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The AIDS Myth

The Watchtower Society (WTS) has often been aided in its indoctrination efforts by the popular press. The WTS has fully exploited the AIDS scare to justify their blood prohibition, since one of the ways the AIDS virus (HIV) spreads is through blood transfusions.

Some people were infected with HIV by blood transfusions, and these tragedies caused press reports and investigations by authorities. Safer blood products came as a result.

The WTS has used such tragedies to indoctrinate Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) about the horrors of blood transfusions. In so doing it attacks medical professionals and the International Red Cross:

"Contaminated Blood Given to Hemophiliacs

BLOOD has become a two-billion-dollar-a-year business. The pursuit of profits from it has resulted in a gigantic tragedy in France. HIV-contaminated blood caused the death of 250 hemophiliacs in AIDS-related illnesses, with hundreds more infected.—The Boston Globe, October 28, 1992, page 4.

An "unholy alliance" of medical negligence and commercial greed led to the death of some 400 German hemophiliacs, with at least 2,000 additional ones infected with HIV-contaminated blood.—Guardian Weekly, August 22, 1993, page 7.

Canada had its own blood scandal. It is estimated that more than 700 Canadian hemophiliacs were treated with HIV-infected blood. The government was warned in July 1984 that the Red Cross was distributing AIDS-contaminated blood to Canadian hemophiliacs, but the contaminated blood products were not withdrawn from the market until a year later, August 1985.—The Globe and Mail, July 22, 1993, page A21, and The Medical Post, March 30, 1993, page 26." (Awake! May 22, 1994, p. 31)

Such reports give the WTS ample ammunition to attack authorities, health officials and courts that order blood transfusions:
"Sample causes of AIDS in these cases were: "Exposed to virus-infected blood during surgery," "Infected by a 1983 transfusion," "Infected by a transfusion, she infected her husband and a son," "A blood transfusion gave him AIDS," "Contracted AIDS from blood transfusion during 1981 surgery," "Hemophiliac; his young son died of AIDS and his wife has ARC [AIDS Related Complex]," "He got AIDS from a blood transfusion, and he endured three years of pain, paralysis and encroaching blindness."

One case, a 13-month-old baby, "died, as did his mother, from a contaminated blood transfusion." A two-year-old girl "had a blood transfusion shortly after birth" and died of AIDS.

In view of these evident risks, why are some authorities still insisting on forcing blood transfusions on adult Jehovah’s Witnesses and their babies?" (Awake! April 8, 1988, p. 31)

It is misleading for the WTS to use the AIDS scare to support the wisdom of its position on blood. The fact is that before anyone had heard of AIDS, way back in 1970's, the Society began permitting the use of blood products to treat hemophilia.
"What, however, about accepting serum injections to fight against disease, such as are employed for diphtheria, tetanus, viral hepatitis, rabies, hemophilia and Rh incompatibility? This seems to fall into a 'gray area.' Some Christians believe that accepting a small amount of a blood derivative for such a purpose would not be a manifestation of disrespect for God's law; their conscience would permit such." (The Watchtower, June 15, 1978, pp. 30, 31, bold added)
So, contrary to what the WTS claims, no one has to "force" these blood products on JW patients, because they are already allowed to accept them. When it changed its policy practically all surviving JW's with serious hemophilia received HIV. Few survived serious hemophilia until the treatment appeared. In contrast the blood products JW's still refuse have rarely carried HIV infections. Instead of being protected, JW's get both the negative effects of accepting some types of blood transfusions, and the negative effects of refusing other types. On top of the danger caused by refusing necessary treatment, in practice JW's are exposed to HIV from blood.

In Canada infection of the blood supply caused a public inquiry. The WTS gave plenty of coverage to this hearing. After listing many of the tragedies it said:

"In contrast with the disheartening evidence, a happier account was put before Justice Krever on May 25, 1994, in Regina, Saskatchewan. William J. Hall, a 75-year-old man with severe hemophilia, told how he successfully manages his condition using alternatives to blood products. And he does not have AIDS. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mr. Hall has avoided blood and blood factors because of his religious conscience." (Awake! June 8, 1995, p. 21)
If Mr. Hall had read The Watchtower magazine more carefully, he might have discovered that the WTS no longer considered blood factors for hemophiliacs sacred, and his "conscience," like that of other Witnesses, might have guided him differently. The WTS gives the impression that following its counsel saved Mr. Hall from infection by HIV. The fact is that Mr. Hall, one of the rare survivors of severe hemophilia, probably was saved from HIV by ignoring or not knowing about the WTS reversal on the treatment. Also worth noting is that the vast majority of people with severe hemophilia who did get HIV would not be alive in the first place without blood factor transfusions.

In summary, in spite of the WTS propaganda AIDS has demonstrated that there is no Providence behind our blood prohibition. The timing could not have been worse when the WTS reversed its position and permitted blood factor transfusions just before AIDS was discovered. The great majority of those who receive HIV through blood transfusions are hemophiliacs, and the WTS position gives them no protection whatsoever. Clearly, the WTS is being disingenuous in its propaganda and shows disrespect for the facts.