific data and debate of HIV is available online from the numerous academic and medical institutions. I suggest that everyone go to the source with their own questions and inform themselves to best understand not only HIV but every other STD. I concur that www.aliveandwell.org is a great place to start for a reference point and link to the major body of published science coming out in the world's most prestigious medical science journals. They are a non-profit watchdog organization keeping tabs on the scientific debate and they are a useful, non-political and non-religious, resource for information on the subject.
"Now I am speaking as a laymen, if you want footnotes and bibliography to the original scientific documentation go to www.aliveandwell.org , because that is their job and at heart I am still a pornographer on a mission. I know my views are renegade and rogue and totally not in harmony with our community as a whole, but I will bear and debate whatever criticism I reap from speaking my mind.
"I believe the testing standards for the industry are useful and useless. To me, in a sense, all the testing has done is turn the performers into a giant control group of highly promiscuous people who have almost entirely unprotected sex, and very, very, very rarely, get HIV. Do the math, how many performers, for how many years, having how many partners, in how many unprotected and extreme sex scenes then divided by the actual cases of HIV and what is the result? Make sure not to include any of the false positives either, and make sure to address other factors like high risk drug usage as well.
"Calculate in the gay part of the industry also. Go ahead and add in a variable for people who may have been positive but never been "outed" by the industry. Statistically speaking, over the last 20 years, roughly since the "discovery" of HIV, there is definitely an incredibly low rate of infection. That is all the test can tell us after all these years. It will not say who will go positive tomorrow after today's negative result; therefore, the test is useful as a measure of infection, useless as a preventative.
"Now, I defy anyone to name one infected or dead performer who was not also into high risk drug use as well, which regardless of HIV is a well documented and known cause of immune deficiencies. Start with John Holmes and keep going. Beyond that, I do not want or need to name names.
"There is no proof that HIV is a death sentence in any medical journal published to date, everything remains in the speculative realm of hypotheses. Over the years since the discovery of HIV, the life expectancy of someone with HIV has changed from a few months to live to unknown because test groups not taking anything but placebos continue to thrive in spite of HIV. In fact, statistically speaking, certain groups, like infected hemophiliacs, are outliving patients given highly controversial and incredibly toxic cancer drugs that have no proven merit in treating retroviruses. That is a fact. I urge everyone to go review their high school science books to understand the difference between hypotheses, theory, and proof and the use of the scientific method to establish the differences.
"There is plenty of published, reputable scientific documents verifying HIV is hardly infectious since it does not replicate efficiently, needing special laboratory conditions to even replicate for experimentation, especially compared to viruses like hepatitis C. However, very few people are testing for hepatitis C which is a proven killer, nor any of the other deadly and non deadly infectious std's. At this point, there is a valid and serious debate in the medical science community worldwide regarding the hypothesis that HIV is the cause of AIDS. Many AIDS researchers no longer believe HIV has any causal relationship with AIDS, which is now largely viewed as a catch-all generic name for a whole lot of infectious and non-infectious illnesses that have a well established variety of contributing factors.
"How can the testing mean anything in light of this many issues? The variables are too many, including the unprotected promiscuity of performers off the set (often denied but ever abundant), occasional intravenous drug use, the window period (today you may not be positive, but tomorrow the test is different and how many days of work will take place to the next test?), and the misuse of PCR as a testing device. (Remember, my information on PCR came first hand from the man who invented the test, who won a Nobel Prize for it, who is widely acknowledged for achieving one of the most important scientific discoveries of the last century.)
"I may be stupid, but I am not a fool. I have sought knowledge on all sides and tried to form my own opinion. I do not expect anyone to agree with my views. As a point of reference, always, from the time I started shooting vids years ago, I have been respectful of performer's rights to work with or with out condoms and with the partner of their choosing. As a performer, I still tested and continue to test because that is what is held as a standard in the industry. However, I do not believe HIV is the cause of AIDS. I do believe the industry should be more conscientious and concerned about all the std's, even herpes or whatever other infectious virus, retrovirus, or bacteria or whatever. I think our industry should be a focus for the debate of this serious issue. There is certainly enough data to review.
"Right or wrong, I plan to live a long time. I have never ever had even one std. I have had an active and healthy sex life. There is always room for more, so I will keep safe and clean and well informed. I encourage every performer to know more about not only HIV, but also all the std's. All in all, everyone is doing a pretty good job of staying safe by maintaining good health and hygiene, so the supposedly dirty little ol' smut industry must be doing something right to stay "clean".
"I said my piece and I make my peace. I encourage anyone to debate me upon this subject. Especially the "experts" from the clinics, or any other entity that profits from HIV hysteria.
"Gene, thank you for hearing me out and publishing this on your site."
