REACTIONS TO THE AIDS PANEL REPORT
|
SA
Media
on the Panel Report |
PRESS REACTION in South Africa to the release of the report has been middling to poor. Brendan Boyle of Reuters gave Mbeki a reasonable outing, but the Mail & Guardian painted the dissidents as advocating cucumbers and music for AIDS. iClinic was completely one-sided, headlining the report as confirming that HIV causes AIDS. Much was made of the Health Minister's comment that the status quo was still public policy. Some even described the interim report as the FINAL report. |
| Comments |
SA Health Minister's Statement on release of Report DISSIDENTS REACT TO THE PANEL REPORT Leading Dissident Panel Members Comments Scientists Group Welcomes AIDS Panel Report Statement from Study Group for AIDS |
Magazine.. |
Luminous
AIDS Report Praised
THE presidential panel's report on AIDS is a "historic turning point" in the debate on the disease, according to an international dissident group. The Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of AIDS said yesterday that it welcomed the document, made public last week, as something it had been fighting for since its inception a decade ago.
"President Thabo Mbeki has prevailed in his quest for a deeper understanding of the complex cause or causes of AIDS, despite the near-hysterical protestations from mainstream AIDS activists, the research establishment, and the media," it said.
Business Day 10 April 2001
SA must judge Aids report
The
people of South Africa should be the judge and jury in the controversy
over the nature of Aids, leading dissident scientist Dr David Rasnick
said on Friday"The purpose of the debate is much like that of a legal trial. The prosecution and defence present their arguments and evidence to the jury or judge who then decides. In this case, the jury and judge are the people of South Africa and the world, and President Mbeki and his ministers."
News24 8 April 2001
Africans aren't
dying of Aids,
says dissident
"Africans are suffering and dying from the same things they have been suffering and dying from for generations before Aids. They are not suffering and dying from something new called Aids," leading scientist David Rasnick was quoted as saying by the South African Press Association (Sapa).
IOL 6 April 2001
Critics
say Aids report
has achieved nothing
The government on Thursday ran into a storm of criticism over the report
of its controversial presidential Aids advisory panel. Star 5 April
2001
Aids
panel's report
reveals divergent views
The final report, presented to the cabinet in Cape Town on Wednesday,
concludes that the rift was so great that the delegates were unable
to find common ground on policy matters.
'Report
could harm Aids fight'
The long-awaited report of the presidential panel on Aids had achieved
almost nothing, and could even harm the fight against the disease, head
of the Aids Law Project Mark Heywood said on Thursday.
Aids
report:
condoms or cucumbers?
AN interim report by a controversial Aids advisory panel to the South
African government shows little more than a predictable chasm between
dissidents and orthodox scientists, say analysts. The orthodox scientists
called for better blood screening and improved awareness campaigns,
the dissidents for such treatment as Chinese cucumber, yoga, and music
therapy Mail & Guardian 6 April 2001
South
African government
sticks to current AIDS policy
The South African government is set to move ahead with its current policies
on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, despite the failure of the presidential AIDS
advisory panel to agree on many issues, including whether HIV causes
AIDS.
HIV
causes AIDS, panel finds
The controversial Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel's main finding was
that HIV causes AIDS, Head of Paediatric and Child Health at the University
of Natal Medical School, Jerry Coovadia, told SABC radio on Thursday.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in a statement on Wednesday
- after deliberation of the panel's interim report by Cabinet - that
government has no reason to change its premise that HIV causes AIDS,
which underlies all its AIDS-related programmes.