SECTION NEWS November 2000 Anthropology News

Andv Merriwether on the East Coast of New Ireland

village for an extended period of time). As for measles, a viral disease, all he could do was try to keep those who had not been exposed from get- ting it and provide penicillin to treat some of the accompanying symptoms.

He documents his research in a 1970 paper, “Notes on the effect of measles and measles vac- cine in a virgin-soil population of South Ameri- can Indians,’’ by James V Neel, Willard R Centerwall, Napoleon A Chagnon and Helen L Casey. They note similarities to how other “virgin soil” populations responded to the vaccine. This work generated critical data for fighting the spread of measles in other “un-contacted or iso- lated” populations. It is clear that Neel saved a tremendous number of Yanomama lives by vac- cinating as many Yanomama as he could. When he ran out of vaccine the Venezuelan govern- ment provided more. It is clear from his accounts that he was called to villages to treat measles in the people who had not been inoculated prior to infection. If you look at the numbers (where they are available), inoculation was responsible for preventing measles in a large fraction of the Yanomama population. The Yanomama owe a debt of gratitude to Neel for his efforts on their behalf. Tiemey owes an apology to the late Dr Neel and his family for this unwarranted and slanderous attack. It is possible that some of the Yanomama may not have understood what was happening to them and equated Neel’s arrival with the outbreak of measles. If they later com- plained about Neel, their misunderstanding is excusable. But there is no excuse for what Tiemey has done: to misrepresent facts and make accusa- tions that he had to know were false.

It took us only two days of light research to turn up other accounts of measles predating Neel’s arrival amongst the Yanomama. Every vac-

cine expert we asked, including the man who invented the vaccine utilized, declared that it was completely appropriate to use the vaccine as Neel did. Check with the Center for Disease Control if you doubt this; a CDC scientist was a co-author on the paper! But Turner and Sponsel somehow claim that no one would ever do this. There can be little doubt that the timing Tierney’s book, shortly after the deaths of Neel and Asche, takes advantage of the fact that they can no longer defend themselves. Nap Chagnon is thankfully around to defend himself and has already begun to do so. While there are many accusations in this book (and the letter), the horrible, unprofes- sional tone shows that it is not a scientific endeavor but rather a calculated attack. The author ignores data that quickly disproves most of what is alleged.

River of Fiction As amazingly bad as the NeelKhagnon bashing is in Darkness in El Dorado, it is not the only case of sensationalistic joumalists/novelists trying to blame infectious disease on the scientists who are trying to cure diseases. In his book, The River: A Journey to the Some of HIV and AIDS, Edward Hooper tries to blame the entire AIDS epidemic on a supposedly contaminated polio vaccine test- ed in Africa more than 40 years ago by Hilary Koprowki and colleagues between 1957 and 1960. Recent tests of the old vaccine by three independent labs verified that there was no virus present. Hooper claims the vaccine was made using chimpanzee kidneys (instead of monkey kidneys as was claimed by Koprowski). Tests of the old vaccine also showed no sign of chim- panzee DNA and positive signs of monkey DNA, supporting Koprowski and colleagues. Signed statements by 16 scientists involved in the

research all stated they never worked with chimpanzee cells. Hooper sticks by his story, even though he was one of those who called for the testing in the first place. It seems to me there is an anti-science theme here that journalists are preying upon to sell books. Don’t let these attacks go unchal- lenged.

The above displays aside, I hope you all have a good meeting. As always, if you want to read something other than me pontificating, send something to me.

Andrew Merriwether, Dept of Anthropology, U Michigan, 1020 LSA Bldg, 500 S State St, Ann Arhc

andym@umich.edu. MI 481091382; 734j.7f54-6896, fm 734/763-6077,

Central States Anthropological Society MARKO ?WKOVIC, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

San Francisco Notes Reception. The CSAS Cash Bar Reception will be held on Friday, Nov 17, 7-9 pm in the Hilton’s Union Square 22 suite. CSAS members and guests are welcome to attend and enjoy good company, canapt3 and a cash bar. Please invite your friends to be part of this traditional CSAS event.

Board Meeting. The Executive Board Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Nov 18,1215-1:30 pm in the Union Square 11 suite in the Hilton. Follow- ing the discussion of CSAS business, board mem- bers will be invited to lunch at a nearby restau- rant, the location to be announced at the meet- ing.

Invited Session in Memory of James McLeod

By Michael Davis It was with some trepidation that I agreed to try to organize a CSAS Invited Session for the AAA meetings in San Francisco in memory of friend and colleague James McLeod, whose diverse and stimulating research in political anthropology was cut short by his untimely death. However, the session practically organized itself. Clearly Jim’s unique combination of affability and well- developed eclectic interests had touched many other CSAS members as well. True to form, mem- ber after member responded to my call for papers with enthusiasm and alacrity. Alan Sandstrom and Harriet Ottenheimer agreed to chair the ses- sion, Erika Bourguignon and Michael Salovesh to be discussants.

The session, titled “From George Bush to Russian Democracy: Political Anthropology, a Memorial to James McLeod,” is scheduled for 8:OO Friday morning. The papers may be nearly as eclectic as Jim’s interests would suggest they should be. In settings as diverse as the Eurasian steppes, Serbia, Mongolia, the Comoro Islands and the US, the topics dealt with include struc- turation, rhetoric, practice, contemporary

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