Challenging Scientism

Frequently Asked Questions. Have a question for me? Post it in comments below.

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Eight

your question here…

Seven

Dear Liam Scheff,

I’m a student studying about ethics in clinical trials. I have some queries about the NIH/ICC investigation that you carried out. Till this day, were any sort of compensation made to the victims (foster children or their parents) of the drug trials? And were the perpetrators of ICC/ACS punished?

I know that the drugs made them sick and from your published reports and the internet, OHRP and the Vera Institute of Justice has investigated on the case. And are the drug trials stopped? In which year were they stopped? Or are they being still carried out today.

Thanks very much.

Yi [last name withheld]

Hello Yi,

I will answer in the letter below:

Question: Till this day, were any sort of compensation made to the victims (foster children or their parents) of the drug trials? And were the perpetrators of ICC/ACS punished?

Answer: No. No compensation has ever been paid, no one has been punished.

Question: And are the drug trials stopped? In which year were they stopped?

Answer: Drug trials of exactly the same type continue worldwide. The trials at the ICC orphanage were stopped, but the children inside the orphanage are drugged same as before. The so-called “trial” drugs, and the drugs they are regularly given are the same drugs, so there is little difference.

It is also important to note that the trials that took place at the orphanage most often actually were taking place in neighboring NY city hospitals, and the children living at the ICC orphanage were put into trials in those hospitals, while living at ICC.

Dr. Catherine Painter, who runs the orphanage, told me how that worked, in an interview she gave me in 2003:

Click Here To Listen To Part 2 Of The Interview: Clinical Trials

Liam Scheff: When I was doing research, I found that the government’s clinical trial database lists these things going on, these trials with these new vaccines, and also a lot of different AIDS drugs that have already been used, but in different combinations.

[…]

Dr. Painter: So if a child is on a treatment protocol, they would undergo that monitoring, testing, protocol entry, supply of an experimental drug through um, their outpatient clinic – and we can um, maintain um, that treatment here.

So If a child is on an experimental drug, the um, clinic site, um, supplies the drug to the child, um, and their caregiver of course is the one who actually picks it up, either the nursing aid who accompanies them from a store or their parent or caregiver, and brings it back, picks it back to us if, if it’s not a drug that’s available through a pharmacy.

Currently the children who’ve been recently here who’ve been on newer therapies have been on T20 or Fuzeon, and it’s now available through a progressive access program from a pharmacy, which is Hoffman La Roche – and previously until very recently was the children who were receiving it were in an um, expanded access, um, clinical protocol.

[end quote]

If you read carefully, you will understand that the drug trials took place at many hospitals, while the children were being held at the orphanage. They had no way to leave the orphanage, they had been removed from their homes, and so they were used, without consent and by force in these drug trials.

Question: Or are they being still carried out today.

Answer: If you would like to discover how large the US drug industry is, and how wide is its net, and how broad its grasp, please visit the US Government’s drug trial database, at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

You can type in the key words you are looking for, like “children, Aids,” and you will see where the drug trials continue, and with what drugs. You can then look up the drugs, one by one, and see what is known about these “experimental” drugs. (They are actually all more or less the same set of two or three drugs at this point, that have been around for 10 to 20 years, with some small changes made to give the impression of progress or difference).

For example, here are three current trials with children given the AIDS diagnosis:
HIV Protease Inhibitors for the Prevention of Malaria in Ugandan Children (PROMOTE-PEDS)

This study is currently recruiting participants. Verified by University of California, San Francisco, September 2009. First Received: September 14, 2009 Last Updated: October 2, 2009 . Sponsors and Collaborators: University of California, San Francisco; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); Information provided by: University of California, San Francisco. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00978068

Protease inhibitors for Malaria? You bet. What else are they going to do with all the AIDS drugs that don’t help the people they diagnose with AIDS?

(Maybe that’s a sign of advance – I mean, at the very they’re dealing with an actual and specific disease). But who knew that FDA Black-Boxed (dangerous) protease inhibitors would be good for…malaria?

And vaccines! And even more vaccines for the ‘HIV negative’ born to the ‘HIV positive’: Safety and Immune Response of a Rotavirus Vaccine in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Children Born to HIV-Infected Mothers

This study is not yet open for participant recruitment. Verified by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), June 2009. First Received: April 10, 2009 Last Updated: June 18, 2009. Sponsors and Collaborators: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Information provided by: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00880698

And of course, even more vaccines experimentally given to children who happen to test “HIV positive”: Hepatitis B Vaccination (HBV) in HIV Infected Children

This study is currently recruiting participants. Verified by The HIV Netherlands Australia Thailand Research Collaboration, April 2009. First Received: April 22, 2009 Last Updated: May 14, 2009. Sponsors and Collaborators: The HIV Netherlands Australia Thailand Research Collaboration. ART AIDS Charity Fund. Information provided by: The HIV Netherlands Australia Thailand Research Collaboration. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00886964

And then there’s the social angle: “Let’s make sure we get that red ribbon tied on, shall we?”
Assisting HIV-Infected Mothers in Disclosing Their Serostatus to Their Children (TRACK)

This study is currently recruiting participants. Verified by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), March 2009. First Received: January 29, 2007 Last Updated: March 12, 2009
Sponsored by: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Information provided by: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00429546

Sponsored of course, by the Ministry… I mean, the Institute of Mental Health. Because not wanting to take FDA Black Box labeled drugs, that have killed tens of thousands of people, well, that’s just crazy.

But… what’s this?

Nutrition Intervention in Drug Naive HIV-infected Kenyan Women and Their Children (HNP)

This study is currently recruiting participants. Verified by Indiana University, September 2009. First Received: November 21, 2007 Last Updated: September 17, 2009. Sponsors and Collaborators: Indiana University School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences;
USAID Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program; Moi Univeristy; University of California, Los Angeles; Heifer Project International. Information provided by: Indiana University. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00562874

My goodness, gracious…

They’re actually…. going to….

Feed Hungry People??

Well, I guess even a broken clock IS right once in awhile… Hope they keep up this most DARING aspect of AIDS research. Feeding the starving. What a notion… (my felicitations and regards to those doing this study, of course).

By the way, how did the US Government’s “National Institutes of Health” learn to speak so many foreign languages? Dutch, Ugandan, Kenyan? Wow, it’s really like we Are the national socialized medicine to the whole wide world…

Question: This is because I’m working on a research project for my university module and I need to find out whether fair compensation/punishments were given to those involved.

Answer: Indeed, no compensation was made. No admission of real guilt was ever made. The media – the New York Times especially – covered up the story, misled (lied to) the public about the results and loss of life in the trials, and the excruciating and life-destroying effects that these drugs had on the children.

I hope that answers – if not, please read through the many files here:

Or download PDFs here: ICC Stories | HIV Testing and AIDS Drugs | Media Coverage and Cover-Up

bests,

Liam Scheff

Six

YC Says: “I am a virologist/ molecular biologist currently obtaining my phD. Hoping to move on my career in journalism covering issues about science that affect humanities, and my long term goal is to want to shed light on discoveries and works that help people to appreciate LIFE even more as I believe that science has the power to bring peace. What’s your advice on work as a journalist?” May 18th, 2009

What a question! Well, ‘YC,’ I’m not sure what to tell you. If you’ve already been through the approved texts on virology and microbiology, I’d say that you’ve been pretty well indoctrinated, and you probably have a lot to unlearn or relearn!

The sciences, as they exist today, have become confused in the human mind with the position that religion used to hold for us. People “believe in” the sciences they way they used to believe in the Bishops and Popes (and Kings) who were said to speak more directly to God (whatever your vision of God or eternity is). That is, humanity has always looked to some kingly or spiritual authority for answers to the big existential questions – the questions of existence: “Why are we here, where did we come from, where are we going? Why is there death? Can we avoid it? What’s the meaning of it all?”

The Popes and prelates handled these questions for a long, long time, and produced very mixed results: lots of families, raising children in towns and communities, but plenty of Holy War and stigmatization of the ‘other,’ (whoever the ‘other’ was that year, decade or century).

Things changed in Europe, slowly. After a long period of tolerating being told what to do and how much tax to pay by the medieval Capo-da-tutti (the Pope in Rome), some Europeans took offense, and decided to keep their gold for themselves, and to define their God and their church according to, well, not ‘their wishes,’ but they softened up the hard line a bit (see Martin Luther, and “The Reformation”).

And then Europeans started trading outside of Europe as a mainstay of the economy (see Africa, and “Slavery”), and technology was improved and made more compact so that properties of light and matter could be better seen and discussed (see Isaac Newton, “The Enlightenment”), and a great deal of the older superstitions were replaced by new ones.

Some of the new superstitions were true! There were good ideas – ideas about cleanliness, removing animal and human waste from living areas, of providing drinking water that was untainted – these ideas improved life for many Europeans, far more than 20th century vaccination would. There were new ideas in planning and building cities, and there was a push into new lands in the Americas, and in Africa.

Africa provided ‘adventure,’ for some young men of Europe, as well as an opportunity to murder and enslave, rape and maim, and of course, to become wealthy. (See “King Leopold’s Ghost). The Americas provided… well… we’re still looking at it, and living in it. Lots of opportunity to try new things, to experiment openly with “Enlightenment” ideals, such as the ability of ALL Wealthy Men to vote and hold seats in Parliament (not just those that had inherited title or position).

And the sciences – or, I should say, technology – blossomed and flourished like never before. Religion has fought a fierce battle, but has lost its supremacy – for good and for bad. Sure, we still fight holy wars, but we don’t burn witches or kill apostates and non-believers…

Or don’t we? If you’re a critic of today’s laboratory science, I submit that you’re treated more humanely than the woman who was burned or drowned to see if she was ‘really’ a witch, but you’ll be given the same roasting professionally and personally in your life.

Technology has become synonymous with “science,” and “science” is synonymous, in many people’s minds, with “Truth.” Do you think that is a problem?

Is technology equal to ‘truth?’ Today, people look to arcane and obfuscatory laboratory ‘geniuses,’ whose work they don’t understand, to give them answers to the questions of existence: “Will I get sick, will this drug save me, will I live without strain? Will I get the snail flu? Will I get AIDS, can I have sex and not worry about it, or should I worry? How do our brains work? What does that mean? What’s it all about, Alfie?”

Are we a different species than we were 300, 400, 500 years ago? Or have we just disguised our intentions from ourselves?

As to being a journalist… well, in our present state, there is no such thing as ’science journalism.’ Until journalists as a group liberate themselves to write as critically and ruthlessly about the techno-wizards and priests at the NIH and WHO, Pfizer and Glaxo, as they do about Barney Frank, George W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton…

Until writers are as daring and bold with their criticism of technology and science as they are about politics, commerce, and religion, you’ll never see a real ‘journalism’ of science in the mainstream press.

Who knows, YC, maybe you’ll be the one to break through…

Five

What’s your favorite movie?

Oh… I’ve got a ton. Hard Day’s Night. The 400 Blows (les quatre cents coups – ouch!). Festen (the Celebration). Downfall (horrifying, brutal, watch humanity burn). Too many…Loved Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009, television). Sopranos. JFK is a movie I like to watch from time to time. Rome (tv series). I’ll fill in a few more as they come to me….

Four

From The Village Voice – Do you believe everything that Christine Maggiore believed?

Short answer – no, not at all. There were many differences in our worldviews.

Because I write critically about the AIDS industry and paradigm, (as any journalist should write about the industry he or she covers), it is sometimes assumed that I have in common every set of ideas with anyone who is or was critical of the same industry. I look at Christine Maggiore and I see a very complicated, very complex and often contradictory figure. I was not supportive of many aspects of her overall message; she was an activist for a cause or set of causes, some of which I understood and supported (the poly-reactive nature of the HIV tests, for example), and some of which I really did not feel were sensible, well-considered or reasonable.

I hope to be able to write more about Mrs. Maggiore, to investigate her life and death more completely. I think further discussion of her life, her mistakes, her platform, her stated beliefs, etc, are absolutely valid and necessary.

Three

Do you have any financial conflicts of interest? Auxiliary question: Do AIDS doctors and institutions ever have financial conflicts of interest? from David Crowe | http://aras.ab.ca/index.php

No, If I’m paid to write a piece about AIDS, then I’ll write as I do, which is critically. I suppose that’s a conflict with somebody’s interest.

If you mean, am I paid by a pharmaceutical company while presiding over a drug study in which I’m reviewing their drugs…which I am supposed to be monitoring dispassionately, and without bias…despite my enormous “gift” from the drug company…well, no. No, I don’t have any such conflicts.

But yes, doctors seem to these days.

When I was a kid, my father, when I knew him, was a doctor, and he’d occasionally have pads and pens with drug company logos on them. I’d ask, ‘What’s that?” “Oh, he’d say, just something the drug companies give us.”

When I was older, my mother, who is a doctor, would get sent on vacations to conferences to nice places during cold winter months, to look at their new products, machinery, technology, testing equipment, etc. That was better than a pen. The hospital bought a lot of GE’s expensive testing equipment, so now people have a lot of expensive scans, even when they don’t need them! I wonder if anybody will ever do a study on the effects of the ‘constant MRI?’ What will they prescribe in that case?

Two

What would be, in your opinion, the best (fastest, surest) way to rid humanity of the plague that Aids certainly has become in these last two or three decades? from Sepp | http://newmediaexplorer.org/sepp

Sepp! Start with the easy questions, why don’t you? Holy baloney and cheese!

Oh… in a word, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. What people who don’t have safe water need is safe water; what people who don’t have sewage reclamation need is a sewage system. There’s a great book called “Water, Race and Disease,” that details the reduction in malaria, tropical diseases and mortality in the U.S. South, after the implementation of …. infrastructure.

Until you separate waste from water, and make water drinkable, parasite and bacteria-free, life is a daily battle, and a losing one.

One

I am sometimes asked by journalists or bloggers whether I “believe that HIV causes AIDS.” I have no influence in determining AIDS policy, so it always strikes me as a bizarre question. I am not a molecular biologist, so no answer I give will be considered valid, unless it conforms with the current rubric or dogma. If I were a molecular biologist, and had reason to question the current theory, that too would be considered unacceptable in today’s ‘no-question’ climate.

I think it is worth examining that for the millions of people given this diagnosis worldwide, the only acceptable answer is: “Yes.” As in, ‘Yes, once given the HIV test result, the expected result for all persons is inevitable death (after, I’ve been told, “18 months to 20 years” or more – no one is certain); that the person is filled with an infectious contagion, that the person is sexually unsafe and permanently infected.’

This is the burden that is placed on individuals given this diagnosis, that drives many to despair, depression, social isolation, and suicide, or into a lifetime of uncomfortable to extremely painful drugging, which is seen as their only tenuous hope.

I think it is important to note that no one who is given the diagnosis is permitted to determine for themselves if their diagnosis is, in fact, accurate, reasonable or predictive. In other words, we have a situation in which a very few experts hold sway over the lives of tens of millions of people. I think that is a cause for concern in itself.

To the question, is HIV the cause of AIDS – my first response is, I’m not a molecular biologist. Go ask them and see what you get in terms of differing opinions. For myself, I have to define the terms:

When determining if someone “has HIV,” we use one or two of a variety of HIV tests. When we determine if someone “has AIDS,” we use a variety of diagnostic criteria; so it becomes necessary to examine what HIV tests do, and how they work, and also, what variety of clinical presentations demonstrates AIDS. That’s a long and complex conversation – one that we all should be having. So why aren’t we? These are issues that are actively being suppressed by pharma-activist groups, and that are not currently reported in the media.

In the end, it doesn’t bother me if you answer yes or no to the question. My answer is this: I think AIDS is more multifactorial than the mainstream allows; I think the critics of the paradigm have made some good points, and also made some serious mistakes. I hope the discussion continues and becomes more open, rather than being suppressed, as is the current state of affairs.

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