Voting Station

Christine Maggiore

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Advocate

The Resume

    (July 25, 1956-December 27, 2008)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Founded the import/export clothing company Alessi International (1986)
    Tested positive for HIV (1992)
    Became an AIDS denialist, claiming that HIV is not the cause of AIDS
    Founded Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives (1995), which encourages HIV-positive women to avoid anti-AIDS medication
    Wrote 'What If Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?'

Why she might be annoying:

    She claimed the HIV-AIDS connection was a myth promoted by greedy drug companies.
    When pregnant with her daughter Eliza, she refused to take drugs that would reduce the risk of transmitting HIV in utero.
    She breast fed Eliza despite evidence that it can transmit HIV from mother to child.
    Eliza died at age three of an AIDS-related pneumonia infection.
    She hired a veterinarian to challenge the autopsy results. (Apparently, she couldn't find a sufficiently incompetent people doc.)
    She was also an anti-vaxer who refused to immunize her children.
    She influenced South Africa Prime Minister Thabo Mbeki's decision to stop government funding of anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-positive pregnant women, a policy that produced an estimated 300,000 new AIDS cases.
    Her refusal to patronize those greedy drug companies led to her own death from AIDS-related pneumonia.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her oldest son, Charlie, lucked out and is HIV-negative, despite Christine taking the same chances with him as she would with Eliza.
    Los Angeles Child Protective Services ultimately decided not to file child endangerment charges against her over Eliza's death.
    She convinced the Foo Fighters to promote her organization at concerts.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 18 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 20 Votes: 90.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 66 Votes: 62.12% Annoying