The HIV-positive
activist spent her life convinced that HIV does not
cause AIDS.
The Los
Angeles Times has confirmed with the Los
Angeles County coroner’s office that 52-year-old HIV
skeptic Christine Maggiore died Monday.
Maggiore, who was
HIV-positive, self-published the book What if Everything
You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong. She
founded Alive &
Well AIDS Alternatives, a support group that
challenges “common assumptions” about AIDS.
In 2005 her
3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, died of what the
coroner’s office ruled was AIDS-related pneumonia.
The Los Angeles
Police Department and the Los Angeles Department of Child
Protective Services briefly investigated Maggiore for child
endangerment -- she had refused to take antiretroviral
drugs while she was pregnant, and she breast-fed her
daughter.
Ultimately, no
charges were filed against Maggiore, as both agencies
found she had taken her daughter to see physicians on
several occasions.
Maggiore was an
outspoken critic of the media coverage of her
daughter’s death, even sending a letter to the
Times in an attempt to get it to retract a
story. The Times refused to publish the letter,
saying, “If facts in an article are wrong, a
correction would be published. However, no correction
is warranted in this case.”
On several
occasions Maggiore pointed to the health of her husband,
filmmaker Robin Scovill, who she said repeatedly tested
negative for the virus despite numerous years of
unprotected sex. She said her son, born in 1997, also
tested negative. (Advocate.com)
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