here's a different sort of speculation. we know that the hiv virus has been around a long time; i can recall seeing press clips about its being found in tissue samples from a british sailor who died in 1959 and a st. louis teenager who died in the mid-60s. now we know that there is an epidemiological curve involved: it takes time for a virus, particularly a weak virus like this one, to reach critical mass in the human population and begin to spread at epidemic rates. and maybe that's the prime reason hiv disease didn't begin spreading widely until the 1980s.
on the other hand, i've seen no one link the rise of hiv/aids to another potential (and completely sensible) co-factor: ozone depletion and the consequent increase in UV rays, one effect of which is to weaken the mammalian immune system. as a footnote, has anyone else noticed the apparently increased incidence of other immune-deficiency disorders in the past 20 years, and not only among humans? i've got plenty of anecdotal evidence rattling round my head--for one, an incident in the early '90s when a large number of south seas dolphins began turning up dead of an unspecified immune system disfunction; also a simian aids-like disease, feline leukemia, etc.--but i don't know whether they add up to a genuine empirical phenomenon, or merely a heightened awareness of immune-related disorders in the wake of aids.
-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Brad DeLong Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 9:50 AM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: The truth about the aids panic
>Yeah, what is going on here? ... Plain old intellectual laziness? What?
>
>Chris
Intellectual laziness definitely: it's rare that you find someone so uninformed that he thinks "generic" drugs are different from branded ones...
Brad DeLong