Chapter Twenty
“Even a layman could see that picture 105 doesn't look anything like pictures 103 and 104.”
“But you’re no layman, Dr. Moreau. So please answer the question: In your expert opinion, could the virus in number 105 be part of the family of viruses pictured in numbers 103 and 104?”
“No, it couldn’t, and it’s not.”
“Obviously, Dr. Moreau, you’re quite familiar with these pictures.”
“Yes, I would say that.”
In fact, Dr. Louis Moreau was the French scientist who later was given equal credit with Dr. Gallo for the discovery of the virus that supposedly causes AIDS.
“Then please tell the court, Dr. Moreau, exactly what these pictures are all about.”
“Numbers 103 and 104 are pictures of a retrovirus family discovered by Dr. Gallo, called HTLV-1 and HTLV-2.”
“And picture number 105?”
“Number 105 is a picture of a retrovirus called LAV – Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus – that was discovered in 1983 in my lab at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France.”
“But did you see in the video tape of the press conference on April 23, 1984, that Dr. Gallo said this was a picture of a virus he discovered in his lab called HTLV-3?”
“I saw that. I was aware of it when it happened.”
“How can you prove that this is a picture of your virus and not Dr. Gallo’s?”
“Because I published it long before Dr. Gallo's press conference.”
“Has anyone since then ever suggested or proved that you are wrong when you say you discovered this virus when you say you did, in your own lab?”
“No, never. To the contrary, the proof is indisputable that this is the LAV virus discovered in my lab in 1983.”
“Dr. Moreau, if you discovered this virus, how did Dr. Gallo get hold of it?”
“I sent it to him myself.”
“Why?”
“In the early part of 1983, like everyone else, I was trying to find the cause of AIDS, and we had isolated this LAV virus from several AIDS patients in France. I sent a sample of the virus to Dr. Gallo for him to test – to grow in culture and verify that this, in fact, was the causal agent of AIDS.”
“You wanted Dr. Gallo to test your LAV virus to see if it met Koch’s Postulates?”
“Yes.”
“How ironic.” Messick said it quietly, almost under his breath.
“Pardon?” Dr. Moreau would easily slip back into his native language when he didn’t understand.
“Nothing. But why send it to Dr. Gallo?”
“Because he had the best equipped lab in the world, and a multi-million dollar budget to work with, for one thing.”
“Did you hear back from Dr. Gallo, whether he was successful or not in proving that the virus you discovered was the cause of AIDS?”
“I heard that Dr. Gallo was having trouble making a clone – in other words, growing the virus in his own lab. In fact, in September of that year, I believe, I received a request to send more sample. Presumably they had exhausted the original supply.”
“What else did you hear from Dr. Gallo?”
“Nothing directly, but I began to hear statements attributed to Dr. Gallo in the media, and in scientific circles, dismissing my virus as the cause of AIDS, calling it a ‘contaminant.’”
“Dr. Gallo was saying publicly that your LAV virus could not be the cause of AIDS, and basically was an error made by your lab?”
“Correct.”
“And your reaction to his derogatory comments?”
“I first assumed that Dr. Gallo knew what he was talking about. That's why I sent him the virus in the first place – for his expert opinion. I would have appreciated getting that opinion first-hand, especially if it was negative, rather than making it sound like the French didn't know what we were doing. But I accepted his conclusion of ‘contaminant,’ for a while at least.”
“What changed your mind?”
“When I saw the picture of the virus Dr. Gallo called HTLV-3, claiming it was the cause of AIDS. I knew it was a picture of my LAV virus, and that something wasn't right.”
“Was there any other reason for you to be suspicious about Dr. Gallo's claim that a member of his HTLV family of viruses caused AIDS?”
“Yes, this was difficult, because HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 are retroviruses that Dr. Gallo claimed were causing cancer. That is, they are not cytopathic – they don't kill cells, they transform them, hence the cancer. For the third member of the same family to destroy cells, as it would have to do if it caused AIDS, was very strange, to say the least.”
“So Dr. Gallo stole your virus, stole the honor of discovering the cause of AIDS, and stole all the money that would result from this medical coup d'état, pardon my French.”
Despite the tension, the courtroom laughed. Or maybe they needed to laugh to release the tension. Whatever the case, Judge Watts didn’t like the outburst and gaveled them quiet.
“I will not use the word ‘stole,’ and all of this has been straightened out long ago, Mr. Messick. Dr. Gallo and I are officially co-discoverers of the virus called HIV.”
“I understand that, Dr. Moreau. And I will be calling another witness to tell that story in a moment. Right now, just a few more questions.” He consults his yellow pad. “Did you ever prove, in your own lab, that your virus, the LAV virus, was the cause of AIDS?”
“No.”
“And if your LAV virus and the HTLV-3 virus are one and the same virus, you also did not prove that the HTLV-3 virus causes AIDS.”
“Not in my lab.”
“In a minute we'll find out how this virus that you called ‘LAV’ and Dr. Gallo called ‘HTLV-3’ came to be known as ‘HIV’ instead. But if your LAV virus and the HTLV-3 virus – the exact same virus, mind you – were simply renamed and called HIV, you did not prove that HIV caused AIDS either, did you?”
“No.”
“In fact, didn't you, Dr. Moreau, at one point, come to the conclusion that the virus called HIV could not be the cause of AIDS?”
“Well...”
When Moreau hesitates, Messick goes to his table.
“Dr. Moreau, just to help you remember, it was at the Sixth International Conference On AIDS, held in June of 1990 in San Francisco, where you said, and I quote,” Messick reads from one of the papers he picked up, “‘Retroviruses are the most harmless and benign of all microbes – it is not in their nature to cause lethal illness,’ unquote. You went on to say that you did not believe, and again I quote, ‘that HIV could cause death, since almost immeasurably small quantities of the virus were ever found, and since HIV is a retrovirus, a class of viruses which normally coexist with the host, reproducing slowly without killing.’ And again, quote, ‘It is not in the philosophy of retroviruses to kill all the cells of the host,’ you said. Did you, Dr. Moreau, in fact, make those statements?”
“Yes, I did. But...”
Messick interrupts. “But this was before you were officially given credit for the discovery of the AIDS virus, which brought fame and money to you and to France.”
“Yes, but…”
Messick breaks in again. “No further questions of this witness.”
How rude, Sarah thought. No wonder we’re thought of as “ugly Americans” in Europe.