Robin Keene, SCHNS, Communicable Disease Supervisor
Manatee County (Florida) Health Department
Dear Ms. Keene,
Please accept my resignation from employment with the Health Department,
effective two weeks from today, June 17, 1999.
After months of struggle and extensive research, I regret that I
can no longer fulfill the Public Health mandated requirements of
this position in good conscience.
As you know, over the past year I have investigated scientific material
that calls into question the very foundations of the Public Health
response to AIDS. After careful consideration, I find that I can
no longer promote HIV/AIDS Education or HIV Testing as mandated
by the State of Florida, Department of Health. In addition, I cannot
present AIDS education according to Public Health mandates.
In doing so, I would be violating my own conscience, as those mandates
acknowledge and promote only one scientific opinion regarding the
cause of AIDS. Upon careful investigation, it is woefully apparent
that a grand schism has existed in AIDS research since Robert Gallo's
politically charged announcement to the world that HIV is the probable
cause of AIDS (1984). Unfortunately, only one side of the scientific
data has been made readily available to the public. This side is
far more powerful, backed by the financial storehouses of federal
government agencies like the CDC and the NIH, who fund most public
information campaigns and research programs.
This dominant science is promoted and even manipulated by pharmaceutical
giants, who have an obvious profit motive. The public health system
and the pharmaceutical companies are the main source of information
regarding AIDS for health care providers, and limit their information
to one side of the scientific debate, ignoring and even suppressing
contrary scientific research. Aided by a willing media, the Public
Health Service has all but silenced contrary scientific opinions
and thus denied the people their fundamental right to informed consent.
I hereby withdraw my participation from what may one day be seen
as the greatest violation of the principle of informed consent in
the history of public health.
Most sincerely, Mark Pierpont,
HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Coordinator
CC: Dr. Gladys Branic, Director, MCHD
Alice Gross, Nursing Director, MCHD
Wayne Walker, Human Resources, MCHD
Lisle House, HIV/AIDS Program Coordinator, Area 6