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Loading ...AIDS skeptic Maggiore dies in Calif.
01.05.2009 11:04am EST
(Los Angeles, California) Christine Maggiore, an activist who vehemently denied that HIV causes AIDS, declined to take anti-AIDS drugs and sued Los Angeles County for stating that her 3-year-old daughter succumbed to AIDS-related pneumonia, has died. She was 52.
Maggiore died at her Van Nuys home. She had been treated for pneumonia in the past six months, but her official cause of death was pending, county coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter said.He said it was unclear whether her death was AIDS-related. She was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus in 1992.
A call to her home seeking comment from her husband, Robert Scovill, was not answered.
For a year after her diagnosis, Maggiore was a volunteer at AIDS shelters and spoke about the risks of the virus at health fairs and schools. She began to change her views in 1993 when she had more HIV tests that gave contradictory results, some negative and some positive.
“The more I read, the more I became convinced that AIDS research had jumped on a bandwagon that was headed in the wrong direction,” she wrote on the Web site of her nonprofit organization, Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives.
She was heavily influenced by Peter Duesberg, a biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Duesberg argues that AIDS is caused not by HIV, but by long-term consumption of recreational drugs or even AZT, a compound used in AIDS treatment.
Maggiore founded her nonprofit organization, which challenges mainstream medical views about the causes and treatment of AIDS. She wrote a book, “What If Everything You Thought About AIDS Was Wrong,” and appeared on national television to promote her view that pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use and even common viral infections could cause false positives on HIV tests.
Maggiore refused to take anti-retroviral drugs. She breast-fed both her children, despite the accepted view that it increased the risk of spreading HIV.
In 2005, her daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, died at age 3. The girl had never had an HIV test. The county coroner’s office concluded she died of pneumonia related to an advanced case of AIDS.
The county district attorney’s office in 2006 declined to file criminal charges, noting that the girl’s parents had taken her to several doctors.
A toxicologist who served on the advisory board of Maggiore’s group concluded the girl died as a result of an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. Maggiore sued the county last year, contending that the conclusion of the autopsy lacked proper medical and scientific evidence. The case is pending.
In addition to her husband, Maggiore is survived by a son, Charles. Both have tested negative for HIV.
This woman was disturbed. That is, insane; not to be trusted with her own wellfare, let alone anyone else’s. I’m glad some can respect that, but I think we owe the mentally ill more than just our respect. Sad and pathetic.
It’s sad that she chose to pass along the virus to her child. I wonder what her husbands view was on that.
People live a long life after being diagnosed with HIV. Had she taken the medication, she may have lived a longer life.
Fall out from this Lady has caused much pain. I used to attend a small alternative healing clinic in Glendale Calif, named “Alive and Well”. It had that name since it first started in 1983. I watched the demise of this clinic when she chose to name her organization the same name. Many of the donors to the clinic pulled thier funding because of confusing the two.
The clinics Board met with her to ask that she change her new name. She told them to get lost. She wanted to capitalize on the 20 years of good will they had done for the community.
Everywhere she went she left a path of destruction in the name of her cause.
I have mixed feelings about this woman. On the one hand, she did extensive research into her condition and despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary she made up her own mind – and she had the courage of her convictions. She decided that HIV does not cause AIDS, and she acted accordingly. In an age where hypocrisy is everywhere, you have to respect the fact that she stood up for what she believed in.
I don’t think I can condemn her for publicising her views either. In this day and age I cannot believe there are many people in the US or Europe who have not heard of HIV and AIDS, and I’m sure the majority have been told that HIV causes AIDS. She can hardly be accused of preying on people’s ignorance. At worst she is guilty of confusing people and enabling some to bury their heads in the sand.
The one thing I couldn’t forgive her for is endangering the lives of her children. Sure, I guess you could say that she was merely demonstrating that she had the courage of her convictions when she breastfed her children, but the fact is if you are a parent you don’t take chances like that. No matter how much you believe that something is safe, you err on the side of caution. You don’t take ANY chances with your child’s life.
I can respect her decision to put her own life at risk. I can respect her right to share her views with others. I cannot respect anyone who endangers the lives of their children, or encourages others to do the same.
Her family are in my thoughts and have my sincerest condolences, but the world is a better place without her.
There’s still no effective treatment against willful ignorance and stupidity.
I hear tell that Maggiore also believed the world was flat.
Though she has not been in the headlines for several years, she cause much harm and hurt to many that are suffering with HIV and Aids.
Let us hope that we never see another like this one.