Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - October 6, 2005
Elvira van Noort and Sapa
The university's vice-chancellor, Professor Loyiso Nongxa, said in a statement issued on Thursday morning that he wants an investigation into the Dr Rath Health Foundation to ensure that "vulnerable people are not exploited in the name of research".
The statement also said that the biggest concern is reports from media and statements from international organisations such as Médécins sans Frontières about "clinical trials" of micronutrients among people living with HIV/Aids in Khayelitsha in Cape Town.
"The trials have not been approved by any research ethics committee, nor have they been subjected to scientific scrutiny. The medications being used have not been approved for this use by the Medicines Control Council. Reportedly, people being 'enrolled' on this trial are not given adequate and accurate information about the alternative medication and are thus not able to give informed consent."
Dr Wendy Orr, director of the university's office for transformation and employment equity, told the Mail & Guardian Online "there is an investigation needed in Khayelitsha".
"The Health Department and the Medicines Control Council need to go into Khayelitsha and do what the journalists did. They have to establish what Rath is doing," Orr said.
"If the media are right and the all the allegations are true, he [Rath] should be prosecuted. What he does is actually against the law."
Orr says reports from different health organisations state that "on behalf of the Rath foundation, people go into the township to recruit HIV-positive people to enrol in the trial. For every person they can stop taking anti-retrovirals and start taking micronutrients, they get R100."
The university supports all ethical, scientifically valid research into alternative ways of managing HIV/Aids.
"Anti-retrovirals are expensive, so we do support alternatives," says Orr.
Department of Health spokesperson Solly Mabothe told the M&G Online on Thursday that an investigation into Rath's activities is "under way". He could not comment further.
The M&G Online reported in August this year that all future advertising by the Dr Rath Health Foundation and its allied organisations have to be vetted by the Association of Communications and Advertising, according to an Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling.
This was because foundation did not obey the directorate's orders to refrain from saying that anti-retroviral drugs used by HIV/Aids patients are toxic and only vitamins will cure them.
Rath has been lobbying in South Africa against the use of anti-retroviral medicines, saying that the drugs are toxic and that people calling for greater access to them are the paid lackeys of pharmaceutical companies.
He maintains that HIV-positive people should instead take vitamins, which he claims can also cure cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
"The respondent's advertisements are reckless in the extreme, considering that they make unsubstantiated claims on a matter affecting hundreds of thousands of people living with HIV/Aids," said the ASA ruling.
"The respondent's marketing campaign misleads and causes great confusion among people facing a life-threatening epidemic, creating a volatile atmosphere of misinformation and incorrect medical decisions."
Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in a written reply to question in Parliament in June that she will "only distance myself from Dr Rath if it can be demonstrated that the vitamin supplements that he is prescribing are poisonous for people infected with HIV".
051006
MG051003
Copyright © 2005 - Daily Mail & Guardian. For information about the content or for permission to redistribute, publish or use for broadcast, contact the publisher.
AEGiS is a 501(c)3, not-for-profit, tax-exempt, educational corporation. AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted funding from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, Pacific Life Foundation and donations from users like you.
Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2005. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .