[Ads-l] Slight Antedating of "AIDS"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Berkeley molecular biologist Peter H. Duesberg is probably the best
known person asserting that AIDS is not caused by a virus. This
contrarian hypothesis is well-known enough that Wikipedia has an entry
on the topic:

Duesberg hypothesis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duesberg_hypothesis

The Wikipedia entry for Peter Duesberg calls the hypothesis "AIDS
denialism, the debunked claim that HIV does not cause AIDS".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Duesberg

On Sun, Jan 16, 2022 at 4:21 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> BTW, the writer's name is George Mendenhall (not Mendelhall). Here's the
> Mar. 25, 1982 article in question:
>
> https://archive.org/details/BAR_19820325/page/n4/mode/1up
>
> On Sun, Jan 16, 2022 at 4:15 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Presumably the reference to "the combined Lise of the more popular drugs"
> > is an OCR error for "combined use". The context is interesting. There was a
> > strongly held claim in the earlier years of the AIDS outbreak, persisting
> > well beyond the early 1980s and based especially in California if memory
> > serves and circulated in underground papers like the Berkeley Barb and L.A.
> > Free Press, that the syndrome had nothing to do with HIV and instead was
> > caused by drug use, poppers, promiscuity, etc., and that the medical
> > establishment was covering this up.  Back then, poorly supported conspiracy
> > theories didn't have social media to live on, so this one didn't go viral.
> > I'm sure in retrospect Mendelhall was glad he published that disclaimer.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 16, 2022 at 3:26 PM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Bay Area Reporter, Volume 12, Number 14, Page 6, 8 April 1982
> > > (California Digital Newspapers Collection)   I would like to clarify a
> > > couple of points in George Mendenhall’s March 25 B.A.R. report of the
> > > poppers hearings in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Health and
> > > Environment Committee on March 23. 1982. Mistakenly attributed to me is
> > > a statement that the “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (which
> > > includes Kaposi's sarcoma. pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. and other
> > > rare diseases occurring in some gay men over the past year) results
> > > ”from the combined Lise of the more popular drugs such as alco» hol.
> > > hashish. caffeine. nicotinei etc. —~ as well as the nitrites." Actually.
> > > the cause or, more likely, causes of the AIDS are not known. I stressed
> > > that amyl and butyl nitrite are being investigated as possible co—
> > > factors in both the AIDS and another condition where the body's lymph
> > > glands become enlarged. I am not aware of any relationship between
> > > alcohol, hashish. etc, and any disease other than alcoholism, chemical
> > > dependency.
> > >
> > > -----
> > >
> > > Incidentally, I checked the mentioned 25 Mar report by Mendenhall, and
> > > found it did not reference 'acquired immune deficiency syndrome' (or
> > > AIDS), but rather "acquired immune deficiencies" (p 5)
> > >
> > > On 1/15/22 5:40 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> > > > AIDS (OED 1982 Aug.)
> > > >
> > > > 1982 Boston Globe 27 July 4/1 (Newspapers.com)  The disorder has been
> > > named Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome, or AIDS.
> > > >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org