Ignorance is (not) Bliss
OP/ED By Lylah Clare ( new writer to LIB)
I didn’t want to take the HIV test because I didn’t want to know the answer. So when I came to that question on the form at Planned Parenthood in the Bronx, “Would you like to be tested for HIV today?” I checked the box marked “No.” It was forcing me to remember all the stupid moments in my life (and there were a lot of them) when I hadn’t made my sex partner wear a condom. In fact, until I was about 25 and had been having sex for about 10 years, I’d never even used them. My only concern in life was getting pregnant and since I was on the pill, I was going to be fine!
And then reality came and punched me in the face. Through some sneaky detective work I discovered my boyfriend had been having sex with prostitutes. He swore up and down that he’d worn a condom, even for oral, but of course, he hadn’t exactly been honest with me in the past. So I went to Planned Parenthood prepared for taking every other test for every other STD, but HIV was too serious. But the gyno had other ideas. She held up the form and pointed to the HIV question and said “You gotta be fucking kidding me?” I was not going to argue with this woman, so I crossed out my answer and checked the “Yes” box. The test was literally painless. They didn’t even have to draw blood; just a swab of my cheek and that was it. And I was lucky. The results were negative. The gyno sent me home with a bag of condoms.
I wasn’t avoiding condom use because I didn’t see condoms in porn. There was just something un-sexy about the whole process of carefully unwrapping one and trying to get the damn thing on. Now I find them kind of liberating. I don’t have to worry about who my partner had sex with before me and we can do all sorts of fun and kinky things together with no stress!
The first time I saw a condom in a porno (and I don’t even remember which one it was because it was so long ago and only happened once) I was a little taken aback. But I sure as hell didn’t put down my vibrator! I thought it was quite progressive actually. Anyone who watches gay porn is used to seeing them, they’re very common. I don’t think this latest HIV+ porn star is because of a gay to straight cross over. I think we should all know a little better by now that HIV is not just a gay thing.
I do think that as long as condom use is not mandatory, this type of situation is inevitable. But the word “mandatory” is scary to me because I don’t like the idea of anyone’s sex life being regulated by Big Brother. That’s where this issue gets complicated and where I realize I don’t know what the solution to the problem is. These are people who make their living by having sex with other people on film, and as Nina Hartley pointed out in Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/5586957/legendary-porn-star-defends-bareback-sex-and-shaved-vulvas) having sex all day with a guy wearing a condom would be pretty damn painful for performers. But contracting HIV is no day at the beach either. I could go back and forth like this all day.
What I do know is that everyone, porn stars and average Joes/Janes alike, deserve to know who they’re having sex with. The secrecy around this particular “outbreak” is very troubling to me. Normally, a person’s health is nobody’s business but their own, but this affects so many other people that we just can’t use the same standards. Let’s just get this all out in the open and get everyone back to work! When they banned smoking in bars I never met a single person who quit smoking. So condom on or off, I’m still watching!
Via Twitter – thanks for that article, going to pass it around 🙂
via Twitter -Great article!
Via Twitter -the real lisa ann Well written Article.. Thank you!
This write-up is not an opinion piece, except for the statement: “I don’t think this latest HIV+ porn star is because of a gay to straight cross over. I think we should all know a little better by now that HIV is not just a gay thing.”
I care how people feel. I really do. However, I don’t care what people think, especially when their opinions are completely absent of facts.
It’s been stated that a shitload of gays in the biz are HIV+. How many is not known SINCE THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED TO TEST! So based on what is Lylah’s opinion? The anal lining is one layer thick and gays are known for having innumerable sex partners.
To say “I don’t think this is a crossover issue” when gays and IV drug users still to this day are the main carriers in the Western world proves you have been brainwashed.
NOT REQUIRED TO TEST BUT ESTIMATES THAT HIV+S IN GAY PORN IS A HIGH AMOUNT AND THE FACT THAT CONDOMS CAN AND DO FAIL… especially since HIV is 50x smaller than the voids in condoms…
Wake up! Silence is death. Stupidity is even deadlier and so is not testing!
“I dont like the idea of haning anyhones SEX LIFE regulated”
Mandatory condoms in the PORN INDUSTRY have NOTHING to do with your private sex life…..Thisisnt a personal decision,,,thisis a workplace. You are not there in thr workp;ace for yur personal satisfaction,,you are there to do a JOB.
What you do in your personal life is your business,,,but when you bring that to your job, it becomes your co-workers business.
A pilot has a few drinks at the bar,,,,thats his business,,,but when he gets in the cokpit, and Im a passenger on that plane,,,it is now by business too.
When your personal conduct has very real, very serious consequences for the people you work with, then it becomes their business.
Jeremy, for the last time: Gays are not MAIN carriers of HIV in the Western world. Their community is at an increased risk of contracting HIV but they do not constitute the MAJORITY of HIV cases in America or anywhere in the world for that matter.
And please, please, please stop saying that condoms are not effective because HIV is 50x smaller than the pores and yadda yadda yadda…
Retrovirus transmission is dependent on the transmission of infected DNA.
That being said I agree with you here. This article is BS (sry Lylah). The recklessness of Gayporn vis a vis HIV make “crossover” stars a HUGE liability.
“Don’t pee on my leg and tell me its raining” – Judge Judy Sheindlin
Joe, I’m sorry but stop these false analogies.
We are not talking about building a house or flying a plane–we are talking about a performance art.
Is the government supposed to force headgear professional boxing because science has presented a clear link between the sport and brain injury? Is the government supposed to force regulatory reforms on the NFL because of the high concussion and brain damage rate? These sports may be entertainment to many people–but they are still workplaces to the athletes.
I agree and always have agreed that Adult needs to be safer but the key to good policy is about prescribing tolerable levels of regulation. A hardhat wouldn’t make a construction company go out of business. Safety regulations may cost money that eat into profits but it shouldn’t mean the end to an entire lawful industry.
And at that boxng match, there is a DOCTOR at ringside, as required by law.
And that football player witha concussion has a DOCTOR on the sidelines,,,also required by law.
And the boxer and fottball player all have insurance, and LEGAL remedies for the injuries they incure IN THE WORK PLACE.
Now you have porn perfrmers, who certainly have RISKS that are very particular to their industry, and what rememdy do performers have,,,nothing.
And the ocnstrucion company has insurance to pay for injuries, and they also have OSHA up their asses making sure they follow the law regarding safety in thier construcuin sites.
What protections do the PRODUCERS provide for their performers (EMPLOYEES) Can anyone tell me ONE SINGLE bit of protection that PRODUCERS give their EMPLOYEES?
The government already regulates sport,,,Its calle the STATE Athletic Commision,,,and their regulations are very strict.
And NO, I am not proposing doctors on porn sets,,,I am pproposing that PRODUCERS pay for the illness and injuries that happen in their workplaces,,,and before you go on with the satandard industryline of ,,,”How do youknow it happend on my set?,,,,remember, the same 5193 OSHA regulations we are talking about here also call for testing of exposed individuals AFTER the expouser, at NO COST to the employee.
ARE you suggestion that condoms wou “END an entire lawful industr?
ANd what do you mean bylawful,,,,,very few companies get shoting permits,,,no health standards are folowed,,,,no POST exposure testing, as is required by law,,,,,Yes producing pornis legal,,,but there are lots of illegal acts going on, and I will agree, it is the lackof enforcemnt of these regulaiotins that has lead to the current situaltion.
AThlete workplace ARE covered by not only OSHA, but the STATE Athletic Commision.
f you do not pass the STATE mandated physical,,you dont get to be a proffessional athlete,,,,and that is THE LAW,,,its not a voluntary thing, like in porn.
A RAT BEING USED IN A MAINSTREAM MOVIE GETS MORE LEGAL PROTECTION FROM THE PRODUCETION COMPANY THAN A PORN PERFORMER GETS FROM THEIR PRODUCTION COMPANY.
THIS IS A FACT,,AND A VERY SAD ONE INDEED.
Origen,
PLEASE STOP WITH THE false analogies TO PROFESSIONAL SPORTS,,,,Professional sports are highly regulated by the state, and are required by law to provide remedies for the risks that the athlestes take.
In sport, the risks are identified, and after an injury happens the proper steps are taken,,,,there is NOTHING even remotely like this in porn.
Sorry Origen. Let me share just the beginning portion of a Wall Street Journal article:
MISLEADING IMPRESSION
AIDS Fight is Skewed by Federal Campaign Exaggerating Risks
By Amanda Bennett and Anita Sharpe
Wall Street Journal, 1 May 1996
In the summer of 1987, federal health officials made the fateful decision to bombard the public with a terrifying message: Anyone could get AIDS.
While the message was technically true, it was also highly misleading. Everyone certainly faced some danger, but for most heterosexuals, the risk from a single act of sex was smaller than the risk of ever getting hit by lightning.
In the U.S., the disease was, and remains, largely the scourge of gay men, intravenous drug users, their sex partners and their newborn children.
—————————————————
Here’s an international article on the AIDS scam: Key sentence: “There are scores of NGOs (National Government Organizations) which exist on paper and have made a fortune out of the AIDS scare”
HEALTH-INDIA: Hyped HIV/AIDS Figures Skew Priorities
Inter Press Service – February 20, 2002
Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (IPS) – Indian health workers and activists are accusing international agencies of inflating HIV/AIDS statistics, which in turns skews priorities in the area of public health.
The issue of inflated figures for HIV/AIDS victims in India has been the subject of controversy ever since Health Minister C P Thakur took exception to “inflated projections” released by the Joint U.N. Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) of deaths and infections caused by the virus in this country.
Exasperated at a UNAIDS report which claimed that four million Indians had died of AIDS in 1999, Thakur said that only his ministry and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) have the machinery to gather statistics and the authority to publicise them.
Admitted UNAIDS country representative David Miller: “The mortality rate does need some scientific basis. We are looking at a number of alternatives to arrive at some accurate number.”
However, statistics released by the Health Ministry’s NACO are no better and recently, the organisation scaled down the number of HIV/AIDS cases from 8.1 million in 1998 to 3.8 million.
Significantly, the number of HIV-positive people in southern Kerala has remained static for several years while incidence in north-eastern Manipur state has dropped from a high 18 percent, the highest in the country, to 0.4 percent currently.
“There are scores of NGOs which exist on paper and have made a fortune out of the AIDS scare. Go to anyone who knows the situation in Manipur and the north-east,” said Sanjoy Hazarika, a well-known writer from the north-eastern region.
Hazarika has suggested that the rise in the number of HIV cases in Manipur, as projected by NACO for several years, has more to do with generous funding coming in from international organisations than with actual infections.
Unreliable figures and statistics on public health are not new in India, and field workers have long complained that they are being manipulated to support policies or programmes being pushed by certain groups.
But inflated statistics for the HIV/AIDS programme stick out because of the vast funds available, while money for pressing public health problems are conspicuously missing. This is evident, for example, in the neglected state of primary health care centres.
A case in point is hepatitis, which is yet to find a place in the vaccination schedule although millions of Indians die of it annually or are permanently crippled by a virus which is passed, as with HIV, through sexual contact or through blood transfusions.
NACO’s high-profile second phase , which has more 350 million dollars worth of loans available to it from the World Bank alone, has certainly dwarfed programmes for ordinary tropical diseases that continue to kill people and these include malaria, tuberculosis and kala azar.
Last week, panic spread through the northern states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal following an outbreak of pneumonic plague which killed four people and sent 20 others to hospital before authorities moved to contain in it.
It then turned out that a surveillance system for plague set up in the region, a known focal point for plague, was dismantled a decade ago for lack of funds.
According to Purushottaman Mulloli of the Joint Action Council (JAC), which leads a group of health and human rights non governmental organisations (NGOs), the statistics are being deliberately skewed in a way that helps both the World Bank and the Health Ministry but to the detriment of real and pressing health concerns.
“The people who run the Health Ministry now have access to large loans from the World Bank and in return, the Bank gets to interfere in India’s health policies in a way which would not have been possible a few years ago, ” Mulloli said. Mulloli said that if four million people are actually suffering from HIV infection in the country, then annual treatment costs would run into several billions of dollars.
This would create a huge new market for the pharmaceutical industry, while basic public health issues fall on the wayside.
NACO launched a pilot project in the national capital this month to try out the efficacy of zidovudine (AZT) in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, although mechanisms for administration and close monitoring of ante-natal cases are missing.
According to Chhabra, a member of the Independent Commission on Health in India, flawed estimates in HIV/AIDS could result in “enormous public expenditures and claims of averted infections when such high levels of infections never existed in the first place”.
Others like Amit Sengupta of the Jana Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement) and Ramesh Sharma of the prestigious Gandhi Peace Foundation are seeing a deeper, bigger game in what they say is the apparently undue emphasis given by the Bank and the U.N. agencies toward containing HIV/AIDS.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-10-26/bay-area/17184767_1_test-results-appeals-court-emotional-distress
Where is Bill Marigold? Hmmmm, I wonder…
Origen,
dont try to change the subject. I’m not Bill,
Now, what do you think about the substance of my posts,,,,or would you rahter just try to deflect attention away from the valid points that are being made against your arguments?
This same old tactic is getting very old, but honestly, I really dont expect much more in the form of real debate. Same old deflection technique,,,maybe you will criticise my spelling next to bolster your argument. LOL
Origin is not trying to change the subject or deflect attention, Joe, by mentioning “Where is Bill Marigold?” Bill Margold still has not responded to my op/eds on him, although he said he would. A man who’s mouth usually can’t stop who somehow doesn’t respond to any of my points speaks volumes. Of course, there’s nothing intelligent he can say in response and even he knows that. He’s got nothing to say unless it’s talking about and promoting himself. Bill Margold has wished death on me and many other people, said the best thing Savannah did was die, yet he pretends to be a “counselor” to the stars.
P.A.W. doesn’t really stand for “protecting adult welfare”. It stands for “pompous, arrogant windbag”.
Amen Jerry,,,,now there’s something we can agree on.
pompus arrogant windbag,,,,,,,thanks for the chuckle
But I think origen was trying to insinuate that I am Mr. Bill,,,its not the first time
And again Origen (and btw, I think that should be spelled “origin”), your claim is wrong about gays and HIV. Stay tuned for my response under moderation, but the Wall Street Journal wrote about gov’t health agencies skewing statistics despite the fact that:
“the disease was, and remains, largely the scourge of gay men, intravenous drug users, their sex partners and their newborn children”.
Lying and scare tactics bring those organizations more money. And then the gay industry does their part by not testing… and here we are, mindlessly running and fucking around in la-la land!
Gay porn should have straight porn testing standards, simple, end of argument. Margold doesnt give a shit about this because HIPPA is gonna keep everyone in the dark about patient zero as long as are no others are infected. If others are infected, then he will have to get on his Hawaiian shirt and sweatpants and stand next to Dr Mitch, Nina and Ira et al, cause if others are infected the names will be out there quick. HIPPA keeps the it “in the family” which is what Dr Mitch and Bill wanted to do back with Marc Wallice. Thank god for some guy who happens to be the namesake for this blog, he exposed their bullshit. I wish someone would drop a dime and name a name and more importantly talk about what shoots this person was on recently.
Larry,
The gay insutry does not bar HIV+ performers from working, so why would they test? Of course this is ridiculous. People with HIV should be legally barred from being legal sex workers,,Just like they are in Nevada. But California has no such LAWS. And to rely on the porn industry to POLICE themselves regaring this matter,,,well we all know what a joke that is,,and has been for a long time now,,,it is just now that the joke is beginiing to be fully exposed.
Insutry self policeing,,,Brian Pumper nailed red handed forging std tests,,,two month later he is winning awards,,,Yeah right,,,self policing, what a joke.
Top female performers are calling for mandatory condoms,,,,its about time,,,,and the going undergrounh threat,,,just that, an empty last ditch bluff, and the bluff is being called.
Let HIV+s work with each other, but make all gays test! Stop the insanity!
Joe, its time they(gay industry) test or start taking the heat for this and any other HIV scare, especially if they keep shooting bareback and bareback bi. Brian Pumper is a piece of shit, there should be a producer agreement that if a performer fakes a test, get lost, for good. Speaking of tests, how about an IQ challenge, Margold vs Steele, I got a $100 on Jeremy.
This is pissing me off.
What the fuck?
It’s like bleeding from an open wound, but course of action is to get a ratio; pump the same amount blood lost into the person. The common sense action would be to close the wound – stop the bleeding. No, too easy.
This whole matter could be so easily resolved. Have gay talent tested. And no crossover work. Look no further.
I’m so confused by this news. There was someone who may have infected others. The system in place caught the incursion. The industry shuts down to isolate those who may be a threat (to themselves and others). It’s a good thing. It shows that the mechanism is working. Granted not perfect, but working.
We then get people (in power) bitch about the failure; someone got infect. It’s sucks, hard. Nobody is making lite of that (except assholes). But they’re acting like the industy HAS TO BE 100% clean!!! What the fuck? Never going to happen. All systems have some corruption. Think everybody on welfare is genuinely poor. Or that everybody pays their taxes. Or that all politicians have their constitutes best interest in heart. Fucks no!
What can be hoped is that those numbers, dishonorables are kept at a very minimum, that is the BEST we as species can do. Period. It will never be 100%. We can hope, but wishes don’t make it so.
It should be a matter of simple math. How many sex acts are performed each day; home video, internet and photo shoots? The number is staggering. What is the proportion to infection based on the current system? Will that figure be greater than drunk drivers, plane crashes, bath tub deaths, unintentional electrocutions, fires, food poisoning… ect?
Test the gay talent. End of line.
Don’t be an asshole Joe. I’m busy. I’ll get to you later…
Ah, I see my post #12 is finally in.
All systems have some corruption, is right, Johnlan especially systems which have, in the words of the above article from India, “made a fortune out of the AIDS scare”.
They used to tells us millions would die from something which is actually so microscopically small that it can slip through the voids in condoms with ease… something so deadly which somehow doesn’t start killing you… possibly, that is… until 10-20-30? years down the line?, in defiance of standard biological laws of infection that demonstrate that once a virus infects a host, it has only so much time to replicate and spread otherwise the body’s own natural immune system will take care of it… so give us toxic drugs now for days, weeks, months, years to kill or neutralize it… or us, in the process… it’s all mad science.. or as Gallo said, a big mystery.
whoops, I meant NGO’s stand for nongovernmental organizations…
Thanks for comment, Larry. I don’t really care much about IQ tests/mind puzzles. I remember when John Dekker screamed at me at the 10 minute testing center years ago when I tried to share some alternative literature on AIDS that he knows what he’s talking about and I should trust him because he has a supposedly enormous IQ… so much in fact, that there was supposedly no need to examine what I had to share. Well, there’s many ways of being able to look at a scam, in case the science scares you. There’s the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of AIDS, which is composed of doctors with advanced degrees and nobel prize winners. Then there’s articles such as the Wall Street Journal which says health-scare organizations lie in order to get more money for “research”. There’s the historical record, which shows the discoverer of AIDS was sued for stealing and then later convicted of “scientific misconduct”. He announced that HTLV3 (later to be changed to the more hip and ominous sounding HIV) was the “likely cause of AIDS” before being submitted to peer review. This is the same retrovirologist who for years was trying to get government grants claiming that a retrovirus was the cause of Leukemia and other diseases. Remember the virus cancer program of the 70s? Many years and countless dollars based on the failed hypothesis that a virus causes cancer. But now more than ever, due to the amount of money that “non profit” organizations get in donations telling us “skewed statistics” is a good part of the reason we are brainwashed. Interestingly, Gallo made his announcement that he discovered the “likely cause of AIDS” in April, 1984, the same year and month Orwell’s novel begins. And like 1984, we employ double think… where “HIV causes AIDS” just like “Oceania has always been at war with East Asia”, despite innumerable evidences to the contrary.
Havent heard John’s name in a long time, he did a great scene with Ginger Lynn in Torn, her comeback that was good, unlike the later ones. As I remember John came in with Alyssa Allure(?) and the ultra cute Holli Woods, she had some issues I think, I know she had issues after a rough scene with TT Boy, which wouldnt be the first time someone accused that piece of shit. Robert Gallo, I get angry any time I hear or see that quack’s name…or is he a charlatan.
Lylah Wrote: “Normally, a person’s health is nobody’s business but their own, but this affects so many other people that we just can’t use the same standards. Let’s just get this all out in the open and get everyone back to work!”
Although this argument definately has merit, there’s a big problem with that. Everyone who had sex with him would instantly be presumed to also be infected along with 2nd generation people. This stigma would stay with them for a long time. It could be very damaging to a lot on non-infected people.
I think JD was around before Alyssa and Holli, and maybe brought them in later. He was one of several people who gave me the stern advice of not working for less then a certain amount once you work for the big companies. Like a dumbass I actually turned down a lot of work once I worked for Vivid and VCA by my third month in the biz and then some people thought I was some kind of prima donna.
Jim Powers started stuttering over the phone because I asked for a whopping $400 a scene when they were paying $200. Big mistake I made, which got me started off on the wrong foot with some people, but oh well. The last scene I ever did for “Pick Up Lines” (the series with no dialogue or ‘pick up lines’) was with Holly. I’m glad that you know Gallo is full of shit. If only people can put 2+2 together… it would be sort of an adult version of telling a young child that there is no Santa Claus. The strange things we wrap ourselves around with full faith.
Gallo is the kind of doctor that make people angry at doctors, flush with his ego and grant monies…and patent monies I assume. The best doctors and scientists we never see til some nosey prick shows up with a camera or a tape recorder. Is Powers still paying $200 or has he raised it to $220 and a six pack, of course Thrust will lie and say you flaked out and do the scene for $100 and a sleeve of bagels.
Here’s the congressional report on the Gallo case: “The Gallo case, more clearly than any other of which we are aware, reveals the way that academic, scientific, and government institutions mishandle allegations of misconduct committed by senior scientists. The case is additionally important because of its implications for public health.”….
I. INTRODUCTION
A. The Subcommittee’s Focus on the Institutional Response
Encouraged by prominent scientists, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in 1987 began a review of the institutional response to cases of alleged or suspected scientific misconduct by scientists involved in Federally supported research. At that time, the problem was readily discernible. When situations of possible scientific misconduct arose, the institution’s response generally was to walk the whistleblower out the door, sweep the problems under the rug, and to protect, at all costs, the reputations of the senior scientists. As one scientist explained, “It was as if they had their own fiefdoms whereby they set their own rules.”
http://notaids.com/en/gallosfolly
Read it and weep, or read it and rejoice, depending on your perspective and values…
I’ve seen Gallo’s press conference of April, 1984, standing next to Health Secretary Heckler, announcing with movie star-like sungasses on, as she announced that the likely cause of AIDS has been found. This was opportunism in the midst of hysteria in the gay community pressuring the gov’t for an answer to a problem linked to and afflicting them severely.
Accused of “intellectual recklessness of a high degree,” Robert Gallo patented the crazy antibody HIV test, which he profitted from handsomely. Never before in history had antibodies ever been a specific marker of a disease. Antibodies are indicative of the body’s resistance and overcoming of a disease.
Excerpts from: IN GALLO CASE, TRUTH TERMED A CASUALTY
Report: Science subverted in AIDS dispute
By John Crewdson
Chicago Tribune 1 Jan. 1995
Gallo got major financial kickbacks and diverted federal funds through two of his assistants, both of whom were convicted of federal felonies.
What ensued at NIH and HHS, according to the report, was “a parody of an investigation” in which Gallo’s superiors “did not seek the truth, but rather sought to create an official record to support the claims of Gallo.”… several “demonstrably false claims,” among them the assertions that no material “from any outside laboratory” was used to isolate HTLV-3B, and that Gallo was “the first to identify the virus and to describe the blood antibody test.”
One of the most remarkable and regrettable aspects of the institutional response to the defense of Gallo et al is how readily public service and science apparently were subverted into defending the indefensible. Neither (HHS nor Justice Department) officials and attorneys, once the dispute was under way, (dealt) responsibly with the accumulating evidence that there were serious problems in the U.S. government’s claims. Instead, they pushed on with their “litigation strategy,” all the while adding deception to deception, consuming untold resources and squandering scientific and international good will.
The fraud became self-perpetuating. Defending the indefensible became a reflex, until ultimately, the cover-up was so burdened with falsehoods that its collapse was inevitable. HHS officials and attorneys should have recognized early on that the falsehoods could not be indefinitely sustained. But HHS sought only to “defend the position.” HHS did not honor the public trust.
The violence to principles of responsible, ethical science was just as profound. At a crucial point early in the (Gallo laboratory’s) HIV research, international politics and the technocrats committed to those politics virtually took over that research, claiming the laboratory’s putative accomplishments as accomplishments of the United States administration and by extension, the United States itself.
Once done, the (Gallo laboratory’s) interests became the government’s interests; defending the (Gallo laboratory) scientists’ reputations and claimed accomplishments became necessary for defending the honor of the United States. The defense thus became a consuming effort for significant portions of the U.S. government.
The result was a costly, prolonged defense of the indefensible in which the (Gallo laboratory’s) “science” became an integral element of the U.S. government’s public relations/advocacy efforts. The consequences for HIV research were severely damaging, leading, in part, to a corpus of scientific papers polluted with systematic exaggerations and outright falsehoods of unprecedented proportions. *