SOCRATES AND DUESBERG
CHRISTINE QUNTA THE philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death in 399 BC in the city state of Athens. He had been charged with corrupting the youth and showing disrespect for religious traditions. Socrates sin was to teach his followers to think critically by subjecting their views to questioning. During the Inquisition, which swept through France, Germany, Italy and Spain from about 1100 onwards, first civil authorities and then the Roman Catholic Church tortured and burned to death those whose beliefs did not conform to the religious dogma of the day. The victims were first Roman Catholics who disagreed with the church and later Protestants, Jews and Muslims. They were called heretics. In Spain alone, during the 15 years that Toms de Torquemada , a Catholic priest, presided over the Inquisition, 2000 people were executed for heresy and 200,000 Jews were expelled from the country. The religious fanaticism and barbarism that gave rise to these events gradually disappeared as Europe became more or less civilised. Democracy developed and the rule of law was instituted. In 1887 two physicists, Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, conducted experiments that began to make small but significant cracks in Isaac Newtons physical laws of space and time. Albert Einstein, with his theory of relativity, destroyed the foundation of Newtonian physics, which for nearly three centuries was regarded as perfect science. Einstein was fortunate that he was born in the late 19th century and not during those periods that reason deserted Europe. He would surely have been put to death for daring to challenge conventional theories. Peter Duesberg, professor of molecular biology at the University of California, Kary Mullis, biochemist and 1993 Nobel laureate for chemistry, and their colleagues may not be as fortunate as Einstein. Amid the brilliant scientific advances that we have made in the past 100 years, with intelligent computers, the internet and space travel, Duesberg and his colleagues have become victims of a kind of zealotry that is reminiscent of the Inquisition. Even the language used to describe them, such as heretics, harks back to the Middle Ages. That they will escape being burnt at the stake may not be all that comforting. Lynching by the media, being denied space in scientific journals, being denied funding to conduct research and excommunication by peers may just be the 21stcentury equivalent to being burnt at the stake. So much hysteria and obfuscation surrounds the debate on AIDS and the views of Duesberg that the fact that these are eminent scientists with proven research track records is completely lost. The attempts by scientists in this country to mimic their western counterparts and deny Duesberg and his colleagues the opportunity to explain their views is at odds with everything that scientific inquiry is all about. Science is not about accepting dogma. It is neither about religious convictions nor majority rule. It is about challenging dogma and constantly subjecting existing theories to scrutiny. It is about proving theories with convincing evidence and overthrowing existing ones. This is the dialectic of science. To shut out the views of scientists who do not agree with the majority but whose theories can enhance opportunities for finding solutions to the AIDS epidemic is surely out of place in the modern scientific community. Their views must be aired. AIDS is a social problem that affects everyone. The debate can no longer be confined to scientific journals. It was absolutely correct and essential for the president to seek out the views of all scientists who may help government to find answers to deal with the epidemic. Duesberg and his colleagues may not be right about everything they say, but their views on the toxicity of AZT and alternative ways of analysing the disease warrant further inquiry. They were guests on Tim Modises SAFM programme on May 7. It was informative and stimulating. In the midst of all the hysteria, the president and the health minister held firm and insisted on hearing Duesberg and his colleagues. In doing so they not only advanced prospects for finding a solution to the scourge of AIDS but also struck a blow for freedom of expression and scientific advancement.
 TORONTO
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