Comments on: One small additional reason to despise Matthias Rath: he sues over good, honest journalism

By: Keeping it unreal « Dr Aust’s Spleen

Keeping it unreal « Dr Aust’s Spleen — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:27:30 +0000

[...] ”One small additional reason to despise Matthias Rath – he sues over good honest journalism” [...]

By: bruce

bruce — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:42:08 +0000

i´m a little concerned (as a serious sceptic myself) that there is this antagonism, directed towards personalities rather than a focus on the argument or good science.
..and i see the word ´´quackery´´ used frequently here and feel this is missplaced.
the heart of the argument is that in so much as conventional wisdom suggests we inhibit colds and flus (viruses) with adequate doses of vitamin c, how should HIV (virus) be any different? yes, i suspect every blogger here at some time in their life has used vit c for such purposes.
from holford´s site:
´´..Vitamin C has also been shown to inhibit viral replication in laboratory studies. In the case of HIV, viral infection was inhibited by 99% within four days, according to research published by the National Academy of Sciences.(2).
**** (It is really a tragedy that this research hasn’t been followed up with a large scale human trials, but the sad truth is that, even though vitamin C has been shown to outperform AZT in lab studies (3) , there’s no money in it. So it appears that there is sufficient biological plausibility for its role against the flu, but since we don’t have the controlled human trials, it’s not proven. It’s a tragedy that these studies aren’t done for life-threatening diseases such as HIV and bird flu, but the sad truth is there’s no money in it because vitamin C is cheap to make and not patentable – unlike drugs such as Tamiflu. Vitamin C, in high doses, has been well proven to be non-toxic in both adults and children over many years. The same cannot be said for this new generation of antiviral drugs..´´

By: The gripes of Rath

The gripes of Rath — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:04:22 +0000

[...] from Gimpyblog (”Ben Goldacre and The Guardian triumph over murderous Matthias Rath”), Holfordwatch , Quackometer and jdc325 [...]

By: jonhw

jonhw — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:27:51 +0000

Hm, I think it’s entirely plausible that Rath and Holford both believe that they are genuinely defending their visionary ideas from attacks by big pharma etc. Including by using legal threats.

Of course, I’d argue that they’re wrong on several levels – I’m not sure that they’re insincere, though.

By: pv

pv — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:17:48 +0000

And would it be too much to hope that some of the relatives of those who have died as a consequence of Rath’s entrepreneurial enthusiasm decide to sue him for manslaughter. I sincerely hope that it’s possible and that it happens.

By: pv

pv — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:13:20 +0000

If people like Rath and Holford were defending their ideas they would be engaging in debate rather than instigating legal proceedings at the first available opportunity.
I know everyone knows this but the reason they instigate legal proceedings is because they are trying to protect their income and their right to exploit ignorance and vulnerability. They aren’t protecting or developing scientific or medical ideas because they don’t really have any. I just feel this should be repeated loudly in public every time a nutritionist or sCAM artist goes down the legal road to protect their fame and fortune.
I also feel that it isn’t enough for charlatans like Rath to pay all the legal costs, even if that is a tidy sum in the Guardian’s case. It doesn’t pay for the time taken and the distress of the process. It’s a pity he cannot be ordered to pay punitive damages to those he has libelled or slandered by implication in the process. It would be no more than he deserves.

By: Dr* T

Dr* T — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:10:31 +0000

Hi HW, This is a great result for journalism, anti-quackery and science. Please add my small contribution to the blog w00ting :) No more Rath Sewage Cheers T

By: An open invitation to the ‘alternative’ medicine community: comment on Matthias Rath’s tactics « Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:28:28 +0000

[...] Off-Topic ← One small additional reason to despise Matthias Rath: he sues over good, honest journalism [...]

By: gimpy

gimpy — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:10:25 +0000

It’s scary to think what the consequences are of using alternative therapies at the expense of conventional medicine. Hopefully the publicity surrounding the Rath case will serve as a warning to regulators and educators of the consequences of quackery.

By: Claire

Claire — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:53:21 +0000

This is great news & hopefully will be heavily publicised in Southern Africa, where dedicated care workers , often fighting HIV/AIDS themselves, struggle to obtain medications and keep local care networks going against daunting odds. One can possibly argue that the worried well with their supplements, detox regimes and alternative health beliefs are, in the end, not such a big deal. But this is a welcome reality check about the consequences of importing this kind of thinking into societies burdened by poverty, disease and low levels of education.