Christine

Tired of being defined by others, Christine presents Christine:
"You do not become a 'dissident' just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society." ~Vaclav Havel, Living in Truth, 1986
My Official Biography:
In 1992, Christine Maggiore, a successful entrepreneur in international business, unexpectedly tested HIV positive during a routine medical exam. Shortly thereafter, she was drafted into public service by several prominent AIDS groups (AIDS Project Los Angeles, LA Shanti Foundation, Women at Risk) and became an inadvertent activist on their behalf.
In 1993, at the behest of a skeptical AIDS specialist, Christine underwent a series of HIV tests that fluctuated inexplicably between positive, negative and indeterminate. This experience compelled her to take a closer look at the “AIDS awareness” she had been taught to teach. A trail of unanswered questions eventually led Christine outside the confines of conventional wisdom and into a body of scientific, medical and epidemiological data that challenged everything she thought she knew about HIV and AIDS.
In 1995, Christine established a monthly public forum in Los Angeles for the discussion of AIDS anomalies. This effort evolved into Alive & Well, a non-profit education and peer support network that raises questions about the validity of HIV tests, the safety and effectiveness of AIDS drug treatment, and the foundation of popular beliefs about HIV and AIDS. Alive & Well’s mission is to inspire much needed dialogue on these subjects and enable people worldwide to make truly informed choices about their life and health.
In 1996, while trying to summarize 10 key questions in a simple brochure, Christine accidentally wrote the first edition of her book, “What If Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?” and unintentionally became a catalyst of an international debate on the HIV hypothesis.
More than 14 years after testing HIV positive--and being told she had only five years to live--Christine enjoys remarkable good health without the use of AIDS treatments or other medical interventions. The fourth edition of her book has been translated into five languages, and is currently in its third reprinting.
Christine’s work and ever-evolving story have inspired a number of news segments, magazine articles, television episodes, book reports, dissertations, and documentary films as well as a 12-month criminal investigation (see http:www.justiceforej.com for details). Her persistent questions and tenacious pursuit of answers have aroused admiration and animosity, evoked invitations to debate and dialogue at universities and medical schools around the country, and have led to countless speaking engagements in a variety of venues ranging from the Rand Corporation to Reverend Al Sharpton’s action network.
“Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed…The improver of natural science absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.” ~ Thomas Henry Huxley
Christine Maggiore speaks on unanswered questions about HIV and the absence of open dialogue on AIDS. She shares experiences and information she feels exemplify the censorship of inquiry, the demand for conformity, the demonization of critical thinking, and the death of science in current approaches to AIDS. She also discusses how entrenched positions block pathways to practical solutions while exacerbating a multiplicity of urgent, unmet human needs.