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and I co-authored approximately twenty other papers published in such magazines as the International Journal of STDs and AIDS, the British Medical Journal, the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Bio/Technology.”“And you currently reside in?...”
“Western Australia.”
“Thank you, Dr. Tanner, for being available to testify today. I realize that it’s late at night where you are.”
“About ten o’clock, yes.”
“So, Dr. Tanner, let me get right to the point.” Campbell glances at his yellow pad to verify the first question he wants to ask this witness. “Is the HIV ELISA test used in Australia?”
“Yes, it is.”
“We had a lot of testimony in the last couple of weeks about the problems associated with the HIV ELISA test. Have you had the same problems in Australia?”
“Well, I don’t know exactly what problems you’ve been told about, but I can say that the HIV ELISA test is extremely unreliable because of the high number of false positive cross reactions, and the fact that the test has never been validated using a gold standard.”
“That’s what other witnesses have said as well. And you use the same HIV ELISA tests in Australia that we use in the United States?”
“Yes, the exact same ones.”
“And to your knowledge, how long have these problems existed with the ELISA tests?”
“From the very beginning, in 1985. Have you been told that the purpose of the ELISA test was to screen blood donors to guard the blood supply from HIV contamination?”
“Yes, we heard that.”
When Tanner started, his voice was soft and hard to understand. Campbell had wondered whether it was because of the video link. But now Tanner is beginning to sound strong and clear, and the Australian accent is no longer a problem either. Maybe Tanner just had to warm up to the process. Whatever happened, Campbell is pleased with the result.
Tanner had come prepared, and he takes a quick look at some notes before continuing. “In the two years from 1985 to 1987, 30,000 blood donors a year were coming up HIV-Positive on the ELISA test, just in the United States, but everyone knew that number had to include a very large percentage of false positives from healthy donors. Finally, in 1987, the Centers for Disease Control announced that all positive ELISA