BATTLING FOR TRUTH Reviewed by Jule Klotter John Lauritsen's book The AIDS War reveals the disparity between the scientific search for truth and the medical-industrial complex. John Lauritsen, a survey research analyst, began reviewing AIDS research in 1983. This book is a collection of his articles, written since 1985, that document the sloppy science, propaganda, and greed behind the "AIDS plague". Throughout the years, Lauritsen has analyzed information or lack of information, from the authorities and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control, National Cancer Institute and FDA. The articles dispute the assertions that AIDS is a "gay disease" (or even a sexual disease), that HIV causes AIDS, and that AZT and other nucleoside analogue drugs (ddI, ddC, d4T) provide any benefits.... The AIDS War documents the scientific, industrial, political, and social factors that have combined to create a deadly boondoggle of misinformation, poor science, stupidity, and greed. That people are dying from immune suppression is not in question. The cause is. it is part time to consider the evidence that AIDS is caused by non-infectious agents such as psycho-active drugs, over-medication with antibiotics, and AZT itself. John Lauritsen's The AIDS War is journalism at its finest; it is well written, and shows a deep regard for digging up truth. --Townsend Letter for Doctors, January 1994
Reviewed by Jerry Terranova, Praxis, Summer/Fall 1993: "Dispatches from the front," is how John Lauritsen describes his new book, The AIDS War: Propaganda, Profiteering and Genocide from the Medical-Industrial Complex, a collection of his writings from the New York Native from February 1985 to present (with some new chapters written especially for this book). "I want them to stand for the record," Lauritsen says, "so that no one, when the truth finally prevails, can pretend that there were no AIDS-critics, or that we didn't speak out." Lauritsen employs war as a central AIDS metaphor for reasons he considers obvious: "the terrible suffering, loss of life, propaganda, censorship, rumors, hysteria, profiteering, espionage and sabotage.... I maintain that AIDS reporters should be regarded as war correspondents ... and that the salient characteristics of war coverage are also those of AIDS coverage." The book reads like a chronicle, covering virtually all aspects of AIDS, from one who has been on the front lines for over a decade. Lauritsen is a Harvard-educated survey research analyst by profession. As in his first book (the indispensable Poison By Prescription: The AZT Story (1990) this book employs his wide range of journalistic and research skills; it is painstakingly documented and referenced, grounded in his solid knowledge of survey research protocol and presented in a tone that is fair, sane, and reasonable. The book is overflowing with information (most of it fascinating and freeing) but somehow manages to avoid adding to the "AIDS info overload". The work is infused with a spirit of independent inquiry -- a passion for truth --which stands in stark contrast to most "official" sources of AIDS information, much of which is mindless rehash of the same unchallenged assumptions.
Reviewed by Henry H. Bauer, Virginia Scholar, April 1996: If you're going to read only one book about AIDS, it should be The AIDS War, a collection of essays, some new for this book and others originally published in newspapers or magazines between 1985 and 1993. The author "began researching 'AIDS' in early 1983. Initially I was shocked by the incompetence with which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) conducted survey research, my own profession since 1966. Later I would be shocked by the dishonesty, venality, and ruthlessness of the AIDS Establishment." ... Anyone concerned about AIDS -- everyone, in other words -- ought to read this book. Discount Lauritsen's stronger accusations and language if you will and as you like ... --still he gives chapter and verse, authoritative evidence and clear logic, that go far to make these salient points: - HIV is not the cause of AIDS; - Drug abuse is likely a primary cause; - AZT treatment is iatrogenic homicide. Along the way,