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Expert witness says HIV 'doesn't exist'
By Todd Cardy
December 19, 2006 06:35pm
Article from: AAP

A PERTH medical researcher has told an Adelaide court that Africa does not have an AIDS crisis because HIV does not exist.

Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos today told the South Australian Court of Criminal Appeal that no one had proven that HIV exists.

Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos is a witness in the appeal case of Andre Chad Parenzee, 35, who was convicted on January 31 this year of endangering the lives of three women.

Parenzee had unprotected sex with the women, knowing he was HIV-positive.

One of the women, a mother of two, became infected with HIV while the other two tested negative to the virus.

Parenzee's lawyer, Kevin Borick, QC, argued Parenzee could not have committed the crimes because HIV does not exist.

Under cross examination today from Prosecutor Sandi McDonald, Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos, a medical engineer from Royal Perth Hospital, dismissed recent World Health Organisation and United Nations reports that outline the world AIDS epidemic.

Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos said there was no published reports that conclude HIV exists or could be linked to AIDS.

The 5000 people who signed the Durban Declaration in 2000, which says AIDS was an epidemic in Africa, linked to HIV and spread by sexual contact, were backed by politicians, not scientists, she said.

"I am a scientist, I look for science - I do not look for consensus,'' she told the court.

"There is no massive epidemic of HIV infections because no one has proven it.''

Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos denied she was appearing at the case to gain publicity for her theories and her research organisation, the Perth Group.

The Perth Group, which Ms Papadopulos-Eleopulos heads, believes there is no link between HIV and AIDS.

Parenzee's appeal application continues tomorrow before Justice John Sulan.