Episodes
Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
In Episode 18 of “The Infectious Myth” David discusses science that Dr. Simon Silver of the University of Illinois at Chicago believes is “beyond the fringe” and should not be published or funded. He put forward these ideas in a recent review article in the journal “Microbiology Letters” entitled, “Beyond the fringe: when science moves from innovative to nonsense”.
Dr. Silver describes 5 examples of what he considers science so obviously bad that the journal and peer reviewers should have recognized this, but failed to do. David brings up the other side of the equation, if we suppress science because we think it is ridiculous, we will probably also suppress innovative ideas. And, in fact, Dr. Silver agrees that some of his own most innovative ideas were rejected from publication, and there is already a higher risk of an innovative paper getting rejected than something that is more mundane.
The discussion is wide ranging, including a discussion of Lamarckian inheritance versus epigenetics, the influence of Lysenko on Russian genetics, Continental Drift, the effectiveness of the Peer Review process for grants and publication, and finally the AIDS scientists Gallo, Duesberg and Montagnier.
Wednesday Jun 18, 2014
David Healy and Pharmageddon - 06/17/14
Wednesday Jun 18, 2014
Wednesday Jun 18, 2014
Dr. David Healy (http://davidhealy.org) is an insider to the psychiatric drug business, a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist, as well as a scientist and author. Yet this did not stop him from pursuing the problem of suicidal (and violent) behavior caused by SSRI antidepressants many years ago. His criticisms, and his appearances as an expert witness in trials of violent acts occurring after the prescription of these drugs, did not earn him any friends within the major pharmaceutical companies, which are making billions of dollars from these drugs, but somehow he managed to survive without his career being totally destroyed.
The two Davids talk about some of the most shocking parts of his 2012 book, “Pharmageddon” (http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520270985), such as his claim that anti-depressants are about as useful as alcohol in combatting depression and are very similar to the over-the-counter anti-histamines, and that if the drugs weren't prescribed, people would probably stop taking them before they get to the point of no return. They discuss some of the ways that the pharmaceutical companies can bias clinical trials, by spinning negative trials into positive, by publishing only the trials that have positive results, and more darkly, possibly criminally, suppressing or manipulating data to avoid a negative finding against a drug (such an elevated risk of suicide or birth defects).
Dr. Healy holds surprising views on medicine, feeling that Evidence Based Medicine, Randomized Clinical Trials and Prescription-only medicines were only well-intentioned, but have all backfired.
People can push back against the system by using his website, http://wp.rxisk.org, to find out about adverse events on drugs they are being prescribed, and even to report adverse events, much more easily than directly through official channels. He feels that a patient that goes to a doctor with evidence about adverse events is much more likely to have an adult conversation about the best drug to use, or even whether a drug is needed.
Wednesday Jun 11, 2014
Infectious Myth - Positive Hell with Joan Shenton - 06/11/14
Wednesday Jun 11, 2014
Wednesday Jun 11, 2014
David talks with veteran film maker Joan Shenton about her new joint product with Andi Reiss, “Positive Hell” (http://immunity.org.uk), about a group of Spanish HIV-positives, who have either never taken AIDS drugs or took them only for a short time. All were severe IV drug addicts or, in the case of their medical advisor, Dr. Manuel Garrido, a severe alcoholic. All of them conquered their addiction, and reclaimed their health, eventually rejecting their AIDS diagnosis.
The interviews in this new video include a woman who went on to get married and have a child with her new husband. Despite more than two decades of unprotected sex, he is still HIV-negative.
The story of Dr. Garrido is interesting because he is not just the medical advisor, but he has lived his advice, as he is also HIV-positive, and has also declined AIDS drugs.
This should be the kind of hopeful story that will rock the world. But the experience of Joan Shenton shows that this will be difficult. Her career as a successful medical documentary producer was destroyed in the early 1990s after a documentary first won a major award and then was the subject of a “Star Chamber” investigation.
Joan is the instigator of the Immune Resource Foundation website (http://immunity.org.uk) that has a huge archive of critical AIDS documentaries and other video footage. Also with Andi Reiss she recently co-produced the film “Positively False: Birth of a Heresy” (http://positivelyfalsemovie.com) and is republishing her book this year, also called “Positively False”.
Thursday Jun 05, 2014
The Infectious Myth - Looking back, looking forward - 06/03/14
Thursday Jun 05, 2014
Thursday Jun 05, 2014
In Episode 15 of “The Infectious Myth” David reviews the first 14 episodes of this show, reviewing what the major points of the guests were, and what this tells us about science in general, and other aspects of our society. David also reviews ideas for future shows. He thanked, sardonically, the many censors in the world, without whom David’s guests would probably be too busy with the mainstream media to come on to “The Infectious Myth”. Expect many more interesting guests in the future.