HIV/AIDS Prevention Coordinator publicises resignation.

June 3, 1999

Robin Keene, SCHNS, Communicable Disease Supervisor
Manatee County 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.