CURRAN. There was double-digit inflation, very high unemployment, a rapid military buildup, and a threat to decrease all domestic programs. And this led to reductions in force of the public health service, particularly the CDC.
GALLO. The Centers for Disease Control, the CDC, in Atlanta was under threat for reduction and even theoretically for closure.
MULLIS. There were memos around the CDC saying "We need to find a new plague."
DUESBERG. For them to justify their expenses and their existence to make their careers, they have to find infectious diseases.
MULLIS. We have to find something that will scare the American people so they'll give us more money.
CURRAN. Once people recognized that this was likely caused by a virus, media attention went from no news coverage to the most-covered news story in history.
People went from neglecting it to fear and panic. Maybe I can get it.
SONNABEND. All of a sudden AIDS was a very [fungible] project. And I suppose the psychology they worked on was "Well, in Congress, this was widespread, heterosexual Congressmen, and if they feel that they can't fuck around without being worried about AIDS, they're going to let the dollars out. And it worked.
MULLIS. Suddenly, there was a lot of money available for anybody who wanted to study HIV, and nobody ever looked back and said "WHY do we want to study HIV?" Bob Gallo said on television "It causes AIDS."
🧵DOES HIV REALLY CAUSE AIDS? 'HOUSE OF CARDS' DOCUMENTARY BLOWS THAT THEORY OUT OF THE WATER - YOU MUST WATCH THIS DOC! 🧵
— Sense Receptor (@SenseReceptor) May 27, 2023
Although it doesn't seem to have garnered nearly as much recognition and media coverage* as it should have, Canadian‐born director Brent Leung's 2009… pic.twitter.com/a3e2zeqHMH
