Changes

==Overview cellular medicine==

==Overview cellular medicine==

[[Cellular medicine]] as propagated by Rath has proved to be ineffective in scientific studies. In industrial nations like Germany, vitamin deficiency calling for treatment is a very rare problem and needs to be verified in order to justify a substitution of vitamins actually absent by vitamin-containing agents. Only in suc cases the vitamins actually missing should be substituted. An overdose of vitamins may cause grave undesirable side-effects. This is especially the case with liposoluble vitamins.

[[Cellular medicine]] as propagated by Rath has proved to be ineffective in scientific studies. In industrial nations like Germany, vitamin deficiency calling for treatment is a very rare problem and needs to be verified in order to justify a substitution of vitamins actually absent by vitamin-containing agents. Only in such cases the vitamins actually missing should be substituted. An overdose of vitamins may cause grave undesirable side-effects. This is especially the case with liposoluble vitamins. It was even established in big epidemiological studies that ingestion of vitamins and micronutrients leads to a decrease in life expectancy for cancer patients.<ref>Myung SK et al.: Effects of antioxidant supplements on cancer prevention: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Annals of Oncology 2010</ref><ref>Bjelankovic G et al.: Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008</ref>.

 

Cellular medicine may been seen as Rath's interpretation of [[orthomolecular medicine]] (OM) which is based on the ideas of Linus Pauling.  

Cellular medicine may been seen as Rath's interpretation of [[orthomolecular medicine]] (OM) which is based on the ideas of Linus Pauling.  

Pauling himself has been criticized for making immoderate claims.<ref>Barrett, SJ (2001-05-05). [http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html "The dark side of Linus Pauling's legacy], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quackwatch Quackwatch]</ref> Rath's attempts to render some scientific semblance to his own vastly exaggerated claims, however, are obstructed by the fact that even Pauling's work does not support them. His employment with the Linus Pauling Institute ended in discord and he sued the institute for interfering with his business activities.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.southafrica</ref>

Pauling himself has been criticized for making immoderate claims.<ref>Barrett, SJ (2001-05-05). [http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html "The dark side of Linus Pauling's legacy], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quackwatch Quackwatch]</ref> Rath's attempts to render some scientific semblance to his own vastly exaggerated claims, however, are obstructed by the fact that even Pauling's work does not support them. His employment with the Linus Pauling Institute ended in discord and he sued the institute for interfering with his business activities.<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.southafrica</ref>

==The case Dominik Feld==

==The case Dominik Feld==

1,000 persons are said to die from AIDS in South Africa every day. Hogan also promised to see to the prohibition of vitamin treatments of HIV positive persons. This refered to the business activities of Rath, amongst others, who had enforced advertising campaigns for his vitamin treatments in South Africa for years. Already in 2005, WHO and UNICEF had cautioned against this method of treating AIDS.<ref>http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Statements01/ps_rath_30mar05_en.pdf</ref><ref>http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Releases03/pr_rath_11may05_en.pdf</ref><ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20071020134733/http://www.gwup.org/aktuell/news.php?aktion=detail&id=271</ref>

1,000 persons are said to die from AIDS in South Africa every day. Hogan also promised to see to the prohibition of vitamin treatments of HIV positive persons. This refered to the business activities of Rath, amongst others, who had enforced advertising campaigns for his vitamin treatments in South Africa for years. Already in 2005, WHO and UNICEF had cautioned against this method of treating AIDS.<ref>http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Statements01/ps_rath_30mar05_en.pdf</ref><ref>http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Releases03/pr_rath_11may05_en.pdf</ref><ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20071020134733/http://www.gwup.org/aktuell/news.php?aktion=detail&id=271</ref>

This new South African Health policy ended a ten year era of [[HIV/AIDS denial]] which was maintained by the former president Thabo Mbeki and his Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thabo_Mbeki#AIDS</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa</ref><ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/17/mbeki-south-africa-aids</ref> Tshabalala-Msimang became known as Dr.&nbsp;Garlic because she propagated treating AIDS patients with [[garlic]], beetroot, and olive oil instead of antiretroviral pharmaceuticals.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5319680.stm</ref> When the new SA president Kgalema Motlanthe took office, he displaced Tshabalala-Msimang and transfered her to a less important position in his cabinet. AIDS activists celebrated this with a party in front of the parliament. Tshabalala-Msimang was blamed for having caused the death of hundreds of thousands of AIDS victims.

This new South African Health policy ended a ten year era of [[HIV/AIDS denialism]] which was maintained by the former president Thabo Mbeki and his Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thabo_Mbeki#AIDS</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa</ref><ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/17/mbeki-south-africa-aids</ref> Tshabalala-Msimang became known as Dr.&nbsp;Garlic because she propagated treating AIDS patients with [[garlic]], beetroot, and olive oil instead of antiretroviral pharmaceuticals.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5319680.stm</ref> When the new SA president Kgalema Motlanthe took office, he displaced Tshabalala-Msimang and transfered her to a less important position in his cabinet. AIDS activists celebrated this with a party in front of the parliament. Tshabalala-Msimang was blamed for having caused the death of hundreds of thousands of AIDS victims.

'''Aftermath:''' The rejection of effective AIDS therapies in South Africa has caused the avoidable death of 330,000 AIDS victims between 2000 and 2005.<ref>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/researchers-estimate-lives-lost-delay-arv-drug-use-hivaids-south-africa.html</ref><ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/news/news.asp?id=34133</ref> According to a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, a further 35,000 newborns were infected because they were denied prophylaxis with Nevirapin.<ref>Pride Chigwedere, George R Seage III, Sofia Gruskin, Tun-Hou Lee, Estimating the Lost Benefits of Antiretroviral Drug Use in South Africa.JAIDS 2008 doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e31818a6cd5 Online: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/11/26/harvard-universityreport.pdf</ref> In 2000, pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim offered to supply the medicament Nevirapin free of charge to avoid mother-child infection, but the offer was dismissed. Only two pilot projects were permitted. Furthermore, donations by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria for the province KwaZulu Natal were blocked for more than a year according to Pride Chigwedere, who had treated HIV patients in Simbabwe prior to his occupation with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

'''Aftermath:''' The rejection of effective AIDS therapies in South Africa has caused the avoidable death of 330,000 AIDS victims between 2000 and 2005.<ref>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/researchers-estimate-lives-lost-delay-arv-drug-use-hivaids-south-africa.html</ref><ref>http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/news/news.asp?id=34133</ref> According to a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, a further 35,000 newborns were infected because they were denied prophylaxis with Nevirapin.<ref>Pride Chigwedere, George R Seage III, Sofia Gruskin, Tun-Hou Lee, Estimating the Lost Benefits of Antiretroviral Drug Use in South Africa.JAIDS 2008 doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e31818a6cd5 Online: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/11/26/harvard-universityreport.pdf</ref> In 2000, pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim offered to supply the medicament Nevirapin free of charge to avoid mother-child infection, but the offer was dismissed. Only two pilot projects were permitted. Furthermore, donations by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubercolosis and Malaria for the province KwaZulu Natal were blocked for more than a year according to Pride Chigwedere, who had treated HIV patients in Simbabwe prior to his occupation with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

*In 2008, the Cape Town High Court issued a verdict barring Rath from advertising his products as a treatment for AIDS, and stating that clinical tests he had been running in black townships were illegal. The court also ruled that "Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her department had a duty to investigate Rath's activities."<ref>[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20080613124210476C691501 IOL News for South Africa and the World]</ref>

*In 2008, the Cape Town High Court issued a verdict barring Rath from advertising his products as a treatment for AIDS, and stating that clinical tests he had been running in black townships were illegal. The court also ruled that "Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her department had a duty to investigate Rath's activities."<ref>[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20080613124210476C691501 IOL News for South Africa and the World]</ref>

*In 2008, Ben Goldacre and ''The Guardian'' were sued for libel by Matthias Rath for the contents of three articles describing Rath's activities in South Africa.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/20/southafrica.aids No way to treat an Aids hero]</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/27/aids.badscience 'Gambia's president may be weird, but AIDS superstitions strike closer to home’] The Guardian. Published January 27, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/feb/17/badscience.uknews 'How money is not the only barrier to Aids patients getting hold of drugs’] The Guardian. Published February 17, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.</ref> In September 2008, Rath dropped the lawsuit and was ordered to pay costs which by then amounted to £220,000.<ref name="FallofRath">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.aids2 Fall of the vitamin doctor: Matthias Rath drops libel action], by Sarah Boseley. The Guardian, UK, 12 September 2008</ref> Goldacre  voiced an interest in writing a "meticulously referenced" work on Rath and South African [[HIV/AIDS denial]].<ref>[http://www.badscience.net/2008/09/matthias-rath-pulls-out-forced-to-pay-the-guardians-costs-i-think-this-means-i-win/ 'Matthias Rath drops his million pound legal case against me and the Guardian'] badscience.net. Published September 12, 2008.  Accessed September 20, 2008</ref> A chapter of Goldacre's book ''Bad Science'', omitted from the first edition due to the litigation, was reinstated in later editions and is also made available on his website.

*In 2008, Ben Goldacre and ''The Guardian'' were sued for libel by Matthias Rath for the contents of three articles describing Rath's activities in South Africa.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/20/southafrica.aids No way to treat an Aids hero]</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/27/aids.badscience 'Gambia's president may be weird, but AIDS superstitions strike closer to home’] The Guardian. Published January 27, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/feb/17/badscience.uknews 'How money is not the only barrier to Aids patients getting hold of drugs’] The Guardian. Published February 17, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.</ref> In September 2008, Rath dropped the lawsuit and was ordered to pay costs which by then amounted to £220,000.<ref name="FallofRath">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.aids2 Fall of the vitamin doctor: Matthias Rath drops libel action], by Sarah Boseley. The Guardian, UK, 12 September 2008</ref> Goldacre  voiced an interest in writing a "meticulously referenced" work on Rath and South African [[HIV/AIDS denialism]].<ref>[http://www.badscience.net/2008/09/matthias-rath-pulls-out-forced-to-pay-the-guardians-costs-i-think-this-means-i-win/ 'Matthias Rath drops his million pound legal case against me and the Guardian'] badscience.net. Published September 12, 2008.  Accessed September 20, 2008</ref> A chapter of Goldacre's book ''Bad Science'', omitted from the first edition due to the litigation, was reinstated in later editions and is also made available on his website.