David Gisselquist is a fundie, conspiracy theorist and HIV “dissident”. Gisselquist thinks that e.g. Africa’s AIDS epidemic is the result of HIV-contaminated medical practices – in particular contraception and vaccines – rather than primarily driven by sexual transmission, and has written a number of books (Points to Consider: Responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia,and the Caribbean) and papers arguing for this claim in a journal called the International Journal of STD and AIDS (the peer review practices of which are … unclear). Gisselquist has of course not done research of his own – he has a degree in economics – but rather selectively reviews past research that he thinks can be twisted into looking like it would support his dingbat denialist delusions.
Now, there are plenty of nonsense pseudoscientists out there with home-made theories designed to fit some ideologically motivated presupposition. They become dangerous when people start to listen. And people have listened to Gisselquist – even the World Health Organization (WHO) tied up valuable resources in a multinational investigation into Gisselquist’s claims, finding, of course, that Gisselquist’s ideas were nonsense from start to finish. Also The Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa had to spend limited resources to debunk Gisslequist’s drivel.
Despite being a kook, Gisselquist also for a while made it onto the list of reviewers for The Lancet, a position he preditably used to wreak as much havoc as possible on research (and the dissemination of research results) on HIV, e.g. by suppressing good research. It is notable also that distorted versions of scientific articles reviewed by Gisselquist ended up fundie conspiracy sites.
Diagnosis: Moronic conspiracy theorist on a crusade – like so many moronic conspiracy theorist – against not only facts but the people who rely on facts in their work. And as opposed to many such (individual) conspiracy theorists, Gisselquist has been causing actual, measurable harm.
Hat-tip: Seth Kalichman @ Denyingaids
HIV contamination, yeah, that's going to happen a lot more than sex.
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