Nashville Tennessean, 10/30/04
"Conference Uninvites Doctor Advocating Malaria Therapy for AIDS" by
Anita Wadhwani, Staff Writer
Anti-choking maneuver inventor Dr. Henry Heimlich was uninvited at the
last minute from a Nashville AIDS conference at which he was scheduled
to present new information on his controversial theory that injecting
AIDS and HIV patients with malaria can lead to a cure.
PanAfrica Conference 2004 organizer Leonard Madu said he reluctantly
asked Heimlich to withdraw from the conference because he didn't want
Heimlich's presentation to eclipse other messages at the meeting,
which is devoted to addressing the alarming spread of HIV and AIDS
among Africans and African-Americans.
As of Thursday afternoon, Madu said, Heimlich was still scheduled to
appear. But yesterday, after a story in The Tennessean publicized
Heimlich's appearance, Madu said the 11 a.m. lecture was canceled.
A spokesman for Heimlich called the cancellation the latest
consequence of a ''very weird Internet smear campaign'' intended to
discredit the doctor's theories, which have resulted in negative press
accounts over the past several years.
''It's tragic,'' said spokesman Bob Kraft. ''He's 84 years old.''
Heimlich's theory is that injecting AIDS and HIV patients with
malaria, a potentially fatal disease, can boost the immune system. The
theory has drawn criticism from some in the American medical
establishment as ''quack'' medicine that could put people's lives at
risk.
Heimlich staunchly defends his theory as worthy of further research.
According to published re****ts in The New York Times and elsewhere, he
has sponsored studies on live subjects in China; the practice is not
approved in the United States.
But physicians such as Robert Baratz with the Boston University School
of Medicine say that so-called ''malariotherapy'' is dangerous because
it ''can be fatal and it also redirects people with HIV from therapies
that have been known to be effective.'' Baratz also heads the medical
watchdog group National Council Against Health Fraud, based in
Peabody, Mass.
The three-day conference ends today and has drawn several hundred to
the Millennium Maxwell House Nashville.
Heimlich discussed malariotherapy at the annual conference in 2002,
according to Madu. Then, Madu received 300 e-mails protesting his
appearance. But because many of the messages were anonymous, he did
not think it was fair to remove Heimlich at the time.
Heimlich was scheduled to appear again yesterday. Earlier this week,
Heimlich said he would re****t new findings about malaria studies but
would not say whether human subjects were involved. He also said he
was not surprised about the opposition to malariotherapy in the
medical establishment, which once also opposed the now-accepted
Heimlich maneuver.
In Heimlich's place, a panel met to talk about the pharmaceutical
industry.
Stephen Mosha, a pastor in the African nation of Tanzania, said that
traditional medicine offered new hopes in the treatment of AIDS. As
someone who has suffered from malaria, Mosha said afterwards he
thought Heimlich's theories were counterintuitive, but would have been
interested in hearing the doctor's findings.
A State Department official spoke about plans to distribute $15
billion in U.S. funds to 100 countries to fight the spread of HIV and
AIDS and to assist victims, including orphans. Dr. Joseph O'Neill -
deputy coordinator of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator - said
that much of the international AIDS efforts sponsored by the United
States would focus on 14 nations in Africa and the Caribbean that
account for 20 million HIV-infected men, women and children.
Anita Wadhwani can be reached at 259-8821 or awadhwani@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright 2002, The Tennessean
|
