What Really Causes AIDS

The AIDS pandemic is likely to become the greatest catastrophe
in human history. Unless a safe, effective vaccine is quickly developed,
or the preventive strategies outlined in this book are widely
applied, by 2015 one sixth of the world's population will be infected
by HIV-1 and some 250 million people will have died from
AIDS. Its associated losses by then will be more than those of the
Black Death and World War II combined, the equivalent of eight
World War Is.1

This pandemic is only one of several ongoing catastrophes involving
viruses that encode the selenoenzyme glutathione peroxidase.2
Indeed, the world is experiencing simultaneous pandemics caused
by Hepatitis B and C viruses, Coxsackie B virus and HIV-1 and
HIV-2. As these viruses replicate, because their genetic codes
include a gene that is virtually identical to that of the human
enzyme glutathione peroxidase, they rob their hosts of selenium.
Paradoxically, however, they diffuse most easily in populations
that are very selenium deficient,3 possibly because their members
have depressed immune systems. It is no coincidence that
such viruses are causing havoc at the beginning of the 21st century.
The last 50 years have seen enormous expansions in the
use of fossil fuels and deforestation by fire. The resulting pollutants
have greatly increased the acidity of global precipitation, reducing
selenium's ability to enter the food chain. This situation is
being made worse by the widespread use of commercial fertilizers
since their sulphates, nitrogen, and phosphorus all depress the
uptake of selenium by crops. Deficiencies in this essential trace
element are being felt most acutely in areas, such as sub-Saharan
Africa, where soil selenium levels are naturally very low. Acid
rain is making a bad situation worse, so increasing vulnerability
to those viruses that encode glutathione peroxidase. Many
populations are also being exposed to a thinning ozone layer,
heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium, pesticides, and drug,
tobacco, and alcohol abuse, all of which depress the human immune
system, increasing vulnerability to viruses, including HIV-1
and HIV-2.

In July 2000, physicians and scientists from around the world
met in Durban, South Africa for the XIII International AIDS Conference.
In a declaration, named after the city, 5,018 of them
proclaimed that "HIV is the sole cause of AIDS."4 There are,
however, at least seven anomalies that strongly suggest that this
conventional wisdom is incorrect and that belief in it is blocking
progress in the development of new treatments for AIDS and of
novel ways of preventing its spread. To illustrate, despite widespread
unprotected promiscuous sexual activity in Senegal, HIV-
1 is diffusing very slowly, if at all, amongst the Senegalese.5 It is
very apparent that in Africa, differences in ...