Simon Jenkins has been wrong on viral epidemics before
Posted by gimpy on July 23, 2009
Here is a Times article from 1993 in which Simon Jenkins, currently offering dangerous advice on swine flu, suggests that HIV does not cause AIDS (Times archive, subscription needed). Although I haven’t read the article and can’t comment on the content, a letter in Nature from a Haemotologist who did and who has is pretty damning. I think it proves that over 15 years ago Jenkins was just as incapable of writing about science and medical matters as he is now. So why do people let him?
Anthony said
Now that is an embarassing.
Anthony said
article.
gimpy said
Note also the letter from Neville Hodgkinson, who went truly gaga and has persisted in his AIDS denialism to the detriment of his career.
draust said
Note the riposte from Sunday Times writer and science editor Neville Hodgkinson after Karpas’ letter. Hodgkinson became something of a favourite among the “HIV is not the cause of AIDS” gang – you can see a bibliography of his efforts on the AIDS denialist Virusmyth site
here, including hotlinks to a couple of his articles. The Wikipedia AIDS denialism page brackets Hodgkinson along with American writer Celia Farber, which is pretty damning.
The Sunset Times’ HIV/AIDS coverage in the early 90s has not stood the test of time well, to say the least. To quote the Wikipedia AIDS denalism page:
PJ said
Jesus, perhaps what is most telling is that, having been so spectacularly wrong in the past, he was still arrogant enough to go and write something like that again!
PJ said
I’d love to see what he wrote – in this link I found:
Matt Volatile said
Forward to MD @ Private Eye? They love this kind of stuff.
Simon Jenkins, (lapsed?) AIDS denialist… « Don’t Get Fooled Again said
[...] I wasn’t aware of until recently (credit to Gimpy for the tip-off), was that loud-mouthed columnist Simon Jenkins (latterly of the Guardian) was also [...]
ella said
Dr. Peter Duesberg a Philosopher, theologist? check your references Karpas and Gimpy too!
quote from Karpas’s letter to the Times
“Another incomprehensible argument by Jenkins against the role of HIV in AIDS is “Why after 10 years of intensive research are we no nearer to the answer?”. We have made considerable progress understanding the disease…no cure… But the same is true for common cold, various herpes infections, some major cancer diseases and multiple sclerosis..”
Indeed this is true !! Many drugs but no cure, much expenditure little joy.
Warhelmet said
On the other hand, it is an old article. Not that I’ve read it. But I did read some of the stuff about the Andrew Neil period of the Sunday Times and how it captured the zeitgeist of the time, blah, blah. Poor people were to blame for their own misfortune, etc…
Has Jenkins recanted?
gimpy said
I would imagine Jenkins has recanted, if maybe only in private, his continued employment would suggest some degree of forgiveness. If anyone can find a public recantation I would love to see it though.
Derrik said
It’s fascinating how some people seem to regard opposition from scientists as proof that they are on to something. I guess it comes from dealing with politicians. Scientist says “Ah we thought of that criticism three years ago, here are the experiments that demonstraited it was not so, nice try though”. Denier says “You are trying to censor me”.
I have modified Hodgkinson’s final paragraph for fun.
I should like to add that my own doubts about the moon not being made of cheese have grown stronger over the 20 months since we first set out the “dissident” views, not least because of the unreasoning way mainstream science has reacted to the challenge, at first dismissive and then, when the “problem” refused to go away, openly censorious.
Warhelmet said
Even more fascinating is that the media themselves that have originally created a mountain out of a mole hill. Also the lack of opposition can be seen as confirmation as well – the “scientists refuse to address Moon-Cheese concerns”.
Neuroskeptic said
Whoa whoa whoa. This is huge. And this clown got a Knighthood for services to journalism?
p said
hmmm. I cannot see the original page by Jenkins, but just remind me.
Was that not the time the UK government was doing those iceberg adverts, you know, where AIDS was going to become a sexually transmitted disease for heterosexuals in the UK ?
Was that not the time that government figures were predicting massive increases in AIDS deaths in britain, and particularly for heterosexuals ?
Now clearly, neither of these things has happened, but that must be down to the iceberg adverts, right ?