p AZT is not a new drug. It was not created for the treatment of AIDS and is not an antiviral. AZT is a chemical compound that was developed—and abandoned—over 30 years ago as a potential chemotherapy treatment for cancer.^^108^^ Prior to the first AIDS drug trials in 1986, AZT had never been administered to human beings.

p Chemotherapy works by killing all growing cells in the body. Many cancer patients do not survive chemotherapy due to its destructive effects on the immune system and intestines. Because of the damage it causes, chemotherapy is never used as a prevention for cancer, and is only administered for very limited amounts of time.

p SICBLVIA TOXIC Toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed. Target organ(s): Blood Bone marrow. It you feel unwell, seek medical advice (show the label where possible). Wear suitable protective clothing. 3-AZIDO-3- DEOXYITHYMIDINE (AZT; Azidothymidine) (30516-87-1) \ Desiccate Store at less than O’C C,.H,,N,0, FW 267.2 | Purity 99% (HPLC) For libonlory u» only. Not lor drug, houifhold or older Copy of an AZT Label This label has appeared on bottles containing as little as 25 milligrams, a small fraction (’/20 to ’/so) of a patient’s daily prescribed dose of 500 to 1,500 mg. ’K

p Since cancer is a condition of persistently growing cells, AZT was designed to prevent the formation of new cells by blocking development of DNA chains. In 1964, experiments with AZT on mice with cancer showed that AZT was so effective in destroying healthy growing cells that the mice died of extreme toxicity.^^110^^ As a result, AZT was shelved and no patent was ever filed. Twenty years later, the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoWellcome) began a campaign to remarket AZT as an anti-HIV drug based on the idea that AZT would block the formation of HIV DNA chains. Glaxo-Wellcome won FDA approval for AZT as an AIDS treatment after one highly flawed study of only four months duration.^^111^^

p Approval of this extremely toxic chemotherapy for use by AIDS patients was based on information that suggested AZT raised levels of T cells and therefore delayed the onset of AIDS indicator diseases. The rise noted in T cells was interpreted as evidence that AZT eradicated HIV in T cells, a concept for which there is no scientific proof. Although the study was halted before any longterm effects of AZT were known, proponents established that standard treatment with AZT should be continuous and lifelong.

p A multitude of independent studies conducted before and after FDA approval, including the Concorde study—the largest (1,749 subjects) and longest (three years in duration) study on AZT—determined that AZT increases T cell counts only moderately and briefly without improving health and that it does not delay onset of AIDS indicator diseases.^^112^^

p The brief rise in T cells noted when AZT use is initiated is due to the toxic nature of the drug and to the blood systems response to the destruction of bone marrow.”^^3^^ As AZT destroys bone marrow, the blood system attempts to correct this depletion by overproducing T cells, often creating more new T cells than the number found in a patients blood prior to beginning treatment. But as the source of these new T cells—the bone marrow—is killed off by AZT, the level of T cells drops lower, ultimately causing complete destruction of the immune system. Individual tolerance to, and absorption of AZT determine length of survival on this toxic compound.

p Following recommendations for “early intervention,” one-third to one-half of HIV positives who develop AIDS do so only after taking AZT. Independent studies have shown that AZT actually accelerates clinical decline and decreases quality of life, at times even causing death before any AIDS-defining illnesses appear—an occurrence officially described as “death without any preceding AIDS-defining event.”^^114^^

p The concept of “HIV mutation" has become a popular explanation for the fall in T cells observed in patients treated with AZT. Promoters of the mutation hypothesis assert that the positive effects of AZT are diminished by mutant strains of HIV that become resistant to the drug. There is, however, no scientific evidence to substantiate their claim.

AIDS by Prescription? ^^115^^ The following conditions are caused by nucleoside analog drugs (AZT, ddl. ddC, D4Tand3TC). Conditions followed by a bullet (•) are official AIDS-defining illnesses: Anemia (requiring transfusions) Lymphoma (cancer) • Birth defects Muscle wasting • Diarrhea • Nausea Dementia • Neuropathy Fertility impairment Pancreatitis Granulocytopenia Pancytopenia Hair loss Seizures Headaches Skin discolorations Liver damage Spontaneous abortion Loss of appetite T cell depletion •

p In addition to destroying T cells, B cells and the red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout the body, AZT and other nucleoside analog drugs destroy the kidneys, liver, intestines, muscle tissue, and the central nervous system. Nucleoside analog drugs also interfere with the activities of mitochondria, the subcellular particles that are the energy factories of every living cell in the body. Mitochondria contain their own DNA which makes them vulnerable to the effects of nucleoside analogs.

Epivir (3TC), Zerit (D4T), Hivid (ddC) and Videx (ddl) are all nucleoside analog drugs prescribed to HIV positives as “antivirals.” All are modeled after AZT, and all work in the same manner.