References
Introduction
5 The other books in this series are:
- Walker, Martin J., Dirty Medicine: Science, big business and the assault on natural
health care. Slingshot Publications. London, 1993. 2nd edition, 1994.
-Walker, Martin J., Skewed: Psychiatric hegemony and the manufacture of mental illness
in multiple sensitivity, Gulf War syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and
chronic fatigue syndrome. Slingshot Publications. London, 2003.
- Walker, Martin J., Brave New World of Zero Risk: Covert strategies in British science
policy. Slingshot Publications, 2006. Available as an e-book from:
www.slingshotpublications.com
6 Ibid, Brave New World of Zero Risk.
7 It was always difficult to give a name to the ‘Health Fraud’ movement, as they called
themselves, or as part of it was, the ‘anti-quackery’ movement. Now that these groups
are all part of the industrial science and technology lobby, I have chosen to call them
collectively The Lobby, as they constitute in their various forms the biggest lobby,
organised against the recognition of all kinds of environmental health hazards in Britain.
8 Op. cit., Skewed. Also, Williams, Margaret, Denigration by Design: A review, with
references, of the role of Dr Simon Wessely in the perception of Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis (ME), Vol. 1. 1987 – 1996 & Vol. II. 1996 – 1999. Published privately,
for information contact, the Environmental Issues Forum, C/o, 176, Perth
Road, Ilford, Essex IG2 6DZ. Also, the archive of the One Click Group:
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
9 See my reports of the GMC ‘fitness to practice’ hearings against Dr Andrew
Wakefield, Professor Simon Murch and Professor Walker-Smith on:
www.cryshame.com
10 Op. cit., Dirty Medicine.
11 See the Report of the Royal College of Physicians: Allergy: Conventional and
alterative concepts, 1992. This report was completely taken over by the Campaign
Against Health Fraud and written for the RCP by non-doctor Caroline Richmond, the
founder of CAHF. (Cont.)
11 (Cont.) For a critique of the report, see: Davies S, and Downing D., Allergy:
Conventional and alternative concepts, a critique of the Royal College of Physicians.
Journal of Nutritional Medicine. 1992; 3:331-49.
12 Allergy the Unmet Need: A blueprint for better patient care. Royal College of
Physicians. London 2003.
13 Allergy the Unmet Need reported that allergy affected 1 in 3 of the UK population.
The UK ranked highest in the world for asthma symptoms, with a prevalence 20-fold
higher than that of Indonesia and also near the top of the world ranking for allergic
rhinitis and eczema.
Chapter 1 – The Campaign Against Patrick Holford
1 Bob Dylan, Buckets of Rain from Blood on the Tracks. Sony Music Entertainment
Inc. 1975.
2 Patrick Holford and Jerome Burne. Food Is Better Medicine Than Drugs; Your prescription
for drug free health. Piatkus, London 2006.
3 As used here, ‘quackbusters’ refers to all the groups and individuals that campaign,
write, are in any way active, in Britain, America or Europe, or ssociated in any way
with the US and UK campaigns against ‘health fraud’, the international skeptics
movement or CSICOP.
4 Op. cit., Dirty Medicine.
5 He was later to severe his links with them, suggesting that their organisation lent
itself to accusations of conspiracy and dirty tricks.
6 Op. cit., Dirty Medicine.
7 You will see later in this essay, Goldacre describes himself proudly as a ‘geek’ – ‘a
person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest’, while he describes Holford
as some kind of Johnny come lately on the make. The truth, as always with quackbusters,
is completely different: Goldacre’s geekiness is self-congratulatory and it is
difficult to see what his devotion is focused on. Holford, on the other hand, cured himself
of acne using nutrition while he was at University and has devoted his entire adult
life to the pursuit of nutritional health.
8 This has now ceased to exist and should not be confused with the Wellcome Trust,
the biggest medical research funder in Britain outside the MRC.
9 One of the best books written about the politics of medical conflicts is: Evellen
Richards. Vitamin C and Cancer: Medicine or politics. Macmillan, 1991.
10 Duncan Campbell. The Rise of the New Age Pill Pushers, Sunday Correspondent.
3 December, 1989.
11 This society is now called the British Society for Environmental Medicine: allergy,
enviroment, nutrition. It can found at www.ecomed.org.uk
12 Campbell also alleged this of two doctors who practiced Ayurvedic medicine.
They were both later struck off the medical register by the GMC. See Dirty Medicine.
13 AIDS can be cured. Journal of Optimum Nutrition, Spring, 1989.
14 A vigorous campaign mounted on the basis of this article, and other utterly tendentious
evidence, got the Medicines Control Agency and the DH to ban the sale of
Germanium in retail outlets in Britain in 1989.
15 At this time Marks was receiving funding from the Wellcome Foundation on Aidsrelated
research.
16 At the height of Campbell’s campaign against me before the publication of Dirty
Medicine, Campbell rang me 12 times over one weekend, being hectoring and abusive.
17 Campbell, Duncan. The rise of the New Age pill pushers. Sunday Correspondent,
3 December 1989.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Transcript of tape recording of the launch of the Campaign for Health Through
Food.
24 Ibid.
25 In fact, none of the money raised by the Campaign For Health Through Food was
used to fund Patrick Holford’s libel action.
26 Victor Herbert, in his extensive writings, portrayed the health-food industry as a
form of organised crime, and characterised its leading figures as ‘the quackery mafia’.
27 Extracted from: Martin J Walker. Dirty Medicine: Science, big business and the
assault on natural health care. Slingshot Publications. London 1993.
28 This was despite the fact that he publicly stated that I was paid by the pharmaceutical
companies, that I told lies, wrote untruths and on one occasion described me
as part of shady and criminal conspiracy.
29 Campbell, Duncan. Medicine needs its MI5. BMJ 1997;315:1677-1680 (20
December). This article argued that the GMC needed more competent and deeply
penetrating investigators to report doctors who were unfit to practice. Unfortunately,
Campbell was not here referring to cases of those such as Harold Shipman, where a
medical doctor had murdered his patients, but to mainly alternative practitioners
whose therapeutic practices questioned pharmaceutical company control of general
practitioners and Hospital medicine.
30 See: www.cryshame.com
31 Sainsbury left the Government, and the DTI, almost silently in 2006 just before
Blair left power. He was undoubtedly one of the main beneficiaries of Blair’s cash for
honours scam and one of the main architects of New Labour. Despite Brown’s well
kept pledge to shut down the DTI, Sainsbury is still in with New Labour; in 2007 he
donated over £1M to help Brown keep the governing party afloat.
32 Yes, I know, unbelievable, isn’t it? See this author’s Brave New World of Zero
Risk, the writing of George Monbiot and the GMWatch web site.
Chapter 2 – The Return Of A Bad Bug
1 Bob Dylan. A Simple Twist of Fate from Blood on the Tracks. Sony Music
Entertainment Inc. 1975.
2 For its early history see Dirty Medicine.
3 The early manifestation of this link-up with industry, Lobbygate, blazed a trial into
the public consciousness within months of Blair coming to power, it’s exposure didn’t,
however, appear to change the basic practices of New Labour in which an intimate
clinch with industry was an essential aspect. See Greg Palast, The Best
Democracy Money can Buy. Constable and Robinson Ltd. London 2003.
4 Ibid, Palast.
5 Op. cit. Brave New World of Zero Risk. Available on www.Zero-risk.org.
51 The Independent: The Independent can reveal that Lord Sainsbury held a confidential
discussion with three Monsanto executives in his private office at the
Department of Trade and Industry on 14 December, three weeks after he attended the
first meeting of the Cabinet’s new Ministerial Group on Biotechnology and Genetic
Modification – known as the Misc 6 committee. His meeting with Monsanto, attended
by civil servants, raises fresh concerns about the extent of his role in dealing with
GM issues within government and the potential conflict with his private business
interests. The day after the Monsanto meeting, Lord Sainsbury chaired a governmentsponsored
biotechnology seminar with consumer associations, environmentalists
such as Friends of the Earth, and one of the Monsanto officials he had met the day
before. (Steve Connor, Sainsbury in talks with Monsanto. The Independent March 8,
1999).
7 Then in relation to medicine, rather late in the day in my book, Brave New World
of Zero Risk.
8 Consider the title of the document Guidelines on science and health communication,
and the problem comes immediately into sight. In the body of the Guidelines, it
becomes clear that what the title should read is, Guidelines to enforce a corporate scientific
construct on health communications.
9 It is clear from this that the Campaign Against Health Fraud was, from the beginning,
a lobby organisation working on behalf of the pharmaceutical and other corporate
interests.
Chapter 3 – The Placement
1 Bob Dylan. Idiot Wind. From Blood on the Tracks. Sony Entertainment Inc. 1975.
2 When describing members of, or organisations devoted to the ideology of the
Skeptic movement, I have used the word that they use spelt with a ‘k’. When I have
used the word sceptic to describe a person or a view not associated with the Skeptic
movement I have used the proper spelling.
3 Some of the early participants in the Campaign Against Health Fraud, like Caroline
Richmond, obviously had a great deal of help being pulled out of their hum drum lives
to fight for industrial science on the front line. One of the most spectacular cases of
the DTI moving and embedding a science agent in a PR campaign is the case of
Rebecca Bowden (Appendix Eight) whose story is told in Brave New World of Zero
Risk.
4 www.badscience.net.
5 At the kindest, this is defined as: ‘an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological
field or activity,’ or ‘The definition most common among geeks themselves is:
“one who is primarily motivated by passion,” indicating somebody whose reasoning
and decision making is always first and foremost based on his personal passions
rather than things like financial reward or social acceptance. Geeks do not see the typical
“geeky” interests as interesting, but as objects of passionate devotion. The idea
that the pursuit of personal passions should be the fundamental driving force to all
decisions could be considered the most basic shared tenet among geeks of all varieties.
Geeks consider such pursuits to be their own defining characteristic.’ At its
worst, however, the appellation could mean a circus geek — performers at carnivals
who swallow various live animals, live insects, and so forth. Sometimes this (cont.)
5 (Cont.) would extend to biting the heads off of snakes, chickens, or other living animals.
We leave it to you to decide what Ben means by being a Geek; one alternative
is definitely ruled out, that of being ‘A person with a devotion to something in a way
that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity,
depth, or subject of their interest.’ Goldacre is never outside the mainstream but
always embedded deep within it.
6 ‘Numerous’ is here used to mean 4, which says something about Goldacre’s
approach to the science of mathematics.
7 Le Fanu was one of the original members of the Campaign Against Health Fraud.
He has, however, grown considerably in his stature and independence as a journalistic
commentator since resigning from them. Dr James Le Fanu writes a column in the
Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
8 From the Compass web site: ‘Compass is the democratic left pressure group, whose
goal is to debate and develop the ideas for a more equal and democratic world, then
campaign and organise to help ensure they become reality. We have over 2,000 members
across the UK. The organisation was launched in 2003 with the publication of
our founding statement A Vision for the Democratic Left. It was the first stage in a
process to develop a more coherent and radical programme for a progressive left government’.
9 For an account of this ongoing hearing go to www.cryshame.com.
10 In 1996, the McLibel case that had by then run for 292 days, overtook the previous
longest trial of any kind, the Tichborne personation case. The McLibel trial went
on the last for two and a half years.
11 Wolpert and Souhami are both long time Skeptics. Dr Southami was involved in
the cancer strand of the original Campaign Against Health Fraud.
12 Roger C. Hole is the corrupt mayor of Liberty City up until his assassination in
Liberty City Stories. Grand Theft Auto. Liberty City Stories was the first GTA game
released for the PlayStation Portable. Set in Liberty City in 1998. R.C. Hole’s full
name, when pronounced with two of his first names in initials, sounds like ‘arsehole.’
(From Grand Theft Wiki, a site all about GTA that anybody can edit).
13 They say: SKEPTICS IN THE PUB takes place Upstairs in the Florence
Nightingale pub, 199 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1, U.K. Junction with
York Road, on the roundabout. Near Waterloo station. Guest ales and food available.
Non-skeptics welcome. You can turn up at any time during the night. The talk will be
followed by informal discussion in a relaxed and friendly pub atmosphere.
14 They say: The Skeptic, ‘the UK’s only regular magazine to take a skeptical look
at pseudoscience and claims of the paranormal. Founded in 1987 by Wendy
Grossman, the magazine is now co-edited by Professor Chris French from the
Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, London, and Victoria
Hamilton. It is a non-profit magazine published four times a year, available only by
subscription. An invaluable resource for journalists, teachers, psychologists … ’
15 Lord Dick Taverne set up Sense About Science in the same year he attended the
annual Bilderberg meeting. Other British personalities involved in organising the
Conference or simply attending that year were Lord John Sainsbury of Preston
Candover, brother of David; Martin J. Taylor, one of Blair’s closest advisers, on
finance and the Public services. Taylor has attended many meetings of the Bilderberg
Group and served as Secretary General for several years. Taylor was a member of the
Parliamentary select Committee for Science and Technology for five years, where he
would have worked with Taverne, a leading member of the Science and Technology
Committee in the Lords. Taylor is part of a group called ‘New Europe’, which
includes Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and a number of other British
Bilderberg attendees. Just ask yourself, can a skeptic really be sceptical if he attends
Bilderberg meetings? (Author’s italics).
16 24 January 2006. Beware The Ambassadors of Science.
17 See the GM Watch site: Pallab Ghosh – a GM WATCH profile, http://www.
gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=203
18 Glaxo Smith Klein were the pharmaceutical company responsible for importing
and distributing MMR and were defendants in the claim made by parents of children
damaged by this vaccine.
19 Her publicity says: The Baroness Greenfield is the first female director of the
Royal Institution and a passionate populariser of science. She presented BBC2’s Brain
Story as part of her mission to explain the brain ‘in a way that makes sense to everybody.’
She is a neurologist by training and is Professor at Oxford where her research
focuses on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. She set up the research drug company
Synaptica, to patent a novel use for a chemical in the brain.
Interestingly she elected to say ‘I’m not a maverick’ – (Like Dr Andrew Wakefield)
in one of her recent interviews.
20 For information about ACSH and CSICOP, see Dirty Medicine.
21 See: HRT Licensed to Kill and maim: The unheard voices of women damaged by
hormone replacement therapy. Slingshot Publications. 2006.
22 See AJIM, Secret Ties, Hardell et al. 2006, for background on Dolls under-thetable
money from Monsanto.
23 Ferriman was heavily involved in journalistic attacks on independent nutritionists,
Stephen Davies and colleagues in late eighties and early nineties.
24 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
25 Michael Baum has been a hard working and committed member of HealthWatch
from its inception. His latest campaign is against the London Homeopathic Hospital.
26 Ernest is a quackbuster, a revered friend of both HealthWatch and CSICOP.
27 Again there is the suggestion that he has published more than one paper in a peer
reviewed journal.
28 The DTI ceased to exist by that name after Brown became leader of New Labour.
29 This information was uncovered by John Stone (see under the Wi-Fi heading
below).
30 In December 2007, a Cornish Coroner ordered the police to carry out an investigation
into the apparent cover-up of the Lower Moore water contaminated disaster. If
the investigation gets under way, that police will certainly want to seek the professional
opinion of professor Wessely, who in the past has argued that apart from (cont.)
30 (Cont.) the tonnage of chemical cocktail that was inadvertently tipped into the
water supply, the incident was most probably caused by hysteria.
31 Professor Simon Wessely MA, BM BCh, MSc, MD, FRCP, FRCPsych, F Med
Sci. Director, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Institute of Psychiatry,
King’s College London. Simon Wessely is Professor of Epidemiological and Liaison
Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, and Honorary
Consultant Psychiatrist at King’s and Maudsley Hospitals.
See below, Wessely’s involvement in spinning mast EMF at the Health Protection
Agency. Also Appendix 13 for a summary of his career and SKEWED for a more
extensive one.
32 OP. cit. SKEWED, for more about Wessely’s conflicts of interest.
33 The information in the following two paragraphs was uncovered by John Stone.
34 http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/ProvProgLi08.pdf.
35 http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/search/results/default.aspx?cx=0029783635880156865
98%3Asvk4drrzqg0&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Ben+Goldacre&sa=Search#239.
36 For a full account of the RCP involvement in Lobbying for industry and New
Labour, see this author’s book Brave New World of Zero Risk and the GM Watch web
site. The RCP were led in the 1980s and 1990s by Fred Furedi, the main risk academic
whose theories were used to pour scorn on the feelings and experiential decisions of
the public when they assessed the risk of such things as vaccination or serious illness
from environmental factors.
37 In July 2000, Judy Larkin took part in ‘Interrogating the Precautionary Principle’,
an Institute of Ideas event at the Royal Institution. This was billed as: ‘eminent scientists,
social scientists and writers will question the premises of the precautionary
principle’. The event was ‘convened’ by Susan Greenfield of the RI, and Tony Gilland
and Helene Guldberg of the LM Network.
38 George Monbiot. Invasion of the Entryists, the Guardian, December 9 2003.
39 See Reputation, perceptions and the ‘vanishing workforce’: a report on a study of
young attitudes to oil & gas, nuclear industries, February 2005, by Andrew Griffin,
managing director, Regester Larkin Ltd. This study and the report resulted from a
contract with Cogent SSC, the Sector Skills Council for the Chemical, Nuclear Oil &
Gas, Petroleum and Polymer industries, which was funded by the DTI.
40 An organisation that highly favours ex-RCP members and organisations and
which has worked with the Royal Society on a number of its science propaganda exercises.
41 See: Walker, Martin. The Ghost Lobby.
42 Horrobin DF. Beyond conflict of interest. Non-financial conflicts of interest are
more serious than financial conflicts. Br Med J 1999; 318: 466.
Dr. David Horrobin, a brilliant and hard working English ‘alternative’ nutritional scientist,
died on April 1st 2003. The editor of the BMJ gave his obituary to Caroline
Richmond, a friend and colleague of Professor Wessely and a long-standing detractor
of alternative medicine, its researchers and practitioners. The obituary in the 19th
April 2003 BMJ sparked off a considerable debate on conflict of interests, after
Richmond did an awful hatchet job, stating for example, that Horrobin might prove
to be ‘the greatest snake oil salesman of his age.’ It is ironic that Horrobin should have
written such an evidently honest letter to the BMJ about conflict of interest and his
life should have been summed up in the same journal by a woman who set up the
Campaign Against Health Fraud, an organisation which is only transparent in one
thing, the obfuscation of its motives and arguments.
43 Op. cit. SKEWED.
44 In 2006, I wrote to Sarah Boseley on the Guardian, pointing out that an article that
she had written about some research which showed the benefits of HRT and that she
had trumpeted in an flattering few paragraphs, actually described research funded by
Wyeth, the major manufacturer of HRT. Her answer to me was that she didn’t have
time to look into people’s conflict of interests. Which just about says it all for the
British press: ‘Why should we worry if a few thousand more women die of breast cancer,
having been led to think that HRT is only beneficial, by their favourite newspaper
paper or magazine?’
45 Legal aid was withdrawn from parents who were claiming against the manufacturers
of MMR some six months before their case came to court. The case had been
nine years or so in its development,.
46 Hear the Silence. Channel 5, 15 December. 9 pm.
47 The Guardian was generally scathing about the drama: the review that appeared
on December 8 2003, by Mark Lawson, was headed ‘Saint Mum, Saint Doctor and
the evil MMR.’
48 But this wasn’t the real story, nor was it even Goldacre’s story, it was The Lobby’s
story. Michael Fitzpatrick put their case succinctly in the opening paragraph of his
Spiked article: This paragraph containes the seminal lie of The Lobby’s case, that the
results of Wakefield’s research caused distress to parents of children with autism.
Wakefield’s case has never even been an anti-vaccination case, he has only ever said
that there appears to be a link between the measles virus delivered with two other viral
strains in MMR, gastrointestinal problems and disintegrative disorder. (Cont.)
48 (Cont.) The majority of parents of children with this autism spectrum disorder
sought the help of Dr Wakefield because no other doctors had anything positive to
offer in terms of diagnosis or treatment and it was the parents and not Dr Wakefield
that identify the onset of the illness with their child’s MMR vaccination.
Fitzpatrick’s account: Hear the Silence is a scientifically dishonest and emotionally
manipulative film which can only compound the distress already experienced by families
affected by autism as a result of the anti-MMR campaign. This campaign has
made parents feel guilty that, by giving their children the MMR vaccine, they may
have contributed to the development of autism – a notion for which there is, after more
than five years, still not a shred of scientific evidence. It has also dragged more than
1000 families into a prolonged process of litigation (now halted by the Legal Services
Commission), which could only lead to disappointment and disillusionment.
(http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006DFFD.htm).
49 Drinking at the same trough? Here is Fitzpatricks list of ‘gullible’ journalists
duped by the anti-MMR campaign (he says: not an exhaustive list): Heather Mills,
Private Eye; Lorraine Fraser, Daily Telegraph; Melanie Phillips, Daily Mail; Justine
Picardie, Daily Telegraph; Beezy Marsh, Daily Mail; Robert Sandall, The Sunday
Times; Camilla Cavendish, The Times; Nigella Lawson, The Times; Allison Pearson,
Evening Standard; Libby Purves, The Times; Suzanne Moore, Mail on Sunday; Lynda
Lee-Potter, Daily Mail; Quentin Letts, Daily Mail; Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday;
Lucy Johnston, The Sunday Express.
Reminds me of that old Lancashire joke: Mike and Ben are sitting in a pub talking
and Mike says, ‘I sometimes think that apart from me and thee, everyone in the world
is a bit queer, and sometimes I have my doubts about thee.’ How many journalists
Goldacre or Fitzpatrick would have to put on their list before they realized that they
constituted the minority?
50 This is becoming a stock response to dissenting views in medical science. It was
levelled at Professor Peter Duesberg, one of America’s most renowned virologists,
that in dissenting from the view of scientific orthodoxy that HIV was a sexually transmitted
virus and the sole cause of Aids related illnesses, Duesberg was responsible for
the deaths of thousands of young people.
51 http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles/archives/001476.html. The way in which
The Lobby has gone about trying to discredit Melanie Phillips is interesting. Relying
on old ideological loyalties, they have assumed that if the drew public attention to her
‘right wing’ politics, everyone would rally to their side in the conflict over MMR and
Dr Wakefield. In a ‘post political’ world where ideological ‘lines’ have disintegrated
and issues are assessed individually, few people are, however, willing to blindly agree
on the basis of past political records.
52 Correspondence between John Stone and Roger Alton, Observer editor. in July 23.
2007.
53 Ibid.
54 Ben Goldacre. Never Mind the Facts. The Guardian, December 11, 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,,1103958,00.html.
55 The Lobby blatantly lied about the Cochrane Review, claiming the papers results
were an endorsement of their arguments, despite the fact that they were no such thing.
56 Stone quoting from the Cochrane review of 2005.
57 Heikki Peltola, Annamari Patja, Pauli Leinikki, Martti Valle, Irja Davidkin, Mikho
Paunio. No evidence for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine-associated inflammatory
bowel disease or autism in a 14-year prospective study. Research Letter appeared
in The Lancet Vol 351 – May 2, 1998. pg 1327-8.
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/mmrandibd.htm.
58 Correspondence to Roger Alton.
59 Carol Stott, Ph.D.; Mark Blaxill; Andrew J. Wakefield, M.B., FRCS. MMR and
Autism in Perspective: the Denmark Story. (Cont.)
59 (Cont.) 89 Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 9 Number 3
Fall 2004. http://www.jpands.org/vol9no3/stott.pdf.
60 Correspondence to Roger Alton.
61 The Gathering Brainstorm. Mark Anslow. The Ecologist. December 2007.
62 Op. cit. Brave New World of Zero Risk.
63 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
64 Chilvers, Clair et al.Survival of patients with breast cancer attending the Bristol
Cancer Help Centre. Lancet 1990;ii:606 – 10.
65 Op. cit. The Ecologist.
66 Prof. Elaine Fox, Director of the Affective Science Laboratory at the University
of Essex, and Visiting Scientist at the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit,
Cambridge; cognitive and neural correlates of anxiety disorders; emotion; attention.
Associate editor of Emotion.
The results of the Essex study into electro magnetic hypersensitivity suggest that the
many health problems attributed to mobile phone transmitters – including nausea,
headache and flu-like symptoms – are probably caused by something else, says Elaine
Fox, a psychologist at the University of Essex in Colchester, who led the research.
She suggests that the problems may well be psychological.
67 Rubin GJ, Cleare AJ, Wessely S. Psychological factors associated with selfreported
sensitivity to mobile phones. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 2007; epublication
ahead of print DOI:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.05.006. Das-Munshi J,
Rubin GJ, Wessely S. Multiple chemical sensitivites: Review. (Cont.)
67 (Cont.) Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery 2007;
15:274-280. Rubin GJ, Hahn G, Everitt B, Cleare AJ, Wessely S. Are some people
sensitive to mobile phone signals? A within-participants, double-blind, randomised
provocation study. British Medical Journal 2006; 332:886-889. Rubin G, Das Munshi
J, Wessely S. A systematic review of treatments for electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2006; 75:12-18. Rubin GJ, Das Munshi J,
Wessely S. Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: A systematic review of provocation
studies. Psychosomatic Medicine 2005; 67:224-232.
68 Robert Cribb and Tyler Hamilton Staff reporters, Toronto Star, Is her cellphone
Safe? Toronto Star. 12.7.05.
69 Recent studies (1995-2000) on the biological effects of radiofrequency and cell
phone radiation.
70 In May 1999 two leading EMF (electromagnetic field) and health experts,
Professor Ross Adey and Dr Henry Lai, revealed that multi-national companies had
tried to influence the results of their research. -Professor Adey, a biologist, said he had
had his funding withdrawn by Motorola before completing his research which showed
that mobile phone emissions affected the number of brain tumours in animals. -Dr Lai
who has been studying the biological effects of electromagnetic fields for well over
twenty years was asked three times to change his findings on how such fields caused
DNA breaks in rats. -Dr Jerry Phillips’ experiments, being conducted as good science
should, in order to check Dr Lai’s experiments, led to his contract with Motorola being
terminated when he published his results. -Dr George Carlo, who was actually a
mobile phone industry spokesman, and in charge of their research, bitterly criticised
the industry for failing to act on his findings and for not taking safety seriously.
(http://www.electrosensitivity.org.uk/ danger%20what%20danger.htm).
71 The report of The Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (The Stewart
Report), published May 2000.
72 Op. cit. SKEWED.
73 Op cit. Walker, The Ghost Lobby.
74 Other members of the R,RSAG are, Ms Lis Birrane, HPA, Ms Deborah Cohen,
BBC, Professor William Gelletly, University of Surrey, Mr Edward McConnell, The
Marlborough School, Professor Jim McQuaid, Royal Academy of Engineering, Dr
Michael Murphy, University of Oxford, Professor Nick Pidgeon, University of East
Anglia, Professor Lynda Warren, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Dr Hilary Walker,
Department of Health.
75 See Williams, Margaret, Denigration by Design? A review with references, (cont.)
75.. (Cont.) of the role of Dr Simon Wessely in the perception of Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis (ME). 1987 – 1996. Published privately.
Also: Williams, Margaret, A review with references, of the role of Dr (now Professor)
Simon Wessely in the perception of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) Up-date 1996 –
1999.
76 Bad science:Through the tube darkly. Ben Goldacre. The Guardian, Saturday May
26 2007.
77 ElectroSensitivity-UK http://www.electrosensitivity.org.uk/thisweek.htm.
78 The same thing happened with research money granted to the Medical Research
Council to undertake research into ME following the Chief Medical Officer’s
Working Group on ME. Instead of the money going to projects which were to test the
biological bases of the illness, all the funding was given to followers of Professor
Simon Wessely, to test psychological propositions that people who thought they had
ME suffered from ‘false illness beliefs’.
79 http://www.safewireless.org/SWIMemberContent/DrCarlosBlog/tabid/239/ctl/
ArticleView/mid/696/articleId/407/The-Radiation-Blob-Indeed.aspx.
80 Carlo, George and Schram, Martin. Cell Phones: Invizible hazards in the wireless
age. Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 2001.
81 Op. cit. See Dirty Medicine for information on Michael Baum and his early role
in the Campaign Against Health Fraud.
82 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
83 Chief scientist attacks health reporting by Today and Daily Mail · Rejection of GM
crops costs billions, adviser says: Falling MMR uptake could cost lives of 100 children.
James Randerson, science correspondent. The Guardian, Thursday December 6
2007.
84 The struggle in North America between alternative medicine and the emerging
medical profession, is recorded in detail by the real writer Harris L. Coulter in his lifetime
work, Divided Legacy (Science and Ethics in American Medicine 1800-1914 -
the battle between homeopaths and the AMA).Volume III of Divided Legacy gives a
definitive account of attempts by the AMA to force homeopaths out of the medical
profession and criminalise their practice. This is perhaps the ultimate text about
quackbusters that spares no detail in describing how the AMA organised their classic
turf war.
85 ‘In conclusion, I must repeat to you what I have told every one with whom I have
conversed, that, although an allopath by education, principle, and practice, yet, were
it the will of providence to afflict me with cholera, and to deprive me of the power of
prescribing for myself, I would rather be in the hands of a homoeopathic than an allopathic
adviser.’
From a letter written by Dr Macloughlin, the Medical Inspector of Stepney, Poplar, St
Andrews, St Giles, and St George’s, Bloomsbury, who undertook to watch the practice
at the London Homoeopathic Hospital during the epidemic of 1854. Quoted from
British Journal of Homoeopathy, vol. xiii. P. 681in, Cholera, Diarrhoea and
Dysentery._Part I. – Asiatic Cholera. Chapter I. – What is cholera ?_Hahnemann and
microbes in Cholera, Diarrhoea and Dysentry: Homoeopathic Prevention and cure
John Henry Clarke, M. D.
86 Quoted in J. Rutherfurd Russell, MD, The History and heroes of the Art of
Medicine. John Murray, London 1861.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid.
Chapter 4 – Returning To Holford
1 Bob Dylan. Idiot Wind from Blood on the Tracks. Sony Entertainment Inc. 1975.
2 These were followed in the autumn of 2007, by a whole set of posters, showing different
pharmaceutical medicines such as antibiotics, which said the posters, should be
used with care to only treat certain conditions. It was difficult to tell what these
posters were getting at, as it is anyway only doctors who can recommend or prescribe
antibiotics. In November 2007, the Ministry of Health and Consumers produced
another series of posters and magazine and newspaper advertisements, exhorting
madrileños that they should eat more fresh fruit and vegetables – one picture on this
poster showed a young man looking longingly at a greengrocers shop and a young
woman eating an apple. The slogan proclaimed the dangers of heart disease and the
best prevention, consumption of fresh fruit and veg. So who’s confusing who?
3 From the Daily Mail: Supermarkets are being prosecuted for telling shoppers that
fruit and vegetables are good for them. – Tesco is being taken to court for running a
promotion in partnership with a leading charity encouraging people to eat healthily in
a bid to prevent cancer. Asda faces a similar prosecution. Tesco, in association with
Cancer Research UK, printed labels on millions of pre-packed fruit and vegetables
advising: “Eat at least 5 different portions of fruit and veg a day to help prevent cancer.”
- Asda’s prosecution surrounds marketing material stating: “Mangoes are a great
source of vitamin C and beta-carotene, which are good for healthy eyes and skin.
Their anti-oxidant properties help to fight cancer.’ (Cont.)
3 (Cont.) Trading standards officers claim the supermarkets are in breach of the 1939
Cancer Act, which was brought in to stop people selling quack cures, and the 1996
Food Labeling regulations. Tesco, which is being prosecuted by Shropshire County
Council, has been forced to water down the health message on its labels. However,
the council will continue with the prosecution next month at West Mercia Magistrates
Court. The store’s marketing director, Tim Mason, said: “It is crazy that we are being
prosecuted for promoting a responsible health message.” Asda, which is being prosecuted
by Swindon council, said: “We are disappointed that the local authority is continuing
to pursue the matter, given that we have sought to follow one of the
Government’s policy objectives.”
A spokesman for Swindon council said: ‘Our view is that there is a clear breach of
both the Cancer Act and Food Labeling regulations. You cannot make health claims
suggesting a product will prevent cancer.’ The stores could be fined £1,000 for each
breach of the Cancer Act and £5,000 for each offence under the Food Labeling regulations.
The Government claimed in a 2000 NHS Plan that ‘increasing fruit and vegetable
consumption is the second most effective strategy to reduce the risk of cancer’.
(Mail Online - 11:04am, 17th May 2004).
4 Jeanette Ewin. Fine Wines and Fish Oil: The life of Hugh Macdonald Sinclair.
Oxford University Press. Oxford 2001.
5 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
6 Bicknell, Franklin. Chemicals in Your Food and in Farm Produce. Emerson Books,
Inc. New York 1979. (This is a US edition, there is a British edition.)
Bicknell, Franklin. The English Complaint or Your Fatigue and its Cure. William
Heinemann. London, 1952.
7 Although this is a charge often levelled at contemporary nutritionists who advocate
vitamin supplements, it can be seen at its most absurd by looking at the food industry’s
trend of adding random quantities of synthetic vitamins to denatured processed
foods. Such products have come to be called ‘nutraceuticals’.
8 Griggs, Barbara. The Food Factor. London: Viking, 1986.
9 Somogyl, John. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. February
1976.
Goulart, Frances S. Nutritional Self-defence: Protecting Yourself from Yourself.
Lenham, Maryland: Madison Books, 1990.
10 P. J. Lisa: Are You a Target for Elimination? An inside look at the AMA conspiracy
against chiropractic and the wholistic healing arts (1984); The Great Medical
Monopoly Wars (1986). James P. Carter: Racketeering in Medicine: The suppression
of alternatives (1992). Christopher Bird: The Persecution and trial of Gaston
Naessans (1991). Sylvie Simon: La Dictature Médico-scientifique – The Medical and
Scientific Dictatorship (1997); Vaccination, l’Overdose – Vaccines, Already at
Overdose (1999); Exercice Illegal de la guerison – Healing, An Illegal Practice, Ed.
Marco Pietteur (2002). Guylaine Lanctot: The Medical Mafia: How to get out of it
alive and take back our health and wealth (1995). Martin J Walker: Dirty Medicine:
Science, big business and the assault on natural health care (1993); Loic le Ribault’s
Resistance: The creation of a treatment for arthritis and the persecution of its author,
France’s foremost forensic scientist (1998); SKEWED: Psychiatric hegemony and the
manufacture of mental illness in multiple chemical sensitivity, Gulf war syndrome,
myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (2003).
11 Walker, Martin J. The Unquiet Voice of ‘Silent Spring’: The legacy of Rachel
Carson. The Ecologist. Vol. 29, No 5, August/September 1999.
12 In fact, Silent Spring had some 600 references from contemporary scientific literature,
while her critics usually failed to produce references for their critical writings.
John Maddox unbalanced view of Silent Spring, written six years after he became the
editor of the science mag Nature, contained the following sentence: ‘In reality DDT
is no more poisonous to people than aspirin …’
13 Professor John Garrow, MD, PhD (St Andrews), FRCP(Ed), FRCP(Lond) has
been the chairman of HealthWatch 1991-1993, 1997-1999, 2003-2005. He was editor
of European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1988-1999. Formerly Professor of Human
Nutrition, University of London, Honorary consultant physician St Bartholomew’s
Hospital, St Mark’s Hospital, Royal London Hospital and Northwick Park Hospital.
Was the head of Nutrition Research Unit MRC Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, and
member of Department of Health Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy
(COMA); Chair of Joint Advisory Committee on Nutrition Education and Chair of
Association for the Study of Obesity.
14 They say: Professor Arnold Bender, a founding member of the committee of
HealthWatch. He left academic life in 1947, initially to lead a research team at
Crookes Laboratories Ltd where he and the late Derek Miller developed what is now
the almost universally accepted method of assessing protein quality and nutritional
value. In 1953 he moved to become Head of Research at Bovril Ltd, and then in 1961
to become Head of Research and Development at Farley’s Infant Foods. In this post
he claimed to be possibly the only nutritionist to have formulated and brought to market
a commercially successful and nutritionally sound infant weaning food. In 1964
he returned to academic life, initially as a senior lecturer in the Department of
Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College; he was appointed to a personal chair in (cont.)
14 (Cont.) 1971, and to the established Chair of Nutrition and Dietetics and Head of
Department in 1978. He retired from academic life in 1983, but remained active in
scientific and professional affairs, and scholarship and writing until a few weeks
before his death. He was the author of some 150 research publications and major academic
reviews, and 14 books, many of which have become major reference works and
standard textbooks at school and university level. In addition he wrote prolifically for
the non-specialist audience, both articles in magazines and journals, and also such
books as Health or Hoax: The Truth About Health Foods and Diets.
15 Marks has recently excelled himself academically with a true-crime book titled
Insulin Murders, which he wrote with HealthWatch founder Caroline Richmond. Very
much a family affair, the book is introduced by Nick Ross the chair of HealthWatch.
For more information about Vincent Marks, see Dirty Medicine.
16 Marks, Vincent. Is British Food Bad For You? London: health and Welfare Unit,
Institute of Economic Affairs, London 1991.
17 They say: Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist who resides in North
Carolina, has achieved national renown as an author, editor, and consumer advocate.
In addition to heading Quackwatch, he is vice-president of the National Council
Against Health Fraud, a scientific advisor to the American Council on Science and
Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of
the Paranormal (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner’s Special
Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was
awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association.
18 You can follow this ongoing battle by going to:
www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/bolen.html and www.quackpotwatch.org/
19 ‘Prevention of brain disorder associated with low birth weight in City and
Hackney’. London: Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, 5 Sep 1991.
20 Mathews, Robert. ‘Putting bounce back into baby.’ Daily Telegraph, 2 Sep 1991.
21 Interview with the author.
22 Ibid.
23 Barnes, Belinda and Bradley, Susan. Planning for a Healthy Baby. London:
Ebury, 1990.
24 Price, Weston. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. New York: Hoeber, 1939.
25 Williams, Roger. Nutrition against Disease. Toronto: Bantam, 1971.
26 Shute, Wilfred. The Complete Updated Vitamin E Book. New Haven, CT: Keats,
1975.
27 Pauling, Linus. How to Live Longer and Feel Better. New York: Freeman, 1986.
Pauling, Linus. Vitamin C, the Common Cold and Flu. New York: Berkeley, 1970.
28 Pfeiffer, Carl C., Nutrition and mental illness: an orthomolecular approach to balancing
body chemistry. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1987.
29 Davies, Adelle. Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit. London: Unwin, 1979.
30 Interview with the author.
71 Oberleas, D., Caldwell, D. F. ‘Trace minerals in pregnancy.’ Int’l J Envir Stud
1981; 17: 85-98.
72 Horrobin, David. (ed) Clinical Use of Essential Fatty Acids. Montreal: Eden Press
1982.
73 Hurley, Lucille. Developmental Nutrition. Engelwood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall
1980.
74 Grant, Ellen. The Bitter Pill. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1985.
75 Interview with the author.
76 Foresight Index Number Decoder. Godalming: Foresight, 1986.
77 Jervis, Norman, Jervis, Ruth. The Foresight Wholefood Cookbook. London:
Aurum Press, 1986.
78 Barnes, Belinda, Colquhoun, Irene. The Hyperactive Child. Wellingborough:
Thorsons, 1984.
79 Barnes, Belinda and Bradley, Susan. Op. cit.
80 The Broadcasting Complaints Commission adjudication on the complaint from
Foresight, Sep 1991.
81 Today Linda Lazarides is a practicing nutritional therapist with her own website,
Health-Diets.Net. She founded the British Association for Nutritional Therapy, and
has authored many publications on self-health, nutrition, diet and weight control.
82 Marsden, K. The Food Combining Diet. 1994.
83 The Newsletter of HealthWatch.
84 Food and Drink Programme which questioned commissions, Duncan Campbell.
85 Article on international vitamin study in The Independent on Sunday, Duncan
Campbell.
86 Goldacre, Ben. “Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) continued”, The Guardian, September
30, 2004.
Goldacre, Ben. “Brought to book: the poo lady’s PhD”, The Guardian, February 3,
2007.
Goldacre, Ben. “Tell us the truth about nutritionists”, British Medical Journal, vol
334, no. 7588, February 10, 2007, p. 292.
Goldacre, Ben. “A Menace to Science”, The Guardian, February 12, 2007. Accessed
March 7, 2007.
87 It is a common strategy of HealthWatch and other quackbusters to drag in as many
regulatory bodies, such as the Advertising Standards Authority, as possible into their
campaigns against individuals. See Dirty Medicine on these strategies.
88 Catherine Collins about herself: Catherine Collins is a Registered Dietician (RD)
who has worked full time in the NHS since graduation in 1983, currently specialising
in the fields of intensive care nutrition and rheumatology within a tertiary care hospital.
As an active spokesperson for The British Dietetic Association she is frequently
quoted in the written and broadcast media as an objective and impartial expert on
nutrition and dietary matters. She was previously dietitian for the ‘Behind the Label’
column in The Times, scrutinising the validity of nutritional claims made by food
manufacturers and retailers.
Catherine is an external lecturer on nutrition for Kingston/ St Georges, King’s College
and London universities, and an editorial board member for the BDA dietetic reference
book, the Manual of Dietetic Practice. She has presented clinical research at several
national and international conferences, and has published widely on nutrition
related issues in specialist health journals.
89 Doctors warn against food fad dangers. Nutrition experts ‘massively concerned’
over unqualified and unregulated diet gurus. Sophie Goodchild and Jonathan Owen.
The Independent on Sunday, 07 January 2007.
90 Abbott is a pharmaceutical company, they say about themselves: We are a global,
broad-based health care company devoted to discovering new medicines, new technologies
and new ways to manage health. Our products span the continuum of care,
from nutritional products and laboratory diagnostics through medical devices and
pharmaceutical therapies. Our comprehensive line of products encircles life itself –
addressing important health needs from infancy to the golden years.
91 Nestlé in a self-congratulatory mood: September 2007 -We are pleased to inform
you that Nestlé has completed the acquisition of the Gerber Products Company
announced in April 2007. We will now start the integration of Gerber into the Infant
Nutrition business unit of Nestlé Nutrition. July 2007 -We are pleased to inform you
that Nestlé has received the regulatory approvals required to complete the acquisition
of the Novartis Medical Nutrition business. We will now start the process of
integrating the Novartis Medical Nutrition business into the HealthCare Nutrition
business unit of Nestlé Nutrition. The Nestlé boycott: The Nestlé boycott is a boycott
launched on July 4, 1977 in the United States against the Swiss based Nestlé
corporation. It soon spread rapidly outside the United States, particularly in Europe.
It was prompted by concern about the company’s marketing of breast milk substitutes
(infant formula), particularly in less economically developed countries (LEDCs),
which campaigners claim contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of
babies, largely among the poor. Among the campaigners, Professor Derek Jelliffe and
his wife Patrice, who had contributed to establish the World Alliance for
Breastfeeding Action (WABA), were particularly instrumental in helping to
coordinate the boycott and giving it ample visibility throughout the world.
91 (Cont.) Current Status of the boycott: The boycott is now coordinated by the
International Nestlé Boycott Committee, the secretariat for which is the UK group
Baby Milk Action. Company practices are monitored by the International Baby Food
Action Network (IBFAN), which consists of more than 200 groups in over 100 countries.
In parallel with the boycott, campaigners work for implementation of the Code
and Resolutions in legislation and claim that 60 countries have now introduced laws
implementing most or all of the provisions. Many European universities, colleges and
schools have banned the sale of Nestlé products from their shops and vending
machines. In the United Kingdom, hundreds of businesses, faith groups, health
groups, consumer groups, local authorities, trade unions, education groups, politicians,
and celebrities support the boycott. But not the BDA (http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Nestlé_boycott).
92 Just taken over by Nestlé, see above.
93 Slimming World is the most advanced slimming organisation in the UK. It was
founded in 1969 by Margaret Miles-Bramwell, who remains the driving force behind
the company to this day.With the experience of a lifetime’s weight problem (sic), it is
her enthusiasm and unique vision that has made the Company so successful. In over
36 years, over 5 million slimmers have attended our groups and lost a total of 60 million
pounds (sterling? Surely can’t be!!!!!) There are now over 5,500 groups held
weekly on a nationwide basis via a network of 2,500 Slimming World trained
Consultants. (Cont.)
93 (Cont.) In 1997, Slimming World became the first slimming organisation to qualify
for the Investors in People Award. The award was renewed in 2006. SMILES,
Slimming World’s very own charity, was born in 1997. SMILES stands for SLIMMERS
MAKING IT a LITTLE EASIER for SOMEONE, and each year the SMILES
committee chooses a special charity to benefit from our Consultants’ and members’
amazing generosity. No fad diets here then (added words in italics, by the author.)
94 Doctors warn against food fad dangers – a clarification. Published: 18 March
2007, The Independent on Sunday.
95 Influential nutritional research is often funded by industry, study finds. BMJ 13
January 2007. Volume 334. P62.
96 http://counterknowledge.com/
97 It isn’t only Patrick Holford who has questioned the efficacy and the dangers of
AZT. Before Glaxo Smith Klein began a second round of marketing in Africa to try
and bring in more profit from the drug, it had been generally discredited by the majority
of medical therapists working in England. Some of those doctors who had been
most outspoken in its support originally were the most critical of its use and lack of
benefits.
98 Dr. Rath’s biography: Dr. Rath was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1955. After
graduating from medical school he worked as a physician and researcher at the
University Clinic of Hamburg, Germany, and the German Heart Center in Berlin. His
research focused on the causes of arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. In 1987,
Dr. Rath discovered the connection between vitamin C deficiency and a new risk factor
for heart disease – lipoprotein(a). After publication of these research findings in the
American Heart Association journal “Arteriosclerosis,” Dr. Rath accepted an invitation
to join two-time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. In 1990 he went to the (cont.)
98 (Cont.) United States to become the first Director of Cardiovascular Research at
the Linus Pauling Institute in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Rath worked together with the
late Nobel Laureate in various areas of nutritional research. The two scientists became
close personal friends who shared common humanistic values, including their determination
for peace and justice. In 1994, shortly before his death, Linus Pauling stated:
“There is no doubt in my mind that I was thinking about Dr. Rath as my successor.”
Today Dr. Rath heads a research and development institute in Nutritional and
Cellular Medicine. His institute is conducting basic research and clinical studies to
scientifically document the health benefits of micronutrients in fighting a multitude of
diseases. Dr. Rath is the founder of the scientific concept of Cellular Medicine, the
systematic introduction into clinical medicine of the biochemical knowledge of the
role of micronutrients as biocatalysts in a multitude of metabolic reactions at the cellular
level. Applying this scientific knowledge in the fight against diseases, he and his
research team have identified a number of common health conditions as being primarily
caused by chronic deficiencies of micronutrients. Dr. Rath, has authored a
number of peer-reviewed papers that have appeared in different Medical Journals and
he has written a number of popular books. He is a member, amongst other organisations
of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Heart Association. His
popular science books “Why Animals Don’t get Heart Attacks – but People Do” and
“Cancer” have sold several million copies in ten languages. (Cont.)
98 (Cont.) Goldacre libellously on Rath: ‘Matthias Rath is the multimillionaire vitamin
salesman who aggressively sells his message to Aids victims in South Africa that
Rath vitamin pills are better than medication. He has contributed in large part to a
madness that has let perhaps hundreds of thousands of people die unnecessarily.’
The idea that anyone (apart that is from successive British government leaders), let
alone Dr Rath, has contributed to the madness that has led to hundreds of thousands
of people dying unnecessarily (some must have died necessarily then?) in Southern
Africa is so incredible, intellectually untenable, illegitimate and libellous that one
wonders how Goldacre has the front to write it.
In April of 2007, Rath won an action against the BMJ which forced them to pay
£500,000 towards his research and issue a singular apology.
99 January 6th, 2005 Guardian Bad Science Column – Vitamin deficiency (on AIDS).
May 20th, 2006 Guardian Bad Science Column – Nothing to declare (allergies/
EMR). January 6th, 2007 Guardian Bad Science Column – Doctoring the records
(qualifications). January 20th Guardian Bad Science Column – Working papers (on
AIDS). February 17th, 2007 Guardian Bad Science Column – Enough Patrick
Holford (on AIDS). Saturday May 19th, 2007 Guardian Bad Science Column.
100 Ben Goldacre. Thursday January 20, 2005. The Guardian.
101 Goldacre on Jariwalla in 2007: ‘Who is Holford’s saviour, Jariwalla? According
to the Rath Foundation website, he is a “senior researcher” at the “Dr Rath Research
Institute in California”. Nice friends, Patrick.’ (emphasis added) Ben Goldacre.
Saturday February 17, 2007. The Guardian.
102 Nature hosted the pathetic and childish attack on the late Jaques Benveniste carried
out by the children’s party entertainer James Randy, Nature’s editor at the time,
John Maddox, and a little known US regulatory scientist, Walter Stewart. Nature was
also the magazine which refused publication of papers and articles from Professor
Peter Duesberg, one of the world’s leading virologists, because what he had to say
was in conflict with the marketing of AZT and the unproven science of HIV and
AIDS-related illnesses.
103 You might think on reading this that he is referring to pharmaceuticals but he is
really referring, in a derogatory manner, to herbal treatments and other alternatives.
104 Science degrees without the science. David Colquhoun, Nature Vol. 446/22
March 2007.
105 See Holford’s reply to Colquhoun in Appendix Ten.
106 The Mighty David Colquhoun. June 9th, 2007, Ben Goldacre in Bad Science, the
Guardian.
107 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
108 Op. cit.
109 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine. Pages 341, 342.
110 See Walker, Martin J. SKEWED, Slingshot Publications. London.
111 With the possible exception of Paul Humm and his Campaign for Research into
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (RiME).
Chapter 5 – Conclusions
1 See: Hardell, L, Walker, M.J., Walhjalt, B., Friedman, Lee S., Richter, E.D. Secret
Ties to Industry and Conflicting Interests in Cancer Research. American Journal of
Industrial Medicine. 2006.
2 Walker, Martin J. Biotechnology, Ethics and Vested interests: The European convention
on bioethics and human rights, in Biology, Biologists and Bioethics:
Concerns for scientists, politicians and consumers. (ed) Stefano Dumontet and Horst
Grimme. Foxwell & Davies Italia S.r.l. Italy. 2004.
3 On July 8 2007, just before the beginning of the GMC fitness to practice hearing
held against Dr Andrew Wakefield, the Observer published an article by Denis
Campbell, ‘I told the truth all along, says doctor at heart of autism row’. The article
contained a relatively objective interview with Dr Wakefield accompanied by a story
of his case. The journalist involved was hauled over the coals during the next (cont.)
3 (Cont.) week and the ensuing months saw a bitter row develop between the
Observer and its sister paper the Guardian. In October the editor of the Observer
Roger Alton announced his resignation and the editorship was handed to the paper’s
deputy editor John Mulholland.
4 Yellow journalism is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandalmongering,
sensationalism, or other unethical or unprofessional practices by news
media organisations or journalists. It has been loosely defined as “not quite libel”.
Ref: Wikipedia.
5 Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 284, July 26, 2000. (Cont.)
5 (Cont.) Dr Barbara Starfield of the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public
Health suggests that 250,000 deaths a year are caused by orthodox medicine and its
doctors. By far the highest death rate category are those deaths caused by non-error,
adverse reaction to drugs, estimated to be 106,000 a year.
Death by Medicine, Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD;
Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD. Life Extension magazine. August, 2006.
This paper suggested that medical mistakes and adverse drug reactions together created
the prime cause of death in North America.
The findings of Professor Munir Pirmohamed’s study in Liverpool suggested that the
equivalent of up to seven 800-bed hospitals may be occupied at any one time by
patients with adverse drug reactions (ADR), and that ADRs upon admission may be
responsible for up to 5,700 hospital deaths a year.
See also Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. ‘Incidence of adverse drug reactions in
hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies’. JAMA. 1998 Apr 15;
279(15):1200-5.
Apendices
Appendix 1 – Some Notes On Skepticism
1 Some notes on Skepticism from the suppressed science site. www.suppressedscience.
net/skepticism.html. This site is completely anonymous and yet contains
some of the best and most erudite information about the suppression of science available.
2 Op. cit. Dirty Medicine.
Appendix 3 – The Skeptic Connection
1 http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/PSEUDO/pseudo_main.html
http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/PSEUDO/pseudo_main.html
Appendix 6 – The Other Medicine
1 BMJ 2003;327:1411 (13 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7428.1411.
2 Michael Fitzpatrick, general practitioner: London fitz@easynet.co.uk.
Despite the rules of the BMJ about declaring conflict of interests, Fitzpatrick and
Taverne are usually allowed to get away with failing to mention the corporate funding
for their various lobby organisations.
Appendix 8 – Another Placement
1 The Royal Society Annual Review 1998-99.
2 The present Chairman of the NERC is Rob Margetts CBE FREng FIChemE currently
Chairman of Legal & General Group plc and Chairman (Europe) of Huntsman
Corporation. He is also non-executive Director of Anglo American plc. On 18 January
2002 he became Chairman of the BOC Group plc. He is a Governor and Fellow of
Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Engineering and Institution of Chemical Engineers. He is a member of
the Council for Science & Technology and of the Advisory Committee for Business
& Environment. He has also been a member of the Foresight Steering Group.
3 Les Firbank, leader of the UK farm-scale evaluations of genetically modified crops.
Tony Gilland, science and society director, Institute of Ideas. Robin Grove-White,
professor of environment and society, Lancaster University. Gregory Conko, Gregory
Conko is director of food safety policy with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Dr
Channapatna S Prakash is professor of plant molecular genetics at Tuskegee University.
Alan Gray, director of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorset, England. John
Conroy, TV producer and journalist. Agricultural Biotechnology Council, knowledge
and resource service of the UK agricultural biotechnology industry.
4 http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=124.
5 Fifth Annual Report of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment
(ACRE). 1 April 1997 to 31 December 1998.
6 GM Watch.
Appendix 10 – Nutrition Attacks Without Science
1 S. Harakeh S, R. Jariwalla, L. Pauling ‘Suppression of human immunodeficiency
virus replication by ascorbate in chronically and acutely infected cells’ Proc Natl
Acad Sci (18):7245-9 (1990).
2 S. Harakeh, R. Jariwalla ‘Ascorbate effect on cytokine stimulation of HIV production.’
Nutrition, 11(5 Suppl):684-7 (1995).
3 F. Muller et al ‘Virological and immunological effects of antioxidant treatment in
patients with HIV infection’ Eur J Clin Invest 30: 905-14 (2000)
4 W. Fawzi et al ‘Randomised trial of effects of vitamin supplements on pregnancy
outcomes and T cell counts in HIV-1-infected women in Tanzania.’ Lancet,
351(9114):1477-8.
Appendix 12 – Professor Simon Wessley
1 Op. cit. Walker, The Ghost Lobby.
2 Other members of the R,RSAG are, Ms Lis Birrane, HPA, Ms Deborah Cohen,
BBC, Professor William Gelletly, University of Surrey, Mr Edward McConnell, The
Marlborough School, Professor Jim McQuaid, Royal Academy of Engineering, Dr
Michael Murphy, University of Oxford, Professor Nick Pidgeon, University of East
Anglia, Professor Lynda Warren, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Dr Hilary Walker,
Department of Health.
