March 31, 2002 by Ted Anton - Chicago Tribune

Readers may know something of the story. In 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo, a researcher for the National Institutes of Health, published an unprecedented four papers in the journal Science announcing his isolation of the AIDS virus, an incredible discovery in the panicky early days of the disease. The trouble was, Gallo's virus closely resembled a virus sent to him for analysis, isolated by French Pasteur Institute researcher Luc Montagnier a year earlier. For another year an intense battle raged as to whether the Americans had simply “discovered” the same French sample, a critical fact in the frantic effort to unravel the disease and to screen the world's donated blood supplies.

The stakes were high: millions of dollars in blood-test-patent royalties, a potential Nobel Prize, national pride and, most important, a strategy to fight a global epidemic. Gallo obfuscated and blustered, threatening colleagues and misleading investigators. In America a flawed Red Cross blood test, based on Gallo's flawed science, caused unbelievable heartache and contributed to fatalities with false positive and negative readings. When the two samples were shown to be “remarkably similar,” the Americans and French agreed in 1987 to split the American test patent royalties.

The story seemed over, until Crewdson's 1989 Tribune expose shook the foundations of American biomedical research. Crewdson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, attacked the story as a political scandal, uncovering a much wider cover-up than anyone suspected. Not only was it the same virus but, in seeking to hide what had happened, Gallo was spinning out more and more lies with great potential damage to research, all with the American government's backing. The report caused a second explosion. A congressional watchdog and two new, much more aggressive government investigations jumped on the case. What happened next takes up much of the book's final chapters.

Crewdson builds our outrage as he meticulously deconstructs the game of big science. Gallo was a master manipulator of a new media culture in research. Popular and intimidating on the international conference circuit, he wooed editors, producers and influential colleagues. For example, he got the august journal Nature to support his version of events by playing on its need to beat its rival journal Science. Once Nature Editor John Maddox realized his error, he reportedly vowed to “stick the knife in Bob a bit more.” ¹⁾

‘The tale of Dr. Robert Gallo’s role in the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS is one of those stories that wouldn’t be believable as fiction…Science Fictions is bursting with allegations leveled at Dr. Gallo, his associates, rivals and enemies, that include deception, misconduct, incompetence, fraud, sabotage, back-stabbing, double-dealing, overstatements, half-truths, outright lies, a clandestine affair with a co-worker, a bribery attempt, denials, evasions, coverups and serial rewritings of history.’ — New York Times

‘Scrupulously researched and sweeping… Science Fictions documents enough treachery, negligence and megalomania to make even the most trusting of readers skeptical of the scientific establishment.’ — Washington Post

‘A gripping work with important implications…With incredible tenacity, Crewdson reveals a biological research scandal that was significant, frightening and, most of all, a testament to one reporter’s quest to separate science fact from fiction.’ — Chicago Tribune

‘Crewdson’s work is the most powerful and revealing since James Watson’s The Double Helix…This is an awesomely documented prosecutorial brief that concedes no credit to its target and yields him no doubts. If the Gallo camp has a rebuttal, let’s hear it.’ — New Scientist

‘No one knows whether someone in Gallo’s lab stole the French virus or if it contaminated their samples through sloppy practice, and it really doesn’t matter… And as Crewdson shows, the biggest discoveries in Gallo’s career — his claim to have identified the virus that causes AIDS and the patent on the AIDS blood test — both belong to someone else.’ — Baltimore Sun

‘Robert Gallo’s hour was not the brightest for American science. In fact, it may be one of the darkest. The two-decade-long sequence of events described in John Crewdson’s new book resembles more the actions of a megalomaniac intent more on self-promotion and profit than on a way to stop the AIDS epidemic.’ — San Diego Union-Tribune

‘I could hardly put the book down out of a mounting realization that this was more than a story about human vanity and political corruption. Science Fictions is ultimately a scientific detective story, with dramatic plot twists, inspired sleuthing, and unlikely heroes. It’s a crime with many victims, and one that is well worth the effort to understand.’ — Washington Monthly

‘John Crewdson, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, has written a detailed history of the events that led scientists to the cause of AIDS - and it makes unpleasant reading for anyone who thought science was simply about the pursuit of truth. Instead, a picture emerges of deliberate falsehoods, exaggerated claims and denigrating criticism.’ — The Independent (London)

‘Crewdson’s squalid tale of grasping self-interest in the face of a devastating epidemic is told through court documents, reports from internal NIH and congressional investigative committees and interviews. The enormous amount of evidence which the author has gathered in favor of the French seems convincing.’ — Los Angeles Times

‘Science Fictions is about scientists behaving very, very badly. Crewdson’s research is thorough, his writing brisk.’ — Edmonton Journal

‘A compelling case that Gallo claimed and obtained recognition for research that had, in fact, been accomplished by the French…this book is a successful indictment of Gallo, whom history will probably judge to have been guilty of excessive zeal in the pursuit of scientific glory.’ — Montreal Gazette

‘Was Gallo’s behavior so extreme as to be anomalous, or was it to some extent encouraged by what Crewdson calls a “hypercompetitive” scientific culture? If Science Fictions forces scientists to address these difficult questions — and it should — it will have served its purpose.’ — New York Times Book Review

‘Science Fictions is a profoundly disturbing account, demonstrating that even brilliant minds may trade truth for fame or fortune…John Crewdson has written a masterpiece.’ — Providence Journal-Bulletin

‘Comprehensive and compelling…The level of drama here is unprecedented…Crewdson is able to weave a story that is impossible to put down.’ — Publishers Weekly

‘A meticulous account of slippery science that develops slowly into a panoramic view of the biomedical world.’ — Kirkus Reviews ²⁾