Difference between revisions of "Matthias Rath"

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Rath sells several products in Europe, ("[[micronutrient]]s" and vitamins), which are marketed for legal reasons from the Netherlands. (see: [[Dr. Hittich Gesundheitsmittel]]) <!-- Cannot find an english website of Hittich. Skip that one for en-Wiki? -->
 
Rath sells several products in Europe, ("[[micronutrient]]s" and vitamins), which are marketed for legal reasons from the Netherlands. (see: [[Dr. Hittich Gesundheitsmittel]]) <!-- Cannot find an english website of Hittich. Skip that one for en-Wiki? -->
  
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Rath has put millions in advertising to portray himself as a savior of the sick and that the pharmaceutical industry (whose products he sells!) oppresses him. Some of his products must not be sold in several countries, e.g. germany, because they exceed the saftey limit for vitamins in nutritional products. They do not count as nutritional products anymore but as medical drugs and are more rigorously controlled. Also, studies that prove the effectiveness would have to be provided, a feat Rath was not able to accomplish till now.
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Rath has put millions in advertising to portray himself as a savior of the sick who is oppressed by the pharmaceutical industry (whose products he sells!). Some of his products must indeed not be sold in several countries, e.g. germany, because they exceed the safety limit for vitamins in nutritional products. In that case, they do not count as nutritional products anymore but as medical drugs and need to be certified as such. Studies that prove the effectiveness would have to be provided, a feat Rath was not able to accomplish for now.
  
 
Rath runs the "Dr. Rath Health Foundation" which was closely associated with "Health Now" Inc., and he also founded a "Dr. Rath Research Institute". In Europe, his products are sold from The Netherlands.
 
Rath runs the "Dr. Rath Health Foundation" which was closely associated with "Health Now" Inc., and he also founded a "Dr. Rath Research Institute". In Europe, his products are sold from The Netherlands.

Revision as of 20:05, 27 February 2011

Matthias Rath
typical propaganda

Matthias Rath (born 1955 in Stuttgart / Germany) is a controversial German physician, businessman, vitamin entrepreneur and politician. He is the inventor of an alternative medicine, the so called "cellular medicine" (in German: Zellularmedizin) which according to Rath allegedly "heals" severe diseases like AIDS or cancer.

Rath sells several products in Europe, ("micronutrients" and vitamins), which are marketed for legal reasons from the Netherlands. (see: Dr. Hittich Gesundheitsmittel)

Rath has put millions in advertising to portray himself as a savior of the sick who is oppressed by the pharmaceutical industry (whose products he sells!). Some of his products must indeed not be sold in several countries, e.g. germany, because they exceed the safety limit for vitamins in nutritional products. In that case, they do not count as nutritional products anymore but as medical drugs and need to be certified as such. Studies that prove the effectiveness would have to be provided, a feat Rath was not able to accomplish for now.

Rath runs the "Dr. Rath Health Foundation" which was closely associated with "Health Now" Inc., and he also founded a "Dr. Rath Research Institute". In Europe, his products are sold from The Netherlands.

Overview cellular medicine

The claims of healing properties of the cellular medicine have been shown as invalid by scientific studies. In industrial nations vitamin deficiency is very seldom a problem and would have to be diagnosed individually. Only then the actually missing vitamins should be substituted. That's especially the case for liposoluble vitamins.

This doctrine can been seen as an interpretation of orthomolecular medicine (OM), which is based on the ideas of Linus Pauling.

Pauling himself has been criticised for making overbroad claims.[1] Raths attempts to give his exaggerated claims scientific semblance are hindered by the fact that even Paulings work does not really support them. He also had a fallout with the Linus Pauling Institute(where he worked for some time) and sued them for interfering with his business relationships.[2]

The case Dominik Feld

Rath with Dominik Feld
Marketing campaign

The case of the young boy Dominik Feld, who fell ill with metastatic bone tumor and died while being treated with cellular medicine was widely covered by german media. Rath had declared the cancerridden nine-year-old healed at various events as a marketing medium for the effectiveness of his vitamin pills.[3] The parents, who believed in Rath had stopped the chemotherapy treatment of their son in May 2003, because they hoped for better healing chances with Rath's products. They started to treat him with micronutrients, the vitamin products of Dr. Rath. They took him to a clinic for alternative medicine in Tijuana, Mexico, which treats according to Rath's methods. The nine-year-old boy died on the first of November 2004.

Rath started to place commercial ads at once which claimed that the boy did not die from cancer, but from coronary failure and malpractice - Botched by the normal medicine. The autopsy of the boy found a big tumor in the breast, which had pressed on lung and heart.[4][5][6]

Rath wrote about the death of the Dominik Feld:[7]

"Jetzt bist du endlich frei, Dominik! Hier auf der Erde warst du gefangen, festgehalten auf einer Insel der Krebskranken. Wie Millionen Krebspatienten mit dir warst du angekettet an die Fesseln der Chemo-Medizin."
"Now you are free, Dominik, Here on earth, you were imprisoned, held on an island of the cancerafflicted. Like millions of cancer patients like you, you were chained in the shackles of the chemotherapy"

Matthias Rath and AIDS

Demo against Rath in South Africa
RathSpiegel45-2005.jpg

Rath and his Foundation were investigated by the law in South Africa after they had promised AIDS victims false hope und encouraged them to not take antiretrovirals, but to rather trust the cellular medicine. Rath was convicted of illegal experiments on humans.[8] The experiments were found to be against South African law in the case "TAC vs. Rath" on June, 13th, 2008 in Cape Town. The court ruled that the vitamin products of Rath must not be advertised to help against HIV/AIDS[9][10]

In March 2006 he was convicted of libel against the NRO TAC, Treatment Action Campain, in Cape Town.[11]

At the opening of the International AIDS vaccine conference 2008 in Cape Town the new South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan made a clear statement that AIDS is caused by HIV and should be fought with evidence based medicine.[12]

1.000 people die each day from AIDS in South Africa. Hogan promised that vitamin treatments of HIV positive people will be prohibited. This was a direct reference to the business practices of Rath, who had made advertising campaigns for his treatments in South Africa for years. In 2005 WHO and UNICEF had warned from this method to treat AIDS.[13][14][15]


The new South African Health policy endet the ten year era of HIV/AIDS-Denial, which was held up by the former president Thabo Mbeki and his Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.[16][17][18] Tshabalala-Msimang had been given the nickname Dr. Garlic because of her treatment of AIDS patients with garlic, beetroot and Oliveoil instead of antiretrovirals.[19]

When the new SA president Kgalema Motlanthe took office he moved Tshabalala-Msimang to a less important position. AIDS-Activists celebrated that in a party before the parliament. Tshabalala-Msimang was accused to have caused the death of thousands of AIDS victims.

Aftermath: The rejection of conventional AIDS therapies in South Africa has caused the avoidable death of 330.000 AIDS victims from 2000 to 2005.[20][21] According to a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes further 35.000 newborn were infected who should have been treated with prophylaxis with Nevirapin.[22]

An offer of the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim in Jahr 2000, to supply the medicament Nevirapin for prophylaxis, to avoid mother-child infection, free of charge was dismissed. Only two pilot projects were permitted. 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 before he worked for the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

In 2009 a shipment of vitamin pills was busted by the Department of Health investigators as part of an ongoing investigation in Cape Town and criminal cases against Rath were opened.[23]

Rath as a politician

In June 2005 The Dr. Rath Health Foundation founded a small political party Allianz für Gesundheit, Frieden und soziale Gerechtigkeit(alliance for health, freedom and social fairness) (AGFG) in Germany which was led by Raths PR-Manager Lutz Kliche and Rath himself was assistant chairman for some time.

Heart of the party platform are hypotheses of the cellular medicine and far reaching conspiracy theories of Rath. He interprets the denial of admission for his products as proof of a so called "Pharma-Dictatorship", which controls politicians and scientists all over the world like a puppet master. He claims on his website and in leaflets that the Pharmakartell has declared war on health and life of the whole mankind. He imputes that vitamins and other naturopathic medicine is suppressed and defamed out of greed to sell "ineffective drugs" which just treat the symptoms to earn more money at the expense of the customers. Ostensible "proof" are excerpts from professional articles, leaflets and news items.

This aggressive strategy was forbidden in 1998 through a court order. In the reasons given for the judgment by the court of Berlin it is stated:

"Bei der Broschüre handelt es sich um ein Konglomerat von Tatsachenverdrehungen, Anschwärzungen und schlichten Unwahrheiten. Sie ist in toto auf Manipulation und Täuschung angelegt."
"The Flyer is a conglomerate of distortion of facts, defamations and simple falsehoods. It's purpose is to manipulate and deceive."

In a running campaign started 2006 by the party AGFG Rath warns from an imminent nuclear war with the purpose to establish a "Pharma-Dictatorship".

He also made an embarrassing comparison to the Holocaust: A text of the AGFG cites a speech of Rath "Auschwitz wird zum Wendepunkt der Geschichte" (Auschitz as a turning point in history) during a visit at the concentration camp Auschitz where he declares Auschitz to be part of a "Pharma-Genozide":[24]

"Auschwitz ist nicht in der Vergangenheit abgeschlossen. Es dauert noch an. [...] Die grausamen Ereignisse in Auschwitz waren und sind nur ein Teil des größeren Zusammenhangs des weltweiten Pharma-Völkermordes!"
"Auschitz is not contained int the past. It still goes on. [...] The horrible happenings in Auschitz were and are still part of a greater relationship of the worldwide "Pharma-Genocide".

In 2009 Rath tried to take influence on the irish referendum about the new EU treaty. In a six pages leaflet to homes in Dublin Rath claimed that a "Yes" vote will result in the militarisation of Europe and see Ireland turned into an Orwellian police state. Europe was on its way to become fully controlled by Oil and Pharmakartells. The vitamin millionaire and pharmaceutical businessman Rath portrayed his own activities as those of a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving human health through research, education and the defence of patients’ rights to choose natural health therapies.[25]

Legal cases

Rath has been involved in a number of legal cases.

  • In 2000, the Court of Almelo in the Netherlands ordered Rath to stop making unfounded, false, and defamatory statements about the Dutch pharmaceutical company Numico.[26][27]
  • In 2002, the British [Advertising Standards Authority found that advertisements by Rath contained a series of misleading and false claims and ordered the claims removed.[26][28]
  • In 2002, the United States Food and Drug Administration notified Rath that he was promoting his supplements in a manner that violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, by making claims of efficacy without undergoing the appropriate scientific and regulatory review.[26][29]
  • In 2005, the Advertising Standards Association of South Africa (ASASA) issued three separate rulings against Rath, finding that he had made false and misleading claims regarding the effectiveness of his supplements and describing his advertisements as "reckless in the extreme".[30][26] Rath continued the advertisements, leading the ASASA to rule that, "in light of the gravity of [Rath's] breaches", he was required to submit all further advertising to the ASASA for prior approval.[31]
  • In 2006, the High Court of South Africa found that Rath had defamed the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an AIDS non-profit organization, by publicly making false and misleading statements about the TAC. Rath was ordered to cease his defamatory remarks "to ensure that the TAC's continued participation in the debate is not hamstrung by defamatory and unfounded allegations."[26][32]
  • In 2006, the July 22 issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a news item reporting that Rath had gone on trial in Hamburg, Germany "for fraud" in relation to the death of Dominik Feld. However, the BMJ subsequently retracted the news item "on legal advice" and issued an apology to Rath, stating that the BMJ accepted that "the allegations we published were without foundation."[33] A subsequent libel claim by Rath was settled by the BMJ for ₤100,000.[34][35]
  • In 2006, Rath was prosecuted in Germany for distributing vitamins over the internet without a pharmaceutical licence, and for claiming on the website that the vitamins could cure cancer. Rath settled the case with a EUR33,000 fine, paid to an organisation helping disabled children, and amended the website.[36]
  • In 2007, the German Federal Constitutional Court issued a ruling in favour of Rath. The Federal Constitutional Court found that the prohibition of the brochure and poster "Stop the pharmacartel" and "Stop the codex-plans of the pharmacartel" by judgements of courts in Berlin in 2000/2001 was unjustified as it violated Rath's fundamental rights, e.g. the right of free speech.[37]
  • In 2008, the Cape Town High Court issued an interdict barring Rath from advertising his products as a treatment for AIDS, and stating that the clinical trials he has been running in black townships are illegal. The ruling also found that "Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her department had a duty to investigate Rath's activities."[38]
  • In 2008 Ben Goldacre and The Guardian were sued for libel by Matthias Rath for the content of three articles describing Rath's activities in South Africa.[39][40][41] In September 2008, Rath dropped his suit and was ordered to pay costs, an interim amount of about £220,000.[42] Goldacre has expressed interest in writing a "meticulously referenced" work on Rath, and South African HIV/AIDS denialism in general, based on material which had been excised from his column during the litigation.[43] A chapter of Goldacre's Bad Science, omitted from the first edition due to the litigation, was reinstated in the paperback edition in early 2009, made available on his website, and licenced for free distribution.[1]

Versions of this article in other languages

Weblinks

German:

English:

References

  1. ↑ Barrett, SJ (2001-05-05). "The dark side of Linus Pauling's legacy, Quackwatch
  2. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/matthiasrath.southafrica
  3. ↑ The case Dominik Feld in the german magazine "The Spiegel"
  4. ↑ German News on "Der Fall Dominik"
  5. ↑ Wikinews on Dominik Felds death
  6. ↑ German Ärzteblatt on Dominik Feld
  7. ↑ German newspaper on Dominik Feld and the investigation against Rath
  8. ↑ http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20031294
  9. ↑ http://www.brot-fuer-die-welt.de/downloads/fachinformationen/hintergrundpapier_rath-tac.pdf
  10. ↑ Court orders against Rath
  11. ↑ Treatment Action Campaign vs. Rath
  12. ↑ http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/article29163.ece
  13. ↑ http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Statements01/ps_rath_30mar05_en.pdf
  14. ↑ http://data.unaids.org/Media/Press-Releases03/pr_rath_11may05_en.pdf
  15. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20071020134733/http://www.gwup.org/aktuell/news.php?aktion=detail&id=271
  16. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thabo_Mbeki#AIDS
  17. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_South_Africa
  18. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/17/mbeki-south-africa-aids
  19. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5319680.stm
  20. ↑ http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/researchers-estimate-lives-lost-delay-arv-drug-use-hivaids-south-africa.html
  21. ↑ http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/news/news.asp?id=34133
  22. ↑ 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
  23. ↑ http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/drug-bust-at-ctn-airport-1.437824
  24. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20080609012456/http://www.agfg.de/aktuell/2006oct/auschwitz.html
  25. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0922/1224254989371.html
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 "Quackery quashed, but Rath's legacy lives" Donaldson A and Huisman B, The Times, SA, 14 June 2008 Accessed 16 June 2008.
  27. ↑ Press release describing Dutch court decision against Dr. Rath for defamation, accessed 19 Sept 2006.
  28. ↑ Ruling by the British Advertising Standards Association against Matthias Rath for false and misleading advertising, accessed 19 Sept 2006.
  29. ↑ Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning Dr. Rath that his marketing campaign is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Accessed 19 Sept 2006.
  30. ↑ Matthias Rath's ads 'reckless in the extreme', by Elvira van Noort. Published in the Mail & Guardian on August 30, 2005; accessed May 9, 2008.
  31. ↑ Rulings against Matthias Rath for false and misleading advertising by the Advertising Standards Association of South Africa, accessed 19 Sept 2006.
  32. ↑ Judgement of the High Court of South Africa ordering Rath to cease making defamatory and unfounded allegations against the Treatment Action Campaign. Accessed 19 Sept 2006.
  33. ↑ Dr Matthias Rath: an apology. British Medical Journal, 23 September 2006. Accessed January 2007.
  34. ↑ News in Brief, from the British Medical Journal, 2007;334:656 (31 March).
  35. ↑ 'BMJ pays out to doctor over 'child death' story.’ Press Gazette magazine. Published June 5, 2007. Accessed April 10, 2008.
  36. ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, 10 October 2006, Vitamin-Arzt Rath muss 33000 Euro zahlen
  37. ↑ Judgement of German Federal Constitutional Court of July 12, 2007, no. 1 BvR 2041/02. Published 2007. Accessed April 16, 2008.
  38. ↑ IOL News for South Africa and the World
  39. ↑ No way to treat an Aids hero
  40. ↑ 'Gambia's president may be weird, but Aids superstitions strike closer to home’ The Guardian. Published January 27, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.
  41. ↑ 'How money is not the only barrier to Aids patients getting hold of drugs’ The Guardian. Published February 17, 2007. Accessed July 30, 2008.
  42. ↑ Fall of the vitamin doctor: Matthias Rath drops libel action, by Sarah Boseley. The Guardian, UK, 12 September 2008
  43. ↑ 'Matthias Rath drops his million pound legal case against me and the Guardian' badscience.net. Published September 12, 2008. Accessed September 20, 2008 
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