Gallo does Bush inpersonation in court

Robert Gallo has just testified in the criminal case of Andre Parenzee, charged with endangering three women by having unprotected sex while being HIV-positive:

I just got finished reading Bob Gallo's testimony in the Parenzee
case. For all the good his testimony will do, the prosecution might
as well have called George W. Bush to the stand. I get the feeling
that Gallo unwittingly associated himself with Bush in the eyes of
the court.

First of all, he couldn't pronounce Eleni Papadapolus- Eliopolus'
name, which prompted the judge to instruct him to refer to her
as "The Witness." Very Bush-like.

Then, shortly into cross-examination, Gallo makes the bone-head
decision to insult the judge himself in the following exchange:

BORICK: Again I want to put a suggestion to you that's been made in
this court and that is that in effect the whole argument that HIV
exists rises and falls on the first experiments conducted by
Montagnier.

GALLO: That's silly, of course. You know that; I mean everybody
knows that that's sitting in this courtroom.

HIS HONOR: Not everybody, Dr. Gallo.

GALLO: That's sad commentary. Was it Your Honor who made it?

HIS HONOR: I made that comment.

GALLO: Well I would regard that as a sad commentary.

I get the feeling that we dissidents may find ourselves in debt to
George W. Bush, because Gallo's performance in court the other day is
likely to draw comparisons to Bush -- his inability to pronounce the
names of Australian witnesses, his assertions of knowledge of facts
not in evidence -- these similarities between Gallo's testimony and
Bush's approach to Middle Eastern policy (particularly in Iraq,) may
well play in Parenzee's favor.


BACKGROUND TO GALLO'S CLAIM THAT HIV CAUSES "AIDS"

In March 1987, President Ronald Reagan and French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac appeared in the East Room of the White House to announce that their governments had settled the question of whether scientists at the Pasteur Institute of Paris or the National Institutes of Health had invented the blood test for the virus known as HIV.

The answer, it appeared, was both. The names of the Pasteur scientists
were added to the American patent on the AIDS test, and the focal agreement that formed the core of the settlement declared that both countries' scientistshad independently "succeeded in isolating a human retrovirus whichproved to be the causative agent of AIDS."

Just eight days later, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern
New Mexico, a scientist specializing in the genetic analysis of viruses
sent senior officials at the National Institutes of Health a confidential
memo warning that "a double fraud" had been perpetrated on the
scientific community.

The Los Alamos scientist, Gerald Myers, had compared the genetic codes of the French and American AIDS viruses and determined they were not independent discoveries but had undoubtedly come from the same patient.

Moreover, Myers said, the American virus and its progeny could not
have been isolated from a pool of blood samples from several AIDS patients, as the NIH publicly had maintained.

"I suggest that we have paid for this deception in more than the
usual ways," Myers wrote. "Scientific fraudulence always costs
humanity ... but here we have been additionally misdirected with regardto the extent of variation of the virus, which we can ill afford..."

WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT ROBERT GALLO

‘ The tale of Dr. Robert Gallo’s role in the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS is one of those stories that wouldn’t be believable as fiction...Science Fictions is bursting with allegations leveled at Dr. Gallo, his associates, rivals and enemies, that include deception, misconduct, incompetence, fraud, sabotage, back-stabbing, double-dealing, overstatements, half-truths, outright lies, a clandestine affair with a co-worker, a bribery attempt, denials, evasions, coverups and serial rewritings of history.’
— New York Times

‘ Scrupulously researched and sweeping... Science Fictions documents enough treachery, negligence and megalomania to make even the most trusting of readers skeptical of the scientific establishment.’
— Washington Post

‘ A gripping work with important implications...With incredible tenacity, Crewdson reveals a biological research scandal that was significant, frightening and, most of all, a testament to one reporter’s quest to separate science fact from fiction.’
— Chicago Tribune

‘ Crewdson’s work is the most powerful and revealing since James Watson’s The Double Helix...This is an awesomely documented prosecutorial brief that concedes no credit to its target and yields him no doubts. If the Gallo camp has a rebuttal, let’s hear it.’
— New Scientist

‘ No one knows whether someone in Gallo’s lab stole the French virus or if it contaminated their samples through sloppy practice, and it really doesn’t matter… And as Crewdson shows, the biggest discoveries in Gallo’s career — his claim to have identified the virus that causes AIDS and the patent on the AIDS blood test — both belong to someone else.’
— Baltimore Sun

‘ Robert Gallo’s hour was not the brightest for American science. In fact, it may be one of the darkest. The two-decade-long sequence of events described in John Crewdson’s new book resembles more the actions of a megalomaniac intent more on self-promotion and profit than on a way to stop the AIDS epidemic.’
— San Diego Union-Tribune

‘ I could hardly put the book down out of a mounting realization that this was more than a story about human vanity and political corruption. Science Fictions is ultimately a scientific detective story, with dramatic plot twists, inspired sleuthing, and unlikely heroes. It’s a crime with many victims, and one that is well worth the effort to understand.’
— Washington Monthly

‘ John Crewdson, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, has written a detailed history of the events that led scientists to the cause of AIDS - and it makes unpleasant reading for anyone who thought science was simply about the pursuit of truth. Instead, a picture emerges of deliberate falsehoods, exaggerated claims and denigrating criticism.’
— The Independent (London)

‘ Crewdson’s squalid tale of grasping self-interest in the face of a devastating epidemic is told through court documents, reports from internal NIH and congressional investigative committees and interviews. The enormous amount of evidence which the author has gathered in favor of the French seems convincing.’
— Los Angeles Times

‘ Science Fictions is about scientists behaving very, very badly. Crewdson’s research is thorough, his writing brisk.’
— Edmonton Journal

‘ A compelling case that Gallo claimed and obtained recognition for research that had, in fact, been accomplished by the French...this book is a successful indictment of Gallo, whom history will probably judge to have been guilty of excessive zeal in the pursuit of scientific glory.’
— Montreal Gazette

‘ Was Gallo’s behavior so extreme as to be anomalous, or was it to some extent encouraged by what Crewdson calls a “hypercompetitive” scientific culture? If Science Fictions forces scientists to address these difficult questions — and it should — it will have served its purpose.’
— New York Times Book Review

‘ Science Fictions is a profoundly disturbing account, demonstrating that even brilliant minds may trade truth for fame or fortune...John Crewdson has written a masterpiece.’
— Providence Journal-Bulletin

‘ Comprehensive and compelling...The level of drama here is unprecedented…Crewdson is able to weave a story that is impossible to put down.’
— Publishers Weekly

‘ A meticulous account of slippery science that develops slowly into a panoramic view of the biomedical world.’
— Kirkus Reviews