Skeptic Zoners

The episode out today on the Skeptic Zone podcast features a panel discussion from the Science Track at Dragon*Con – called “Darwin’s Bulldogs, Teachers on the Front Lines”.

This panel was proposed by the moderator Matt Lowry, who is a high school physics teacher and a part-time Physics and Astronomy college professor. Joining him was myself, C. Kevin Barrett (a writer and biological anthropologist), Martin Bridgstock of Griffith University and author of the forthcoming book ‘Beyond Belief: Skepticism, Science and the Paranormal‘, Barbara Drescher, a cognitive psychologist and lecturer at California State University, Northridge, and our guest of honor, Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education.

I took a little video footage during the presentation – you can see that here:

During the show, you can hear us discuss our experiences with creationists and how to effectively counter their pseudoscientific nonsense while also promoting good science education.

Please pop in a review at iTunes and leave some comments at the official site at www.skepticzone.tv!

It’s been a while since I mentioned the anti-vaxers in Australia, but given recent events, I think it’s time for an update.

Some of you may have been watching with amusement the cat and mouse games this week on the various Facebook pages between the anti-vaxers and the rational bloggers. As fast as the pages were filled up with evidence-based comments about the importance of vaccination, comments would magically disappear, presumably as they were deleted by the anti-vaxers. But, never fear readers, we have a tool called screen capture which has saved much of the material to be used at a later date. Stay tuned for news of this.

The anti-vaxers have come under much public criticism of late (see more info here) and it appears as if they’re beginning to lose their composure. Comments left on my blog this week stated that Meryl Dorey only appears to be pro-choice with respect to vaccination in order to curry favour with the mainstream media, but in private she is clearly anti-vaccination. The commentator appeared surprised when replies suggested that this stance could be construed as hypocritical and dishonest. “What is wrong with this?” was the protest. You tell me…

And then there was an article which appeared on the AVN’s blog, No Compulsory Vaccination, detailing a very complex and powerful conspiracy of mass genocide involving swine flu, vaccinations, the WHO and Barack Obama. Sounds pretty crazy right? The original article comes from a Pakistani news site Pakistan Daily and details a series of very interesting conspiracy theories apparently unearthed by an Austrian journalist. Let’s take a closer look…

Swine flu is a synthetic virus manufactured by a secret illuminati for the purposes of mass genocide.

According to the article, swine flu virus was created in a laboratory to generate mass panic with the specific intention of forcing everyone to have the vaccine. This theory stems from a plot apparently uncovered by Austrian journalist, Jane Bürgermeister, to cull the population with a deadly swine flu vaccine. Jane has apparently filed criminal charges with the FBI against the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations, Barack Obama, a members of the Rockefeller and Rothschild families, and other members of a worldwide illuminati, alleging that bird flu and swine flu have been developed in laboratories and released on the public with the aim of mass murder through vaccination.

The overall aim of the illuminati is to transfer control of the United States to the United Nations and affiliated security forces (UN troops from countries such as China, Canada, the UK and Mexico).

“There is proof many organisations – World Health Organisation, UN as well as vaccine companies such as Baxter and Novartis – are part of a single system under the control of a core criminal group, who give the strategic leadership, and who have also funded the development, manufacturing and release of artificial viruses in order to justify mass vaccinations with a bioweapon substance in order to eliminate the people of the USA, and so gain control of the assets, resources etc of North America”

Apparently a cabal of interbreeding families, including the aforementioned Rockerfellers and the Rothschilds, is seeking to impose a global fascist dictatorship of total human control.

“Their vehicle is a secret society network….(with)…..operational headquarters is in Europe, in places like Rome, London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin. I refer to this as ‘the Spider’ and it dictates to the global web. There are subsidiary networks of secret societies in every country that answer to the ‘Spider’. Their job is to control their country’s politics, banking, business, military, media, medicine, and so on…”

The Illuminati cabal established global bodies like the World Heath Organisation, World Bank and World Trade Organisation to transfer power from the many to the few.  Their goal is a world government, world central bank, world currency and world army.  The web controls governments,  ‘Big Pharma’, the World Health Organisation and public heath ‘protection’ agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. In short, they control the entire medical system.

And according to information provided by Jane, the swine flu virus was created and released with help from the Rothschild/Rockefeller-controlled World Health Organisation.

And not only does the the illuminati plan a mass cull of the population by the swine flu vaccine, they also plan to microchip every man, woman and child. The microchips would be delivered with the vaccines as naotechnology and allow everyone to be tracked 24/7, manipulated  mentally, emotionally and physically, but also terminated when desired.

Wow, pretty crazy stuff.
So, just to reiterate, Barack Obama is the head of an illuminati planning to kill the entire population of the world via a three pronged vaccination program, which will also inject us with microchips with the aim of controlling the entire population and killing them a a pinch.

It’s interesting that this incredible conspiracy theory was posted on the blog of the AVN, especially when you consider that Meryl Dorey herself had this to say about conspiracy theories;

“While we are already seen as rabid, idiotic fringe-dwellers by so many in the mainstream, it does our argument no good at all to bring in conspiracy theories which, though we may subscribe to them, are unprovable”.

Chem trails are being sprayed to compromise the immune system.

Another plot designed to assist in this mass genocide via spread of swine flu is chem trails. Apparently, chem trails are being sprayed to “compromise the immune system” as a method for later large scale infection of the population with swine flu. This will be possible since an aerosoled precursor of swine flu, which is activated when it comes in contact with the vaccine, has been put into the air and almost everyone has breathed it into their lungs. Once you receive the vaccine, which of course will soon be compulsory, the precursor becomes activated and voila, swine flu.

The following information allegedly came from a caller to radio show who said;

“…he had been personally told by a senior biochemist at a leading pharmaceutical company that: …an aerosoled precursor has been put into the air and almost everyone has breathed it into their lungs. The biochemist states that the vaccines to be administered in the Fall will be ACTIVATED when the constituents come in contact with the aerosoled precursor in the body and will cause a rapid spread of the H1N1 Influenza A virus. This biochemist is very upset about the matter, to say the least, and is a very reliable source that needs our utmost protection.”

Apparently, you can spot chem-trails by the characteristic smokey haze that they leave behind. You can tell they are chemical deposits sprayed by large planes, rather than smog, because they appear in the country as well, where smog is generally not a phenomenon.

Once you start looking and watching regularly (use binoculars if you have them) you will notice, if not the actual planes laying trails, then the dirty haze-like smog that they leave behind. It is important to know how to spot the difference between chem-trails and contrails – contrails appear following the passage of planes across the sky as condensation forms over the wings, but chem-trails are released from the rear of the aircraft. If you are sensitive to the chemicals released by chem trails, then expect to react with a sore throats and flu like symptoms.

Time to ensure your tin-foil hat is on and tightly secured.

But first up, some good news for consumer protection in Australia.

Today’s alternative medicine smack-down comes to you courtesy of a sceptical colleague, Michael, who submitted a complaint to our government regulator, The Complaints Resolution Panel, several months ago. Michael’s complaints pertained to a homeopathy website, arnicamontana.com.au which was spruiking all manner of dubious products and making equally dubious claims.

Arnica Montana sell homeopathic first aid kits, homeopathic remedies for emergencies, makes claims that homeopathy is useful for serious health conditions and also tow the anti-vax line, in articles promoting the AVN and bragging about refusing the whooping cough vaccine.

This week Michael was advised that all his complaints were upheld and as a result, Arnica Montana were instructed to comply with the following sanctions: Withdrawal of Advertisement, Withdrawal of Representation and Publication of Retraction.

Regular listeners to the Zone may remember I called these people out back in February, just after the Victorian bush fires, after a listener alerted me to a passage on their website which said the following;

“In the light of recent events in Bali and the bush fires in the Eastern States of Australia information about the use of Homeopathy by the ordinary person is knowledge that should be shared.”

I called this claim offensive, not only to the deceased in Bali and Victoria, but also to the skilled health professionals working tirelessly with the burns victims using medicine and science, not magic water. Indeed, these particular claims were questioned by Michael and upheld by The Panel. You can see the full list below.

The advertiser was given an opportunity to respond to the criticisms, and rejected the allegation that there was “anything deceptive or misleading” in the advertisement/website. They claimed that the website was “intended to be an information website to educate the public about the use of homeopathic remedies” but not to the exclusion of any other system of medicine.

But the Panel deemed the website breached sections of the code which prohibit advertisements for products that;

“abuse the trust or exploit the knowledge of consumers” and was “likely to arouse unwarranted and unrealistic expectations of product effectiveness”.

This was based on the panel’s finding that “….no persuasive evidence was provided that the advertised products could have benefits in relation to the wide range of conditions referred to”.

In response the advertiser stated that “controlled trials cannot be used for homeopathy but [that] there is a mass of unpublished evidence”. (Is this because when they are used, they almost always turn up negative?).

In any case, there have testimonials all over the website…isn’t this evidence enough? Not for the Panel, who also called these into question, by stating that the advertiser did not provide evidence that any of the testimonials in the advertisement were genuine.

According to the advertising code; testimonials “must be documented, genuine, not misleading and illustrate typical cases only”. The panel cited this testimonial as an example of a breach;

“the calendula cream I make is specific to cancer skin keratoses and I have successfully treated many of these and established melanonas by using the sage cream at night and the calendula during the day”.

Overall, Michael received 9 pages of correspondence and I waded through all of it, which I’m very glad I did because buried deep in the text was this.

The Panel noted that the advertisement breached section 4(5) of the code; “..by implying that other therapeutic goods (namely vaccines and sunscreens) could be harmful….”

So it is unlawful to imply that other therapeutic goods are harmful, like vaccines? I wonder where this places the AVN? (Although given that they do not sell therapeutic goods, to the best of my knowledge, then I don’t think they are breaching this section of the code). This is a very interesting piece of legislation and one that I will file away for future reference.

One of the big things about the decision was that The Panel deemed the entire website to be an advertisement.

Since it was clear that the website offered a range of products for sale, the Panel was satisfied it constituted an advertisement for therapeutic goods. Interestingly, the complaint summary cites the subject matter of the complaint as “website advertisement” and the sanctions as “withdrawal of advertisement”, thus implying the entire website is to be withdrawn. If you go to the website, you will see the published retraction, but the remainder of the website still functions as normal. I wonder when and if we will see the entire website removed.

Not a very happy UK homeopathy week for some…

The tragic death of a toddler in a freak accident at an alt-med clinic.

What makes this story even more sad is that the death occurred in the Favira clinic in Adelaide, which is the home of Elvira Brunt, an alternative therapist who claims to be able to cure cancer with massage. More on this is a moment, but reports say the 18-month-old girl was crushed to death by a massage table while her mother was being treated.

A police inspector who attended the scene said; “A young, 18-month-old child, a girl, has died as a result of being trapped in a component of a massage table…the child was under the table when it started to be lowered.”

Regular readers might remember the Favira alternative medicine clinic from a previous Dr Rachie when I mentioned that she has advised the father of a young girl with leukemia to feed her KFC to get her kidneys functioning again. A current parliamentary enquiry in South Australia had received several submissions from members of the public about the dubious practices of Ms Brunt. Tragically, the enquiry is ongoing, hence Elvira Brunt is still practicing.

On the same day that the child died the Enquiry into Bogus, Unregistered and Deregistered Health Practitioners report named Elvira Brunt, as a person of interest, for allegedly claiming she could cure cancer through abdominal massage, encouraging patients to stop normal treatment and requiring cash payments for services.

Other alternative therapists to be “named and shamed” were ELIZABETH GOLDWAY, for allegedly saying she could cure cancer, charging thousands of dollars for treatment and not providing receipts. MONICA MILKA, for allegedly claiming she could cure cancer with injections to “kill the worms” that were causing the problem. LUBOMIR BATELKA, who allegedly subjected a patient to “vaginal blowing” with an ozone therapy machine, saying it offered a “50 per cent cure” for cancer.

The member of parliament, Ian Hunter who tabled the report said;

“While some . . . practitioners may be delusional – convinced they are able to cure serious medical conditions – the evidence presented to the committee suggested that others are driven by greed and, in some cases, sexual gratification.” “The committee heard shocking stories from people who said their loved ones had been exploited when they were at their most vulnerable, who were given false hope and who wasted thousands of dollars on bogus treatments,” he said.

The committee stated while most practitioners were ethical, proper regulation, monitoring, and exposure of unethical behaviour was needed. The committee recommended the State Government establish legislation, similar to the code of conduct introduced in New South Wales last year, to regulate health practitioners and mechanisms to monitor them.

Although it seems likely that Elvira Brunt will be banned from practicing eventually, it will be too little too late for many, including now an 18-month-old girl. You can read the full story here.

Thanks to Dahli of YAS for the photo!

Adventures in Melbourne and meeting The Young Australian Skeptics! You can find their site at http://www.youngausskeptics.com/ and do subscribe to their podcast too!

A Grain of Salt – With Eran Segev on (W)Holistic Health Care

Dr Rachie Reports With Dr Rachael Dunlop on radionics, homeopathy/ezcema, the libel court case and Simon Singh (learn more here!)

THE THINK TANK – Richard Saunders, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Dianne, Eran Segev and Dave the Happy Singer

Don’t forget - Those in ADELAIDE – please support Simon Singh. Attend his lecture at Elder Hall, Sunday July 12th, 10:30-11:15 am.

Dianne, Joanne and Dr Rachael Dunlop

An excellent episode out, with medical myths, health profession, education and child-rearing all under the critical eye of Dr Rachael Dunlop and special ‘Think Tank’ guests Joanne and Dianne!

How does one question pseudo-scientific cures? What products are currently targeting specific diseases and health concerns? And most importantly – how can you get a laugh out of it all rather than just feeling disempowered and upset? The ladies of the Think Tank talk it out and show how its done.

Don’t forget to pop in a ratings on iTunes – and WE’LL SEE YOU AT the MELBOURNE UNI thanks to the Young Aust Skeptics!!

Anti-vaxers
You can join the Facebook page, Stop the AVN and sign the petition here. Dana McCaffery’s facebook page is here. A website dedicated to her memory is here.

Some good links which offer information about vaccination;

The Australian Government’s publication, Myths and Realities about Vaccination (pdf)

The Truth About the Evils of Vaccination

The Australian Immunisation handbook for health professionals

Vaccinate your baby

Mind Body Spirit
To see the Code of Conduct which was introduced by the NSW Department of Health in August 2008 click here (pdf file). I talked about this legislation on last week’s episode of Dr Rachie Reports.

Adelaide Gaol Ghost Tour
For more information about Alison O’Born, visit her website at paranormalfieldinvestigators.com which also has an interview with Richard Saunders.

To find more information about the Adelaide Gaol Torchlight tours, phone the gaol on (Adelaide) 8231 4062 or go to their webiste

Have you ever heard of a friend having a bad time with an alternative practitioner? Maybe their acupuncturist left them bruised and battered or their homeopath told them they could cure their incurable disease with an expensive potion, only it wasn’t to be? Maybe it’s happened to you? But what would you do if this did happen to you? Who could you turn to for help or to make a complaint?

For many years, unregistered practitioners such as naturopaths, acupuncturists, reiki practitioners, massage therapists, iridologists and the like, have been without any accountability for selling bogus or dangerous products or services.

In Australia, we have the federally controlled Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) which is responsible for “safeguarding public health and safety in Australia by regulating medicines, medical devices, blood and tissues”. But this does not include unregistered and alternative health practitioners. In NSW, a Code of Conduct for Unregistered Practitioners was released on August 1st, 2008. The code consists of 17 sections, covering such matters as;

practitioners are to provide services in a safe and ethical manner, are not to financially exploit clients and practitioners are required to have a clinical basis for their treatment”.

The code is designed to fill a loophole for the regulation of health providers who are not covered by a registration body, meaning that although the public could lodge a complaint about a practitioner, the regulatory bodies could do little more than slap them on the wrist. Whereas this new legislation means they can be banned from practicing either for a specific period or permanently. The code is administered by the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) and if breached,

the Commission has the power to impose a prohibition order and/or issue a public warning about the practitioner and their services. A prohibition order bans a practitioner from providing health services, or places conditions on their provision of health services, for a specified period or permanently. It is a criminal offence to breach the order”.

But not every state in Australia has such a code for alternative health practitioners. (One wonders if Queensland is exempt since there seems to be so much woo in this state). For example South Australia (SA) does not, but a parliamentary inquiry is currently underway which plans to change this. Labour MP Trish White set-up a Social Development Committee inquiry in 2007. Its brief was to investigate “bogus, unregistered and deregistered health practitioners” and to develop a way to regulate the growing number of people making false claims about their ability to cure. White hopes the inquiry will expose the charlatans and work out ways to stop them popping up again under different names.

The current inquiry is spearheaded by the state head of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Dr Peter Ford, the proposal is modelled on the NSW code. The impetus for the introduction of such a code came from Dr Ford as a mechanism for regulating quacks. Dr Ford told the inquiry that the unregulated practitioners are a “relative risk to patient health and have enjoyed immunity and lack of scrutiny from the legal and regulatory authorities which apply to the medical profession”.

In his submission about “bogus” doctors, he highlights colonic irrigation, thermography, subluxation and cancer cures as some of the more dangerous alternative medicine treatments. AS previously mentioned on Dr Rachie Reports, colonic irrigation can result in tearing of the colon and septicemia, or chronic depletion of electrolytes and death.

Thermography is a tool promoted as a way to detect breast cancer, but the AMA says it is unreliable, missing known cancers and diagnosing non-existent cancers – and further it is expensive. Chiropractic subluxations or spinal problems, can lead to other health complaints. The AMA is concerned about children being subjected to unnecessary X-rays for what is a controversial diagnosis and treatment (see here for more information). Regular listeners to Dr Rachie will remember that chiropractic manipulation has lead to death from tearing of arteries in the neck.

Dr Ford also cites fanciful claims of cancer cures as particularly insidious. And as is evidenced by some of the complaints currently being heard as part of the inquiry, it seems this is an urgent inclusion. He also cited other therapies, such as alternative massage therapies, Vega testing and coffee or chamomile enemas are “untested and potentially harmful”. Vega testing is as food allergy test, reminscent of alternative hair analysis, which claims to identify different food allergies and then prescribes you a special diet.

QuackWatch describes the Vega test as “…used to diagnose nonexistent health problems, select inappropriate treatment, and defraud insurance companies. The practitioners who use them are either delusional, dishonest, or both. These devices should be confiscated and the practitioners who use them should be prosecuted”.

Recently an article appeared in the local Adelaide press about a health practitioner treating cancer sufferers with massage, home-made remedies, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). The Favira Clinic, run by “miracle worker” Elvira Brunt uses a type of massage to change the way blood flows through the body, and this is supposed to cure terminal illnesses. Her supporters call her a gifted healer who can cure cancer. Her detractors have told a parliamentary committee that she takes money from vulnerable people, charging hundreds of dollars for a few precious minutes, paid in cash, with no receipt.

The AMA claims that she tried to convince the parents of a young leukemia victim to delay giving her treatment. The girls’ GP eventually told the committee the delays had a devastating effect;

….the interventions by the bogus practitioner served only to reduce the opportunity of giving the girl the best chance of a cure…..and when the cure could not be achieved she was deprived of optimal palliative care”.

Even more bizarre, Brunt apparently advised the girl’s father to give her the aforementioned KFC to get her kidneys functioning properly. The girl has since died. Her GP said; “People battling serious or terminal illnesses can be desperate and will sometimes hand over large amounts of money for quite useless treatments. We would like to think that the public is protected from such charlatans”.

Also reported to the inquiry is a man known as Lubo Bitelco who is alleged to have promised a woman a “50 percent” cure for cancer through a technique known as vaginal blowing, during which she had to move up and down on the bed saying “oh boy!”

In NSW, making claims of curing cancer or other terminal illnesses was outlawed in August 2008 with the introduction of the code. According to section 5, part 1 of the code; “A health practitioner must not hold himself or herself out as qualified, able or willing to cure cancer and other terminal illnesses”.

Also according to section 17 of the Code, Health Practitioners (with some exceptions such as the ambulance service and private hospitals) must display the Code and information about the way in which clients may make a complaint to the HCCC if necessary. These documents are available as easily downloadable pdfs from the Department of Health and the HCCC websites.

I am currently making enquiries as to whether it is an offence if the code is not displayed. If this is the case, it should make for an interesting visit to the Mind body Wallet festival at the end of this month, where all manner of fantastical woo is on display, with only the NSW department of health and the TGA are conspicuous by their absence.

I am personally very pleased to see the code introduced and hope that SA expect something similar. One expects Dr Peter Ford is not going to let these “wide-ranging ratbags” get off the hook that easily. He is a very active campaigner for science based medicine and features regularly on local ABC radio in SA.

What interested me most about the code is how it will be implemented. For example, can I dob in a website that claims to treat cancer with oxygen, water, sunlight and sleep? In accordance with Section 5,

health practitioners are not to make claims to cure serious illnesses”

including cancer, but do they actually have to state the word “cure” in their promotional material? What if they just infer they can cure an illness?

I was particularly interested in Section 12 which states that health practitioners are not to misinform their clients. Part 2 states that a health practitioner must provide truthful information to his or her qualifications, training or professional affiliations if asked. So, does this mean the end for people posing as doctors with bogus or on-line PhDs? One can only hope.

Section 3 is also interesting and has potentially far reaching consequences.

A health practitioner must not make claims about the efficacy of treatment or services if the claims cannot be substantiated”.

Sounds like curtains for KFC and “water can cure incurable diseases”. I will be very interested to see what impact the code has on alternative and unregistered practitioners in NSW.

A teaser for the Skeptic Zone interview with Tim Minchin – here he discusses the creative process, communicating skepticism via comedy and the popular beat-poem ‘Storm‘. Downloadable audio-only full version at www.skepticzone.tv and www.angry-feet.com.

The year 2008 marked 25 years of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) research since the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1993. It also marked the year that the discovery of HIV was recognised with a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Despite rapid advancements in the past decades, with the development of anti-retroviral drugs meaning HIV is no longer a death sentence, and new vaccine technologies providing hope for the developing world, it appears the Catholic Church remains in the dark.

This week, the church once again demonstrated their detachment from science and reality when Pope Benedict proclaimed that the “use of condoms could actually increase the HIV epidemic”. The Pope initially told reporters flying with him to Cameroon that AIDS was “a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problem”.

However, Benedict holds the dubious honour of not being the first Pope to spread such misinformation. As early as 1990, Pope John Paul described condoms as “a sin in any circumstances”, comments which have since been attributed to the worsening of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. As a solution to tackle the AIDS epidemic, he offered marital fidelity and sexual abstinence, the position continued by the Catholic church to this day.

For many, statements made by Pope John that day in 1990 in Tanzania, sentenced millions of Africans to death. Unabashed, he repeated the same message time and again as he moved on to neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi, countries then suffering an even higher HIV infection rate.

An epidemic of exponential proportions.

After the papal visit of 1990, the HIV pandemic gathered pace. By 2010, it is estimated, there will be 50 million orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa, 18 million of whose parents will have died from AIDS or AIDS-related illnesses. Today, more than 28 per cent of African children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. In 1990, at the time of the Pope’s visit to Tanzania, the figure was 2 per cent.

Since HIV was first photographed by a group of French researchers back in 1993, 22 million people have died and 40 million are HIV-infected – the vast majority in Africa. In 2007, 2.7 million individuals became newly infected with HIV-1, and 2 million AIDS deaths occurred. Regrettably, half of all people who are infected with HIV acquire the infection before the age of 25 years, and are killed by AIDS before they turn 35. More than 95 per cent of new HIV-1 infections arise in low and middle income nations, populations least likely to have access to anti-retroviral therapy.

Condoms are 98-99 % effective against the transmission of HIV.

Regardless of what the Catholic Church has to say on the issue, science tells us that condoms are a very effective way of preventing HIV infection.

The WHO advises; “Condoms can prevent sexually transmitted infections including HIV in 98-99 per cent of cases, when consistently and correctly used. Therefore, it is the most effective strategy available to protect from HIV…With consistent condom use, the HIV infection rate among uninfected partners in families where one partner is infected with HIV and the other is not, can be reduced to less than 1 percent per year.”

Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen after delivering their Nobel Lectures at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, 7 December 2008.

In December 2008, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded for two discoveries, half for the human papilloma virus which causes cervical cancer, and the other for the discovery of the virus which causes AIDS, HIV. For the isolated and identification of the HIV virus, the Nobel was given to the French team of Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi from the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

Notably overlooked, were the American scientists also involved in the discovery, headed by Robert Gallo. To some observers, it is no surprise that Gallo and his team were overlooked for the prestigious prize. Allegations of fraud, lies and misconduct surround the path to one of the biggest scientific discoveries of this century.

Controversy surrounding the discovery of HIV.

The story begins in June 1981, when physicians in New York and California reported unusual clusters of rare diseases in previously healthy gay men, notably Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and a rare form of cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. The first cases of AIDS were described in homosexual men in the US in 1981 [1]. The syndrome was first known as the “4Hs” for homosexuals, Haitians, hemophiliacs and heroin users as a way of describing high risk groups.

For nearly two years, the cause of AIDS remained elusive; the scientific community was largely baffled, lacking good leads for developing therapies or even a diagnostic test.

To be able to identify the virus, scientists had to be able to grow it in culture dishes. Several years earlier, a research group at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, lead by the respected cancer researcher, Robert C. Gallo had developed a method for growing T-helper cells in culture, the immune cells targeted and killed by HIV. Even so, Gallo’s group and a rival group in France at the Pasteur Institute, lead by Luc Montagnier were having problems getting enough material from their cultures to identify the virus. Each group had isolated tissue from an AIDS patient; the French group from the lymph nodes of Frederic Brugiere, a French fashion designer with AIDS. Gallo’s team had their own virus samples, but failed to get it to replicate sufficiently, so Gallo asked Montagnier’s for some of his virus to which Montagnier agreed. It is not uncommon for scientists to “gift” cells and other biological material for the benefit of advancing research.

The virus which causes AIDS was originally named LAV and HTLV-III.

In 1983, Montagnier’s team finally isolated the virus we now call HIV-1 and called it lymphadenopathy associated virus (LAV). On 20 May

HIV paticles bud from a T-helper cell. Image: CDC.

1983, the discovery was published in Science. The resp0nse from the scientific community was underwhelming.

That was, until a year later, on 4 May 1984, when Gallo’s team reported that they too had discovered the virus that causes AIDS, again in Science. His team called its virus HTLV-III, the acronym for human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus type III.

With the publication of Gallo’s paper, suddenly people began to take notice. Whilst both teams knew they were looking for a retrovirus, indicated by the presence of the enzyme, known as reverse transcriptase, necessary for the replication of these viruses, Gallo was convinced he would find a particular type of retrovirus similar to the HTLVs he had previously discovered. Now we know of many types of retroviruses, but in 1982, only one was known to infect humans and that was HTLV.

But Gallo made a crucial mistake; HTLV-1 has been associated with a rare form of cancer and caused T-cells to grow out of control (for a review of this and HTLV-II, see a review by Robert Gallo here). This new virus, which was leading to AIDS did the polar opposite, it was destroying T-cells. However, Gallo was a charismatic and high profile researcher with a spotless reputation, so when Montagnier announced the virus associated with AIDS was an as yet, unseen type of retrovirus, nobody took much notice.

A critical year of research wasted.

An entire year lapsed between the publication of the French team’s discovery and recognition by the scientific community that the cause of AIDS had been found, which was heralded with Gallo’s publication in Science. An entire year in which a diagnostic test could have been developed, potentially preventing the infection with HIV of thousands of hemopheliacs and blood transfusion patients.

So, the race was now on to develop a diagnostic test to detect HIV in blood and blood products. By this time, scientists around the world were extracting tissue from AIDS patients and growing plenty of virus – they had got better at the technique. It became clear that viruses extracted from individual patients varied greatly in their sequence, or series of nucleotides.

HIV is a single stranded RNA virus and is replicated by an enzyme known as reverse transcriptase. This enzyme makes many mistakes when copying HIV leading to great variability between copies. Scientists had learned to expect between 10 and 20 per cent variability between viruses, even from within the same patient. So, it came as a surprise to many in the scientific community, that when Gallo announced the discovery of “his” virus, 12 months after Montagnier, it only differed by approximately 2 per cent. This lead to the possibility that Gallo had either deliberately used the French virus in his studies since it had been growing well (although he denies this) or that the French virus had somehow contaminated his own cultures.

Was the American virus really the French virus?

But now there were also issues of money and patents coming from a test for HIV developed and patented by Gallo’s team on the back of the HTLV-III discovery. Although this was settled out of court in March 1987, the question arises whether in the light of the viruses having originated from France, the Pasteur Institute deserved to have profited exclusively from the test (not least since the French team had applied for a patent on the test in the US four months before Gallo).

The out-of-court agreement, announced jointly by French prime minister Jacques Chirac and US president Ronald Reagan, stipulated that each of the two parties had equal rights to claim priority concerning detection and isolation of the virus, and Gallo and Montagnier would henceforth be recognised as the “co-discoverers” of HIV – a stipulation also included in a Chronology of AIDS research co-authored by the two in Nature on 2 April 1987.

Who really discovered the HIV virus?

In 1989, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer, John Crewdson published an investigative report in the Chicago Tribune which questioned whether Gallo’s laboratory had deliberately used the French virus rather than growing their own. This led to National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Congressional investigations that ultimately cleared Gallo’s group from any wrongdoing. However, years and many rumours later, in June 1991, Gallo finally admitted that the AIDS virus he had “discovered” in 1984 really came from the Pasteur Institute. In a letter to the journal Nature in 1991 admitting that the crucial sample had come from France, Gallo said that it appeared to have come from contamination of his cultures by the French virus.

The human tragedy is, that during the period of court cases and government intervention, many good research hours which could have been spent on developing a diagnostic test and hence saving the lives of thousands of haemopheliacs and blood transfusion patients, were wasted.

Many accounts have been written describing the conduct of Robert Gallo during this time and they do not make for flattering reading. Whilst there is no doubt that he did, and continues to do good virology science, his conduct surrounding the discovery, obviously had a big effect on him being overlooked in December for the prize. Some say Robert Gallo was robbed of the Noel Prize. Whilst The Nobel citation mentions Gallo’s contributions, it settles the dispute once and for all by declaring the French duo to be the true discoverers of the virus.

This is not to detract from the hard work continued by Robert Gallo, now the director of the Institute of Human Virology.

Meanwhile scientifiic endeavour, no matter how competitive, and the Catholic Church seem to pass like ships in the night. Read the rest of this entry »

Summary: There is no need to read this entire post, it is long and full of science. If you want the take home message, then here it is. Lifewave patches are placebo. In other words, they are very expensive pieces of gauze with a sticky bit. If someone has told you that they cure certain conditions, then you should ask them for evidence, since there is nothing to show that these patches work, none, ever. They are making it up, or they are deluded, or they are lying. You decide. Search for evidence. I bet you don’t find it.

How would you like your pain reduced by 50 -100% in just 2 minutes?

Increase your energy and strength endurance within minutes of use.

Lose weight fast! Remember, if you are overweight, it is not your fault…

Imagine rapid, drug-free sleep…

Elevate your blood glutathione levels by over a whopping 300% in just 24 hours!

The next miracle cure has arrived. Lifewave miracle patches are currently touring Australia giving seminars on how to become a distributor.

The series of five pads are known as Energy Enhancer, Icewave, Silent Nights, Glutathione and Sp6. And like most miracle cures these guys can treat or “assist with” everything and anything.

For example the energy pads, relieve symptoms of fatigue, loss of sleep, nervousness, exhaustion, muscle weakness, drowsiness etc. and support energy production, breathing and stamina.

Icewave is the pain relief pad, and assists with the temporary relief of arthritis related joint pain, general body aches, stiffness; soreness, swelling & bruising due to falls or blows, headaches due to stress, strain or illness, spasms & cramps due to strain or injury from overexertion.

Silent night plus is for symptomatic relief due to exhaustion; inability to fall asleep, restlessness, tossing and turning, sleeplessness, due to stress or worry. Light sleeping, overactive mind, tension/anxiety, nervous exhaustion, and insomnia.

The glutathione booster is anti-ageing (and anti-autism but more on that later) and Sp6 is a weight loss and appetite control patch.

Who are Lifewave?

David Schmidt, Education: Unknown Degrees: Unknown Previous Employment: Unknown Scientific Background: Unknown Nanotechnology Background: Unknown Previous MLMs: BioForce and Vitagenix

Do a Google search for LifeWave and you get a lot of hits for scam websites, pyramid marketing and multi-level marketing (MLM). On the Worldwide scam network website they get an entire page dedicated to their dubious claims.

Lifewave is headed by the patch inventor and president, David Schmidt. He is not a doctor or a scientist. According to WWSN, he has no apparent history, no formal education, no professional experience in his field, no published peer review of any research into any of the so-called technology associated with his patches or any science whatsoever.

But the health and science director of the company, Dr Steve Haltiwanger is a proper doctor with qualifications from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Haltiwanger has a public record which establishes him as an educated professional with degrees in psychiatry, neurology, medicine, chemistry and pathology, professional memberships, awards, publications, academic appointments, medical licenses, and an impressive work history that spans 34 years. However he also has a wide range of interests that run the gamut of alternative medicine, unconventional therapies, and radical theories.

Evidence that even highly educated people can believe ridiculous things.

How do the patches work?

Firstly, the patches are self adhesive, round and about the size of a nicotine patch. According to the website, they are a “non-transdermal patch that does not put any chemicals or drugs into the body” but “by stimulating acupuncture points on the body with a combination of pressure and infared energy….what that means is they will reflect specific frequencies of infrared light to the body to improve circulation and relieve pain.”

This sounds a lot like someone has put some sciencey words in a hat and pulled them put at random Mr Schmidt.

Let’s look first at the claims about infared light. Photobiomodulation is a term peppered throughout their material and this is in fact, a legitimate scientific technique. It has been shown to be effective in wound healing, but this requires light to be shone on the wound. I can’t see any evidence for light being chanelled into these pads. It just doesn’t make scientific sense.

Whilst infared light does exist and can be used for some therapies, exactly how these pads apparently do this is not explained.

The Energy Enhancer patches apparently “stimulate acupuncture points on the body for improving the flow of energy and producing drug-free energy enhancement within minutes of use”. This apparently has something to do with light being chanelled down the meridian lines.

Well I’m afraid people have been searching for the elusive meridian lines for centuries and we have yet to find them. There is still no physiological evidence that meridian lines exist.

There is also a patch called glutathione which is supposed to be anti-ageing since it will apparently; “elevate your anti-oxidant levels by over 300 percent in one day”. And the website proudly displays a graph demonstrating this increase (see left). There are articles all over the website under the research tag, but none appear in peer reviewed scientific journals. Sorry to be boring Lifewave but as a scientist, I require evidence for such extraordinary claims.

And I’m not sure how “stimulating acupuncture points through light can increase levels of glutathione”. It’s very difficult to critique this statement, because scientifically it just doesn’t make sense.

Of course there are plenty of testimonials from satisfied customers, even some pretty important people like Olympic athletes and National Football League players. But I will get onto this a bit later.

In any case, none of this is important when you discover that LifeWave products are homeopathic. Which means that they likely have nothing in them. So what’s the point in discussing the science if what we really have here is a piece of guaze and some water, maybe. Mr Schmidt claims they contain amino acids, oxygen sugars and water and it’s the amino acids that do all the work. But all I found on the website was a list of homeopathic ingredients.

So if they contain water and oxygen how can they cure autism?

According to an audio testimonial buried in the bowels of the website, the glutathione patch has been helping kids with autism. There are two testimonials, one from a father of a 6 year old boy who says he has tried everything including foot baths (?) and as a last resort sought a blood transfusion for his son, to remove the mercury from his system deposited following immunisation. I assume the reference to mercury comes from the scaremongering about thimerosal, the organomercury compound used as a preservative in some vaccines (but as I discussed last week, thimerasol was removed from childhood vaccines in the year 2000 as a precaution and recently the Autism Omnibus case in the States ruled there is not link between autism and thimerasol).

You might be wondering how Lifewave get away with making such extraordinary claims about a homeopathic patch that likely contains no active ingredients. Well here’s the trick. They don’t officially claim their glutathione pads assist kids with autism – a couple of satisfied customers do. You won’t find this claim in any of their promotional material or on their website. And whilst it is clear from the testimonial that the client was told this by a Lifewave distributor, Lifewave do not have control over what the their distributors say. Whilst they can request they do not say this, ultimately they do not have control. So that’s them off the legal hook.

Dubious and deceitful. Especially when it come to an emotive and debilitating illness like autism for which there is currently no cure.

Lifewave are currently in Australia doing seminars and recruiting distributors.

Stay well away.

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Postscript: According to the WWSN, Lifewave backed out of the JREF 1 million dollar challenge because as they said; “the challenge is for testing claims of the paranormal”. Randi responded, “If this thing works as claimed, it is paranormal. There is no scientific principle by which it can work, so it is – by definition – paranormal. In any case, we agree to accept it as paranormal for purposes of the challenge, without reservation.”

A paper from Dr Steve Haltiwanger, entitled The Science Behind Lifewave Energy Patches, not published in a peer review journal, makes for some fairly entertaining reading.