Issues around HIV/AIDS treatment and vitamins are currently in the news due to Matthias Rath’s recent rally in London. That makes it a good time to come back to some of Holford’s statements regarding on the advantages of vitamin C over the anti-retroviral drug AZT.
Holford - responding to media controversy during a tour of South Africa - acknowledges claims that he has “been saying that Vitamin C is more effective in treating AIDS than the anti-retroviral drug AZT.” Holford argues that it “is not true” that he said this. Unfortunately, Holford appears to have a novel grasp of the meaning of words like ‘more’.
Holford had originally stated that “AZT, the first prescribable anti-HIV drug, is potentially harmful and proving less effective than vitamin C“. I don’t mean to patronise readers here, but I’ll quickly lay out why Holford does in fact state that vitamin C is proving more effective than AZT.
Lets say you have two glasses of water. If glass one has less water than glass two, glass two has more water than glass one. Likewise, if AZT is less effective than vitamin C, vitamin C is more effective than AZT. Therefore, by claiming that AZT is less effective than vitamin C, Holford has claimed that vitamin C is more effective than AZT.
Given the numerous unneccesary deaths currently taking place in South Africa (and elsewhere) - in part because certain groups and individuals are pushing and selling vitamin pills as better than anti-retroviral therapy - this is a very stupid area in which to make inaccurate statements. Bearing this in mind - and given that Holford was going on a tour of South Africa - he could at least have made his position and convictions clear.
If Holford realises that anti-retroviral drugs are, currently, the best available treatment for HIV/AIDS, then he should offer a full apology for his misleading statement - instead of squirming around and trying to imply he never said something that daft in the first place. On the other hand, if Holford believes that vitamin supplements should be used to replace proven anti-retroviral drugs - a move which would see thousands more Africans dying unneccesarily - then he could at least have the courage of his convictions, instead of trying to hide behind his wordplay.
2 responses so far ↓
For Holford, “vitamin C has been shown to outperform AZT in lab studies” « Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science // August 6, 2007 at 12:36 pm
[...] I have never made this claim, nor will I because there is no evidence that this is true.” I am not convinced that his denial works. However, putting that aside, I was very surprised to see Holford claiming that “vitamin C [...]
Response to a threatening letter from Mr Holford // September 12, 2007 at 8:51 am
[...] You can read more interesting stuff on this question at Holfordwatch. [...]
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