Theory 2: HIV is a Harmless Retrovirus (Peter Duesberg’s Theory)      Peter Duesberg’s AIDS theory is not technically a theory of origin because it describes what AIDS is not, not what it is or where it came from.  It was once a widely accepted hypothesis that many people may still believe, so I feel it necessary to include and refute it here. His theory is that HIV is a harmless passenger virus that appears only after a person has become immunosupressed by other factors.  According to this theory the people who contract AIDS in North America and Europe are mainly drug users, and those who contract AIDS in Africa have actually become sick with other diseases that have only recently been categorized together and called AIDS.  He also believes that the drugs most often prescribed to fight HIV/AIDS, namely AZT, actually promote the progression of the disease instead of slowing it.  Peter Duesberg’s theory has been dismissed by a vast majority of the medical and scientific communities because of the overwhelming evidence that contradicts it, as well as his propensity to fabricate statistical data and manipulate study results to support his ideas for use in his published papers on this topic.  Even though his ideas have been discarded as false and unsupported, he remains an anti-establishment hero, especially to HIV positive people in denial and conspiracy theorists who are thirsty for a cover-up.