“Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of whom they know nothing.”  – Voltaire

The natural state of the human body is that of good health.

Yet it would appear to be rather difficult to maintain the body in the state of good health throughout a person’s entire lifetime.

Although illness may seem to be a common human experience, it can manifest in a variety of different forms and to varying degrees of severity; the common cold, for example, is self-limiting and short-lived, whereas many chronic conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, are considered to be incurable and lifelong. It may be assumed from this that illness is largely unavoidable or is even an inevitable aspect of human life; but this would be a mistaken assumption, as this book will demonstrate.

Nevertheless, the fact that large numbers of people experience some form of illness during their lives raises some fundamental questions, not least of which is: why does it occur? In other words, what really makes people ill?

The usual responses to such questions refer to two interrelated ideas, both of which are widely believed to be fundamental truths. The first of these ideas is that illness occurs because a person has contracted a disease of some description. The second is that each disease is a distinct entity that can be identified by the unique symptoms it produces within the body. This book will also demonstrate that these ideas are not truths.

The conventional approach to illness adopted by virtually all systems of ‘healthcare’ is one that employs remedies, or ‘medicines’, that are claimed to alleviate or bring an end to a patient’s symptoms. This approach is based on the idea that the cessation of symptoms indicates that the disease has been defeated and that this successful outcome has been accomplished solely by the ‘medicine’. However, despite their common approach, different healthcare systems employ the use of different types of ‘medicine’ in the treatment of human disease; these ‘medicines’ may take the form of natural substances or products derived from natural substances, or they may be in the form of products manufactured from synthetic chemical compounds.

The use of ‘medicine’ to treat human disease is encapsulated by the quote attributed to Voltaire, the nom de plume of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), that opens this Introduction. However, most people will no doubt consider the 18th century idea that doctors have little or no knowledge about medicines, diseases and the human body to have no relevance to the 21st century. It is highly likely that this viewpoint will be based on the notion that ‘medical science’ has made significant advances in the past three centuries and that 21st century doctors therefore possess a thorough, if not quite complete, knowledge of medicines, diseases and the human body. This book will demonstrate otherwise.

The advances made in the field of ‘medical science’ have been incorporated into the healthcare system known as ‘modern medicine’, which is claimed to be the only system of evidence-based medicine that has a solid foundation in science. The idea that ‘modern medicine’ is the best and most advanced scientific form of healthcare has been used as the justification for its promotion as the only system to be implemented by the governments of all countries around the world.

It is because ‘modern medicine’ is claimed to be the only system capable of delivering genuine healthcare that it forms the main focus of this book. However, as the ensuing discussions will demonstrate, this claim is unfounded. They will also demonstrate that virtually all of the information about disease promulgated by the medical establishment is erroneous and that the reason for this is because it is based on ideas and theories that are fundamentally flawed. The flawed nature of these ideas and theories means that the words of Voltaire remain applicable to the 21st century medical system known as ‘modern medicine’; a system that continues to operate from the basis of a poor level of knowledge about medicines, diseases and the human body.

The term ‘medical establishment’ is used in this book to refer to all of the people, organisations, industries, and academic and research institutions that practise, research, teach, promote and otherwise support the system of modern medicine.

It is a truism that a problem can only be solved if it has been thoroughly understood and its root causes have been correctly identified, because problems only cease to exist when their causes have been removed; a truism that inevitably applies to the problem of illness. Yet illness not only continues to exist, it also continues to worsen for large numbers of people, despite the treatments and preventives employed by ‘modern medicine’.

The logical, and correct, conclusion to be drawn from this is that ‘modern medicine’ has failed to thoroughly understand the nature of the problem and has similarly failed to correctly identify all of the root causes. The consequence of these failures is that the measures employed by the medical establishment are entirely inappropriate as solutions to the problem of disease. Although claimed to treat and prevent disease, these measures, which are usually comprised of pharmaceutical products, do not remove their causes, they therefore cannot solve the problem; but more worryingly, these products invariably exacerbate the problem.

The failings of modern medicine with respect to ‘disease’ are solely due to the flawed nature of the theories on which its practices have been based.

This statement will, no doubt, be regarded by the vast majority of people as highly controversial; but that does not deny its veracity. It is requested that, whilst reading this book, readers bear in mind the following saying that is attributed to the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860),

“All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

In addition to revealing the flawed nature of the ideas and theories of modern medicine, the discussions within this book will explain the real nature and causes of disease and provide readers with information to enable them to make informed decisions and take appropriate actions for the benefit of their own health.

* * *

Doctors are taught at medical school to prescribe medicines for the treatment of a disease that has been identified according to a patient’s symptoms. The discussions in chapter one reveal why medicines do not restore a patient to health and explain the reason that pharmaceutical drugs are harmful rather than beneficial.

Vaccinations are widely believed to be the safest and most effective method of preventing the diseases that are claimed to be caused by ‘infectious agents’. The discussions in chapter two explain the reason that vaccinations are ineffective and dangerous and also reveal that they have no basis in science.

The idea that certain diseases are infectious and caused by ‘pathogenic microorganisms’ owes its origin to the ‘germ theory’. The discussions in chapter three demonstrate that this theory has never been definitively proven; they also reveal that virtually all of the information promulgated about the microorganisms referred to as ‘germs’ is entirely erroneous.

The refutation of the ‘germ theory’ in chapter three raises questions about the real nature and causes of the diseases referred to as ‘infectious’. The discussions in chapter four examine many of the major diseases claimed to be ‘communicable’ to reveal the inherent problems within the explanations presented by the medical establishment; they also provide a number of more credible explanations for their occurrence.

A number of diseases are claimed to be transmitted between animals and humans. The discussions in chapter five examine a number of animal diseases to demonstrate the flawed nature of this claim and provide more credible explanations. This chapter also explains the basic problems with vivisection, which is the use of live animals in experiments conducted for disease research purposes.

Environmental pollution due to ‘harmful substances and influences’ is a far greater and more serious threat to human health than is acknowledged by the scientific community, including the medical establishment. The discussions in chapter six explore the major sources of ‘poisons’, both chemical and electrical in nature, that pollute the environment and refer to some of the main applications of these poisons. This chapter also discusses the use of toxic chemicals as ingredients of a wide variety of everyday products, such as household products, cosmetics and personal-care products, foods and drinks, as well as some lesser-known applications.

The medical establishment admits to not knowing the ‘exact’ causes of most, if not all, chronic health problems, more commonly referred to as noncommunicable diseases. The discussions in chapter seven examine a number of major noncommunicable diseases to expose the existence and extent of these ‘knowledge gaps’; they also examine some of the known causal factors and reveal the existence of an underlying mechanism common to virtually all of them.

Health problems cannot be considered in isolation; they are invariably associated with other circumstances, most of which affect a significant proportion of people throughout the world, especially in countries referred to as ‘developing’. International organisations, especially those within the UN system, claim to be able to resolve all of the problems that confront humanity in the 21st century; but this claim is unfounded. The discussions in chapter eight examine the most recent efforts to implement measures claimed to provide solutions to these problems, with particular emphasis on those that impact human health, whether directly or indirectly, and reveal that these measures are inappropriate as solutions, because they fail to address and thereby remove the real causes of these problems.

The reason that ‘modern medicine’ employs inappropriate solutions to the problem of ‘disease’, despite the unimaginably huge sums of money that have been, and continue to be, expended on the development of medicines and vaccines, is largely due to the influence of ‘vested interests’. The existence and influence of these vested interests over key areas of human life, including the healthcare system operated by the medical establishment, are discussed in chapter nine.

Having revealed the problems with the explanations presented by the medical establishment in the previous chapters, the final chapter explains the real nature of ‘disease’. It also discusses how illness is almost always the result of multiple causes and reveals the existence of a common mechanism. In addition to discussing the problems, chapter ten provides information about how people can reduce their exposures to these causal factors and take responsibility for, and control over, their own health.

* * *

The definition of each ‘disease’, referred to as the ‘establishment definition’, is taken from the 2007 edition of the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, unless otherwise stated.

All emphases in quoted statements are as they appear in the original.

All articles and web pages from which extracts have been quoted are listed in the References section at the end of the book, unless the web page has been deleted or the website is no longer active.

The dynamic nature of the internet means that web pages and fact sheets are often updated; the information used in this book was correct at the time of writing.

All quoted extracts from the published books listed in the Bibliography are considered to be consistent with Fair Usage.

Dawn Lester and David Parker have backgrounds in the fields of Accountancy and Electrical Engineering, respectively. These fields both require an aptitude for logic, which proved extremely useful for their investigation that has involved more than ten years continuous research to find answers to the question: what really makes people ill?

A popular saying, which is often attributed to Albert Einstein, claims that problems cannot be solved by using the same way of thinking that created them.

The concept underlying this saying can be extrapolated to indicate that a problem can often be better understood by people outside of the discipline in which it occurs because they are not bound by any dogma or biases inherent within that discipline.

The authors’ investigation of why people become ill was conducted from a different perspective from that of the medical establishment; it was therefore free from the dogma and biases inherent within ‘medical science’. This unbiased and logical approach enabled them to follow the evidence with open minds and led them to discover the flaws within the information about illness and disease that is promulgated by the medical establishment.

The results of their investigation are revealed within their book, What Really Makes You Ill? Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Disease is Wrong.

Copyright © 2019 Dawn Lester & David Parker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any formor by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, withoutthe prior written permission of the authors, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in criticalreviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

DISCLAIMER: Healthcare in the early 21st century is almost completely controlled by ‘vestedinterests’, which claim that their system, known as ‘modern medicine’, is the only genuine form ofhealthcare and that all other forms are to be regarded as pseudoscience and quackery. The consequence ofthis control is that we, the authors of this book, are under a legal requirement to state that we are notmedical doctors. In addition, we are obliged to state that, even though its contents have been obtainedfrom professional and reliable sources, this book is intended to serve as an informational guide; its corepurpose is to assist people to make truly informed decisions about their healthcare.

The title of each chapter in this book is positioned above the page numbers, and is the title given by the authors to each chapter

In addition, the first page of each chapter includes a Heading which was added by this website, and which was not included in the original text of this book. This was done by this website to effect consistency of the format used throughout the publication on this website.

“Physicians who are free with their drugging keep themselves busy treating the effects of the drugs.”  – Herbert Shelton ND DC

The word ‘medicine’ has two applications, the establishment definitions for which are,

“the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease.”

And,

“any drug or preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease.”

The various drugs and preparations that are referred to as ‘medicines’ are considered to be essential, core components of the ‘healthcare’ provided by medical practitioners to their patients. The inclusion in the definition of the word ‘science’ conveys the impression that the practice of medicine has a solid foundation that is based on and fully supported by scientifically established evidence. The definition also conveys the impression that the use of drugs and preparations is similarly science-based, and that ‘medicines’ are both appropriate and effective for the purposes for which they are employed.

Unfortunately, however, nothing could be further from the truth; any healthcare practice that employs the use of ‘drugs and preparations’ in the treatment and prevention of disease has no basis in ‘science’, nor is it capable of restoring patients to health.

This statement will no doubt be considered by many to be outrageous; but that does not deny its veracity, as will be demonstrated by the discussions in this chapter about the use of medicines for the treatment of disease. The use of vaccinations for the prevention of disease is discussed in the next chapter.

The medical establishment claims that there are many hundreds of different diseases, each of which is recognisable by its unique set of symptoms and each of which is treatable with the appropriate ‘medicine’. The purpose of the ‘medicine’ is to achieve the cessation of symptoms; an outcome that is interpreted to mean that the disease has been successfully conquered by the treatment.

This, at least, is the theory; but in practice, in the real world, it is not uncommon for a wide variety of different outcomes to be experienced by patients, even though they have all been diagnosed with the same disease and treated with the same medicine. The existence of such widely varying outcomes presents a direct challenge to the theory. Furthermore, although some patients may experience a complete cessation of their symptoms, this successful outcome cannot be attributed to the medicine, nor does it mean their health has been restored, for reasons that will be explained in later chapters.

An interesting feature of the definition of medicine is the reference to the ‘treatment’ rather than the ‘cure’ of disease; the reason for this is because the medical establishment states that many diseases are ‘incurable’. For these diseases, they claim that the appropriate treatments will ‘manage’ the patients’ conditions; which means that their symptoms will only be alleviated rather than eliminated.

It is widely acknowledged that all medicines produce ‘side effects’, which are effectively new symptoms that are the direct result of the treatment. The significance of this fact is inadequately reported and therefore insufficiently appreciated by most people; it is, however, a core problem of the prevailing medical system because the production of new symptoms is essentially the creation of a new health problem.

It is clear that the wide variation in the efficacy of medicines used as treatments for disease, as well as the additional symptoms they cause, raise serious questions about the ability of these ‘treatments’ to restore a patient to a state of health; which ought to be the fundamental purpose and function of a ‘healthcare’ system.

The website of the WHO (World Health Organisation) provides a definition of health that states,

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

This definition has remained unaltered since first declared in their constitution when the WHO was founded in 1948. The WHO is the agency of the UN (United Nations) assigned to be the ‘authority’ for health matters for all of the people in all of the countries that have ratified the WHO constitution. In other words, the WHO directs health policies for implementation by virtually every country around the world. Yet the WHO policy recommendations with respect to disease treatment almost exclusively refer to the use of ‘medicines’ that are acknowledged to alleviate symptoms but not cure disease.

The WHO’s policies are clearly inconsistent with their objective to achieve better health for everyone, everywhere; especially in the context of their own definition of ‘health’.

Science is a process; it is a process that involves the study of different aspects of the world in order to expand the level of human knowledge; it also entails the creation of hypotheses and theories to explain the various phenomena observed during the course of those scientific investigations. As the various studies progress and the body of knowledge increases, they may reveal new information or they may expose anomalies and contradictions within existing hypotheses and theories. In such instances, it is essential for scientists, in whichever field they study, to reassess those hypotheses and theories in the light of the new findings; a process that may necessitate revisions or adaptations to be made to prevailing theories. Sometimes the new information may indicate a need to abandon existing theories and replace them with entirely new ones, especially when new theories provide better and more compelling explanations for the observed phenomena.

The theories underlying the use of ‘medicine’ to treat disease can be shown to contain many anomalies and contradictions; they are clearly in need of a thorough reassessment. However, and more importantly, other theories exist that present far more credible and compelling explanations for human illness and its causes. These explanations also offer the means by which people can address the causes of their illness, which can assist a full recovery from most conditions of ill-health and help restore people to the state of good health, in the true meaning of the word.

It is neither intended nor necessary to provide a history of ‘medicine’; it is far too vast a topic. Nevertheless, it is necessary to refer to certain aspects of this history to identify the origins of the use of ‘medicine’ and outline its progression to the situation that prevails in the early 21st century, especially in view of the dominance of the healthcare system recommended by the WHO for adoption by all Member States.

In various parts of the world and throughout history, a variety of ideas have arisen about the causes of illness and the appropriate measures to be taken to treat these conditions and restore health to the patient. However, all systems of ‘medicine’ operate from the same basic principle, which is that a person who is ill requires ‘treatment’ with a certain substance that is said to have ‘curative properties’ in order for the patient to recover their health.

Some of the ancient customs and traditions relating to the treatment of people exhibiting symptoms of illness were based on beliefs in the existence of malevolent, supernatural influences, rather than earthly ones, and these invariably involved the use of ‘remedies’ of a similarly supernatural nature; they may have included spells or incantations or the use of special tokens to ward off evil spirits. Other ancient customs and traditions employed an approach towards illness and its treatment of a more earthbound variety; many of the remedies employed by these systems involved the use of various natural substances, such as plants and similar materials that could be found locally and were claimed to have curative properties.

The medicinal use of plants has been documented in many regions of the world and recorded to date back many thousands of years. For example, Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, is claimed to be approximately 5,000 years old. Similarly, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) is also claimed to be many thousands of years old, although it is said to have its roots in Ayurveda, which indicates that Ayurveda is the older of the two systems. Many of these ancient systems also exerted their influence in other regions of the world; ancient Greek medicine, for example, is said to have been influenced by both Ayurveda and ancient Egyptian medicine; the latter system was recorded and documented on papyri, some of which have been dated to be a few thousand years old.

Many of these ancient systems were holistic in nature, meaning that they treated the whole person rather than addressing any specific symptoms they experienced, but the treatments almost invariably involved the use of ‘remedies’ that contained ingredients claimed to have curative properties. These ingredients were often derived from plants, or parts of plants, although in some instances, the substances used as ingredients were extracted from poisonous plants. Catharanthus roseus, for example, which is also known as rosy periwinkle, is toxic if eaten, but has been used by both Ayurveda and TCM for the treatment of certain health problems. Other remedies may have included ingredients that had been extracted from certain body parts of particular animals.

Although perceived to be in conflict with these ancient forms of traditional medicine, modern medicine has incorporated some of their methods. The pharmaceutical industry has manufactured a number of drugs using synthetic derivatives of the ‘active ingredients’ of certain medicinal plants widely used by practitioners of traditional medicine. Pharmaceutical drugs derived from the rosy periwinkle, for example, are used within modern medicine for the treatment of certain cancers.

Some ancient systems of medicine and healing, such as Ayurveda and TCM, remain popular and continue to be practised in the 21st century. However, although they contain very useful ideas, especially with respect to the recognition that the human body should be considered holistically, they nevertheless retain some of the less useful ideas and methods, such as the use of animal parts and poisonous plants as ingredients of the medicines employed in the treatment of patients.

Whilst there is abundant evidence to support the idea that a wide variety of plants are suitable for consumption as foods, there is no evidence to support the idea that animal parts or poisonous plants have curative properties and can be beneficial for human health.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician who lived approximately 2,500 years ago, is sometimes referred to as the ‘father of modern medicine’; he is said to have gained some of his knowledge from the ancient Egyptian system of medicine. A substantial proportion of Hippocrates’ writings about his ideas on the subject of illnesses and their appropriate treatments has survived, and they provide useful insights into the type of medical practices that were in existence at the time. The ideas held by Hippocrates contained a mixture of strangeness and usefulness; the latter being demonstrated by his most famous saying that has been translated as,

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.”

This simple statement demonstrates the widely acknowledged fact that food is an important factor for health; as discussed in detail in chapter ten.

The ‘strangeness’ of Hippocrates’ ideas can be illustrated by his theory that illness was caused by an imbalance in what he referred to as the ‘four humours’, which are blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. His recommendations for the restoration of health required correcting these imbalances and his methods included such practices as purging and bloodletting. Unfortunately, neither of these practices is able to correct any genuine imbalance in the body or restore health, but both of them remained in use by practitioners of modern medicine until comparatively recently.

It is reported that George Washington, the US President, received a number of treatments that included the use of leeches for ‘bloodletting’, to relieve his cold, the outcome of which was that he died in December 1799 at the age of only 67 after more than half of his blood had been withdrawn from his body. There has never been any scientific evidence to support the efficacy of bloodletting, despite the fact that it was used as a ‘treatment’ for more than 2,000 years and had been advocated and employed by many eminent physicians in their own practices. Although leeches remain in use in modern medicine, their purpose is to assist blood flow and prevent clots, rather than to draw large quantities of a patient’s blood.

The ancient practices of ‘medicine’ continued in the Western world with little change until the ‘Medical Renaissance’ that began during the early 15th century. One of the key contributors of the 16th century to this renaissance is the Swiss physician, Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, who is still held in high esteem by the medical establishment for his pioneering medical theories. The theories for which Paracelsus is best known have not, however, contributed to improved healthcare. On the contrary, they have impeded its progress because they placed an emphasis on the practice of fighting disease; a practice that remains a core function of modern medicine, but is nevertheless erroneous; fighting disease is not synonymous with restoring health.

One of his theories claims that the human body is a chemical system that becomes ‘imbalanced’ when a person is ill; an idea that is clearly similar to that of Hippocrates. Although not entirely incorrect, this idea has had disastrous consequences because of the substances used to address such imbalances. The solution Paracelsus proposed to correct the imbalance associated with the disease known as ‘syphilis’ involved the use of mercury, which he both recommended and used in the treatment of his patients. Paracelsus was not the originator of the idea that syphilis should be treated with mercury; that dubious honour belongs to Giorgio Sommariva, whose practice in the late 1490s involved the use of cinnabar. The contribution of Paracelsus to the treatment of syphilis was the formulation of a mercury ointment.

Another theory, and the one for which Paracelsus is probably best known, is encapsulated by the phrase ‘the poison is in the dose’; it is this theory that forms the basis of the idea that toxic substances are suitable for use as ‘medicines’, with the proviso that they are administered in the ‘right dose’. This theory also provides the justification for the use of toxic substances for other purposes, as will be discussed in later chapters. Although sometimes misquoted, the words attributed to Paracelsus have been translated into English as follows,

“All things are poison and nothing is without poison; it is only the dose that makes a thing not a poison.”

Again, nothing could be further from the truth; all things are not poison.

Contrary to the claims of the medical establishment, the idea that the ‘right’ dose of medicine is therapeutic but the ‘wrong’ dose is harmful, is erroneous; a substance cannot change its inherent nature in relation to the quantity in which it is used. In his book entitled Natural Hygiene: Man’s Pristine Way of Life, Herbert Shelton ND DC underlines this point succinctly in the statement that,

“Poisons are such qualitatively and not merely quantitatively.”

The only variations that occur due to the ‘dose’ of a poison relate to the extent of the effects it will produce and the degree of harm it will cause.

Throughout the 16th century, the physicians of many European countries continued to follow the work of Hippocrates, whose writings were studied by medical students in England, for example, and used as the basis for their qualification as medical doctors. There were two English medical colleges at that period; the Royal College of Surgeons that was founded in 1505 and the Royal College of Physicians that was founded in 1518.

Dr Thomas Sydenham MD, a 17th century physician who is widely regarded as the ‘English Hippocrates’, is also a source of both useful and harmful ideas; one of the latter was the appropriateness of mercury for the treatment of syphilis; this clearly demonstrates the level of influence that the work of Paracelsus had already begun to exert in the field of medicine.

The 16th and 17th centuries were a period during which science flourished, especially in Europe where scientific organisations such as the Royal Society, which was founded in 1660 to discuss scientific questions, were formed to provide repositories for the various writings of scientists about their work and their discoveries. The scientific advancements made during this period included many new discoveries and technologies as well as significant improvements to existing technologies, such as the microscope for example. The new and improved technologies were particularly useful tools that scientists utilised in their laboratory experiments, which they claimed provided the means by which their theories could be established and proven scientifically.

This period, known as the ‘Scientific Revolution’, was the era during which scientists also discovered new chemical elements and developed new chemical compounds, both of which provided further opportunities for scientific experimentation. The prevailing idea that the human body was essentially a chemical system that needed to be ‘balanced’ encouraged the use of chemicals in a wide variety of experiments in the field of medicine; a practice that continues to be the mainstay of medical science, and especially medical research, in the early 21st century.

This era that contained the ‘Medical Renaissance’ and the ‘Scientific Revolution’ extended into the 18th century and fostered the growth of an elitist attitude, especially within the field of ‘medicine’. Although this attitude predominated amongst those in charge of the medical organisations, such as medical colleges, qualified physicians soon began to hold a similar view of the system under which they had been trained. These men, because women rarely trained as physicians prior to the 19th century, sought to promote their medical system as the only ‘true’ system of healthcare as it was the only one grounded in science-based evidence.

Whilst this period is generally claimed to be the beginning of ‘medical science’, it was, in fact, the beginning of medical dogma.

The medical establishment promulgates the view that science-based medicine led to the overthrow of ‘quackery’, despite the fact that this ‘scientific’ system entails the use of toxic substances in the treatment of disease. It should be noted that the definition of quackery includes reference to unfounded claims about the ability of substances to treat disease; the significance of this description will become increasingly apparent throughout the discussions in this chapter. It should also be noted that the treatment of syphilis with mercury-based compounds continued into the early 20th century, despite the lack of evidence that mercury has the ability to ‘heal’ this disease. There is, however, an abundance of evidence which demonstrates that mercury, like all other toxic substances, causes a great deal of harm and can even lead to death.

Europe was by no means the only region in which an elitist attitude was fostered towards the science-based medical system. In her book entitled Death by Modern Medicine, Dr Carolyn Dean MD ND refers to the situation in Canada and states that,

“Allopathic doctors began amassing power as early as 1759. At that time, legislation was drafted to protect an ‘unsuspecting public’ against quacks or ‘snake oil salesmen’.”

The orthodox, or allopathic, system nevertheless employed practices that had not been scientifically established as having the ability to assist a patient’s recovery to its natural state of health; some of the unpleasant practices they used continued into the 19th century, as described by Herbert Shelton in Natural Hygiene,

“… patients were bled, blistered, purged, puked, narcotized, mercurialised and alcoholised into chronic invalidism or into the grave.”

Many of these ‘treatments’ were a continuation of traditional practices that date back at least to the time of Hippocrates, if not earlier. But, as stated, these treatments frequently resulted in the death of the patient; a fact that demonstrates both their lack of efficacy and their dangerous nature. The harm caused by these practices and the substances used as ‘medicine’ did not go unnoticed, as Herbert Shelton reports,

“It was well known to the physicians of the period that their drugs were damaging.”

The continuing use of these drugs, despite the knowledge that they were harmful, demonstrates the failure of the ‘scientific’ system to recognise the utter fallacy of the idea that ‘poisons’ can be ‘therapeutic’. The medical system in which they had been trained had not equipped physicians to provide ‘healthcare’ for their patients, nor did it protect patients from the harm caused by medical treatments.

Nevertheless, the proponents of ‘scientific medicine’ sought to increase their dominance during the 19th century by further developing their system and creating more formal training procedures for the qualification of physicians. To strengthen their dominance, they also implemented the doctrine that only those physicians trained under their ‘scientific’ system would be regarded as the ‘real’ doctors, and that anyone not trained under that system would be referred to as ‘quacks’.

The formalisation of the ‘medical system’ in England, for example, led to the founding of the BMA (British Medical Association) in 1832, although under a different name until 1855. The purpose of this organisation was, according to the BMA web page entitled The History of the BMA, to provide,

“… a ‘friendly and scientific’ forum where doctors could advance and exchange medical knowledge.”

The BMA web pages that detail its history refer to their campaign against ‘quackery’ in the early 19th century. The term ‘quackery’ was, and still is, used to discredit all forms of ‘healing’ other than those of modern medicine. Yet it was that very same 19th century medical system, which claimed to oppose quackery, that employed ‘medicines’ known to be harmful and often led to a patient’s invalidism or death.

The practice of medicine has clearly not changed a great deal since the days of Hippocrates, after whom the Hippocratic Oath that urges doctors to ‘do no harm’ is named. This Oath is still sworn by newly qualified doctors and it is a laudable principle on which to base any work in the field of ‘healthcare’. But the use of harmful substances in the name of ‘healthcare’ denies physicians the ability to apply that principle in practice; as this chapter will demonstrate.

Although the medical establishment continues to repudiate the idea that ‘medicines’ are harmful, with the sole exception of ‘side effects’, there have been many individual physicians who have become aware of and concerned about the problems inherent within the system in which they were trained. As a result of their investigations, many of these physicians were brave enough to reject some, if not all, of their ‘training’ and to develop and utilise other methods of ‘healing’, many of which resulted in vastly improved outcomes for their patients. One such physician was Dr John Tilden MD, who discusses his experiences in his book entitled Toxemia Explained, in which he states that,

“Twenty-five years in which I used drugs, and thirty-three in which I have not used drugs, should make my belief that drugs are unnecessary, and in most cases injurious, worth something to those who care to know the truth.”

Most people will probably assume that the ‘medical system’ of the early 21st century is based on solid scientific evidence, unlike the systems of earlier periods; but this would be a mistaken assumption. The system of modern medicine currently in use has been developed as the result of a variety of customs and traditions, none of which has been scientifically established to be appropriate for the treatment of a patient’s illness in order to restore them to health.

Furthermore, the ‘medical science’ of the 21st century is predominantly conducted in the laboratories of pharmaceutical companies; but laboratory experimentation does not provide ‘scientific proof’ that the use of modern pharmaceutical medicines is either safe or effective. On the contrary, there is a large and growing body of evidence that demonstrates quite clearly that ‘medicines’ are not only ineffective as treatments for illness but they are also capable of producing harm and causing death.

In Death by Modern Medicine, Dr Dean provides a detailed exposé of the problems with ‘modern medicine’, and states that,

“Drugs are synonymous with modern medicine.”

The definition of ‘medicine’ cited at the beginning of this chapter refers to the treatment of disease through use of a ‘drug’, the establishment definition of which is,

“any substance that affects the structure or functioning of a living organism.”

This definition highlights an extremely significant point, which is that the purpose of drugs, or medicines, is to affect the functioning of a living organism. Although it is intended to convey the impression that they are ‘therapeutic’, in reality, the effects produced by drugs are far from beneficial.

Medicines are produced in laboratories from chemical compounds; however, although chemistry is certainly a science, this does not mean that the use of chemicals to treat disease can be called ‘medical science’. The relevant branch of ‘science’ that pertains to drugs is pharmacology, which is defined by the establishment as,

“the science of the properties of drugs and their effects on the body.”

The pharmaceutical industry, which is immensely profitable, relies on the research conducted within the field of pharmacology for their continuing existence and their domination of the manufacture of the ‘medicines’ used by the practitioners of modern medicine.

Most definitions of the word ‘drug’ indicate that it can refer to either a ‘legal’ or an ‘illegal’ substance; this is significant because it illustrates that the ‘action’ of all drugs is effectively the same; in other words, they all have the ability to affect the functioning of a living organism. In fact, some ‘legal’ drugs, Ritalin and Adderall for example, have very similar chemical compositions to some ‘illegal’ drugs. Although the terms ‘drug’ and ‘medicine’ may be used interchangeably, the medical establishment understandably prefers to use the latter term with reference to the substances employed as treatments for disease, due to the frequent association of the word ‘drug’ with illegal substances. Their preference for the word ‘medicine’ also helps to convey the impression that the effects produced by them are ‘therapeutic’; this is however, a false impression.

The human body is, to a certain extent, ‘chemical’ in nature, but the chemicals required by the human body need to be in a very specific form in order to be metabolised and utilised for the body’s physiological functions. The chemical compounds synthesised in the laboratories of pharmaceutical companies and produced as medicines are not appropriate for the human body, because, as Herbert Shelton explains,

“All drugs are physiologically incompatible with the functions of the body.”

The stated purpose of ‘medicine’ is to ‘fight’ disease by affecting the structure and functioning of the body. Any substance that adversely affects the body’s structure or is physiologically incompatible with the body and its functions is, however, poisonous to the body; as indicated by the establishment definition of ‘poison’ which refers to,

“any substance that irritates, damages, or impairs the activity of the body’s tissues.”

The medical establishment inevitably promotes the idea that ‘medicines’ only interfere beneficially, with the sole proviso that they are administered in the correct ‘dose’ to exert their therapeutic actions. However, as has been stated, a substance cannot change its nature solely by reference to the quantity in which it is used.

The manufacture of medicines involves a number of different stages, the first of which may include the isolation of the active ingredient of a plant claimed to have curative properties and its synthesis into a chemical compound. The pharmaceutical industry produces huge numbers of chemical compounds, each of which is subjected to a variety of tests in order to determine its effects on ‘disease’. Until recently, the tests to determine the effects of these compounds were conducted on tissues claimed to have been affected by a particular disease; the purpose of the tests is to discover if the compound is able to alter the tissue and counter the disease process. If any effects are observed that are considered to be ‘beneficial’, further tests are conducted to discover whether the compounds that produced those effects could be incorporated into the development of a marketable product; a ‘medicine’.

Some pharmaceutical companies report that they no longer use diseased tissue for this type of testing and that instead, they now use ‘disease molecules’, which can be molecules of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, or protein molecules.

The laboratories of the pharmaceutical industry contain many thousands, if not millions, of chemical compounds that are tested against various disease molecules. These tests are conducted using highly technical equipment, particularly robotics that have the capability of performing incredibly large numbers of tests at an extremely rapid rate. The purpose of the testing remains the same, which is to ascertain whether any chemical produces an ‘effect’ on any of the disease molecules that can be interpreted as ‘beneficial’ with the ultimate objective of developing a ‘medicine’.

It is entirely possible that any number of chemical compounds may produce an ‘effect’ on a piece of genetic material or on a protein molecule in a cell culture in a laboratory. However, the idea that effects produced by chemical compounds on isolated molecules can be extrapolated to indicate that those compounds may have a beneficial effect in a living human being is totally inappropriate for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is that, when tested, disease molecules are no longer in their natural environment within the human body; an environment that is poorly understood by the medical establishment, which perceives the human body to be little more than a living machine comprised of various parts, each of which can be studied and, if found to be diseased, ‘fixed’ through the use of chemicals without reference to any other part.

The work of the pharmaceutical industry is clearly an extension of the work of Hippocrates, Paracelsus and others who have claimed that the body is essentially chemical in nature and that these chemicals need to be ‘balanced’ when the body is ill. Although partly true, this idea has resulted in the use of synthetic chemical compounds that are physiologically incompatible with the human body for the treatment of disease. The long history of erroneous ideas about the living human body continues to exert a detrimental influence on the ability of the medical establishment to change its approach and gain a better understanding of ‘health’ and of ‘disease’.

‘Science’ is, or should be, a process of investigation; and the scientific method should involve procedures that ‘follow the evidence’.

In ‘medical science’, the evidence from observations in the real world is often poorly explained or even unexplained by the theories. For example, the experience of Dr John Tilden, as quoted at the end of the previous section, was that his patients recovered from illness when they stopped using ‘drugs’; an experience that completely contradicts the theories of modern medicine, but nevertheless qualifies as empirical evidence that should not be ignored.

Unfortunately, instead of abandoning their erroneous theories in the light of contradictory empirical evidence, the medical establishment has established them as medical dogma and anyone who dares to question this ‘orthodoxy’ is subjected to vilification. In order to dominate the field of ‘medicine’, the medical establishment has created a medical system that perceives itself to be ‘elite’ and condemns any other views, as demonstrated by the BMA and their campaign against ‘quackery’. This attitude is inculcated into medical students during their training, as experienced by Dr Carolyn Dean, who explains in Death by Modern Medicine that,

“In fact, we were told many times that if we didn’t learn it in medical school it must be quackery.”

There are, however, many problems with the information taught in medical schools, especially with respect to pharmacology and the study of the effects of drugs within the human body.

Once a chemical compound has been observed in the laboratory to produce what is perceived to be a beneficial effect on tissues or ‘disease molecules’, it is subjected to various tests to determine the effects on living organisms; laboratory animals initially, then small groups of healthy human volunteers. The purpose of these tests is to determine the ‘therapeutic dose’ and to ascertain the extent of any ‘side effects’ of the drug. But these tests cannot be considered to provide ‘proof’ that the chemical compound has any benefits for human health; especially as none of the volunteers at this stage of testing has the ‘disease’ that the drug is believed to be able to treat.

There are two branches of pharmacology; pharmacodynamics, which entails the study of the effects of drugs on living organisms, and pharmacokinetics, which entails the study of the actions of living organisms on drugs. However, as the discussions in this book will demonstrate, the only effect of drugs is that of poisoning the body and the only actions of the body involve efforts to expel the drugs.

The medical establishment claims that medicines have the ability to ‘target’ the diseased part of the body; but this is not the case, as indicated by a June 2011 article entitled Targeted drug delivery to tumors: Myths, reality and possibility. Although this article refers to the delivery of drugs to a tumour, the underlying principle is the same; but the article reveals that,

“Current drug delivery systems, however, do not have the ability to guide themselves to a target.”

This means, therefore, that drugs are able to affect parts of the body that are not diseased or affected by disease. It is claimed that the bloodstream is included in the delivery system by which drugs reach the diseased parts of the body; but the idea that the bloodstream is merely a transport system is erroneous. Although its functions include the delivery of nutrients and the removal of toxins, the blood is affected by all of the substances that enter the body; it will therefore be poisoned by toxic materials. The misleading nature of the information promulgated about ‘blood poisoning’ is discussed in chapter three.

There is a wealth of evidence from a variety of sources to demonstrate that ‘modern medicine’ is not based on ‘science’; some of that evidence can be gleaned from the medical establishment itself. For example, in October 1991, Richard Smith, then editor of the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ), wrote an editorial entitled Where is the Wisdom? The Poverty of Medical Evidence, in which he states that,

“There are perhaps 30,000 biomedical journals in the world …”

This clearly represents an impossibly huge volume of material for doctors to read, but the quantity of medical reading matter is not the real crux of the problem. The editorial refers to a medical conference that had been held in Manchester during the previous week. One of the speakers at that event was Professor David Eddy of Duke University, whom Richard Smith quotes as having said that,

“… only about 15% of medical interventions are supported by solid, scientific evidence …”

Richard Smith then continues in his own words to state that,

“This is partly because only 1% of the articles in medical journals are scientifically sound, and partly because many of the treatments have never been assessed at all.”

These revelations run counter to the claim that modern medicine is a ‘science’ and that treatments have all been scientifically ‘proven’ to be both safe and effective.

This editorial is, however, by no means the only instance of an admission by the medical establishment about the inherent problems with their assertions that ‘medicines’ are safe and effective. It is widely acknowledged that ‘risks’ are associated with the use of medicines, as explained by Dr Dean in Death by Modern Medicine in her reference to a report produced by the US GAO (General Accounting Office), which found that,

“… of the 198 drugs approved by the FDA between 1976 and 1985 … 102 (or 51.1%) had serious post-approval risks …”

The ‘risks’ listed in the report include heart failure, kidney and liver failure, and birth defects, which provide clear evidence of the dangers that can result from ‘approved’ drugs. The fact that these serious conditions had not been identified prior to the approval of the drugs indicates serious problems with the drug testing procedures, as well as with the original consideration that the compounds were appropriate for use as a medicine. Professor Sheldon Krimsky PhD offers a suggestion, in his book entitled Science in the Private Interest, of the reason why questions are not raised over drug testing procedures; he states that,

“Among the tens of thousands of clinical trials occurring each year, most are funded by for-profit companies seeking to gain FDA approval for new drugs, clinical procedures or medical devices.”

This situation is not improving; it is, in fact, a worsening problem, as will be demonstrated by the discussions in chapter nine, that refer to the increasing level of control over the medical system that has been gained by profit-seeking pharmaceutical companies and other vested interests.

A large proportion of pharmaceuticals are manufactured by American drug companies, which means they require approval by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). It is likely that the vast majority of people assume that this approval process means that all drugs on the market have been scientifically proven to be both safe and effective, because it is only after approval that drugs can become available for prescription to patients. It should be expected, therefore, that the FDA conducts its own rigorous tests prior to approving any drug as a suitable ‘medicine’ for public consumption.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, as Dr David Michaels PhD explains in his book entitled Doubt is Their Product,

“Under the US system, the pertinent regulatory agency – the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – grants licenses for new medications based on its review of the various laboratory tests and clinical trials reported by the companies themselves. The FDA can study the data and the results as reported, but it has neither the staff nor the resources to duplicate the work itself.”

There are many problems with the drug industry’s approach to the development of a ‘medicine’. The first is that the initial ‘effect’ is merely an isolated chemical reaction within a laboratory environment. Secondly, as will be discussed in detail in chapter five, many laboratory animals that are used for testing exhibit certain functional differences from humans. Thirdly, all ‘drugs’ have effects in addition to those that are intended; these are called ‘side effects’ and include a variety of symptoms that demonstrate the harm that they can cause; this topic is discussed in more detail in the next section.

Pharmaceutical ‘medicines’ are, however, harmful; the reason for this is due to the nature of the chemicals used in their manufacture, many of which are inherently toxic and all of them are physiologically incompatible with the human body.

One extremely useful document that explains the manufacturing processes and the ingredients used by the pharmaceutical industry is called Pharmaceutical Waste Analysis. This document was produced in 2006 by the Blacksmith Institute and is available from their website (blacksmithinstitute.org); the Institute changed its name in 2015 to Pure Earth (pureearth.org).

One of the pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, called ‘fermentation’, is employed in the production of antibiotics and steroids; two of the most widely used drugs. The process of fermentation involves the use of solvents, some of which are discussed in the Pharmaceutical Waste document that states,

“… the solvents most often used in fermentation operations are acetone, methanol, isopropanol, ethanol, amyl alcohol and MIBK.”

All of these solvents are toxic. MIBK stands for methyl isobutyl ketone, which is claimed to be of ‘low toxicity’, although the document states that it may damage the liver, which clearly refutes the claim of ‘low’ toxicity.

Another pharmaceutical manufacturing process is called ‘chemical synthesis’, which is the production method used for most of the active ingredients in a wide variety of drugs; this process also involves a number of highly toxic substances as the Pharmaceutical Waste document explains,

“A variety of priority pollutants are used as reaction and purification solvents during chemical synthesis.”

The document provides a list of some of the ‘priority pollutants’ that are used in the process of chemical synthesis; they include,

“… benzene, chlorobenzene, chloroform, chloromethane, o-dichlorobenzene, 1,2-dichloroethane, methylene chloride, phenol, toluene and cyanide.”

The term ‘priority pollutants’ means that these substances are known to be extremely hazardous chemical compounds.

The processes described above are not the only ones used in the production of ‘medicines’; but they serve as examples to demonstrate that the manufacture of drugs involves the use of highly toxic substances. The concern expressed by the document refers to the hazardous nature of the waste produced by the industry and the effects of these wastes on the environment; this topic is discussed in detail in chapter six.

The information contained within the document clearly identifies the toxic nature of the substances used in the manufacturing processes, as well as the ingredients utilised by the pharmaceutical industry in the production of ‘medicine’, and provides supportive evidence for the claim that medicines are inherently harmful. This fact has also been identified by Herbert Shelton who states that,

“All so-called medicines, in doses of any size, are poisons.”

It is therefore unsurprising that all drugs are recognised to produce ‘side effects’; but the degree of harm is invariably understated and mostly hidden, for reasons that will become increasingly obvious throughout this book. The scale of harm they cause is the subject of the next discussion.

Iatrogenesis, which is derived from the Greek word for doctor, is a recognised phenomenon, the establishment definition of which refers to a condition that,

“… has resulted from treatment, as either an unforeseen or inevitable side-effect.”

The ‘medicines’ of the early 21st century are perceived to be a ‘modern miracle’ for their ability to combat the many hundreds of different diseases to which humans are able to succumb. A substantial part of this ‘miracle’ is regarded as having been achieved through advances in ‘medical science’ coupled with the use of highly sophisticated technologies. But, as outlined in the previous two discussions, ‘modern medicine’ was not established from a basis in science and the effects of drugs have not been proven to be beneficial for health. The existence of the phenomenon of iatrogenesis demonstrates that medical treatments can, and do, have serious consequences.

Dr Carolyn Dean is one of the many physicians who have recognised the failings of the orthodox medical system in which they were trained. In Death by Modern Medicine, she refers to the history of the use of chemicals in ‘medicine’ and states that,

“From the beginning, chemical drugs promised much more than they delivered. But far beyond not working, the drugs also caused incalculable side effects.”

The establishment definition of a ‘side-effect’ refers to,

“an unwanted effect produced by a drug in addition to its desired therapeutic effects. Side-effects are often undesirable and may be harmful.”

The description of an iatrogenic condition as a ‘side effect’ is clearly misleading, because it is a condition that is recognised to have resulted from a ‘treatment’; in other words, it is a direct effect of treatment. An iatrogenic condition is obviously not the intended effect of any treatment, but to relegate it to the label of ‘side effect’ is disingenuous; especially since all drugs are recognised to produce effects, many of which are far more harmful than the original disease.

No ‘side effect’ is desirable, but the fact that they occur and are described as ‘unforeseen’, ‘unwanted’ and ‘undesirable’ is a clear demonstration of a woefully inadequate level of knowledge within pharmacology, and especially within pharmacodynamics.

The reason that patients are prescribed the same pharmaceutical drugs for the same condition is based on a mistaken idea about the processes that result in ‘disease’. This fallacy assumes that all human responses to the same disease will be uniform, because it is claimed that a ‘disease’ is an independent entity that ‘attacks’ all people alike, and therefore the appropriate treatment is one that will fight the disease entity. This fallacy is also the basis for the use of tissues or ‘disease molecules’ in laboratory experiments.

Although it is likely that there will be certain similarities in the effects that people experience from the same drug, humans are not ‘machines’; no two human bodies are exactly the same and therefore their experiences will not exactly correlate. The medical establishment claims that the reason some people experience adverse effects, whereas others do not, is because they have a ‘problem’. The most common explanation for this problem is that these people have ‘faulty genes’; but this is yet another mistaken idea. The information produced by the Human Genome Project has undermined many fundamental assumptions about the importance and role of genes in the human body.

The medical establishment does acknowledge that people react differently to drugs, as Richard Smith explains in his previously cited October 1991 editorial,

“The weakness of the scientific evidence underlying medical practice is one of the causes of the wide variations that are well recognised in medical practice.”

It is not only the evidence that is weak, the theories underlying medical practice are also weak because they fail to recognise the real nature of the human body, which is a self-regulating organism that is far from inert, machine-like and predictable.

The symptoms called ‘side effects’ that are produced by a ‘medicine’ are likely to be viewed as a new condition, or illness, for which the patient will often be prescribed another ‘medicine’, but this too will inevitably produce another set of ‘side effects’. This recurring problem is summarised by Herbert Shelton, who states,

“There are no drugs that do not produce side effects and it is certain that the more toxic of them invariably produce iatrogenic disease.”

It is therefore more appropriate to state that all ‘effects’ of all drugs should be referred to as iatrogenesis.

One of the first analyses of the scale of the problem of ‘iatrogenesis’ in the US was conducted by Dr Barbara Starfield MD and reported in her July 2000 article entitled Is US Health Really the Best in the World? that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In her article, Dr Starfield wrote about the dreadful state of healthcare and included details of the ranking of the US by comparison to other countries in respect of certain criteria. For example, the US ranked 12th out of 13 ‘Western’ countries with respect to life expectancy; an appalling situation considering the huge sums of money spent on healthcare in the US.

The quality of healthcare for Americans has continued to worsen since 2000, as indicated by a November 2013 article entitled We’re No 26! US below average on most health measures; the title is self-explanatory.

In her article, Dr Starfield exposed a range of problems including the high cost of healthcare and the low ranking of the US in health criteria. She also revealed important statistics about adverse effects that have been the direct result of ‘healthcare’ interventions; these statistics include 12,000 deaths per year from unnecessary surgery and 7,000 deaths per year from medication errors in hospital. Her comment on this situation is that,

“The high cost of the health care system is considered to be a deficit, but seems to be tolerated under the assumption that better health results from more expensive care, despite evidence from a few studies indicating that as many as 20% to 30% of patients receive contraindicated care.”

One of the statistics provided in the article is of particular relevance to this discussion, as Dr Starfield reports that an annual total of 106,000 deaths occurred as the result of ‘non-error adverse effects of medications’; which refers to medications that had been correctly and appropriately prescribed and administered. This particular statistic provides unequivocal evidence not only of the existence of iatrogenesis, but also of the potentially vast scale of the problem.

The first comprehensive study to be conducted on the subject of iatrogenesis in the US was published in 2003. This study, entitled Death by Medicine, collated statistics from thousands of published studies on all causes of illness; it was co-authored by Dr Gary Null PhD, Dr Carolyn Dean MD ND, Dr Martin Feldman MD, Dr Debora Rasio MD and Dr Dorothy Smith PhD. The abstract of the study begins,

“A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good.”

The total number of deaths from iatrogenesis was stated in this study to be an estimated 783,936 per year; a figure that exceeds the annual mortality from either heart disease or cancer, which makes iatrogenesis the leading cause of death in the US. Death is clearly the most extreme iatrogenic effect; but there are many other adverse health events that can follow the administration of pharmaceutical drugs, as the study states,

“Each year approximately 2.2 million US hospital patients experience adverse drugs reactions to prescribed medications.”

It must be emphasised that these figures only refer to the situation in the US and only relate to hospital patients.

The existence of huge numbers of adverse events resulting from the use of drugs is an absolutely unacceptable component of a ‘healthcare’ system. But even these numbers do not represent the full extent of the problem, as it is not restricted to the US; it is a worldwide phenomenon that exists wherever pharmaceutical drugs are used.

The fact that the worldwide effect of this phenomenon has not been studied and documented does not mean that it is not a genuine situation and a real problem. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that these statistics are not representative of the true situation, because adverse effects are known to be grossly underreported, as the study also states,

“As few as 5% and no more than 20% of iatrogenic acts are ever reported.”

In the 2008 edition of her Death by Modern Medicine book, Dr Carolyn Dean, also one of the 2003 study authors, reports that the numbers of iatrogenic deaths and injuries have continued to increase. The current scale of the problem is unknown, but in view of the ever-increasing consumption of pharmaceutical drugs around the world, it is inevitable that it will have continued to escalate.

Although the pharmaceutical industry is clearly reluctant to admit that their products are toxic, there is undeniable evidence of the harm they cause, as documented by the many drugs that have been withdrawn from the market due to their adverse effects, as Dr Dean explains,

“Fully half the drugs prescribed are eventually pulled from the marketplace due to undeniable side effects.”

Her statement is based on the US GAO report referred to in the previous section. However, because pharmaceutical drugs are not officially recognised as being inherently toxic, the true scale of the problem is not only unknown, but unknowable. An added complication that further masks the magnitude of the problem is that the ‘effects’ of drugs are not always immediately obvious and can take months or even years to develop, which means it is highly unlikely that an illness will be associated with the prior use of any medication.

It is abundantly obvious that iatrogenesis has far more victims than has been acknowledged or reported, but this situation is predominantly due to the suppression of facts about the toxicity of pharmaceutical products, which is the direct result of the toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing processes.

‘Medicines’ are supposed to heal not harm; yet, as Dr Dean states,

“How modern medicine has come to be the number one killer in North America is as incredible as it is horrifying. Doctors certainly don’t think of themselves as killers but as long as they promote toxic drugs and don’t learn nontoxic options, they are pulling the trigger on helpless patients.”

This is a dire situation; but it is not unique to North America; it will exist within all countries that adopt the WHO-led medical establishment system.

It is clear that expensive ‘healthcare’ does not result in better health for people; it does however, provide healthy profits for the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. The existence of iatrogenesis demonstrates that a health system based on the use of toxic pharmaceutical ‘medicines’ is unable to deliver healthcare, no matter how much money is spent, how sophisticated the technology or how new and innovative the drugs that are used.

Health is not something that will improve by merely increasing healthcare budgets or by spending larger amounts of money on the development of new ‘medicines’, as the American system has proved. Health can only be improved by identifying and addressing the real causes of illness.

The establishment definition of psychopharmacology refers to,

“the study of the effects of drugs on mental processes and behaviour, particularly psychotropic drugs.”

The chemical compounds that are used in ‘medicines’ affect many parts of the body including the brain; this means that the brain can be affected by ‘medicines’ prescribed for conditions other than those referred to as ‘mental health’ problems.

The reason that a branch of ‘science’ studies the effects of pharmaceutical drugs on ‘mental processes and behaviours’ is because certain ‘behaviours’ are considered to be ‘abnormal’ and therefore people who exhibit such behaviours are deemed to have a ‘mental illness’, also referred to as a ‘mental disorder’; as indicated by the April 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Mental Disorders that states,

“There are many different mental disorders, with different presentations. They are generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts, perceptions, emotions, behaviour and relationships with others.”

The problem with this statement is that it relies on a highly subjective analysis of what is perceived to be ‘abnormal’ with reference to all the criteria by which a diagnosis is made. Yet nowhere is there a definitive definition of ‘normal’; it is neither a medical nor a scientific term. Nevertheless, when a person’s thoughts or behaviours are considered to be ‘abnormal’ and they are diagnosed with a ‘mental disorder’ they are frequently prescribed ‘medications’ which, like all ‘drugs’, are made using toxic chemicals. The fact sheet suggests that insufficient numbers receive such treatments and states,

“Health systems have not yet adequately responded to the burden of mental disorders. As a consequence, the gap between the need for treatment and its provision is wide all over the world.”

The definition of ‘health’ as declared in the WHO constitution, includes reference to mental as well as physical well-being, which further demonstrates the disparity between the ideas they promote and the practices they recommend. It is another example of the contradictions that pervade the medical establishment system.

The use of drugs for the treatment of people diagnosed with a mental disorder is based on the theory that people with such conditions have developed a ‘biochemical imbalance’ within their brain. Despite its frequent use, the phrase ‘chemical imbalance in the brain’ is based on yet another unproven theory, as psychiatrist Dr Peter Breggin MD has explained many times during the course of his long and distinguished career. His website contains a great deal of useful material and articles, including his June 2015 article entitled Rational Principles of Psychopharmacology for Therapists, Healthcare Providers and Clients, in which he refers to the theory of ‘biochemical imbalance’ as being both false and a myth. In his article, he states that,

“… the evidence for any biological basis for ‘psychiatric disorders’ is utterly lacking.”

In his 1991 book entitled Toxic Psychiatry, Dr Breggin explains the situation in more detail and states that,

“… no causal relationship has ever been established between a specific biochemical state of the brain and any specific behaviour and it is simplistic to assume it is possible.”

He further explains that,

“There’s little evidence for the existence of any such imbalances and absolutely no way to demonstrate how the drugs would affect them if they did exist.”

One fact that is rarely highlighted by the medical establishment is that patients undergo no tests that are able to determine whether they have a biochemical imbalance in their brains. Dr Breggin states that the only tests capable of determining the existence of any biochemical imbalance would only be carried out during an autopsy!

In his June 2015 article Dr Breggin explains why drugs appear to have an effect,

“All drugs that impact on the brain and mind ‘work’ by partially disabling the brain and mind.”

He further explains that,

“The so-called therapeutic effect is always a disability.”

He describes these disabilities as always representing a diminished quality of life. Dr Breggin’s comments clearly add further credence to the discussion in the previous section, in which it was shown that all drugs produce adverse effects; the interpretation of these effects as ‘therapeutic’ is not only highly subjective, it has no basis in ‘science’.

One of the most common types of ‘mental disorder’ is depression, the establishment definition of which is,

“a mental state characterized by excessive sadness.”

The problem with this definition, as should be immediately obvious, is that it too is based on a subjective interpretation of the level of sadness that would constitute ‘excessive’. It is highly likely that different physicians will have differing interpretations of the meaning of ‘excessive’, which means that the ‘treatments’ offered to patients can vary amongst physicians according to their particular and personal interpretations. Not only does this highlight the absence of a standardised healthcare system, but also refutes any idea that physicians are in possession of a clear definition of ‘normal’ by which they can determine what is ‘abnormal’.

The WHO regards depression as a distinctive condition that differs from ordinary emotional responses to the everyday challenges of life; the definition in the March 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Depression claims that,

“Depression is a common mental disorder.”

The WHO estimates that depression affects more than 300 million people around the world, which clearly represents a huge potential market for the products of the pharmaceutical industry. Yet the distinction made by the WHO between emotional responses and depression relies purely on duration and severity. Both of these criteria are similarly subjective and unhelpful in providing a method for determining any clear distinctions between an ordinary emotional response to the difficulties of life and depression; if any genuine distinctions do exist. Dr Breggin suggests that there are no such distinctions and that emotions are normal aspects of being human. He expands on this point in Toxic Psychiatry and states that,

“Depression and elation are among the most common human experiences.”

In this context, depression should not be considered as ‘abnormal’ and as an illness or disorder that requires a patient to be medicated so that they can return to ‘normal’. Depression frequently follows a tragic and distressing event in a person’s life, such as the death of a loved one, for example. It should be recognised that people are different in many ways and that these differences include the way they respond to the emotional challenges of life. The theory that a certain level of emotional response is ‘abnormal’ has no basis in science; it is a social construct.

Dr Breggin explains the origin of the idea that a certain level of emotion is to be considered as a ‘mental health problem’ that requires treatment and states that,

“Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry have been marketing depression as a ‘real disease’ in need of medical treatment.”

Despite the absence of a genuine biochemical theory of depression and associated ‘behaviours’, as well as the lack of any test to determine the existence of a ‘chemical imbalance’, millions of people around the world have been regularly prescribed drugs to treat their alleged ‘mental disorder’. This is a highly lucrative market for the pharmaceutical industry, especially in view of the WHO claim that there is an ‘under-provision’ of treatment. In addition, the WHO fact sheet claims that,

“There are effective psychological and pharmacological treatments for depression.”

Pharmacological treatments include antidepressants, the establishment definition of which is,

“a drug that alleviates the symptoms of depression.”

There is however, a large and growing body of evidence which demonstrates that antidepressants do not genuinely alleviate the symptoms of depression. Although patients may perceive that their symptoms have abated due to the drugs, Dr Breggin explains that this is often a mistaken perception, and that changes in the symptoms people experience tend to mask the existence of the disabling effects of the drugs.

It is widely acknowledged that all drugs produce ‘effects’, some of which are extremely harmful; the same applies to antidepressants. Some of the dangerous effects of antidepressants are revealed by Dr Peter Breggin and David Cohen PhD in their book entitled Your Drug May Be Your Problem, in which they state that,

“At public hearings in 2004 the FDA presented re-evaluations of antidepressant clinical trials for children and youth under age eighteen documenting that the suicide risk was doubled in children taking antidepressants compared to similar individuals taking a sugar pill.”

The result of these hearings was a limited action, which was that,

“The FDA published a new required label for all antidepressants on January 26, 2005 including a black box headlined ‘Suicidality in Children and Adolescents’.”

Whilst ‘increased suicidality’ is a more than adequate reason to be extremely concerned about these drugs, they are associated with many other ‘side effects’. The acknowledged ‘side effects’ of antidepressants include the following symptoms: anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania. These symptoms are often similar to, and in some cases the same as, the symptoms for which the drug would have been originally prescribed.

Dr Russell Blaylock MD, a former neurosurgeon, discusses the use of antidepressants in his book entitled Health and Nutrition Secrets, in which he refers to many of the ‘side effects’ of ‘psychiatric medications’ and particularly the effects that they have produced in young people,

“It is also interesting to note that in virtually all of the school shootings, the kids responsible for the violence were taking SSRI medications, which are known to produce suicidal and homicidal side effects. It is also known that these medications increase brain levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which in high concentrations can also act as an excitotoxin.”

There has, however, been a recent change in the approach of the medical establishment towards the use of SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) medications for children and teenagers. The WHO fact sheet about depression refers to antidepressants and states that,

“They should not be used for treating depression in children and are not the first line of treatment in adolescents, among whom they should be used with extra caution.”

This is clearly a better approach but it should have been implemented many decades ago, as it would have saved countless children and young people from being damaged by these drugs; although the best approach would be one that avoids drugs entirely.

One drug that is still prescribed for young children is Ritalin, which is one of the trade names of a compound called methylphenidate that is referred to as a central nervous system stimulant. Ritalin is described as ‘amphetamine-like’, which is the reason it was previously referred to as one of the legal drugs that are similar to ‘illegal’ ones. Ritalin is used for ‘behavioural disorders’ such as ‘ADD’ and ‘ADHD’, which are conditions claimed to be suffered by some young children who are considered to have problems paying attention, particularly in school. Some of the ‘side effects’ of this drug include: loss of appetite, mood swings and stomach aches. Dr Breggin comments on the effects of Ritalin in Toxic Psychiatry and states,

“It seems to have escaped Ritalin advocates that long-term use tends to create the very same problems that Ritalin is supposed to combat – ‘attentional disturbances’ and ‘memory problems’ as well as ‘irritability’ and hyperactivity.”

The reduction or alleviation of symptoms is perceived to be a successful outcome of treatment, which means that any reduction in the feeling of depression will be similarly perceived to be a successful outcome; but, as with all drug treatments, they do not address the real causes of the strong emotions that many people experience.

Dr Breggin summarises his own approach to depression in Toxic Psychiatry, in which he states that,

“Despite all of this biopsychiatric propaganda … depression is a readily understandable expression of human despair that is frequently responsive to psychosocial help.”

The topic of stress is discussed in detail in chapter ten.

NOTE: It must be emphasised that anyone who takes psychiatric medications must seek competent professional advice if they wish to consider or to undertake a withdrawal programme, as there are many potential effects that withdrawal from these drugs can produce. In his 2015 article, Dr Breggin states that,

“Withdrawing from psychiatric drugs can be emotionally and sometimes physically dangerous. It should be done carefully with experienced supervision.”

The establishment definition of hypertension refers to,

“high blood pressure i.e. elevation of the arterial blood pressure above the normal range expected in a particular group.”

There is a great deal of concern within the medical establishment about elevated blood pressure, because it is said to force the heart to work harder in its efforts to pump blood through the arteries and around the body. This extra work is said to cause excess strain on the heart and blood vessels and lead to health problems, especially heart disease. It is claimed that elevated blood pressure above the range considered to be ‘normal’ is a reliable indicator of an increased risk for the occurrence of a heart attack or a stroke.

The medical establishment clearly considers high blood pressure to be synonymous with hypertension; as also indicated by the May 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Hypertension, which states that,

“Hypertension – or elevated blood pressure – is a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases.”

Dr Richard D Moore MD PhD, however, disagrees with this view and states in his book entitled The High Blood Pressure Solution that,

“There is a lot more to hypertension than just elevated blood pressure. The increased blood pressure is a marker, or a sign that something is out of balance.”

A salient point made by Dr Moore is that a stroke can occur in the absence of elevated blood pressure, which means that the relationship is not as direct as the medical establishment claims it to be.

The May 2017 WHO fact sheet entitled Cardiovascular diseases states that,

“Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels …”

The fact sheet refers to the scale of the problem and states that,

“CVDs are the number 1 cause of death globally …”

In addition, the Hypertension fact sheet states that,

“Hypertension is a major cause of premature death worldwide.”

It is clear that diseases of this nature are indicative of extremely serious health problems; but, like all other diseases, their nature is misunderstood by the medical establishment. CVDs are discussed in greater detail in chapter seven.

The original theory about blood pressure claimed that an elevated level was the underlying health problem; an idea that arose as the result of observations in which elevated blood pressure correlated with certain ill-health conditions. These observations were developed into the theory that elevated blood pressure was a causal factor for various health problems, such as heart attacks and strokes.

The medical establishment solution for raised blood pressure, as with virtually all other health problems, inevitably involves the use of drugs that are intended to lower blood pressure to a ‘normal range’. The achievement of a blood pressure reading within that normal range is perceived to be a successful outcome of the treatment and one that is able to reduce or even eliminate the risks of the associated health problems. The original theory about blood pressure was, however, based on a mistaken assumption, as Dr Moore explains,

“But we now know that rather than being the primary problem, high blood pressure is a symptom of an unhealthy imbalance in the cells and tissues throughout the body.

Unfortunately, the ‘we’ of Dr Moore’s statement does not refer to the medical establishment, which continues to maintain the position that elevated blood pressure requires medication so that it can be lowered to fall within the range regarded as ‘normal’; as indicated by the information provided by the WHO fact sheet.

The ranges of blood pressure readings considered to be ‘normal’ for each age group have undergone a number of revisions since they were first created; at each revision the ‘normal’ range has been reduced. The basis for these changes is the continuing, but erroneous, assumption that elevated blood pressure is the cause of health problems and that the reduction of a person’s blood pressure reading will also reduce the risks of the health problems associated with it.

The medical establishment claims that the most effective method for lowering blood pressure to the ‘normal range’, is through medication with antihypertensive drugs to be taken over the course of long periods of time; and often become lifelong. The continual downward revisions of the ‘normal’ ranges result in an ever-greater proportion of the population perceived to have elevated blood pressure and therefore ‘at risk’; this results in an ever-increasing number of people who are prescribed antihypertensive drugs and also, inevitably, in vastly increased profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

The most recent large study that has been undertaken to investigate the problems associated with high blood pressure, indicates that another revision to an even lower ‘normal’ range is likely to occur in the near future. This study, called SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial), was designed to answer certain questions, as explained on the website. One of the questions was,

“Will lower blood pressure reduce the risk of heart and kidney diseases, stroke, or age-related declines in memory and thinking?”

This question indicates that the study intended to investigate other health problems in addition to heart disease and stroke, the two that are most often associated with elevated blood pressure. The UK NHS suggests that kidney disease is one of a number of conditions that can cause high blood pressure.

The SPRINT study involved more than 9,300 people aged 50 or older, who had a blood pressure reading that was higher than a certain designated figure and who were regarded as having at least one ‘risk factor’. These participants were divided into two groups, one of which received the ‘standard’ blood-pressure-lowering treatment with the aim of achieving a certain target level of blood pressure. The other group received ‘intensive’ blood-pressure-lowering treatment with the aim of reducing their blood pressure to an even lower target level. The purpose was to determine if there were any benefits to be gained by achieving the lower blood pressure levels.

In September 2015, the NIH (National Institutes of Health), which had provided funding for the study, prepared a Press Release stating that the study had been ended a year early because the results were felt to be sufficiently significant. The Press Release begins with the statement that,

“More intensive management of high blood pressure, below a commonly recommended blood pressure target, significantly reduces rates of cardiovascular disease, and lower risk of death in a group of adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure.”

This statement would tend to suggest that the study has produced good news; but this would be a mistaken interpretation. One of the findings reported within the initial results was that the ‘intensive treatment’ group experienced significantly higher rates of serious adverse events than the ‘standard treatment’ group. This result ought to have been expected by those people who know that all drugs produce ‘side effects’ and that the use of multiple drugs increases the number of adverse health events.

Dr Moore explains the nature of some of the adverse health effects that result from antihypertensive drugs,

“Besides lowering blood pressure, all antihypertensive drugs can produce undesirable side effects. This is not surprising since they alter basic body functions not only in the blood vessels but in the nervous system and kidneys as well.”

This indicates that kidney disease can be the result of antihypertensive drugs, rather than the cause of high blood pressure, as suggested by the NHS.

Drugs, by definition, are intended to interfere with the normal functions of a living organism. The existence of effects in the blood vessels, nervous system and kidneys indicate that antihypertensive drugs interfere systemically; their effects are not restricted to the lowering of blood pressure. This further corroborates the statement in the previous section that drugs produce effects in parts of the body that are not the targeted, ‘diseased’ area.

The belief that the body is comprised of separate parts, each of which can be ‘fixed’ without reference to any other parts, perpetuates the idea that the adverse effects of drugs are ‘risks’ worth taking as they ‘fix’ the diseased part; but this is a false belief. Furthermore, patients are rarely advised of the full extent of the risks associated with the drugs they have been prescribed.

The failure of the medical establishment to acknowledge the toxicity of pharmaceutical drugs continues to endanger lives on a daily basis.

In his book, Dr Moore discusses the different types of drugs that are used for the treatment of hypertension and explains their ‘action’ in the body. The first type of treatment that is usually offered to a patient is a diuretic, which ‘works’ by stimulating the kidneys to increase their production and excretion of urine. The purpose of this is to encourage a reduction in the level of sodium in the body, because an increased level of sodium in the body is believed to be a major factor that can cause hypertension.

But, as Dr Moore reveals, it is not the absolute level of sodium in the body that is a problem; instead, the key factor is the comparative level of sodium with respect to the level of potassium. Cells require both sodium and potassium, but they must be in the correct balance with respect to each other for the cells to function properly.

It is not uncommon that diuretics will fail to achieve an adequate reduction in blood pressure, which leads to the recommendation of other more powerful drugs to continue the process. There are a number of drugs in this category, for example, adrenergic inhibitors, ACE inhibitors and calcium channel blockers. As indicated by their names, all of these drugs are designed to inhibit, block or otherwise interfere with the body’s normal functions; which means that adverse effects are inevitable as Dr Moore explains,

“All these drugs have undesirable side effects because they act at several locations and tend to upset the body’s normal balance.”

Although referred to as ‘side effects’, the fact that all drugs enter the bloodstream means that they are able to, and invariably do, interfere systemically; causing a wide variety of adverse effects.

A worrying consequence of the SPRINT study is that, in addition to the possibility that it may generate a new lower ‘range’ for blood pressure readings for all age groups, it will generate a drive for increasing numbers of people to undergo regular blood pressure monitoring, even if they have no existing ill-health problems. The idea that blood pressure increases with age and that this is inevitably associated with increased ‘risks’ to health, already impacts many people over the age of 50, who are encouraged to have regular blood pressure checks. The UK NHS recommends that people aged 40 and older should have their blood pressure monitored annually.

The causes of elevated blood pressure are admitted to be poorly understood by the medical establishment; the UK NHS claims that it can result from certain conditions or as the result of certain medications. The CVD fact sheet suggests that there are some ‘behavioural factors’ that can increase the risk of developing heart disease and states,

“The most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol.”

Although hypertension is usually associated with increased age, it is not a condition that is only experienced by people over a certain age, whether 50 or even 40. It is reported that high blood pressure is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in young people and even children; especially in association with obesity. Yet, despite the recognition that an unhealthy diet is a factor that increases the ‘risk’ of heart disease, for which the WHO recommends that people reduce their salt intake and increase their consumption of fruit and vegetables, the use of blood-pressure-lowering drugs remains a key aspect of the recommended solution.

Three of the four ‘behavioural risk factors’ listed by the WHO are certainly relevant to health, but they by no means provide a complete explanation of cardiovascular health problems, therefore addressing these factors alone will not solve the problem. Furthermore, ‘health’ is a full body issue; it cannot be achieved by only addressing the functioning of an individual organ or system in the body; even if that organ is the heart, which is vital for life itself.

One of the listed ‘risk’ factors, namely physical inactivity, is not the cause of any disease and so increasing physical activity can neither prevent nor solve any condition of ill-health; this topic will be discussed further in chapter ten.

In the attempt to provide a solution to the problem of CVDs, the WHO fact sheet recommends treatments that include aspirin and beta-blockers, as well as those previously mentioned. Aspirin is discussed in the final section of this chapter on the topic of OTC drugs.

The focus of this discussion has been on the use of ‘medicine’ to address the problem of hypertension based on the idea that the human body is solely biochemical in nature. But this idea is misleading as the human body is also bioelectrical in nature; an attribute that applies particularly to the heart, which is one of the major organs that function electrically. Therefore, any factors that produce electrical interference can have adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and especially the heart.

A 2013 article entitled Earthing (Grounding) the Human Body Reduces Blood Viscosity: a Major Factor in Cardiovascular Disease explains that red blood cells have a negative electrical charge and this maintains their separation from each other in the bloodstream through electrostatic repulsion. The article also states that if the negative charge on the red blood cells is reduced, the electrostatic repulsion is reduced and this leads to the inability of blood cells to remain sufficiently separated. The result of this impaired functioning is that the cells ‘clump’ together and that blood viscosity increases; the article explains the consequences,

“Blood viscosity and aggregation are major factors in hypertension and other cardiovascular pathologies, including myocardial infarction.”

Myocardial infarction is the medical term for a heart attack.

The article clearly supports Dr Moore’s claim that hypertension is more than just elevated blood pressure and provides an explanation for one of the causes of the condition; unfortunately, the medical establishment is largely oblivious of the body’s bioelectrical nature and therefore ignorant of a significant causal factor of ill-health. The bioelectrical nature of the body and the health consequences of electrical interference are discussed in greater detail in later chapters.

The establishment definition of a statin refers to,

“any one of a class of drugs that inhibit the action of an enzyme involved in the liver’s production of cholesterol.”

The reason that drugs are required to inhibit the production of cholesterol is claimed by the NIH, on the Resources web page entitled High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need to Know, to be because,

“High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease.”

The medical establishment theory, which claims that a high level of cholesterol is dangerous and needs to be reduced, is, however, flawed. Interestingly, the establishment definition of cholesterol highlights one of the flaws in this theory because it includes the statement that,

“Cholesterol and its esters are important constituents of cell membranes …”

Despite the plethora of recommendations by the medical establishment that people should lower their intake of cholesterol, the total level of cholesterol within the body is not regulated by dietary intake. The overwhelming proportion, approximately 85%, of the body’s requirement for cholesterol is produced by the liver; it is only the remaining 15% approximately that is obtained through the diet. If, for some reason, the diet provides the body with insufficient cholesterol, the liver will increase its production to compensate for that dietary deficiency. It is clear therefore, that it is the body that regulates the level of this vital substance.

Cholesterol is not solely an important constituent of cell membranes; it is also an important constituent of the brain and essential for its proper functioning; as indicated by a 2010 article entitled The Effects of Cholesterol on Learning and Memory, which states that,

“Cholesterol is ubiquitous in the central nervous system (CNS) and vital to normal brain function including signaling, synaptic plasticity, and learning and memory.”

The recognition that cholesterol is vital for the proper functioning of many of the body’s vital organs directly contradicts the information promulgated by the medical establishment that cholesterol is ‘dangerous’, and that high levels in the body pose a serious ‘risk’ to health.

An April 2016 article entitled Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis, published in the BMJ, explains that the original hypothesis about levels of cholesterol stemmed from a study called the Minnesota Coronary Experiment that was conducted between 1968 and 1973; but the results of this study were not published. This experiment was a controlled study that, for the participants of one of the groups, involved the replacement of saturated fats with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fat. This dietary intervention was shown to reduce serum levels of cholesterol and assumed to be beneficial.

The documents and data from this original study have recently been re-analysed and the results published in the BMJ. The reason that the original study was not published is claimed to be because the researcher did not believe the results he had obtained. The BMJ article states that,

“In meta-analyses, these cholesterol lowering interventions showed no evidence of benefit on mortality from coronary heart disease.”

In addition to the lack of evidence that any benefits accrued from the lowering of cholesterol levels, the BMJ article reports that the evidence,

“… suggests the possibility of an increased risk of death for the intervention group …”

This is not the only study that has discovered that low cholesterol correlates with an increased risk of mortality, not a reduced risk, as the medical establishment claims.

It is stated that there are two types of cholesterol; LDL (low-density lipoproteins), which is regarded as ‘bad’ and HDL (high-density lipoproteins), which is regarded as ‘good’; but these labels are completely misleading. The idea that cholesterol can be either good or bad is based on a misunderstanding that arose from another study that investigated the effects of cholesterol on laboratory animals. The misunderstanding occurred because it was not recognised at the time that the cholesterol used in the study had been oxidised; it is the oxidation of cholesterol that causes health problems. In his book entitled Health and Nutrition Secrets, Dr Russell Blaylock explains the mistaken perception about the different types of cholesterol,

“The reason LDL cholesterol is bad is that it is much easier to oxidize than HDL cholesterol. But oxidized HDL cholesterol is just as dangerous as oxidized LDL cholesterol.”

Oxidation of the cholesterol that constitutes cell membranes will inevitably, adversely affect the cell’s function and, likewise, oxidation of the cholesterol in the brain will affect brain function. These detrimental effects are the direct result of the process of oxidation; a process that produces ‘free radicals’, which are highly reactive particles that can cause damage to any part of the body with which they make contact. Oxidised cholesterol has been shown to cause damage to blood vessels; although free radicals cause damage wherever they are produced in the body.

On the basis of the flawed idea that it is a high level of cholesterol in the body that is the problem, the pharmaceutical industry developed drugs called statins to inhibit the production of this vitally important substance. Inevitably, there are many dangers associated with the use of statins, which, by intention, are designed to interfere with the body’s normal production of cholesterol. The consequences of inhibiting the enzyme in the liver to reduce the production of cholesterol are discussed by Dr Carolyn Dean in Death by Modern Medicine,

“That enzyme, however, does much more in the body than just make cholesterol, so when it is suppressed by statins there are far-ranging consequences.”

Statins are proclaimed by the medical establishment to be both safe and effective, yet, like all other drugs, they produce a number of severely detrimental effects, some of which are explained by Dr Dean,

“Since the brain has the highest concentration of cholesterol in the body, it’s no wonder that the constant demand for lower and lower cholesterol counts is going to impinge on brain function. Previous studies have shown that statins can result in polyneuropathy, which causes numbness, tingling, and burning pain. Researchers showed that people taking statins were 4 to 14 times more likely to develop polyneuropathy than those who did not take statins.”

Statins are intended to inhibit the production of cholesterol; they are not intended to address the problem of oxidised cholesterol, which means that they fail to address the underlying cause of the problem. There are a number of factors that can cause the oxidation of cholesterol and they include many toxic chemicals that are ubiquitous to the environment, as Dr Dean explains,

“In addition, chlorine, fluoride in water, pesticides and other environmental pollutants can also oxidize cholesterol in the body.”

The problems with these chemicals and other environmental pollutants are discussed in more detail in chapter six. Oxidised cholesterol can also be found in processed and ‘fast’ foods, which are also discussed in more detail in chapter six.

In addition to their increased use as treatments for patients with high levels of cholesterol, statins are increasingly prescribed as preventives on the basis of the idea that this will reduce the risk of developing a CVD. As demonstrated by the study published in the BMJ, there is no evidence that high levels of cholesterol constitute a health problem or even increase the risk of developing health problems. The study in fact revealed the opposite; that low levels of cholesterol produce adverse health consequences and that statins increase the level of harm to health.

The harm that they have been shown to cause is demonstrated by the withdrawal of certain statin drugs from the market following reports about a number of severe ‘side effects’, and even death in some cases. Nevertheless, many statin drugs remain on the market, including some that are known to produce many serious adverse effects, as has been reported by many patients who have taken these drugs. This would seem to be another instance of the benefit being claimed to outweigh the risk; but this is clearly not the case.

One of the serious adverse effects that can result from the use of statins is reported in a December 2015 article entitled Statin Use and the Risk of Kidney Disease With Long-Term Follow-Up (8.4-Year Study) published in the American Journal of Cardiology. This study acknowledges that there had been few studies on the long-term use of statins, especially with respect to the effects on kidney disease. The conclusion to the study states that,

“… statin use is associated with increased incidence of acute and chronic kidney disease.”

The reason that these serious health problems were not discovered from the original clinical trials is also explained by the article that states,

“These findings are cautionary and suggest that long-term effects of statins in real-life patients may differ from shorter term effects in selected clinical trial populations.”

Yet again, the medical establishment’s lack of knowledge about the human body has created more problems than it has solved in the attempt to reduce the incidence of heart disease. Cholesterol is not responsible for heart disease, therefore attempts to reduce the body’s production of cholesterol will not reduce the risk of heart disease.

The establishment definition of an over-the-counter medicine refers to,

“a drug that may be purchased directly from a pharmacist without a doctor’s prescription.”

This means that people can ‘self-medicate’; which has many implications.

One major anomaly that is rarely raised in discussions on the subject relates to the idea that the use of OTC drugs is deemed acceptable to reduce the burden on the ‘health system’, because it means that people do not need to see a ‘qualified’ physician. But all professional medical associations claim that anyone who ‘treats’ illness other than a suitably qualified physician is a ‘quack’. Yet the medical establishment deems ‘ordinary’ people to be sufficiently competent to treat their own aches, pains and fevers with OTC ‘medicines’.

The use of OTC drugs is justified on the basis that they are able to treat ‘minor’ conditions, such as headaches and fevers, and that the cessation of these symptoms indicates that the illness has been conquered and the person is now ‘well’. However, pain and fever can occur as the result of a number of underlying factors, including the use of prescription drugs, that are not addressed by the OTC drugs, which only alleviate symptoms or sometimes stop them, albeit temporarily.

Although the drugs that are available without prescription are limited to certain types and only available in restricted strengths and quantities, the inherent problems with pharmaceutical ingredients and manufacturing processes demonstrate that OTC drugs are similarly toxic by nature and therefore similarly harmful. Their potential dangers are indicated by the fact that these drugs are available in restricted quantities to avoid the adverse effects from the ‘wrong’ dose.

There is a limited recognition by the medical establishment of the potential harm from OTC drugs, as described in an April 2013 article entitled Over-the-counter medicine abuse – a review of the literature published in the Journal of Substance Abuse. The emphasis in the article is clearly with reference to the abuse of OTC drugs, but it does include an acknowledgement of the potential for addiction and of the harm they can cause. A particularly relevant comment in the article is that,

“OTC medicine abuse is a recognised problem internationally but is currently incompletely understood.”

This statement shows yet another facet of ‘healthcare’ that is poorly understood, but it also fails to address a fundamental question, which is why ‘medicines’ that are supposed to ‘heal’ can cause ‘harm’; especially those of the restricted types that are allowed to be purchased without a prescription.

In addition to any ‘effects’ caused by each individual drug is a lesser known problem, which is the effects that result from interactions between different drugs. It is a sad fact of life in the early 21st century that a large number of people take multiple prescription medications as well as many OTC drugs; this is known by the term ‘polypharmacy’.

The medical establishment recognises the existence of interactions and some information may be printed on the package inserts of OTC drugs, which is usually available and accessible after the purchase has been made, unless the customer has consulted the pharmacist, who may be able to provide some information about contraindications.

The scale of OTC drug manufacture alone is huge; the FDA web page entitled Drug Applications for Over-the-Counter (OTC) Drugs states that,

“… there are over 300,000 marketed OTC drug products …”

The total number of drug products available on the market is therefore clearly enormous. However, the full extent of the potential interactions between all drugs, both prescription and OTC, is entirely unknown, because, although some drug-drug interactions have been investigated, the overwhelming majority of drugs remain untested for their interactions with all other available drugs, both prescription and OTC.

The failure to address the problem of unknown drug-drug interactions is only in a very small part due to the fact that new drugs of all kinds are constantly being introduced onto the market, even though some drugs are removed. The major reason for the lack of full knowledge about the interactions between drugs is because, as previously mentioned, many ‘treatments’ have not been exhaustively tested or independently assessed.

The easy availability of OTC ‘medicines’ suggests that they would have been thoroughly tested for their efficacy and safety; but this is not the case. On the web page about OTC drug applications, the FDA states that they only review the active ingredients, not the individual drugs. But, as previously cited, the FDA only conducts reviews of reports prepared by the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the drug; they do not conduct their own independent tests to determine the safety and efficacy of the active ingredients of the drugs they approve.

This is a major problem within the medical establishment ‘system’, which is increasingly controlled by the pharmaceutical industry, as will be discussed in chapter nine. The general public is therefore completely in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry with respect to all of the ‘medicines’ they may take.

A few examples of common OTC drugs will demonstrate some of the hazards associated with their use.

The establishment definition of aspirin refers to,

“a widely used drug that relieves pain and also reduces inflammation and fever.”

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a common OTC drug; it is an NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug). It is also used as a ‘preventive’ for heart attacks and strokes; although for this preventive purpose it is recommended to be taken at a ‘low dose’ and usually under the direction of a physician. Although all ‘experts’ within the medical establishment are generally in agreement on topics relating to appropriate treatments, the Mayo Clinic web page entitled Daily aspirin therapy: Understand the benefits and risks makes the interesting revelation that,

“… there’s some disagreement among experts about whether the benefits of aspirin outweigh its potential risks.”

This statement illustrates two points, one of which is the intriguing idea that ‘experts’ do not always agree, thus challenging the ridiculous notion that science is always the result of a ‘consensus’. The other, more salient, point is that it highlights the contradictory notion that a substance can be both beneficial for and pose risks to health.

Some of the ‘side effects’ of aspirin include gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; more serious effects include gastrointestinal bleeding. These effects, which are not ‘side effects’ but directly result from the ingestion of aspirin, should not be surprising because aspirin is recognised to irritate the stomach lining.

It was once quite common for doctors to recommend aspirin for children with a fever. But it was later discovered that when children were diagnosed with conditions such as chickenpox or ‘flu’, the use of aspirin to treat the fever could cause a condition called Reye’s syndrome, which affects the brain and liver and is often fatal.

The ‘active ingredient’ in aspirin is salicylic acid, which is synthesised from a substance found in willow bark that has long been regarded as an effective pain relief agent; it is claimed that Hippocrates used it. Previous discussions have indicated however, that a long history of the use of any substance to alleviate symptoms does not prove that it is beneficial or safe. Some of the substances used as remedies ‘worked’ due to their toxic nature; an emetic is a pertinent example.

It is also important to emphasise that the suppression of symptoms, such as pain or fever, with drugs will never ‘cure’ the problem because they do not address or remove the underlying cause.

The establishment definition of paracetamol refers to,

“an analgesic drug that also reduces fever.”

Paracetamol, or acetaminophen as it is also called, became a popular replacement for aspirin when detrimental effects, such as Reye’s syndrome, were discovered to result from its use. However, paracetamol is also associated with a number of detrimental effects and has been officially cited as a major cause of liver failure. It is likely that most people who take this OTC drug for their aches, pains and fevers are completely unaware of its potential danger to their health.

The definition does include a limited recognition of the potential harm that paracetamol can cause in the statement that,

“… overdosage causes liver damage.”

Paracetamol is a glutathione-exhausting drug, which is one of the reasons that it is dangerous because glutathione is an essential element for proper functioning of the body and glutathione depletion can result in hepatic and renal failure, hence the statement that it is a cause of liver failure.

Paracetamol can also result in death, which is why it is sometimes used in large quantities by people who have tried, and occasionally succeeded, in taking their own lives. Whilst people believe the maxim that it is the dose that makes a substance a poison, they will continue to assume that small doses are ‘safe’; but this is a false and dangerous assumption, because an accumulation of paracetamol resulting from many small doses over the course of a long period of time can be similarly dangerous.

The establishment definition of codeine refers to,

“an opioid analgesic derived from morphine but less potent as a pain killer and sedative and less toxic.”

Codeine is an example of a powerful drug that can nevertheless be purchased and used without a prescription. As the definition states, it is a member of the opiate family of drugs that includes morphine and heroin and, like them, can be addictive. Although the definition states that dependence on codeine is ‘uncommon’, there is adequate evidence to demonstrate that it has caused addiction, a fact that is stated in the previously cited article about OTC medicine abuse.

In addition to the possibility of addiction, there are distinct symptoms associated with withdrawal from codeine, which, if people are unaware of them, can be confused with a new kind of health ‘problem’.

It has also been established that codeine is metabolised in the body into morphine, which can be passed by a breastfeeding mother to her baby.

The ‘side effects’ of codeine include symptoms that range from headaches and vomiting to hallucinations, mood changes and impotence. These are extremely unpleasant ‘effects’ from a medicine that is supposed to relieve pain. Most people will, however, be unaware that these new symptoms are the result of the codeine they have taken and may assume it is a new health problem for which they may seek relief from the use of other OTC medicines.

The establishment definition of an antacid refers to,

“a drug that neutralizes the hydrochloric acid secreted in the digestive juices of the stomach.”

Antacid drugs are another very popular group of over-the-counter medications. They are used for the relief of heartburn or indigestion, which are assumed to be the result of the production of too much acid in the stomach. The stomach normally produces acid as part of the digestive processes and usually does so in the correct volume to fully process the food that has been consumed. However, antacids disrupt the natural level and balance of acid in the stomach, which therefore needs to produce more acid to counteract the effects of the antacid in order to process the food.

The frequent use of antacids will inevitably result in digestive problems and can lead to more serious conditions; the continual consumption of antacids will intensify digestive problems rather than relieve them.

The real problem that causes the symptoms associated with indigestion is that the stomach contains too much food for the digestive juices to be able to process all of it efficiently. Antacids therefore produce the completely opposite effect from the one they are claimed to produce.

* * *

The examples discussed above are clearly only a few of the drugs available without prescription. There are of course many more, all of which can be viewed in the same way: in other words: they do not address the underlying causes of the symptoms; they do not result in the return to a state of ‘health’; and they invariably cause additional health problems, some of which are more serious than the original problem they were intended to remedy.

It should be abundantly obvious from the discussions in this section that drugs are not only ineffective, but are also harmful. This statement, although challenging to the information promulgated by the medical establishment, can be corroborated by the physicians quoted in this chapter, to which can be added the following remarks.

First from Dr Carolyn Dean in Death by Modern Medicine,

“Loss of confidence in drug companies is inevitable when drugs are pulled from the market due to dangerous side effects. Numerous recent examples include hormone replacement therapy, causing heart disease and cancer; suicides on antidepressants, Vioxx causing heart attacks; diabetes drugs causing heart disease; statin drugs to lower cholesterol causing heart disease, impotence, and muscle disease; and osteoporosis drugs causing jaw bone destruction.”

There are two pertinent quotes by Herbert Shelton ND DC from his book, Natural Hygiene: Man’s Pristine Way of Life, the first of which states that,

“It is necessary, if they [the public] are to be rescued from drug induced degeneracy and death, that the truth about drugs shall be made known. It must become common knowledge that there are no good drugs and that even their apparent beneficial effects are illusions. The symptomatic relief afforded by drugs is as illusory as the snakes the alcoholic sees in his boots.”

The second states that,

“… so long as the medical profession and the drug industry … continue to teach the stultifying doctrine that poisons are the proper means with which to build, maintain and restore health, the public can have no different attitude towards drugs than the traditional one which it now holds.”

NOTE: Withdrawal from any drug should always be undertaken with appropriate supervision from a practitioner who is aware of the potential withdrawal reactions that can occur.

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”  – Mahatma Gandhi

The definition of ‘medicine’ cited in the previous chapter refers to the prevention of disease. The medical establishment claims that one of the most effective methods by which certain diseases can be prevented is vaccination, which the establishment definition refers to as,

“a means of producing immunity to a disease by using a vaccine, or a special preparation of antigenic material, to stimulate the formation of appropriate antibodies.”

The presence of the appropriate antibodies is therefore deemed to be synonymous with immunity.

Vaccination is widely acclaimed as one of the finest achievements of ‘modern medicine’; a view that is encapsulated by the WHO on the web page entitled Vaccines: A global health success story that keeps us on our toes, which asserts that,

“It’s no secret that vaccines are considered one of the greatest global health achievements.”

To this statement is added the claim that,

“Every year they avert an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths.”

Nothing could be further from the truth; these claims and assertions are entirely unfounded. The quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi that opens this chapter is particularly pertinent to vaccination, which is a practice based on theories that have never been proven to be true. It is for this reason that vaccination must be understood as an ‘error’. It is, however, an error of such a fundamental nature that it cannot be made into ‘truth’ no matter how fervently the medical establishment asserts otherwise.

The idea that vaccination is an error will be viewed as highly controversial; nevertheless, there is an abundance of evidence to demonstrate that, contrary to the claims promulgated by the medical establishment, vaccines are not one of the greatest health achievements; they do not confer immunity to disease; they do not save lives; and, most importantly, they are neither safe nor effective.

These assertions can be substantiated; but to do so requires more detailed discussions about the theories on which the practice of vaccination is based.

As indicated by the definition, the main theory involves the concept of ‘immunity’. This theory claims that exposure to an infectious disease stimulates the body to produce the appropriate antibodies, the presence of which is said to indicate that the body has acquired ‘natural immunity’ to that disease. There is however, a problem with this theory, because people can and do experience repeated episodes of the same infectious disease; this means that they have failed to acquire ‘immunity’ from their first exposure to the disease. The theory is clearly flawed as it is not supported by empirical evidence.

The practice of vaccination is based on the same assumption about immunity with the additional claim that vaccines are more effective in stimulating the body to produce the appropriate antibodies. However, vaccinated people also experience repeated episodes of the infectious diseases against which they have been vaccinated; they too have failed to acquire ‘immunity’. Vaccinated people who fail to produce the appropriate antibodies are called ‘non-responders’.

In an attempt to offer an explanation for vaccine ‘non-responders’, the WHO web page entitled Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI), in a series of pages on the topic of Global Vaccine Safety, makes the following revealing statement,

“There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ vaccine which protects everyone who receives it AND is entirely safe for everyone.”

This statement clearly contrasts with the generally accepted view that vaccines are fundamentally safe and effective; if this were the case, they would be safe and effective for everyone. Nevertheless, the WHO fails to explain the reason that the ‘greatest global health achievement’ is unable to protect or be safe for everyone.

However, the mechanism by which some people become ‘non-responders’ is unknown; an anomaly that is acknowledged in an August 2013 article entitled When vaccinations fail to cause response: Causes vary with vaccine and person, which states that the reasons that some people do not respond to vaccines,

“… have remained unidentified up to now.”

This admission undermines the assurances of the medical establishment prior to 2013 that vaccines stimulate the body to produce antibodies that confer immunity to disease; there are clearly a number of knowledge gaps with respect to vaccines and especially to how they ‘work’. However, despite the claim in the article that the reasons that some people are non-responders have now been identified, the explanation offered does not provide any real clarity on the subject; the article continues,

“… there is no standard pattern to this but that the causes vary according to vaccination and group of people …”

The underlying assumption is that all human bodies are alike, which means that people should all respond in exactly the same manner to vaccines. This assumption is clearly flawed because people do not all respond in the same way to vaccines, but this does not mean that some vaccines are effective for some people.

In reality, no vaccine is effective for anyone; none of them is capable of producing immunity and therefore providing protection from disease.

The previously cited WHO statement about vaccines also revealed that they are not ‘entirely safe for everyone’; an admission that, although significant, fails to acknowledge the true scale of the problem of ‘unsafe’ vaccines.

As this chapter will demonstrate, no vaccine is safe for anyone; they are all fundamentally harmful.

Some of the evidence of harm caused by vaccines is acknowledged by the medical establishment itself; for example, the establishment definition of vaccination also states that,

“Vaccination is often carried out in two or three stages, as separate doses are less likely to cause unpleasant side effects.”

The most common vaccine ‘side effects’ are recognised by physicians, who generally warn their patients about the possibility of a fever or of soreness and inflammation at the site of the injection. The previous chapter demonstrated that the term ‘side effect’ is a misnomer when used to refer to the effects of pharmaceutical drugs; it is also a misnomer when used to refer to the effects of vaccines. There are many ‘effects’ that are the direct result of vaccination and some of them are far more serious than fever, soreness or inflammation.

The topic of vaccine injury is discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

The assertion that vaccines are not only ineffective but positively dangerous is also substantiated by Herbert Shelton who, with reference to the smallpox vaccine, states in Natural Hygiene: Man’s Pristine Way of Life that,

“In addition to being a failure as a preventive, the vaccine produces a whole train of evil side effects and iatrogenic diseases.”

The discussion about iatrogenesis in the previous chapter indicated that the term is used to refer to illness and death from pharmaceutical drugs and medical procedures. The Death by Medicine report also referred to in that discussion does not include vaccines as a source of iatrogenic illness and death; which indicates that the real tragedy of iatrogenesis is far worse than has been reported.

The adverse effects of vaccines are seriously underreported for a number of reasons, one of which is that revelations of their truly harmful nature would undermine the WHO claim that vaccines are a great health achievement that saves lives; a procedure that causes harm to health cannot be one that simultaneously save lives. Another reason is that, in order to eradicate ‘deadly infectious diseases’, it is claimed that a high percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated; this is referred to as ‘herd immunity’, the erroneous nature of which is discussed later in this chapter. This high level of ‘vaccine coverage’ will however, be jeopardised by widespread public awareness of the harmful nature of vaccines, because it is highly likely that large numbers of people will refuse to submit themselves and their families to vaccination.

It is asserted that a failure to achieve herd immunity within a specified population will have a detrimental impact on efforts to eradicate deadly diseases, but this is not the case; the only detrimental impact from the failure to reach the requisite percentage of ‘vaccine coverage’ will be on the profits of vaccine-producing pharmaceutical companies.

Although admitted to be estimated, the number of lives alleged to be saved by vaccines varies widely according to the source of the estimate. In marked contrast to the statistics provided by the WHO are those provided by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) in a 1996 article entitled Vaccines bring 7 diseases under control, which makes the bold statement that,

“Two hundred years after the discovery of vaccine by the English physician Edward Jenner, immunization can be credited with saving approximately 9 million lives a year worldwide.”

The discrepancy between the claims of the WHO and those of UNICEF is significant but unexplained; nevertheless, neither of these claims can be substantiated.

It is possible, however, to substantiate the assertion that vaccines are ineffective and harmful; the supportive evidence for this statement has been gleaned from the work of many eminently qualified medical practitioners, some of whom raised valid objections to vaccination from its inception. These people and their work are usually referred to in derisory terms by the medical establishment, but that does not deny the veracity of their reasons for opposing the practice of vaccination; the statements they have made in opposition to vaccination were the result of their own independent investigations.

England was the country in which the practice of vaccination was first introduced, courtesy of Edward Jenner; it was also the first country to introduce mandatory vaccination. It is for these reasons, plus the substantial documentation and statistical information available on the topic, that the situation in England provides much of the material for this discussion.

One of the many medical practitioners who raised objections to vaccination was Dr Walter Hadwen MD MRCS LRCP, who had qualified in England under both the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians. In 1896 Dr Hadwen addressed a meeting, at which he stated,

“As a medical man I look upon vaccination as an insult to common sense, as superstitious in its origin, unscientific in theory and practice, and useless and dangerous in its character.”

The 1853 and subsequent Vaccination Acts made infant vaccination compulsory in England, although at the time only the smallpox vaccine was mandatory. Dr Hadwen’s objection to vaccination was so strong that he refused to allow his own children to be vaccinated, despite this refusal earning him a total of nine prosecutions.

Dr Charles Creighton MD, another qualified English physician, was so highly regarded by the medical establishment that in 1884 he was asked to write the vaccination entry for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. At the time he was fully supportive of vaccination; but, before writing the required text, he decided to investigate the subject thoroughly. The result of his investigation is explained by Eleanor McBean PhD ND in her book, The Poisoned Needle,

“He agreed to do so, but instead of contenting himself with the usual stock statements he went right back to Jenner’s own writings and to contemporary documents. He searched the pro- and anti-vaccination literature of many countries and came to the conclusion that vaccination is a ‘grotesque superstition’.”

Dr Creighton’s vaccination entry, although accepted by the editor of the Encyclopaedia, was considered totally unacceptable to those in positions of authority within the medical establishment, because it contradicted the prevailing view on the topic. Despite the high esteem in which he was held by most of his medical colleagues, Dr Creighton received no further requests to contribute to Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Another English physician who opposed the practice of vaccination was Dr M Beddow Bayly MD MRCS LRCP, who had also qualified under both the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians. In 1936 Dr Beddow Bayly wrote a booklet entitled The Case Against Vaccination, in which he states that,

“Of scientific basis or justification for the practice there is none, and the history of vaccination is the record of a superstitious rite pursued by a series of methods each in turn abandoned when experience proved its danger, and presenting a trail of extravagant claims not one of which has stood the test of time.”

Clearly by 1936 the scientific basis of and justification for the practice of vaccination were still conspicuous by their absence; a situation that remains unchanged at the beginning of the 21st century.

It may be suggested that the criticisms cited in this discussion are out of date, but this would be an insufficient argument. It is inappropriate, as well as illogical, to refute the words of qualified physicians who refer to vaccination as unscientific, unjustified and a superstition purely on the basis that they lived during an earlier period of time. The main reason that this is an entirely inappropriate argument is because the theory underlying the practice of vaccination is far older; it is based on ideas that date back to much earlier periods of history, long before the 18th century work of Edward Jenner, all of which substantially predate the writings of the vaccination critics cited above.

It may also be suggested that 21st century vaccinations are different, that the practice now operates from the basis of ‘evidence-based science’; however, as shown by the work of Drs Hadwen, Creighton and Beddow Bayly, objective investigations into the history of the practice have revealed that there is no science or evidence on which this practice was originally based; nor has any new ‘scientific theory’ been developed since that of Edward Jenner. There is still no scientific basis or justification for the practice of vaccination.

The subject of vaccination is also discussed within the ‘alternative health’ community, many of whom argue for ‘safer’, fewer or more widely-spaced vaccinations and for the vaccine schedules to be limited to only those that are necessary. The discussions in this chapter will demonstrate that this view is also mistaken; there are no safe vaccines and no necessary vaccines.

The belief that people can become ‘immune’ to a disease after an exposure to that disease dates back many centuries. For example, the Greek historian Thucydides, who was a contemporary of Hippocrates, is reported to have claimed that people who survived the plague of Athens were not later re-infected by the same disease.

This early belief developed into the idea that a mild form of any disease provides ‘protection’ against a more serious ‘attack’ of the same disease; it also inspired the creation of different methods to induce the ‘mild’ form of the disease; one of these methods was the practice of ‘inoculation’, or variolation as it was also called.

Although credited as the originator of ‘vaccination’, Edward Jenner is not to be credited as the originator of inoculation, which was practised in various places around the world many centuries before he was born. Some sources credit the Chinese as the originators of the practice of variolation during the 10th century.

Inoculation, the precursor of vaccination, was introduced into England in the early 18th century, which was a period when illness was often interpreted by reference to local traditions or superstitions and invariably ‘treated’ with a wide variety of crude methods and toxic substances as discussed in the previous chapter.

The practice of inoculation involved taking some ‘matter’, in other words ‘pus’, from the pustules or sores of a person suffering from the disease and introducing that ‘matter’ into the bloodstream of a healthy person via a number of deliberately made cuts on their arms or legs. However, prior to inoculation, patients had to undergo other procedures, such as ‘dieting, purging and bleeding’, that were administered by physicians. At that period of time, inoculation was exclusively a custom of the middle and upper classes, as they were the only people who could afford the services of a physician.

The following extract is from the 1885 book entitled The Story of a Great Delusion by William White; it provides a revealing description of the state of ‘medicine’ in the early 18th century in England when inoculation was first introduced.

“Those who fancy there could be any wide or effective resistance to inoculation in 1721 misapprehend the conditions of the time. There was no scientific knowledge of the laws of health; diseases were generally regarded as mysterious dispensations of Providence over which the sufferers had little control; and a great part of medicine was a combination of absurdity with nastiness. It would not be difficult to compile a series of recipes from the pharmacopoeia of that day which would alternately excite amusement, surprise, and disgust, and to describe medical practice from which it is marvellous that ever patient escaped alive; but so much must pass without saying. Suffice it to assert, that to inoculation there was little material for opposition, rational or irrational; and that what we might think the natural horror of transfusing the filth of smallpox into the blood of health, was neutralised by the currency of a multitude of popular remedies which seemed to owe their fascination to their outrageous and loathsome characteristics.”

The practice of inoculation also appeared in America in the early 18th century, courtesy of Cotton Mather. It is reported that he learned of the practice from his Sudanese slave.

The English medical establishment of the 18th century was generally supportive of inoculation, despite the complete absence of any ‘scientific evidence’ for its efficacy or safety. Dr Beddow Bayly explains in his booklet, The Case Against Vaccination, that inoculations frequently caused the disease they were supposed to prevent. He also discusses the introduction in 1721 of inoculation, which,

“… being acclaimed by the Royal College of Physicians as ‘highly salutary to the human race’, was assiduously carried out until 1840, when, on account of the disastrous spread of smallpox which resulted, it was made a penal offence.”

The Royal College of Physicians was considered a prestigious organisation, but those who were responsible for their policies had clearly failed to undertake a genuine scientific investigation of the practice of inoculation. As Dr Beddow Bayly explains, inoculation was discontinued in England in 1840; it was however, fully replaced by vaccination. But vaccination was based on exactly the same unproven theory, which is that the introduction of noxious matter into the bloodstream of an otherwise healthy person would provide ‘protection’ from smallpox.

The influence of Paracelsus and his belief that ‘poisons’ can create health is clearly discernible.

The only difference between inoculation and vaccination is that the former introduced ‘matter’ taken from the pustules of a person suffering with smallpox and the latter introduced ‘matter’ taken from the pustules of a cow suffering with cowpox.

The origin of the word vaccinate is from the Latin for cow.

The practice of vaccination originated from the work of Edward Jenner, who, in the late 18th century, discovered a belief amongst dairymaids that an attack of ‘cowpox’, which is an ulceration of the cow’s udder and believed to be transmissible to humans, was said to provide a certain degree of relief from ‘smallpox’. It was also believed that cowpox and smallpox were related diseases, which explains the belief that any attack of smallpox that occurred subsequent to an attack of cowpox would only be very mild.

It is reported that Edward Jenner accepted the dairymaids’ belief about cowpox, but there is a further twist to this tale because at one time he held a different view, which is explained by William White in The Story of a Great Delusion,

“Cows in Gloucestershire were milked by men as well as by women; and men would sometimes milk cows with hands foul from dressing the heels of horses afflicted with what was called grease. With this grease they infected the cows, and the pox which followed was pronounced by Jenner to have all the virtue against smallpox which the dairymaids claimed for cowpox.”

William White further states that Jenner published a paper on his horse-grease theory, but as it was not well-received, he returned to his cowpox theory. Whilst this may seem to be merely a minor detail, it is relevant to a full appreciation of Edward Jenner’s true contribution to humanity; the introduction of methods of poisoning the bloodstream in the name of ‘protection’ from disease.

Dr John W Hodge MD, an American physician, also began his medical career as a supporter of vaccination. However, he later conducted his own investigation into the subject and this led him to became aware that vaccinations did not prevent disease, but instead, were harmful. His investigation inspired him to write a booklet entitled The Vaccination Superstition, in which he lists his objections to the smallpox vaccination. These objections include the following,

“After a careful consideration of the history of vaccination and smallpox … I am firmly convinced:
That vaccination is not only useless but positively injurious;
That there is no evidence worthy of the name on record to prove that vaccination either prevents or mitigates smallpox.”

In his role as the originator of the practice of vaccination, Edward Jenner is regarded by the medical establishment as a ‘hero’; but he is a false hero and his accolades are undeserved. Although referred to as a physician, it is documented that he did not study for or pass the medical examinations that would have been necessary for him to qualify as a physician. It is also documented that Edward Jenner purchased his medical degree, although this was not an entirely uncommon practice of the time in which he lived. These are facts, however, that are invariably omitted from the mainstream histories of his life, as they would certainly tarnish his reputation.

Furthermore, his qualification as a fellow of the Royal Society was not the result of any work that related to medical matters, but the result of his study on the life of the cuckoo. The only paper about vaccination that he submitted to the Royal Society was rejected on the basis that it lacked proof. Other than this rejected paper no further ‘scientific’ work was submitted by Edward Jenner to the Royal Society for approval on the topic of vaccination, as Herbert Shelton explains,

“Neither Jenner nor any of his successors ever re-presented the claims for this vaccine, together with proofs, to the Royal Society …”

During the 19th century there was a great deal of opposition in England to the practice of vaccination and this led to the creation in 1866 of an anti-vaccination movement, particularly after the enactment of the compulsory Vaccination Acts. The movement gained momentum after further and more stringent compulsory Vaccination Acts had been passed and larger numbers of people became aware of the dangers of vaccines. This movement would eventually include a number of eminent physicians of the time; two of whom are cited by Dr Hadwen in The Case Against Vaccination,

“… Dr Crookshank and Dr Creighton … have knocked the bottom out of this grotesque superstition and shown that vaccination has no scientific leg to stand on …”

At the time Dr Edgar Crookshank MD was professor of pathology and bacteriology at Kings College. He, like Dr Creighton, was originally supportive of vaccination but, after conducting his own independent investigation into the subject, he too changed his professional opinion. He is recorded to have stated that the medical profession should give up vaccination.

In 1896 the movement was re-named ‘The National Anti-Vaccination League of Great Britain’. Its members included some of the qualified physicians whose work is quoted in this chapter, in addition to the two eminent physicians referred to above, who supported the movement once they had investigated the matter for themselves and discovered the complete absence of any scientific evidence for its use. Other notable supporters of the British anti-vaccination movement were the scientists Alfred Russel Wallace and Herbert Spencer and the author George Bernard Shaw.

The attitude of the medical establishment towards the ‘anti-vaccination movement’ in the 19th century was extremely derogatory, despite the eminent physicians and scientists who were supportive of their efforts. This disparaging attitude has continued and remains firmly in place in the early 21st century. It is illustrated by an article in the February 2008 Bulletin of the WHO entitled Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide that provides a suggestion of how to address people who question vaccines,

“The best way in the long term is to refute wrong allegations at the earliest opportunity by providing scientifically valid data.”

The genuine ‘scientifically valid data’ to be used to refute the wrong allegations with respect to the efficacy and safety of vaccines, can be demonstrated by the scientific investigations conducted by physicians such as Drs Creighton, Crookshank, Hodge and Hadwen, to name just a few, all of whom concluded that vaccines have no basis in science, nor are they safe or effective. The ‘wrong allegations’ are therefore those that claim otherwise.

Inoculation and vaccination were both introduced on the basis of the same beliefs and superstitions, not on the basis of science, and they both generated an increased incidence of and mortality from the disease known as smallpox.

Unfortunately, however, although inoculation was abolished, the ‘grotesque superstition’ that is vaccination has yet to be subjected to the same fate.

The establishment definition of smallpox refers to it as,

“an acute infectious disease causing high fever and a rash that scars the skin.”

Smallpox is the only human disease that the medical establishment claims to have successfully eradicated; this is said to have occurred as the result of a vaccination campaign during the 1960s and 1970s.

‘Pox’, in whichever form, refers to a disease that is characterised by skin sores, pustules and fever. The occurrence of diseases like smallpox results from a combination of factors that include poor living conditions, as described by Dr Hadwen in his previously cited 1896 address, in which he states that,

“It was a time when, to take London for instance … Sanitary arrangements were altogether absent. They obtained their water from conduits and wells in the neighbourhood, Water closets there were none, and no drainage system existed. It was in London especially that smallpox abounded …”

Unfortunately, the statistics relating to the incidence of smallpox in London were extrapolated to the rest of the country under the assumption that the incidence was the same everywhere. This was a mistaken assumption because smallpox was far more rampant in overcrowded towns and cities with no sanitary arrangements than in rural areas, which made the problem of smallpox seem far worse than it was. The greatest problem was that the mistaken ideas about disease causation promulgated by the medical establishment and taught in medical schools, prevented most physicians from recognising that the dreadful conditions in which many people lived were directly related to their poor health.

These dreadful living conditions also existed in a number of European countries in the early 18th century; they were not restricted to England, nor were mistaken ideas about disease causation restricted to that country either. As indicated in the previous chapter, erroneous notions of health and disease have existed in various countries around the world for millennia.

It is quite clear from books and documents written during the 19th century that a number of physicians were aware that poor living conditions, which included a lack of sanitation and drainage, as well as a lack of fresh water and personal cleanliness, were important factors in the causation of smallpox. There is irrefutable evidence to support this assertion; such evidence includes two examples of courses of action implemented that were both successful in achieving substantial reductions in the incidence of and mortality from smallpox. In both examples, the actions taken included the abolition of existing vaccination programmes, as well as the implementation of sanitary reforms.

The first example refers to the situation in Cleveland, Ohio as explained by Dr John Hodge, who wrote in 1902 that,

“To Dr Friedrich, in charge of the Health Board of Cleveland, Ohio, is due the credit of furnishing the civilized world with an example of a large city being absolutely free from smallpox, and it would be well to note that one of the first means that he adopted in producing this result was to abolish vaccination absolutely.”

The second example refers to the English town of Leicester, which is explained by Lily Loat, secretary of the National Anti-Vaccination League of Great Britain, in her 1951 book entitled The Truth About Vaccinations and Immunization,

“The town of Leicester rejected vaccination in favour of sanitation. Her experience during the past fifty years makes nonsense of the claims of the pro-vaccinists. When her population was thoroughly vaccinated she suffered severely from smallpox. As vaccination declined to one percent of the infants born, smallpox disappeared altogether.”

The scientific method requires scientists to follow the evidence. The empirical evidence, obtained from the experiences of the people of Cleveland and Leicester, shows unequivocally that vaccination cannot be credited as the means by which these towns both became virtually free from smallpox.

These examples expose the obvious anomaly in the medical establishment claim that vaccination was responsible for the eradication of smallpox; in both cases, it was the eradication of vaccination that successfully reduced the incidence of the disease. These examples also serve to add substantially to the weight of evidence that vaccination was a major contributory factor to the eruption of smallpox; not to its eradication.

It may be suggested that the 19th century smallpox vaccine was not as efficient as the 20th century vaccine that was used to eradicate the disease. But this would be a mistaken idea, because the 19th century vaccine is claimed to have been ‘successful’, even though it is obvious that it was not. Additionally, the 20th century vaccine is admitted to have dangerous side effects; a fact that is revealed by the WHO web page entitled Frequently asked questions and answers on smallpox. One of the questions asks why the vaccine is no longer used, the WHO response is that,

“No government gives or recommends the vaccine routinely since it can cause serious complications and even death.”

This comment poses a significant challenge to the basic theories underlying the practice of vaccination, and ought to raise the question of how a dangerous vaccine could be considered safe or able to ‘protect’ against disease. It ought to also raise serious doubts about the ability of this dangerous vaccine to have been the means by which smallpox was eradicated; the examples of Cleveland and Leicester demonstrate conclusively that no vaccine achieved this feat.

The degree of harm caused by the smallpox vaccine is revealed by the statistics about the incidence of the disease after vaccination had ceased to be compulsory; as indicated by Dr Walter Hadwen, who states in a 1923 article for the magazine Truth that,

“The Compulsory Vaccination Act was passed in 1853; a still more stringent one followed in 1867. And between the years 1871 and 1880 there were 57,016 smallpox deaths. Compare this with the small number in the present day, when considerably more than half the population is unvaccinated, when awful warnings are periodically uttered about the decimating scourge always ‘bound to come’, which never arrives! Between 1911 and 1920 the deaths numbered only 110.”

The medical establishment continues to issue warnings about many impending ‘scourges’ that fail to arrive. One of the reasons for such fear-mongering is the opportunity it provides for the pharmaceutical industry to develop vaccines, on the basis of the claim that they confer immunity to disease; a claim that has never been substantiated.

Vaccines have, however, been undeniably proven to cause harm; the dangers of the smallpox vaccination are further illustrated by Herbert Shelton, whose words echo the findings of Dr Hadwen,

“After about 40 years of compulsory vaccination, Britain suffered the worst smallpox epidemic in its entire history, with the highest death rate in history.”

During this period of time, physicians still employed a variety of toxic substances in the treatment of disease, as described by William White in his reference to the 18th century ‘pharmacopoeia’ cited in the previous section. These ‘treatments’ provide further evidence of the lack of a true understanding of health and disease that existed at the time; a lack of understanding that persists into the early 21st century.

A typical ‘pharmacopoeia’ of the 18th and 19th centuries, and even of the early 20th century, included dangerous substances such as mercury, arsenic and antimony. These highly toxic substances, which were prescribed by physicians as ‘medicine’, would have contributed to their patients’ health problems and exacerbated existing conditions.

Dr Gerhard Buchwald MD elaborates on this point in his book entitled Vaccination: A Business Based in Fear, in which he states that,

“Many of the terrible smallpox epidemics of past centuries were in fact not the result of a mysterious activation of virulent pathogens, but often the direct result of medical measures. It was not until these attempts by the medical profession were prohibited by official decree of the affected cities or countries that epidemics of smallpox declined and disappeared.”

Another description of some of the conditions that contributed to the incidence of smallpox is provided by Dr Hadwen, who stated in his previously cited 1923 article that,

“… one fact stands out pre-eminently in every part of the world where smallpox has appeared – namely, it has been invariably associated with insanitary and unhygienic conditions … It has followed in the wake of filth, poverty, wars, pestilence, famines and general insanitation, in all ages.”

These dreadful conditions have not been eradicated; many of them still exist in various parts of the world that continue to be ravaged by all kinds of diseases.

Vaccines cannot eradicate diseases caused by these conditions; only eradication of these conditions can result in the eradication of the illness, suffering and death that they cause.

Polio is the abbreviation of the term poliomyelitis, the establishment definition of which describes it as,

“an infectious virus disease affecting the central nervous system.”

The first clinical description of polio was provided in 1789, although the condition was not named ‘polio’ until 1874. The original description refers to ‘debility of the lower extremities’, which demonstrates that paralysis was regarded as an essential feature of the condition. Prior to being named ‘polio’, conditions that involved debility of the limbs were referred to by different names, such as palsy or apoplexy, as well as paralysis. Palsy is a term that has also been used to refer to the debility or paralysis that can result from a stroke.

The 21st century description of ‘polio’, by contrast, claims that paralysis occurs in less than one per cent of cases; a description that suggests it refers to a rather different condition than the one originally described in the 18th century.

Paralysis is said to have been described in medical writings that date back many millennia, including those of Hippocrates two and a half thousand years ago. Some of these ancient writings refer to cases of paralysis that had resulted from exposures to ‘poisonous substances’.

There are more recent writings that contain references to paralysis that occurs as the result of exposures to poisons. Some of these references have been collected and documented by Dr Ralph R Scobey MD, who, in April 1952, prepared a statement for the Select Committee to Investigate the Use of Chemicals in Food Products in the US House of Representatives. Dr Scobey’s statement, entitled The Poison Cause of Poliomyelitis and Obstructions To Its Investigation, refers to evidence about some of these poisons; as demonstrated by the following extracts, the first of which refers to evidence from the 18th century,

“Boerhaave, Germany, (1765) stated: ‘We frequently find persons rendered paralytic by exposing themselves imprudently to quicksilver, dispersed into vapors by the fire, as gilders, chemists, miners, etc., and perhaps there are other poisons, which may produce the same disease, even externally applied’.”

Quicksilver is another name for mercury.

The second extract refers to evidence from the 19th century,

“In 1824, Cooke, England, stated: ‘Among the exciting causes of the partial palsies we may reckon the poison of certain mineral substances, particularly of quicksilver, arsenic, and lead. The fumes of these metals or the receptance of them in solution into the stomach, have often caused paralysis’.”

Dr Scobey’s statement was discovered in an investigation conducted by independent researcher Jim West; it is available from his website.

The toxic substances referred to in these extracts are those to which people were mainly exposed as a result of their working environment; although toxic substances, especially mercury and arsenic, were also used as ‘medicines’ during both the 18th and 19th centuries. Many documents written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries provide similar examples and refer to other poisonous substances, such as phosphorus, cyanide and carbon monoxide, that are similarly capable of producing paralysis.

Dr Scobey’s statement also includes reference to a number of investigations conducted to study ‘outbreaks’ of polio in the early 20th century. Some of the investigations seemed to indicate a link between ‘outbreaks’ of polio and the consumption of fresh fruit. It was also noticed that these outbreaks frequently occurred in the autumn soon after the harvest. Whilst it has occasionally been suggested that this finding indicated an inherent problem in the fruit itself, the real cause of the ensuing symptoms is far more likely to be toxic pesticides applied to the fruit crops.

One crop pesticide that had been introduced and widely used early in the 20th century was DDT, which was widely publicised as being ‘good for you’; DDT belongs to a group of chemical compounds known as organochlorines, which are discussed in more detail in chapter six.

It was eventually discovered that DDT was far from ‘good for you’; it was in fact highly toxic. The dangerous nature of DDT and other pesticides was highlighted by Rachel Carson in her famous 1962 book entitled Silent Spring. Her book documents the dangers of the widespread, indiscriminate and irresponsible use of vast quantities of toxic chemicals, particularly organochlorines, and their disastrous effects on the environment. DDT was finally banned in the US in 1972 and in some other countries at a similar time; although unfortunately it was not banned everywhere.

DDT was largely replaced by parathion, an organophosphate, which, although less persistent, is not necessarily less toxic. Organophosphates will also be discussed in more detail in chapter six, but it is important to mention at this point that phosphorus is used in nerve agents on the basis that it is known to disrupt processes within the nervous system; in other words, phosphorus is a proven neurotoxin. It should be noted that the definition of polio includes reference to effects on the central nervous system.

The use of phosphorus-based agricultural products was not new nor were the detrimental effects unknown, as demonstrated by another extract from Dr Scobey’s previously cited statement, in which he states that,

“During an epidemic of poliomyelitis in Australia in 1897, Altman pointed out that phosphorus had been widely used by farmers for fertilizing that year. This observation may be of significance since in recent years organic phosphorus insecticides, such as parathion, have been suspected as possible causes of poliomyelitis.”

Organophosphates are not the same compounds as the phosphorus-based fertilisers and pesticides that were used in 1897; organophosphates were not created until the 1940s. There is however, a clear connection between the use of certain chemicals known to be toxic, or neurotoxic to be more precise, and a diagnosis of poliomyelitis; this connection should have made it worth pursuing a toxicological investigation of cases of paralysis that had been diagnosed as ‘polio’.

Unfortunately, the medical establishment has ignored this connection between neurotoxins and paralysis and has only pursued the hypothesis that a ‘virus’ is the causal agent of polio. The problems with ascribing the cause of any disease to be a ‘virus’ are fully explored and discussed in chapter three.

Dr Jonas Salk MD is generally credited with the discovery of the poliovirus in the mid-20th century. However, earlier work had been undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century by Dr Simon Flexner and his colleague Paul Lewis who repeated the prior but unsuccessful work of Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. The experiments conducted by Dr Flexner and Paul Lewis are reported to have been ‘successful’ in transmitting paralysis between monkeys and are often cited as providing the ‘proof’ that polio is infectious.

In their experiments, Dr Flexner and Paul Lewis produced paralysis by creating a concoction, which included the ground-up spinal cord from a ‘polio’ victim, that was injected into the brain of a living monkey. In order to prove ‘transmission’, they extracted some of the fluid from the monkey’s brain and injected that into the brain of another monkey. This series was continued through a number of monkeys. The fact that each subsequent monkey became paralysed as a result of the injections is claimed to provide the ‘proof’ of the infectious nature of the disease.

This kind of experiment does not provide ‘proof’ of the infectious nature of any disease; this brutal and artificial method bears absolutely no relationship whatsoever to the ‘normal’ transmission route of an alleged infection with a ‘virus’. Injecting toxins into the brain of a living animal can, and clearly does, produce paralysis, which is the only fact that has been ‘proved’ by these monkey experiments.

Unfortunately, it was these experiments that became the focus of the research into ‘polio’, although it was only at a much later date, after a number of failed attempts, that a vaccine could be produced. Dr Salk’s polio vaccine was first used in 1954. Although the vaccine was hailed as a success and Dr Salk was awarded the Congressional Medal, the vaccine began to produce cases of paralysis; in other words, it was causing ‘polio’, not preventing it. Even more surprising is the fact that, in 1977, Dr Salk and a number of other scientists admitted that the mass vaccination programme against polio had actually been the cause of most polio cases in the US.

Nevertheless, the medical establishment continues to ignore the well-documented evidence that there are causes of polio other than a so-called ‘virus’; the main reason for this relates to the continuing vaccination programme. The previously cited 1996 UNICEF article, which claims that smallpox had been eradicated by vaccines, makes the hopeful comment that,

“Polio could be next.”

The discussion in the previous section demonstrated that smallpox was not eradicated by vaccines and that the vaccine was proven to cause harm, including paralysis; a fact that Herbert Shelton explains in his 1951 article entitled, Serums and Polio,

“Smallpox vaccinations often result in paralysis of one side of the body.”

In the same article, he also refers to a number of other vaccinations that have been shown to be associated with cases of paralysis and states that,

“It has long been known that inoculations of all kinds frequently cause nervous diseases, including paralysis.”

He further explains that some of these cases were reported in prestigious medical journals and, as an example, he refers to study papers that were published by The Lancet in 1950; these papers reveal that,

“… infantile paralysis had followed inoculations with diphtheria toxoid, whooping cough vaccine and the combined diphtheria vaccine and whooping cough vaccine.”

There is evidence that many ‘adverse events’ have followed the combined diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus vaccine (DTP); these ‘adverse events’ include paralysis and death. The trivalent DTP vaccine has been largely replaced by pentavalent or hexavalent vaccines; these too are often accompanied by adverse health events, including paralysis and death.

In her book The Truth about Vaccination and Immunization, Lily Loat also refers to the adverse effects that vaccines can cause and states that,

“From the year 1922 cases of inflammation of the brain and spinal cord following and apparently due to vaccination came to light. The technical name for this was post-vaccinal encephalitis or encephalomyelitis.”

She further reports that there was a great effort to exonerate vaccination as the cause of these cases of inflammation of the brain, and in part the effort succeeded. However, some physicians remained unconvinced and continued to assert that these adverse effects were caused by vaccines.

Despite the failure of the vaccine to be effective, the medical establishment nevertheless claims that polio is close to being eradicated due to the vaccination programme; as indicated by a 2016 CDC web page entitled Updates on CDC’s Polio Eradication Efforts that states,

“Polio incidence has dropped more than 99 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988.”

This claim is highly questionable, because there is an increasing incidence of infant paralysis in a number of countries around the world. One country in which this problem is rife is India, where cases of paralysis are increasing substantially, despite the claim that the country is virtually ‘polio-free’. The situation is explained by a January 2013 article entitled Polio free does not mean paralysis free on the website of The Hindu; the title is self-explanatory.

One of the likely contributory factors for these cases of paralysis in India is DDT, which was never banned in that country as it had been in many other countries around the world. In fact, the use of DDT is being increased in India on the basis that it is required to assist efforts to eradicate malaria; the problem of malaria is discussed in detail in chapter eight. Another contributory factor to an increased incidence of infant paralysis in India is the ever-expanding infant vaccination schedule.

The medical establishment claims to explain the increasing incidence of paralysis by reference to a new condition, which is ascribed the label Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP). These cases of paralysis do not however represent a new condition, especially as AFP is described as ‘clinically indistinguishable from polio’.

The claim that only one per cent of polio cases involve paralysis serves to support the notion that AFP must be a ‘new’ condition; but this is disingenuous, as the Indian media frequently reports ‘sharp increases’ in the incidence of AFP following administration of the OPV (oral polio vaccination). It should be noted that the ‘side effects’ listed on the package insert of one brand of OPV vaccine include ‘post-vaccination paralysis’. Although the OPV vaccine is ingested by babies rather than injected into their bodies, it clearly contains substances that are able to cause paralysis.

It would seem, therefore, that the ‘new’ condition referred to as AFP is, in reality, purely a name change used for cases that would previously have been diagnosed as ‘polio’. The main reasons that the medical establishment would create a new name for polio would be to support their claims that the incidence of this disease is decreasing; that polio will be eradicated in the near future; and that vaccination is the means by which this alleged success will have been achieved.

It is clear from the foregoing discussion that vaccines are incapable of eradicating paralysis; they are, however, eminently capable of causing paralysis.

Cervical cancer is claimed to be caused by a ‘virus’ called HPV (Human papillomavirus) and to be preventable by vaccination.

The establishment definition of HPV states that there are more than 50 strains of this virus and that some of them are considered to be causative factors in certain cancers, especially cervical cancer, but adds the ambiguous comment that,

“… additional factors are necessary before the cells become malignant.”

HPV was not the first virus to be considered as the causal agent of cervical cancer; that dubious honour goes to a virus called herpes simplex, but epidemiological studies were unable to find a sufficient level of correlation to implicate the herpes virus and so the research continued until HPV was discovered.

The January 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer states that there are more than 100 strains of HPV and that,

“… most HPV infections clear up on their own and most pre-cancerous lesions resolve spontaneously …”

Nevertheless, despite the relatively harmless nature of most strains of HPV, the fact sheet claims that about 14 strains are cancer-causing. Yet the WHO fails to explain the reason that a few strains of this otherwise harmless virus can cause one of the most deadly of human diseases; this is highly anomalous.

The theory that cervical cancer is caused by a virus inevitably led to the development of vaccines that would prevent HPV infections. There are currently 3 vaccines in use, all of which are said to protect against the two HPV strains, namely 16 and 18, that are claimed to be responsible for approximately 70% of cervical cancer cases and pre-cancerous lesions. The fact sheet also claims that,

“Clinical trial results and post-marketing surveillance have shown that HPV vaccines are very safe and very effective in preventing infections with HPV …”

In addition, the fact sheet makes the statement that,

“HPV is mainly transmitted through sexual contact and most people are infected with HPV shortly after the onset of sexual activity.”

It is for this reason that HPV vaccination is recommended for children prior to their teenage years; as indicated by the CDC web page entitled HPV Vaccine for Preteens and Teens, which states that,

“Getting vaccinated on time protects preteens long before ever being exposed to the virus.”

Despite the WHO claim that these HPV vaccines are all ‘very safe’, the CDC web page acknowledges that they can cause ‘side effects’, the most common of which include pain, dizziness, nausea and fainting. Nevertheless, the CDC asserts that,

“The benefits of HPV vaccination far outweigh any potential risk of side effects.”

Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth; HPV vaccines confer no benefits; they are unsafe and ineffective.

One of the main reasons that these vaccines are ineffective is because the underlying theory that any virus can be the cause of any form of cancer is fundamentally flawed; furthermore, cancer has a completely different mechanism of action from that of a virus. The mechanism of cancer involves an uncontrollable multiplication of abnormal cells that do not die, whereas the mechanism of a viral infection is claimed to involve the death of cells; the flawed nature of this claim is discussed in chapter three. The differences between the mechanisms of cancer and infection were identified by Professor Peter Duesberg PhD, who states in his book entitled Inventing the AIDS Virus that,

“As with virtually all cancers, the dynamics of cervical cancer development simply do not match the behaviour of viruses.”

In addition to the existence of different mechanisms is the absence of any evidence of a causal association between HPV and cancer. In an August 2012 interview on the Natural News website, Dr Russell Blaylock MD was asked about the claim that HPV causes cervical cancer to which he replied that,

“There’s no absolute evidence of a causation.”

The absence of evidence that HPV causes cervical cancer poses a serious challenge to the claim that vaccines are effective measures for preventing the disease; a point that Dr Blaylock makes in his further comment that,

“They don’t even have scientific evidence of any kind to back up the assertion that this vaccine prevents cervical cancer.”

Furthermore, according to the UK NHS, the protection claimed to be conferred by HPV vaccines only lasts for approximately 10 years; yet cervical cancer is reported to mainly affect women between the ages of 30 and 45, which, for girls vaccinated in their preteen years would be long after the effectiveness of the vaccine had expired. This clearly presents a severe deficiency in the alleged ‘protection’ conferred by the vaccines; but, as Dr Blaylock states, there is no evidence that they confer any protection.

There is, however, an abundance of evidence that demonstrates these vaccines cannot be described as ‘very safe’; they have been shown to be extremely dangerous. In 2008, Judicial Watch (JW), an American organisation, prepared a report based on documents obtained from the FDA as a result of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. The report, entitled Examining the FDA’s HPV Vaccine Records, is available on the JW website; with reference to Gardasil, one of the 3 vaccines in current use, the report explains that,

“The controversial vaccine was fast-tracked for approval by the FDA despite concerns about Gardasil’s safety and long-term effects. The vaccine is still in the testing stages … but it is already being administered to thousands of young girls and women.”

The report states that there had been over 8,000 cases of adverse health effects and at least 18 deaths following administration of the vaccine within a period of only 2 years after its approval. A March 2013 article entitled JW Investigates HPV Compensation Program, also on the website, states that,

“Judicial Watch announced today that it has received documents from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealing that its National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has awarded $5,877,710 to 49 victims in claims made against the highly controversial HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines.”

The investigation by Judicial Watch is not the only source of criticism of the HPV vaccination. Dr Gary Null PhD, on his radio show at Progressive Radio Network, reported a conversation in 2010 with Cindy Bevington, who has also investigated Gardasil, which includes her comment that,

“Besides the 66 deaths, Gardasil’s serious side effects now include Guillain Barré syndrome, lupus, seizures, anaphylactic shock, chronic fatigue, paralysis, blood clots, brain inflammation, blurred vision and blindness, convulsions, demyelinating encephalomyelitis, multiple sclerosis, pancreatitis and various digestive disorders.”

These ‘side effects’ are considerably worse than those reported by the CDC. Although the fear of cancer understandably remains strong in people’s minds, these effects are far too serious to be considered risks worth taking; especially as there is no evidence that the vaccine confers any protection from an infection with HPV, or that the virus causes cancer.

The most serious and tragic ‘side effect’ that has occurred after the administration of the vaccine is the loss of life. Sadly, there have been many such tragedies since 2006; the number of deaths has continued to increase since the 66 that were reported in 2010. Statistics reported in May 2016 of adverse effects following the Gardasil vaccination reveal that the number of serious adverse events had reached a total of 4,954 and that the number of deaths had reached a staggering total of 245.

There is very little that could be considered more tragic than the death of a child or young person, especially when it has been the result of a vaccination that was supposed to protect them from a disease. The most heartbreaking aspect is that no vaccine can prevent cancer because cancer is not caused by a virus; these young lives have been lost for no good reason.

No words can adequately describe such a tragedy!

Initially, the HPV vaccine was only administered to young girls for the prevention of cervical cancer; however, according to the WHO fact sheet,

“… the vaccination prevents genital cancers in males as well as females …”

This has resulted in the expansion of the HPV vaccine programme in some countries to include all boys in their preteen years.

In Dr Null’s interview with Cindy Bevington, previously referred to, the latter made a further important comment, in which she said that,

“Professional journal articles and studies have shown documented cases of babies testing positive for HPV as well as nuns who have never had sex, as well as adolescent boys who happen to have it under their fingernails.”

It is claimed that millions of people are exposed to HPV during their lives, which thoroughly refutes the idea that this is a dangerous virus that is mainly transmitted through sexual contact.

Unfortunately, children and adolescents will continue to suffer whilst the medical establishment retains the unsubstantiated belief that cancer can be caused by a sexually-transmitted virus and that ‘protection’ can be conferred by a vaccine. The fear-mongering promotion of these beliefs prevents people from demanding the evidence for any of these claims; were they to do so, it would soon be discovered that no genuine scientific evidence exists.

* * *

It is neither practical nor necessary to discuss all of the infectious diseases against which vaccines are claimed to provide protection. All vaccinations are based on the same underlying theory, which proposes that ‘germs’ are the causal factors; however, as will be discussed in chapter three, this is a fundamentally flawed theory.

There is no evidence to demonstrate that any vaccine is either safe or effective; there is, however, ample evidence to demonstrate that they are all positively dangerous, the reason for which is due to the nature of their ingredients.

It is a sad fact of life in the 21st century that the medical establishment has encouraged the belief that the only harmful ingredients of vaccines are the ‘pathogens’ that cause the disease the vaccine is claimed to prevent.

However, nothing could be further from the truth; vaccines are harmful because of their toxic chemical ingredients, not because of the so-called ‘pathogens’.

It is highly probable that the vast majority of people are as entirely unaware of the chemicals used to manufacture vaccines as they are of the chemicals used to manufacture ‘medicines’; nevertheless, the ingredients of both medicines and vaccines include a variety of toxic chemical compounds.

Vaccine ingredients fall into three different groups. The first group consists of the alleged ‘pathogens’; the second consists of chemicals called adjuvants; the third group consists of the chemicals used as preservatives and fixatives.

The function of an adjuvant is to boost the body’s immune response; this ‘boost’ is said to enhance the production of antibodies and generate a greater level of protection against the disease. The substances used as adjuvants include aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate. Aluminium is a known neurotoxin.

The purpose of preservatives is to prevent the vaccine from being contaminated with microbes. The substances used as vaccine preservatives include thiomersal (thimerosal), which is a mercury-based compound. Mercury is also a known neurotoxin.

The use of mercury in vaccines has become a highly contentious issue, particularly in connection with autism, which is discussed in detail in chapter seven. The controversy has, however, resulted in the elimination of mercury from most vaccines administered to babies and small children, although it is admitted that mercury is still used in certain vaccines, mainly flu vaccines that are packaged in multi-dose vials.

There is, however, evidence that mercury remains a constituent of most, if not all, vaccines, including those that are claimed to be mercury-free. One source of this evidence is an email exchange with the FDA and CDC conducted by a concerned parent who contacted these organisations with questions about the mercury content of vaccines. This correspondence, which is published on the Age of Autism website, includes a response from the CDC which states that,

“None of the other vaccines used today in the United States to protect infants and toddlers against infectious diseases contain Thimerosal as a preservative. Thimerosal still may be used in the early stages of making certain vaccines. However, it is removed through a purification process. When this process is complete, only trace, or insignificant, amounts of Thimerosal are left (less than 0.3 mcg) and these amounts have no biological effect.”

The claim that ‘trace amounts’ of mercury in vaccines are insignificant and have no biological effect clearly relies on the notion that it is the dose that makes a substance a poison. This claim is, however, disingenuous; as indicated by a September 2010 article entitled Mercury Exposure and Children’s Health which states that,

“Mercury is a highly toxic element; there is no known safe level of exposure.”

The vast amount of publicity that has surrounded the controversy relating to the use of mercury in vaccines, has unfortunately neglected adequate discussion about other vaccine ingredients that are also toxic; these include formaldehyde, aluminium, ammonium sulphate, sorbitol, aspartame, monosodium glutamate and phenol.

Formaldehyde is known to be neurotoxic; it has also been recognised by the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) as carcinogenic. Despite its acknowledged toxicity, formaldehyde is said to be endogenous, in other words, the medical establishment claims that the human body produces formaldehyde ‘naturally’; a claim that is used to justify its inclusion as a vaccine ingredient. Its use is also justified on the basis that the amount of formaldehyde in vaccines is substantially less than the amount purported to be made by the body; as the FDA page entitled Common Ingredients in U.S. Licensed Vaccines states,

“The amount of formaldehyde present in some vaccines is so small compared to the concentration that occurs naturally in the body that it does not pose a safety concern.”

This too is an example of the reliance on the Paracelsus fallacy; but again, it is a misplaced reliance. The purpose of using formaldehyde in vaccines is said to be to inactivate the virus or to detoxify the bacterial toxin; the discussions in chapter three will demonstrate the erroneous nature of these claims. However, it should be clear that formaldehyde must be inherently toxic in order to ‘inactivate’ pathogens.

Formaldehyde is, in fact, recognised by the scientific community to be highly reactive; the ingestion of as little as 30 ml is reported by the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) to be capable of killing a full-grown adult. The claim that the body ‘naturally’ produces formaldehyde would therefore seem to be highly anomalous. The contradictory nature of the claim that formaldehyde is produced endogenously but is toxic to the human body is raised in a 2015 article entitled Endogenous Formaldehyde is a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Genotoxin and Metabolic Carcinogen, which accepts that formaldehyde can cause damage within the body, but states that this damage is,

“… counteracted in mammals by a conserved protection mechanism.”

The existence of an innate mechanism that protects the body against formaldehyde poisoning indicates that the body does not regard formaldehyde as either beneficial or useful; its presence in the body is far more likely to be the result of the metabolic processing of certain substances; this topic is discussed in more detail in chapter six.

Aluminium is another vaccine ingredient; as stated above, it is used as an adjuvant to ‘boost’ the body’s response to the vaccine. Dr Russell Blaylock states in Health and Nutrition Secrets that aluminium is a significant brain toxin that is associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Yet the WHO states on the web page entitled Aluminium Adjuvants that,

“The FDA analysis indicates that the body burden of aluminium following injections of aluminium-containing vaccines never exceeds safe US regulatory thresholds based on orally ingested aluminium even for low birth-weight infants.”

This statement is incredibly disingenuous; a comparison between orally ingested levels and injected levels of aluminium is wholly inappropriate; they are not at all comparable. Dr Blaylock explains the absorption level of ingested aluminium,

“Normally, absorption of aluminium from the gastrointestinal tract is rather low (0.1 percent) and excretion from the body is rather rapid following absorption.”

The absorption of aluminium when injected intramuscularly is however, entirely different. A June 2016 article entitled How Aluminum in Vaccines Affects Your Health on the website of The Vaccine Reaction, which is part of the NVIC (National Vaccine Information Center), compares ingested and injected aluminium and states that,

“When aluminium is injected into muscle, your body absorbs 100% …”

The consequences of the total absorption of aluminium when injected are extremely significant, especially for the brain, as Dr Blaylock has indicated.

Phenol, another common vaccine ingredient, is also known as carbolic acid; it too is recognised to be toxic, especially when taken internally.

Aspartame and MSG (monosodium glutamate) are also toxic, despite claims to the contrary, as will be discussed in chapter six.

Other vaccine ingredients include many that are of animal origin, these include: gelatine, chick embryo, human diploid cells from aborted foetal tissue, vesicle fluid from calf skins, chick embryonic fluid, mouse serum proteins and monkey kidney cells. The dangers posed by the use of animal-derived substances in vaccines are explained by Herbert Shelton,

“Vaccines and serums, now so freely employed, are of animal origin and are well known to be sources of severe damages, such as are subsumed under the rubric anaphylaxis.”

In addition, all vaccines contain some form of protein, the adverse effects of injected proteins are also explained by Herbert Shelton,

“Protein, as essential to life as it is, is a virulent poison if introduced directly into the blood without first undergoing digestion.”

Although vaccines are injected intramuscularly rather than directly into the bloodstream, the toxic ingredients they contain will almost certainly reach the bloodstream, which will inevitably become poisoned. Unfortunately, the medical establishment promulgates the view that ‘blood poisoning’, despite its name, is caused by ‘germs’ rather than poisons; an erroneous view, as discussed in more detail in the next chapter. But the toxic ingredients of vaccines are eminently capable of poisoning the blood and causing anaphylaxis, or even death, as Herbert Shelton also explains,

“Speedy death, sometimes following vaccination and inoculation, is dignified by the title, anaphylactic shock.”

It is clear that many of the ingredients of vaccines are poisons that should not be injected into the human body; it is therefore unsurprising that many people experience adverse reactions to vaccines. Although some people may not experience an obvious reaction to a vaccine, that does not mean that they remain unaffected by the toxic ingredients.

Unfortunately, the most vulnerable members of society are those who are subjected to increasing numbers of vaccines as the recommended infant vaccination schedules continue to expand in all countries around the world. The consequence of this is that the incidence and severity of adverse vaccine reactions also continues to increase and an ever-increasing number of babies and small children become victims of vaccine damage.

Dr Gerhard Buchwald MD provides a definition of vaccine damage in Vaccination: A Business Based in Fear that states,

“Vaccine damage is damage to someone’s health … beyond the usual extent of a reaction to a vaccine.”

All so-called vaccine ‘reactions’ or ‘side effects’ are, in reality, direct effects; reactions such as pain and inflammation at the injection site cannot be attributed to any other cause.

Fevers are also recognised as vaccine ‘reactions’, although they can also be attributable to other causes. The medical establishment views a ‘fever’ in a baby or young child as a matter of concern; this is indicated by the recommendation on the UK NHS website that children with an existing fever should not be vaccinated until they have recovered. For a baby or child that develops a fever after vaccination the NHS offers the following advice on the web page entitled Vaccine side effects,

“You can also give them a dose of infant paracetamol or ibuprofen liquid …”

The problems associated with such ‘medicines’ have been discussed in the previous chapter; but the symptoms experienced as the direct result of vaccines are, like all symptoms of illness, entirely misunderstood by the medical establishment.

A fever is one of the symptoms produced by the body in the effort to process and eliminate toxins, about which Herbert Shelton states,

“A fever is the consequence of accumulated impurities in the system …”

This means that a post-vaccine fever is a direct consequence of the use of toxic ingredients in the manufacture of vaccines. The logical conclusion is therefore that other symptoms, most notably vomiting and diarrhoea, are also indicative of the body’s efforts to process and eliminate toxins. Chapter ten discusses the symptoms of illness in more detail, but it should be noted in the context of the current discussion that the suppression of any symptom following a vaccination is wholly inappropriate.

Although Dr Buchwald distinguishes between the ‘usual extent’ of a reaction to a vaccine and vaccine damage, this distinction may be somewhat misleading, because it suggests that mild reactions are acceptable ‘risks’ for the ‘benefits’ conferred by the vaccine.

All reactions, including mild ones such as fever, soreness and inflammation, are a form of vaccine injury, even if they resolve after a short period of time; they all indicate that the body has reacted to a ‘toxic assault’.

Some people may appear not to react to vaccines at all; a situation that may tend to lead to an assumption that the vaccine has caused no harm; but this would be a mistaken assumption. The ability to process and eliminate toxins varies; which partly explains why people experience different responses to vaccines. However, the inherently toxic nature of vaccine ingredients indicates that they always cause harm, sometimes of a very serious nature, as Herbert Shelton states,

“The serums and vaccines that are supposed to confer immunity often cause troubles that are worse than the disease they are supposed to immunize one against.”

Although all reactions to vaccines are a form of ‘vaccine injury’, it is the more serious and longer-lasting effects of vaccines, referred to as ‘vaccine damage’, that require further discussion.

Vaccine damage is not a new phenomenon; adverse health effects resulting from vaccination is as old as the practice of vaccination itself; this has been demonstrated by the statistics of increased suffering and death that followed the introduction of the mandatory smallpox vaccination in England during the 19th century. Reported statistics about adverse health effects that result from medical practices are however notoriously understated, especially when they refer to adverse effects that result from vaccines; the reason for this is mainly due to the extreme reluctance of the medical establishment to attribute the cause of illness and death to vaccination; this situation is explained by Lily Loat in her 1951 book,

“Perusal of reports of some hundreds of inquests right down to the present reveals the reluctance of coroners and investigating doctors to attribute death to the results of vaccination.”

Physicians are taught that illness or death subsequent to vaccination cannot be caused by the vaccine; they are similarly taught that illness or death cannot result from the use of any pharmaceutical drug. The training doctors undergo inculcates a strong belief in the Hippocratic Oath that they should ‘do no harm’, which makes doctors understandably reluctant to attribute harm to any of the procedures they have used for their patients. This reluctance is acknowledged by Professor George Dick who states in an article in the June 1971 edition of the British Medical Journal that,

“… few doctors like to attribute a death or complication to a procedure which they have recommended and in which they believe.”

Although understandable, this reluctance should not blind doctors to the increasing volume of empirical evidence that vaccines do cause harm. Many brave physicians, as discussed in previous sections of this chapter, have overcome many of the fallacies of their medical training and recognised the failings within the theories about vaccination.

Despite accumulating evidence to the contrary, medical training programmes preserve the dogma that vaccinations are effective and a safe method of preventing disease; with the proviso that some people ‘may’ react badly to them. There are reasons that some people react more strongly to vaccines than others, but those reasons are not understood by the medical establishment that denies the relevance of toxic vaccine ingredients as contributory factors.

The denial that vaccines cause harm, except in allegedly ‘rare’ circumstances, is illustrated by the NHS Vaccine side effects page that states,

“Not all illnesses that occur following vaccination will be a side effect. Because millions of people every year are vaccinated, it’s inevitable that some will go on to develop a coincidental infection or illness shortly afterwards.”

The claim that an ensuing illness is ‘coincidental’ is unscientific; illness following vaccination is rarely a ‘coincidence’ and is invariably a direct effect of the vaccine. The idea that a subsequent illness can be an ‘infection’ is also erroneous, as the discussions in the next chapter will demonstrate. Although some effects occur within a short period after the administration of a vaccine, some effects take longer to become noticeable, as Dr Buchwald explains,

“Vaccine damage is generally not recognised immediately after vaccination, but in many cases only after weeks, months or – in certain circumstances – also years later.”

Eleanor McBean wrote The Poisoned Needle in 1957, which was a time when the standard infant vaccination schedule contained far fewer vaccines than in the early 21st century. However, she reports that many medical doctors were beginning to observe an increase in the incidence of cancer and other serious health problems as the vaccination coverage in the population increased. Many of these physicians were fully convinced that vaccines were substantial contributing factors to these diseases. One of the physicians referred to in her book is Dr Forbes Laurie MD, who had been Medical Director of the Metropolitan Cancer Hospital (London); Eleanor McBean quotes his statement that,

“I am thoroughly convinced that the increase in cancer is due to vaccination.”

The claim that there is a connection between vaccination and cancer may be perceived as yet another outrageous statement but that does not make it untrue or even impossible. As the detailed discussion about cancer in chapter seven will show, one of the main factors that contribute to its development is the accumulation of toxins, especially those that are carcinogenic. It should be noted that mercury and formaldehyde are both recognised carcinogens.

The above statement should not be interpreted to mean that vaccination is the sole cause of cancer; nevertheless, vaccines are likely to be major contributory factors, even though this is rarely acknowledged. The fact that the vast majority of the population has been subjected to vaccination means that it is virtually impossible to perform comparison studies between vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, that may be able to indicate if the incidence of cancer in the former group exceeds that of the latter group. There are reasons that epidemiological studies are unable to establish the existence of a clear link between vaccines and cancer and these are discussed in chapters six and seven. However, the use of carcinogenic substances as ingredients of vaccines indicates that a causal link cannot be dismissed.

When the practice of vaccination was originally introduced, Edward Jenner claimed, without any evidence to support his claim, that a single vaccination against smallpox would be protective for life. However, the increased incidence of smallpox that occurred, despite the increased numbers of people who had been vaccinated, indicated that ‘protection’ was clearly not life-long. Instead of recognising that vaccines did not work as believed, the medical establishment instituted the practice of re-vaccination throughout people’s lives to ensure continuing ‘protection’; a practice that completely contradicts the basic theory that vaccines confer immunity to disease.

The idea that people needed to be regularly revaccinated is also a complete contradiction of the claim by the NHS that the early vaccines were ‘crude’ but ‘worked’. They certainly were crude, but it is abundantly obvious that they did not ‘work’.

The 20th century smallpox vaccine that is claimed to have been successful against the disease was similarly crude but also ineffective. In her book, Lily Loat provides information from the July 1947 edition of the British Medical Journal that published a question referring to the recommended frequency of re-vaccination in areas where smallpox was endemic. She reports the reply to have been that,

“Re-vaccination every ten to twelve months should be carried out in areas where smallpox is endemic.”

This advice was published approximately 20 years before the introduction of the worldwide smallpox vaccination campaign that is claimed to have eradicated the disease.

It has been a continuing practice of the medical establishment to suppress the failure of vaccines; one of the methods used to achieve this has been the reclassification of illness subsequent to vaccination. This has led to a range of new disease names; for example, the creation of AFP to replace ‘polio’.

As previously mentioned, the author George Bernard Shaw was a member of the Anti-Vaccination League of Great Britain; he was also a member of a London health committee and attended their meetings. As a result of this work, he encountered the technique of re-naming post-vaccine illnesses and wrote about his experiences; some of his writings on the topic are quoted by Eleanor McBean in The Poisoned Needle including his statement that,

“… I learned how the credit of vaccination is kept up statistically by diagnosing all the re-vaccinated cases (of smallpox) as pustular eczema, varioloid or what not – except smallpox.”

Although no longer called ‘re-vaccination’, it is still claimed that certain vaccines need to be repeated at various stages of people’s lives because the ‘protection’ conferred is not life-long; these are referred to as ‘booster shots’. It should be obvious, however, that if the theory that vaccines confer immunity were correct, re-vaccination or booster shots would never be necessary.

The establishment definition of vaccination claims that vaccines are administered in separate doses in order to minimise ‘unpleasant side effects’; however, it is increasingly common for infants to receive combination vaccines, also referred to as multivalent vaccines, such as the trivalent vaccines for MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis). However, as more vaccines have been added to the standard infant vaccination schedules, they have been increasingly aggregated; pentavalent and hexavalent vaccines have become commonplace. The medical establishment view of combination vaccines has clearly changed since the 2007 definition that referred to the use of ‘separate shots’ to prevent ‘unpleasant side effects’. The current view, according to the CDC web page entitled Multiple Vaccines and the Immune System, is that,

“Scientific data show that getting several vaccines at the same time does not cause any chronic health problems.”

Empirical evidence from the real world, however, proves otherwise.

Furthermore, many of the multiple vaccines are administered in multiple stages; for example, in the UK the ‘5-in-1’ vaccine is administered at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age. A schedule of this nature is not unique; it is typical of most infant vaccination schedules that are applied in most countries around the world, in accordance with the WHO policy recommendations.

These multiple vaccines introduce a substantial volume of toxic materials into the tiny and vulnerable bodies of very young babies; inevitably there will be consequences, none of which will be beneficial and all of which will be detrimental to health. Some of these consequences involve effects that can prevent children from leading a ‘normal’ life and can include debilitating impairments that affect a child’s cognitive skills, which is indicative of harm caused to the brain; a situation that has resulted in a number of conditions that are labelled as ‘behavioural problems’.

Dr Buchwald refers in his book to behavioural symptoms that he calls ‘unrecognisable vaccine damage’, which he describes as follows,

“These behavioural disturbances are marked by unmotivated aggression, hyperactivity, uncontrolled behaviour, lack of concentration and lessened or lacking inhibition threshold.”

Yet, as shown by the CDC statement cited above, the medical establishment denies that vaccines cause ‘chronic health problems’, and therefore refuses to acknowledge that injecting neurotoxic materials into babies will have detrimental effects on their still developing brains. These conditions, which may be diagnosed with labels such as ADD, ADHD or autism, are invariably the result of a number of factors, but vaccines need to be recognised as major contributing factors.

For a variety of reasons, it is impossible to prove a direct causal relationship between a specific effect and a specific vaccine, but the fact that many ‘effects’ occur subsequent to the administration of a vaccine indicates that, at the very least, the vaccine was the ‘trigger’ for the reaction and subsequent health problems. The tragedy is that behavioural disturbances that can be triggered by vaccines are frequently treated with toxic psychiatric drugs; but, as discussed, these drugs will only exacerbate the problem.

The reluctance of the medical establishment to properly acknowledge vaccine damage is demonstrated by an article in the May 2011 Bulletin of the WHO entitled, No-fault compensation following adverse events attributed to vaccination: a review of international programmes. The title of the article is noteworthy by the description of the compensation as ‘no-fault’ and by the adverse events being ‘attributed’ to vaccines rather than caused by them. The article begins with the claim that,

“The public health benefits of vaccination are clear.”

Although unwilling to openly admit that vaccines cause harm, the article nevertheless acknowledges that,

“… vaccines are not without risks and it is commonly accepted that adverse events occur following vaccination.”

The general view held by the medical establishment is that treatments must be assessed according to the perceived ‘risks’ and ‘benefits’; with respect to vaccination, it is believed that the risks of adverse events are worth taking for the alleged benefits they confer. The reason for this view is summarised in the article that states,

“At a population level, it is considered that these small risks are balanced by the benefits of widespread population immunization.”

This view is based on the concept of ‘herd immunity’, which claims that the spread of an infectious disease can be contained, provided that a certain percentage of the population is vaccinated and has therefore been made ‘immune’ to the disease. The fallacy of this concept is exposed by the statistics, which showed that the compulsory smallpox vaccination programme in England resulted in a substantially increased incidence of illness and death; despite the fact that almost the entire population had been vaccinated.

There are clearly many problems with the concept of ‘herd immunity’, not least of which is that vaccination has never been proven to confer immunity; the topic of immunity is discussed further in the next chapter.

However, a point that deserves particular attention is that the ‘small risk’ referred to in the WHO Bulletin article is not ‘small’ for the baby or child that suffers vaccine damage; the risk for them is total. The article acknowledges this point and states that,

“… this means that an individual occasionally bears a significant burden for the benefit to the rest of the population.”

This is a fallacy; the ‘significant burden’ suffered by any individual has no ability to confer any benefit whatsoever on the rest of the population; their suffering has no purpose and, as discussed in the section about cervical cancer, it has been entirely unnecessary. This is the real tragedy of the unproven and erroneous concept of ‘herd immunity’.

There is, however, one form of immunity that does require further discussion; this is the immunity conferred on the vaccine industry by the US National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. As a result of this legislation, manufacturers are not held liable for injuries caused by any vaccines that are mandated by the US government.

This is an outrage!

The WHO Bulletin article acknowledges that ‘adverse events’ can follow the administration of vaccines and refers to compensation funds that have been established in some countries around the world; most notably in the US.

The US fund is called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), details of which can be found on the website of the US Department of Health and Human Services. This website provides useful information about the programme including the Vaccine Injury Table, which lists various vaccines and their possible adverse events. The Table shows that there are very specific time periods during which reactions must occur in order for compensation to be considered. In other words, if a particular reaction does not occur within the specified time then it is not accepted as vaccine damage.

These conditions are totally inappropriate because damage from a vaccine should not be restricted in this way. Adverse effects can occur over a varying period of time, which, as Dr Buchwald explained, can extend to weeks, months or even years. The denial of damage as vaccine-related because it does not occur within a specified time period indicates the disingenuous nature of this programme.

Further revealing information is available from the May 2019 Data report on the US website about the VICP; the latest statistics refer to the period to the end of 2017; the report states that,

“Since 1988, over 20,629 petitions have been filed with the VICP. Over that 30-year time period, 17,875 petitions have been adjudicated, with 6,551 of those determined to be compensable, while 11,324 were dismissed.”

These statistics show that only a little over 36 per cent of all claims that have been adjudicated have been successful. The total compensation paid to successful applicants has, however, involved a huge sum of money,

“Total compensation paid over the life of the program is approximately $4.1 billion.”

Unfortunately for the American public, the US vaccine compensation programme is funded from taxes levied on the sale of vaccines; it is therefore American taxpayers who are funding the compensation paid to victims of vaccine damage. It should, however, be the vaccine manufacturers that are held responsible for the injury caused by their products and made liable for the compensation due to those who have been injured.

The existence of this situation, in which vaccine manufacturers are exonerated from responsibility for the adverse health effects of their products, exposes the heart of the problem; which is that the pharmaceutical industry is not in the business of producing healthcare products that benefit the public. Instead, it is in the business of making profits that benefit their shareholders.

The words of Herbert Shelton are wholly appropriate to conclude this discussion,

“The vaccinating and inoculating program is merely a commercial one. While it nets huge profits to the traffickers in vaccines and serums, it provides no health for the people.”

Until the existing situation changes, the error of vaccination will continue to cause untold suffering, because the medical establishment continues to promulgate the fallacy that vaccines are safe and effective. The evidence to the contrary is overwhelming; it is only a fraction that has been included in this relatively brief discussion.

Unless it can be stopped, the future direction of the practice of vaccination is one of continual expansion; the agenda of the medical establishment, led by the WHO, is to ensure that everyone is vaccinated. This very real agenda has been formulated by the United Nations and is encapsulated within its latest incarnation called the 2030 Agenda, which was adopted by all UN member states in September 2015. Goal number 3 of this agenda refers to,

“… safe, effective, quality and affordable medicines and vaccines for all.”

The goals of the 2030 Agenda that relate to health matters are discussed in greater detail in chapter eight.

The GVAP (Global Vaccine Action Plan) 2011-2020 Report is another document intended to contribute to the expansion of the vaccination programme; in this instance, the claim is made that it is a ‘human right’ to be vaccinated. The introduction to this report includes the statement that,

“Immunization is, and should be recognized as, a core component of the human right to health and an individual, community and governmental responsibility.”

The human right to health should include the human right to refuse to be poisoned on the basis of an unproven and erroneous theory.

The use of the term ‘community responsibility’ is intended to refer to the concept of ‘herd immunity’, which has been discussed. The reference to ‘governmental responsibility’ indicates the potential for the introduction of mandatory vaccination laws.

The suffering and mortality that ensued after smallpox vaccination became compulsory in England should have provided a salutary lesson against the implementation of mandatory vaccination programmes.

The pharmaceutical industry obviously plays a major role in promulgating the belief that vaccines are safe and effective, and they achieve this mainly through their substantial influence over the medical establishment; this influence is discussed more fully in chapter nine.

A significant proportion of the pharmaceutical industry is based in the US, and PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America), as the name suggests, is the industry organisation for American pharmaceutical companies. In 2013 PhRMA produced a report, which documented that almost 300 new vaccines were in development. Although the majority of these vaccines are being developed to combat ‘infectious diseases’, others are being developed to combat a variety of other illnesses. Disturbingly, some of the new vaccines under development are intended for the treatment of some ‘neurological disorders’, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and MS (multiple sclerosis), and of other conditions including diabetes and asthma.

The discussions in chapter seven demonstrate that conditions of illness that are categorised as noncommunicable are poorly understood by the medical establishment. In virtually all of the diseases discussed, the medical establishment admits to not knowing their causes. This means that they therefore cannot know the correct methods by which the diseases can be ‘treated’; what is certain is that no disease can be prevented by a vaccine.

The reference in the GVAP report to ‘individual responsibility’ is intended to suggest that an individual has the right to demand a vaccine to protect them; it should be clear from the discussions in this chapter that individuals should also have the right to be fully informed about the hazardous nature of vaccines and to be able to assert the right not to be vaccinated.

The human right to health does require ‘individual responsibility’, but this should be interpreted as the right of an individual to take personal responsibility for their health, and for all decisions that pertain to matters that will affect their own health. The concept of herd immunity is a fallacy that should not be used to coerce people into being poisoned against their will.

In order to make informed decisions, people need all of the information that relates to the subject. It is for this reason that people need to understand that vaccination is not based on any scientific theory; it is wholly unable to prevent or eradicate any disease. Vaccines have never been proven to be safe or effective; on the contrary, they have been proven to be both ineffective and dangerous.

There are a number of reasons that the vast majority of doctors are reluctant to publicly challenge the claim that vaccines are safe and effective, despite the growing body of evidence that they cause harm. These reasons are discussed in more detail later in the book, especially in chapters seven and nine.

It is imperative, in order to protect human health, that the harmful practice of vaccination is eradicated as soon as possible.

“Germs as a cause of disease is a dying fallacy.”  – Dr John H Tilden MD

The information promulgated by the medical establishment about infectious diseases is based on the ‘germ theory’, the fundamental assertion of which is that germs invade the body and cause disease. The establishment definition describes a ‘germ’ as,

“any microorganism, especially one that causes disease.”

Disease-causing microorganisms are referred to as pathogens; however, although it is widely believed that all ‘germs’ are pathogenic, this is not the case.

The NIH (National Institutes of Health) is a US government agency that conducts and supports biomedical research; as one of the key members of the medical establishment, the NIH is, inevitably, a proponent of the ‘germ theory’. The NIH website is a vast repository of information that includes more than 5 million archived medical journal articles; it also contains various educational materials, including books and teacher’s guides. One of the online books in the Curriculum Supplement series of teacher’s guides is entitled Understanding Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. This book, which will be referred to as the Infectious Diseases book, describes microorganisms as the agents that cause infectious diseases, but adds the interesting comment that,

“Although microorganisms that cause disease often receive the most attention, it is important to note that most microorganisms do not cause disease.”

With reference to the microorganisms that do cause disease the book states that,

“A true pathogen is an infectious agent that causes disease in virtually any susceptible host.”

The idea that a host must be susceptible before even a ‘true’ pathogen can cause disease indicates that other factors must be involved; an idea that is inconsistent with the information about ‘infectious diseases’ promulgated to the general public. It is, however, only one of the many anomalies, inconsistencies and contradictions that are exposed by a genuine investigation of the medical establishment’s statements with respect to ‘pathogens’ and the ‘infectious diseases’ they are claimed to cause.

Scientists state that the word ‘theory’ does not refer to ‘an idea’, but that it has a much more specific meaning. The first phase of a scientific investigation involves the creation of a general hypothesis, which is a suggested explanation for the subject under investigation. Experiments are then devised and conducted in order to discover more information about and gain a better understanding of the phenomenon under review. The results of these experiments usually lead to the creation of a theory, which is intended to provide a more comprehensive and compelling explanation for the phenomenon than the explanation provided by the hypothesis.

References by the medical establishment to the ‘germ theory’ would therefore tend to suggest the existence of a number of established facts, which are: that all ‘germs’ have been thoroughly investigated and identified; that their ability to cause disease has been scientifically proven beyond doubt; and that the ‘theory’ furnishes a comprehensive and compelling explanation for ‘germs’ and the mechanisms by which they cause disease.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is a fundamental principle that the burden of proof lies with those who propose a theory. Yet in the case of the ‘germ theory’ that ‘proof’ does not exist; there is no original scientific evidence that definitively proves that any ‘germ’ causes any specific infectious disease.

Although this statement will be regarded as highly controversial and even outrageous, its veracity will be demonstrated by the discussions in this chapter.

There are a number of sources that provide a corroboration of the assertion that the ‘germ theory’ lacks any original scientific proof. One of these sources is Dr M.L. Leverson MD, who, in May 1911, gave a lecture in London in which he discussed his investigations that had led him to the conclusion that,

“The entire fabric of the germ theory of disease rests upon assumptions which not only have not been proved, but which are incapable of proof, and many of them can be proved to be the reverse of truth. The basic one of these unproven assumptions, wholly due to Pasteur, is the hypothesis that all the so-called infectious and contagious disorders are caused by germs.”

Corroboration is also provided by Dr Beddow Bayly, who, in addition to exposing the lack of any scientific basis for vaccination, also exposed the lack of any scientific basis for the ‘germ theory’. In 1928 he wrote an article that was published in the journal London Medical World; in this article Dr Beddow Bayly states that,

“I am prepared to maintain with scientifically established facts, that in no single instance has it been conclusively proved that any microorganism is the specific cause of a disease.”

It is clear that evidence to support the ‘germ theory’ remained conspicuous by its absence more than half a century after it had been proposed by Louis Pasteur in the early 1860s. The situation has not been rectified in the intervening decades since 1928; the germ theory of disease remains unproven, with overwhelming evidence to demonstrate that it also remains a fallacy.

Another critic of the prevailing ideas about disease in the 19th century was Florence Nightingale. During her long nursing career, she took care of many thousands of patients; an experience that proved to her that diseases were not individual entities with separately identifiable causes. In her 1860 book entitled Notes on Nursing, she writes that,

“I have seen diseases begin, grow up and pass into one another.”

She records that when the wards were overcrowded, the ordinary ‘fevers’ with which patients suffered would change and worsen to become ‘typhoid fever’ and worsen again to become ‘typhus’. These diseases are regarded as specific conditions caused by distinctly different ‘pathogens’, but Florence Nightingale reports that no new ‘infection’ occurred; that the worsening of the ‘diseases’ were the natural result of the unhealthy conditions that the patients endured. Typically, these conditions included overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of fresh air and lack of hygiene, which are strikingly similar to the conditions in which smallpox thrived.

The idea that each specific pathogen causes a distinct disease is further explored in the next chapter, in which a number of different ‘infectious diseases’ are discussed.

It was shown in the previous chapter that the practice of vaccination was not originally based on the idea that ‘germs’ were the causal agents of disease; instead, it was based on the claim that a mild form of ‘disease’ would provide a degree of protection against a more serious attack of ‘disease’. However, after Louis Pasteur’s version of the germ theory gained increased popularity in the late 19th century, the idea of ‘germs’ as the causal agents of disease became an extremely useful tool to justify the introduction of different vaccines to combat different ‘infectious diseases’.

In the early 21st century, vaccinations are still justified on the basis that they prevent ‘infectious diseases’; the ‘germ theory’ and the practice of vaccination are therefore inextricably interconnected. Together they provide the foundation for a large proportion of medical establishment practices and consequently account for a large proportion of pharmaceutical industry profits.

It is Louis Pasteur who is generally hailed as the ‘father’ of the germ theory; however, he was not the originator of the basic idea that diseases were caused by external ‘infectious agents’. Prior to the 19th century, a variety of ideas had been proposed that attempted to explain the nature of disease; many of these ideas involved the existence of disease-causing ‘entities’. The earliest theory is reported to have been that of the Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro, who, in 1546, proposed that disease is caused by minute entities that can transmit ‘infection’. His theory included the idea that these ‘entities’ become pathogenic through heat. But Fracastoro was unable to observe the entities whose existence he had proposed; microscopes with sufficient lens magnification were not available until more than a century later.

It is reported that, in 1676, Antonius van Leeuwenhoek constructed a sufficiently powerful microscope to be able to view the small entities that are now recognised as bacteria; however, he proposed no theories about these entities or their functions, he merely observed them and wrote extensively about his observations in a correspondence he held with the Royal Society in London. It was almost another century later, in 1762, that Dr M Plenciz, a Viennese physician, proposed a ‘germ theory of infectious disease’; a full century earlier than the theory attributed to Louis Pasteur.

These historical facts have been extracted from the book Pasteur: Plagiarist, Imposter written by R B Pearson, whose source is a textbook entitled Historical Review of Microbiology, which was written by F Harrison, who was principal Professor of Bacteriology at McGill University.

The long-held beliefs, customs and traditions that evolved into the various ideas about diseases and their causes are also discussed by Herbert Shelton in his July 1978 article entitled Disease is Remedial Action, in which he states that,

“This very old idea that disease is an entity that attacks the body and wreaks as much havoc therein as possible has taken several forms through the ages and is incarnated in the germ theory that holds sway today.”

William White explains in The Story of a Great Delusion that many of the old attitudes from ancient times persisted into the 18th century; although an extract from his book was quoted in the previous chapter, one part of that extract deserves repetition,

“There was no scientific knowledge of the laws of health; diseases were generally regarded as mysterious dispensations of Providence over which the sufferers had little control; and a great part of medicine was a combination of absurdity with nastiness.”

The old beliefs were gradually replaced by ‘scientific theories’, although the latter varied little from the ideas they replaced. The ‘theories’ were often no more than variations on the basic ideas, which were: that an external entity invades and ‘infects’ the body; that this ‘infection’ causes illness; and that sufferers have little control over their illness. More importantly, these ‘scientific theories’ did not represent a significant advance in medical knowledge about disease or health; as Herbert Shelton states,

“A hundred years ago it was freely admitted that the nature and essence of disease was unknown.”

Unfortunately, the nature and essence of disease remains largely unknown to the medical establishment of the 21st century; the reason for this situation is mainly, but not exclusively, due to their rigid adherence to the ‘germ theory’.

As demonstrated throughout this book, many medical establishment practices are based on erroneous and unproven theories, the problems with which are manifested by empirical evidence that demonstrates worsening rather than improving health for virtually the entire population of the world. Yet, despite the obvious contradictions between the theory and the empirical evidence, the medical establishment exhorts the public to believe their pronouncements about disease epidemics caused by dangerous ‘germs’, on the basis that they are the ‘authority’ on matters pertaining to health.

In his book entitled Confessions of a Medical Heretic, Dr Robert Mendelsohn MD indicates that belief in the ‘authority’ of the medical establishment is misplaced. He expands on his discussion of the problems with ‘modern medicine’ by reference to similarities between beliefs, religion and ‘modern medicine’. He describes the medical establishment as ‘the church of modern medicine’ and justifies this description with the statement that,

“Modern medicine can’t survive without our faith, because modern medicine is neither an art nor a science; it’s a religion … Just ask ‘why’ enough times and sooner or later you’ll reach the chasm of faith.”

Science is an ongoing process of enquiry and discovery; this means that scientists should reassess theories that have been found to be flawed and generate more compelling explanations for the phenomena under review. Yet the ‘germ theory’, which can be shown to be fundamentally flawed, has not been subjected to any rigorous reassessment. If it had been, scientists would have discovered that the theory is contradicted by a significant volume of empirical evidence, which is normally regarded as paramount. The intransigence of the scientific community on this topic has turned the ‘germ theory’ into dogma, not science.

Dr Mendelsohn recommends that people ask the question ‘why’; but the problems with the ‘germ theory’ require that people also ask the question ‘how’; were they to do so, they would soon encounter the ‘chasm of faith’, which is likely to manifest as the familiar phrase, ‘trust me, I’m a doctor’.

Although it is firmly believed by the medical establishment that Louis Pasteur’s ‘germ theory’ was scientifically proven beyond any doubt, it has been revealed that the ‘science’ he used in his experiments was not as meticulous as has been claimed. In his 1995 book entitled The Private Science of Louis Pasteur, historian Dr Gerald Geison refers to his investigation of Louis Pasteur’s work that involved a comparison of his personal notebooks with his published papers. Journalist Torsten Engelbrecht and physician Dr Claus Köhnlein MD provide extracts from Dr Geison’s book in their own book, Virus Mania; one of the extracts states that,

“During his lifetime, Pasteur permitted absolutely no one – not even his closest co-workers – to inspect his notes.”

Another extract from Dr Geison’s book quoted by the authors of Virus Mania states that Pasteur,

“… arranged with his family that the books should also remain closed to all even after his death.”

Although ideas about his possible motive for making this request can only be speculative, this arrangement does raise the question of why Louis Pasteur would not have wanted the basis of his world-famous work to be widely known. Torsten Engelbrecht and Dr Köhnlein provide a possible motive in the extremely revealing quote from Dr Geison’s book in summary of the situation that states,

“The conclusion is unavoidable; Pasteur deliberately deceived the public, including especially those scientists most familiar with his published work.”

It is clear that Louis Pasteur, like Edward Jenner, has failed to earn the right to be revered or to be cited as a ‘hero’ of modern medicine. The facts show that they both contributed a great deal towards the sum of human illness, misery and suffering, all of which have resulted from the adoption of their theories by the medical establishment.

It is unnecessary to provide full details of the history of the ‘germ theory’ in order to be able to expose the flaws on which it has been based. One of those flaws arises from the basic assumption about ‘infectious diseases’ and the meaning of the word ‘infection’, the establishment definition of which refers to,

“invasion of the body by harmful organisms (pathogens) …”

It is clear from this definition that an infection is considered to be synonymous with an invasion by microorganisms and subsequent disease; but this is misleading, as the body’s endogenous microorganisms are also claimed to be able to cause disease; as indicated by the Mayo Clinic web page entitled Infectious Diseases, which states that,

“Many organisms live in and on our bodies. They’re normally harmless or even helpful, but under certain conditions, some organisms may cause disease.”

This statement is highly anomalous. Although the Mayo Clinic web page offers no further information about the conditions deemed necessary for otherwise harmless microorganisms to become pathogenic, it is suggested that ‘germs’ constantly mutate to overpower the immune system and cause disease.

Another explanation is offered by the Infectious Diseases book, which states that the body’s ‘normal flora’,

“… do not cause disease because their growth is kept under control by the host’s defense mechanisms and by the presence of other microorganisms.”

The book claims that endogenous and invading microorganisms compete with each other but that, in normal circumstances, the invaders are successfully suppressed. However, if its defence mechanisms are weak, the body may be overwhelmed by ‘opportunistic pathogens’, which are described as,

“… potentially infectious agents that rarely cause disease in individuals with healthy immune systems.”

The medical establishment acknowledges that they possess a poor level of understanding about either the mechanisms involved, or the conditions that cause endogenous organisms to be activated and become pathogenic; this is discussed in more detail in the section about bacteria.

However, reliance on the immune system to prevent an invading pathogen from causing disease is problematic; as discussed in the previous chapter, it is claimed that the function of the immune system is to attack and destroy pathogens. This means that a strong and fully functioning immune system would be able to destroy all invaders and that anyone with a strong immune system should therefore have no ‘infectious agents’, potential or otherwise, within their bodies; microorganisms claimed to be ‘pathogenic’ have, however, been found in the bodies of healthy people. One explanation for this situation is that some pathogens can exist in the body in a ‘dormant’ state. But a strong immune system should not permit the presence of any pathogen, even in a so-called ‘dormant’ state, that can subsequently be ‘activated’ when the immune system has become weakened.

The explanations offered by the medical establishment fail to genuinely address all of the anomalies within their explanations relating to the ‘germ theory’; this will become increasingly obvious as each type of ‘germ’ is discussed in this chapter; the immune system is also discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

Unfortunately, in their attempts to address these anomalous situations, the medical establishment creates even more complex explanations that do not provide clarification, but instead, introduce further anomalies, inconsistencies and contradictions.

The ‘germ theory’ has become deeply embedded not only within modern medicine, but also within the ‘alternative health’ community. The belief in ‘germs’ is so pervasive that virtually all physicians have accepted the ideas contained within the ‘germ theory’; this includes many of the physicians whose work is referenced in this book due to the valid criticisms they have raised about the mainstream medical system. The efforts of the medical establishment to promote and emphasise the dangers of so-called ‘infectious diseases’ is demonstrated by the WHO in the World Health Report 2007, which includes the statement that,

“… infectious diseases are emerging at a rate that has not been seen before.”

There is no explanation within the context of the ‘germ theory’ for an accelerated rate of proliferation of germs; whether they are known germs that cause diseases believed to have been mostly conquered, or newly discovered germs that cause previously unknown diseases.

There are, however, many reasons for the ‘germ theory’ to be perpetuated as if it has been scientifically established and proven to be true; some of those reasons relate to economics, politics and geopolitics, which are discussed in chapter nine.

Other reasons relate to the need to justify the use of vaccines and medicines, but, as this chapter will demonstrate ‘germs’ do not cause disease; a fact that adds further to the weight of evidence that vaccines and medicines are ineffective as methods to prevent or treat any so-called ‘infectious disease’.

Science and technology have generated many innovations that have profoundly changed the way people live; these changes have accelerated substantially over the past three centuries since, and largely as the result of, the Industrial Revolution.

The consequences of these changes have not always been beneficial; many have been positively detrimental. One of the main consequences has been the almost total obeisance to ‘science’ in the belief that it is the only method through which ‘knowledge’ can be obtained. Dr Mendelsohn’s simile that modern medicine is like a religion can be extrapolated to apply to ‘science’, in which ‘scientists’ have assumed the mantle of ‘authority’ and become a new kind of priesthood.

This situation is highly problematic; real science is a process of discovery, but the discipline of ‘science’ has become largely authoritarian because its teachings are: that scientific knowledge is the sole repository of ‘truth’; that only those who accept the ‘consensus’ view are the genuine scientists; and that any dissenting views are to be vilified and described in terms such as ‘unscientific’ and ‘pseudoscience’ or with other similarly disparaging labels.

The field of knowledge that has suffered the greatest harm from this dogmatic approach is that of ‘health’, in which dissenters are labelled as ‘quacks’. But the use of insults has no place in a genuine scientific debate. The greatest error of ‘scientists’ in this field, which is often referred to as ‘medical science’, originates from a false perception of the human body as essentially a ‘machine’ of separate parts that are fundamentally chemical in nature; meaning that a malfunction in each part can be ‘fixed’ by altering its chemical nature. This error has been compounded by the equally erroneous idea that ‘diseases’ are the result of an ‘attack’ on the body, mainly, but not exclusively, by ‘germs’.

Furthermore, most ‘scientists’ in the field of ‘medicine’ regard the living human body as if it were inert; they effectively deny that it has a role of any significance in the production of illness or in the restoration of health. To add insult to injury, the medical establishment maintains the stance that it is only their healthcare system, which operates from the basis of these ideas, that is capable of correctly addressing matters pertaining to health.

Yet again, nothing could be further from the truth.

These errors have been exposed to a certain extent by the previous two chapters, but they need to be further discussed in the context of ‘infectious diseases’ and the science that continues to be conducted in the efforts to ‘discover’ their causal agents.

‘Science’ is fast becoming the ‘authority’ for the entirety of life in the 21st century. But genuine science must be flexible; it must be open to new information that may require a revision of the prevailing theories or even a reassessment of the techniques and practices used by the scientific community.

One of the main reasons for the problems within medical science and the healthcare system it promotes, is that most of the ‘science’ is conducted within the confines of the laboratory; this means that laboratory experimentation is now almost entirely equated with medical science. This is a fundamental error and one that imposes a severe limitation on the ability of ‘science’ to understand living organisms.

Certain aspects of ‘medical science’ involve empirical evidence that is obtained from the experiences of real people in the real world; for example, adverse events resulting from the use of ‘medicines’ or vaccines that have been approved and released onto the market. Chapters one and two demonstrated that there is a great deal of evidence that directly contradicts the promoted claims that medicines and vaccines are safe and effective.

Empirical evidence is, however, largely ignored when assessing the claims of ‘medical science’. It is acknowledged that some tests and experiments are conducted outside of the laboratory environment, although they usually follow extensive experimentation within the laboratory. Most of these initial experiments are conducted on human or animal tissues, cells or molecules and involve the use of a variety of chemical substances that are tested for their reactions on the various tissues, cells and molecules in the hope that a beneficial effect will be observed.

It is reported that a new drug takes approximately ten years to develop from the initial experiment, in which an apparently beneficial effect has been observed, to its availability on the market. This period of ten years includes the various clinical trials that are conducted with healthy human ‘subjects’ on whom the ‘side effects’ of the drugs are tested. Many of these trials are conducted over relatively short periods of time, often a few months, or sometimes only a few weeks.

It is generally perceived that the results from laboratory experiments have a direct relevance to human ‘health’. However, the fact that experiments conducted by ‘medical science’ are performed on tissues, cells or molecules raises a fundamental question about how these experiments relate to the functioning of a living human body, whether in health or disease.

One of the few scientists to have raised questions about the laboratory procedures used for the examination of cells and tissues is Dr Harold Hillman PhD, who has London University degrees in medicine and in physiology and a doctorate in biochemistry and is therefore eminently qualified to comment on the problems he has discovered. The investigations he conducted over his long career have resulted in his bold assertion that most preparation methods directly affect the cells or tissues to be examined and even change their structure.

This assertion is supported by Dr Bruce Lipton PhD, who observed in his experiments that changes he made to the culture medium had a direct effect on the activity and health of the cells contained in the culture. He reports his findings in a June 2012 article entitled The Wisdom of Your Cells, which includes the statement that,

“… if I changed the environmental situation, the fate of the cells would be altered.”

Dr Hillman had made a number of his articles available on his website, but this ceased to be active after his death in 2016. Although these articles remain unpublished, that does not deny their veracity; the idea that only peer-reviewed, published papers are valid is a mistaken one; as will be discussed in more detail in chapter nine. In his 2013 paper entitled A Serious Indictment of Modern Cell Biology and Neurobiology, he discusses the results of his investigations conducted since 1970 and refers to molecular biology as,

“The chemistry of living intact biological systems.”

This highlights one of the key features of, as well as one of the main problems with, laboratory experimentation, which is that it does not investigate ‘living intact biological systems’.

In his 2011 paper entitled Cell Biology at the Beginning of the 21st Century is in Dire Straits, Dr Hillman details the preparations required for a number of laboratory procedures and states that,

“When a tissue is prepared for histology, histochemistry, electron microscopy, or immunochemistry, an animal is killed; the tissue is excised; it is fixed or frozen; it is embedded; it is sectioned; it is rehydrated; it is stained; it is mounted; it is radiated by light, or bombarded by electron beams.”

A particularly salient point is that any tissue sample that is to be examined is clearly no longer alive after it has been subjected to these preparation procedures. Dr Hillman explains in his 2013 paper that there is a complete lack of recognition of the effects of such preparation procedures on the tissue sample to be examined and comments that,

“Biologists have shown little interest in the effects that the procedures they use have on the structure and chemistry of the tissues they are studying.”

The same can be said for the chemists who investigate chemical reactions on cells, tissues and molecules etc.

In addition to the effects of the procedures on the chemistry of the tissue, the effects on its structure must also be considered; the failure to do so is one of Dr Hillman’s main criticisms of the preparation procedures. He claims that these procedures generate artefacts that are then perceived to be genuine features of the tissue sample or cell that is under examination; he explains that,

“This has led them into the study of many artefacts and distortions of the chemistry of living systems.”

An artefact is an artificial structure not present in the living tissue.

One of the main laboratory methods used to view ‘germs’, especially viruses, is the electron microscope. Dr Hillman provides a revealing statement about the results of the preparation procedures used for this technology,

“Electron microscopists have ignored the dictates of solid geometry and most of the apparent structures they have detected are artefacts of their preparation procedures.”

There are profound consequences of this revelation for the ‘germ theory’ and especially for the examination of ‘viruses’, which are discussed in the next section.

There is a further important point to be emphasised, which is that even when a ‘live’ sample is examined by procedures that do not kill it, for example, during dark field microscopy, that sample, whether cell, molecule or other type of tissue, has been removed from its normal ‘environment’; an environment in which it was an integral part of an intact living system.

There are very few conclusions that can be drawn from experiments that take place under the very specific conditions of the laboratory environment and assumed to be meaningful to the health of a living human body. The internal environment of a human body bears no resemblance whatsoever to the artificial environment created by scientists for their experiments in the laboratory. Furthermore, it is inappropriate to take the results of experiments that test the reactions of chemicals with dead tissues, cells or molecules and extrapolate them to intact living organisms, which do not react and respond to chemicals in ways that can be predicted by experiments conducted on individual pieces of tissue.

The idea behind the assumption that such extrapolations are appropriate is a mistake of profound proportions, and is a major flaw within the field of ‘medical science’. Nevertheless, it is this idea that permits scientists to continue to believe that laboratory experiments conducted on ‘germs’ are appropriate in order to gain a better understanding of the processes of ‘disease’.

The most fundamental error is, however, the basic idea that ‘germs’ cause disease; exposure of the evidence that this is an error requires a better understanding of the entities that are referred to as ‘germs’, which are discussed in greater detail in the ensuing sections.

The establishment definition of a virus refers to it as,

“a minute particle that is capable of replication but only within living cells.”

All viruses have a basic structure described by the definition as follows,

“Each consists of a core of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein shell.”

In addition, some types of virus have a lipid ‘envelope’, which gives rise to their classification as ‘enveloped’; viruses without this structure are called ‘non enveloped’.

The definition also claims that viruses are the causes of many diseases, as if this has been definitively proven. But this is not the case; there is no original scientific evidence that definitively demonstrates that any virus is the cause of any disease. The burden of proof for any theory lies with those who propose it; but none of the existing documents provides ‘proof’ that supports the claim that ‘viruses’ are pathogens.

Although Dr Leverson and Dr Beddow Bayly wrote their comments exposing the lack of scientific proof prior to the invention of the electron microscope, Dr Hillman’s work was subsequent to its invention; he exposed many flaws that arise from the use of that particular piece of technology for the study of viruses.

The fundamental problem lies with the use of the term ‘virus’ and the idea that it refers to a pathogenic microorganism.

During the 19th century, scientists who believed in the ‘germ theory’ had been able to discover a variety of bacteria that appeared to be associated with a number of the diseases they were investigating. However, they were unable to find a bacterial or even fungal agent associated with some of those diseases. This led them to the belief that there had to be some other ‘organism’ that was responsible for those other diseases. They believed that it must be an organism that was too small to be seen through the optical microscopes of the period.

It was only after the invention of the electron microscope in the 1930s that particles smaller than bacteria could be observed in samples taken from people with certain diseases. It was these tiny particles that became known as ‘viruses’ and assumed to be the causal agents of all diseases that could not be attributed to bacteria.

The discovery of ‘particles’ in samples taken from people with a disease, and the assumption that this represents a causal relationship, is akin to blaming firemen as being the causes of fires, because they are directly associated with fire and often found at premises that are ablaze. This analogy serves to highlight the potentially dire consequences that can result from the misinterpretation of an observed phenomenon, and from incorrect assumptions about an association between the different factors involved.

It may be claimed that the association between viruses and human disease has been experimentally observed and scientifically established; but, as will be demonstrated, this would be an incorrect claim.

The word ‘virus’ had been used for centuries in connection with diseases, and was certainly in use long before the particles now called ‘viruses’ were first seen or even theorised; this situation is a major source of much confusion on the topic. It is however, incorrect to assume that the particles that are now called ‘viruses’ are the same ‘entities’ to which the earlier writings referred.

All the evidence indicates that the early writings used the word ‘virus’ in the context of its original meaning, which is from the Latin for a ‘poison’ or ‘noxious substance’. Careful reading of 18th and 19th century writings, particularly those that refer to smallpox inoculation and vaccination, show that the use of the word ‘virus’ is clearly intended to refer to some kind of ‘noxious matter’. This can be demonstrated by the practice of inoculation, which used the ‘pus’ from sores on the skins of people with the disease called smallpox; this pus was often referred to by the word ‘virus’. The same word was also used to refer to the ‘pus’ from the sores on the udders of cows with the disease called cowpox. The ‘pus’ from sores bears a far closer resemblance to the original meaning of ‘virus’ as a poison or a noxious substance than to an ‘infectious’ particle.

The word ‘infection’ was also used in many of the writings of the 18th and 19th centuries, but not in the context in which it is now used to refer to the invasion of a ‘germ’. In those writings the word was used in the context of referring to something that contaminates or pollutes. Taking the ‘pus’ from a person’s skin sores and ‘inoculating’ it into cuts made in the skin of a healthy person, will certainly contaminate and pollute that person’s bloodstream; there is no need to invoke the existence of a minute particle to explain an ensuing illness resulting from blood poisoning.

The definition of a ‘germ’ refers to it as a microorganism; the definition of an organism refers to a ‘living thing’. Interestingly the establishment definition of a virus does not refer to it as an ‘organism’, which would tend to suggest that a virus is not considered to be alive. There is an ongoing, lively debate on the issue of whether viruses are alive or not; but there are some basic functions that an ‘entity’ must exhibit in order for it to be defined as ‘living’, which shows that the issue cannot be one of differing opinions; it is a matter of ascertaining the facts.

Dr Lynn Margulis PhD, a renowned biologist and member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS) from 1983 until her death in 2011, provides an explanation in her book entitled Symbiotic Planet, of the distinction between living and non-living. She refers to viruses as non-living and explains that,

“They are not alive since outside living cells they do nothing, ever. Viruses require the metabolism of the live cell because they lack the requisites to generate their own. Metabolism, the incessant chemistry of self-maintenance, is an essential feature of life. Viruses lack this.”

An August 2008 Scientific American article entitled Are Viruses Alive provides an interesting insight into the changing perception of viruses,

“First seen as poisons, then as life-forms, then as biological chemicals, viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and non-living …”

Although categorising viruses as being in a ‘gray area’, the article nevertheless asserts that they are pathogenic,

“In the late 19th century researchers realized that certain diseases, including rabies and foot-and-mouth, were caused by particles that seemed to behave like bacteria but were much smaller.”

This assertion tends to support the idea that viruses must be alive because they are claimed to behave like bacteria, which are living entities, as will be discussed in the next section. The use of the word ‘realised’ is intended to convey the impression that these diseases have been proven to be caused by those smaller particles; this impression is however, misleading.

There is clearly a significant effort to promote the view that viruses are living entities; the main reason for this is because this view helps to justify the claims that viruses are ‘infectious agents’ that can be transmitted between people and cause deadly diseases. But there is a major problem with the idea that viruses can be transmitted between people, because, as Dr Margulis states,

“… any virus outside the membrane of a live cell is inert.”

Widespread public knowledge that viruses are ‘non-living’ particles that are inert outside of the host cell, would make it a great deal more difficult for the medical establishment to justify their claims that these particles are dangerous and cause many ‘deadly’ diseases.

The revelation that viruses are not living particles clearly raises two fundamental questions about their alleged functions: the first is how inert particles are able to move and be transmitted between people; the second is how viruses are able to enter the body and ‘infect’ cells.

The description of a virus as inert means that it lacks the ability to move by itself. This lack of self-propelled motion is acknowledged by the medical establishment that refers to viruses as ‘not motile’. Nevertheless, they attempt to explain the apparent ability of viruses to ‘move’ and be transmitted between people by the claim that they ride, or ‘hitchhike’ on various other particles that can travel through the environment. This ‘ride’ is said to cease when the virus particle makes contact with a new host to ‘infect’.

The problem with this explanation is that it fails to explain how a virus escapes from the host cell if it is ‘not motile’. It also fails to explain how the ‘virus’ is able to find and ‘hitch’ itself to the appropriate particle that is going to be ejected from the body during a sneeze or a cough.

The second question requires an explanation of the method by which a virus is claimed to be able to ‘infect’ a cell. The web page of UCMP (University of California Museum of Paleontology) Berkeley entitled Introduction to Viruses, states that,

“When it comes into contact with a host cell, a virus can insert its genetic material into its host …”

The purported mechanism is described in a little more detail in a July 2007 article entitled, Imaging Poliovirus Entry in Live Cells, the abstract of which begins,

“Viruses initiate infection by transferring their genetic material across a cellular membrane and into the appropriate compartment of the cell.”

This ‘insertion’ or ‘transfer’ assumes that the virus takes an active part in these mechanisms, but the idea that a virus can be active is contradicted by Dr Margulis and others who state categorically that a virus is inert outside of a living cell. The 2007 article makes the highly revealing statement that,

“The mechanisms by which animal viruses, especially non enveloped viruses, deliver their genomes are only poorly understood.”

The article also reveals that,

“How non enveloped viruses, such as poliovirus, enter target cells is not well understood.”

These statements are not only profoundly revealing but also astounding, considering that the idea of ‘viral infection’ rests on the theory that viruses enter cells in order to cause disease. These statements clearly demonstrate how little is actually known about viruses and their alleged mechanism of action in causing an ‘infection’. It should be obvious that a great deal of the ‘information’ about viruses promulgated by the medical establishment is based on a collection of unproven assumptions and suppositions.

The lack of known facts about viruses can be demonstrated by the example of a cold ‘virus’ that is claimed to be transmitted via saliva or mucous particles when a person sneezes or coughs. These particles are said to be inhaled by another person, who then becomes ‘infected’ by the virus, which travels through the person’s body to the appropriate cells of their lung tissues. The transmission of any viral particle attached to saliva or mucous travelling through the air has never been observed; viral particles are only ever observed in a laboratory under an electron microscope. The transmission of viruses in the air is an assumption; as is their ability to travel through a human body.

A further contradiction of the theory that viruses are transmitted between people can be seen from another common ‘infectious disease’, namely, influenza or ‘the flu’. The worst outbreak of this disease is reported to have occurred during 1918 and to have killed many tens of millions of people. The number of people reported to have died as the result of this epidemic varies widely from about 20 million to about 100 million people, which raises many questions about the veracity of these claims and about the number of genuine casualties from the flu rather than from the effects of WWI. There are also many reports that claim the real duration of the ‘epidemic’ to have been far longer than a single year. The reason that a huge number of people died during this period is claimed to be because the disease was highly contagious; there are however, many problems with such claims; the ‘1918 Flu’ is discussed in greater detail in the next chapter.

The epidemic of 1918 is usually referred to as a ‘viral’ disease, although initially there were ideas that it was caused by a bacterium. Herbert Shelton describes some of the early experiments conducted on volunteers from the US Naval Detention camp to determine the alleged bacterial cause and to test the transmission of the disease. In his book entitled The Hygienic System: Vol VI Orthopathy, he describes one of the experiments conducted to test the transmission of the disease and explains that,

“Ten other men were carried to the bedside of ten new cases of influenza and spent 45 minutes with them. Each well man had ten sick men cough in his face.”

He records that the results of these experiments were that,

“None of these volunteers developed any symptoms of influenza following the experiment.”

It may be suggested that 10 is too small a number to be a statistically significant sample size, but this argument would miss the salient point, which is that each healthy man had ten sick men cough in his face and none of them became ill; a fact that contradicts the idea that viral particles ‘hitchhike’ onto saliva or mucous that is ejected from the body during a sneeze or cough. According to the ‘germ theory’, all of the healthy men should have been ‘infected’ by the viruses and become ill. The fact that they did not fall ill poses a direct and serious challenge to the basic assumption that ‘flu’ is infectious.

Exceptions to any rule is an indication that the ‘rule’ is flawed and needs to be re-examined; the empirical evidence is primary.

The lack of understanding by the medical establishment about the mechanism for the viral ‘infection’ of cells has not improved since the publication of the 2007 poliovirus article previously referred to; there remain both a lack of understanding about and an absence of proof of the mechanism involved. This lack of progress is indicated by an August 2015 article entitled A Non-enveloped Virus Hijacks Host Disaggregation Machinery to Translocate across the Endoplasmic Reticulum Membrane, which states that,

“How non-enveloped viruses penetrate a host membrane to enter cells and cause disease remains an enigmatic step.”

Dr Hillman identified the ‘endoplasmic reticulum’ as one of the artefacts that are generated as the result of the preparation procedures necessary to view viruses under an electron microscope.

The website of the Encyclopedia of Life (EoL), a project that promotes the medical establishment view, contains a page about ‘viruses’ and refers to them as ‘microscopic organisms’, which demonstrates the efforts to present the case that viruses are ‘alive’. To further promote this view, the EoL web page provides information about the stages in a ‘viral life cycle’, the first stage of which is claimed to be one in which a virus attaches itself to a cell; the page states that,

“Attachment is the intermolecular binding between viral capsid proteins and receptors on the outer membrane of the host cell.”

The problem with this explanation is that Dr Hillman also identified ‘receptors’ as cellular artefacts that are generated by the preparation procedures used in such experiments.

It is claimed that once a virus has penetrated the cell, it will replicate, which is said to initiate the ‘disease’ process. The EoL web page refers to numerous mechanisms involved in this process that include cell lysis and the ultimate death of the cell. The page makes the significant statement that,

“In multicellular organisms, if sufficient numbers of cells die, the whole organism may suffer gross metabolic disruption or even mortality.”

There is a huge problem with this statement, which is that many billions of human cells die every day; ‘cell death’ is a normal part of the processes of human life. The idea that cell death is synonymous with ‘disease’ is therefore highly misleading; it completely contradicts known biological functions of the human body.

The reason that cell death is perceived to be a ‘disease process’ is because this is what is likely to have been observed during laboratory experiments. However, there are genuine reasons for cells to die after tissue samples have been subjected to the various preparation procedures used in laboratory experimentation; as explained by Torsten Engelbrecht and Dr Köhnlein in Virus Mania,

“This phenomenon is particularly virulent in bacterial and viral research (and in the whole pharmaceutical development of medicines altogether) where laboratory experiments on tissue samples which are tormented with a variety of often highly reactive chemicals allow few conclusions about reality. And yet, conclusions are constantly drawn – and then passed straight on to the production of medications and vaccines.”

This explanation exposes the fundamental error in conducting laboratory research without an adequate understanding of the living organism that is the human body. It also clearly supports the conclusions drawn by Dr Hillman, that laboratory procedures affect the samples being investigated to the point that they bear no resemblance to ‘reality’.

Yet most scientific information about viruses is derived from laboratory experiments of this nature. In these experiments ‘viruses’ are reported to have replicated inside a cell, after which the cell dies. This process does not prove that the ‘virus’ killed the cell nor does it prove that the ‘virus’ initiates any disease processes; it merely proves that the cell died after the processes used in the experiments. These points are also raised in Virus Mania, in which the authors state that,

“Another important question must be raised: even when a supposed virus does kill cells in a test-tube (in vitro) … can we safely conclude that these findings can be carried over to a living organism (in vivo)?”

The assumption that a particular ‘viral particle’ causes a particular ‘infection’ is solely based on the claim that certain antibodies have sometimes been found in samples extracted from some people exhibiting certain symptoms; in other words, there appears to be a correlation between symptoms and antibodies. It should be noted that viruses are not detected directly.

However, many people are diagnosed as suffering from a ‘viral illness’ without any investigations or tests having been conducted to ascertain whether they have been infected by an allegedly pathogenic virus. A diagnosis is frequently based on the different symptoms that a patient experiences and reports to their doctor. People can also be discovered to have a ‘virus’ in their bodies without exhibiting the specific symptoms of the disease it is alleged to cause; this is claimed to represent the ‘dormant’ stage of the virus, as discussed on the EoL web page that states,

“Although viruses may cause disruption of normal homeostasis resulting in disease, in some cases viruses may simply reside inside an organism without significant harm.”

Although the virus may be ‘dormant’ and therefore harmless, it is claimed that there is a potential for the virus to be ‘activated’ and to initiate the relevant disease. In their efforts to justify the existence of an allegedly ‘dormant’ virus in the body, the medical establishment has created the term ‘latent infection’. The following extract from the Yale Medical group website page entitled All About Viruses shows how the medical establishment attempts to explain what is clearly an anomaly,

“Varicella viruses are examples of viruses that cause latent infections. The varicella-zoster virus remains in the body after causing the initial infection known as chicken pox. If it is re-activated, it travels through nerves to the skin, where it causes the blister-like lesions of shingles. The virus then returns to its dormant state.”

Despite the claim that they explain ‘all about viruses’, these statements are made without any supportive evidence; there is no explanation for any of these stages of an allegedly ‘latent infection’; nor is there any explanation for the mechanisms by which a virus becomes ‘dormant’ or is re-activated. Yet the ‘germ theory’ is still claimed to have been scientifically proven, and to provide a comprehensive and compelling explanation for ‘viruses’ and the ‘infectious diseases’ they are alleged to cause.

There are only a very few brave scientists who have been prepared to contradict the medical establishment and acknowledge publicly that viruses are not pathogenic. One such scientist is Dr Lynn Margulis, who states in Symbiotic Planet that,

“The point that bears mentioning, however, is that viruses are no more ‘germs’ and ‘enemies’ than are bacteria or human cells.”

Another of these brave scientists is Dr Stefan Lanka PhD, a German biologist who studied virology as well as molecular biology, ecology and marine biology.

An interview with Dr Lanka was conducted in 2005 for the online German newspaper Faktuell. The interview, which has fortunately been translated into English, reveals that the topics of discussion included bird flu and vaccination. During the interview Dr Lanka referred to his studies in molecular biology and made the bold claim that,

“In the course of my studies, I and others have not been able to find proof of the existence of disease-causing viruses anywhere.”

He continues to discuss his research and further explains that,

“Later we have discoursed on this publicly and have called on people not to believe us either but to check out themselves whether or not there are disease causing viruses.”

He also stated in the interview that he and a number of other people had been questioning the German authorities for the ‘proof’ of pathogenic viruses. He reports that the result of their efforts revealed that,

“… the health authorities are no longer maintaining that any virus whatsoever purportedly causing a disease has been directly proven to exist.”

This statement that no ‘disease-causing’ virus has been directly proven to exist highlights another crucial fact, which is that the ‘presence’ of a virus in the body is not determined directly, but only through the detection of antibodies that the body is alleged to have produced against the virus; there is no test that is able to directly detect the presence of a ‘whole virus’. The real purpose and function within the human body of these particles of genetic material contained within a protein coating are unknown; the claim that they cause disease remains entirely unproven.

Dr Lanka was also interviewed in April 2016; this time by David Crowe for his internet programme, The Infectious Myth, on the Progressive Radio Network. In this interview Dr Lanka again asserted that there is no evidence that proves any virus to be the cause of any disease, and that the theories about infectious diseases are wrong. He also discussed the details of his recent court case that arose from a challenge he had set a number of years earlier. This challenge was that a certain sum of money would be paid to anyone who produced genuine scientific ‘proof’ of the existence of the measles virus. The purpose of this challenge was to expose the fallacy of the claim that measles is caused by a virus.

In 2015 a German doctor accepted the challenge; the basis of his ‘proof’ was a set of six published papers that he claimed provided the necessary evidence. Dr Lanka, however, claimed that the papers did not contain the required evidence, and refuted the doctor’s claim to the ‘reward’ money. This dispute resulted in a court case that found in favour of the German doctor. The court’s decision that the papers provided the required ‘proof’ and that Dr Lanka had therefore ‘lost’ his case were widely reported in many media outlets, some of which also contained disparaging comments about Dr Lanka personally.

However, Dr Lanka maintained his claim that the papers did not provide the required proof and appealed against the court’s decision. The appeal was heard in early 2016 and the decision this time found in favour of Dr Lanka; in other words, it was found that the papers failed to provide the necessary ‘proof’. The mainstream media, however, were noticeably silent about the result of the appeal. The lack of media coverage of Dr Lanka’s successful appeal is revealing, especially as it coincided with reports about a number of ‘outbreaks’ of measles cases in the early months of 2016. But these reports studiously avoided making any reference to the court case that had demonstrated that no evidence exists that proves measles to be caused by a virus.

It should be clear from this discussion that no disease is caused by a virus.

In his interviews, Dr Lanka urges people to investigate for themselves if there is any genuine evidence for any ‘disease-causing viruses’. The authors of this book make the same request and ask people to investigate for themselves whether any ‘virus’ has been conclusively proven to be the cause of any infectious disease. Any investigation of this nature should involve contact with the organisations that claim viruses to be the cause of disease to ask them the following questions:

Is there an electron micrograph of the pure and fully characterised virus?

What is the name of the primary specialist peer reviewed paper in which the virus is illustrated and its full genetic information described?

What is the name of the primary publication that provides proof that a particular virus is the sole cause of a particular disease?

It is vitally important that any documents referred to by the organisation, should they reply, must be primary papers; textbooks or other reference materials that are not primary documents are not acceptable; they must provide primary evidence.

It should be noted that investigations of this nature, including those undertaken by virologists such as Dr Lanka, have failed to unearth any original papers that conclusively prove that any virus is the cause of any disease. In addition, as this discussion has demonstrated, the functions attributed to viruses in the causation of disease are based on assumptions and extrapolations from laboratory experiments that have not only failed to prove, but are incapable of proving, that viruses cause disease. The inert, non-living particles known as viruses do not possess the ability to perform such functions because they lack the necessary mechanisms.

The real nature and causes of diseases claimed to be ‘viral’ are discussed in greater detail in chapters four and ten.

Bacteria, unlike viruses, are living organisms.

However, like viruses, bacteria are erroneously accused of being pathogens.

It first became possible to observe microorganisms when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek invented his powerful microscope in 1676; however, as discussed, his study of these tiny entities did not involve an investigation of their possible connection with diseases.

The first ‘germ theory of disease’ was proposed by Dr Plenciz in 1762, but it was not until the 19th century that the Italian entomologist, Agostino Bassi performed experiments that are alleged to be the first to provide ‘proof’ for the theory. His initial investigations were in connection with a silkworm disease; it is claimed that he discovered the cause of this disease to be a microscopic fungus. This study led to further investigations, the result of which was that in 1844 he proposed the theory that human diseases were also caused by microorganisms; his theory therefore precedes that of Louis Pasteur.

During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, many diseases were rife throughout Europe; these diseases include typhus, cholera, tuberculosis and smallpox. It is claimed that smallpox alone was responsible for nearly half a million deaths each year during the 18th century. It was during this period that treatments for these diseases involved the use of measures that were described by William White as ‘a combination of absurdity with nastiness’. It must be noted that the insanitary conditions that existed in many of the towns and cities in England were also prevalent in many of the towns and cities throughout Europe.

However, this was also the period in which ‘science’ began its meteoric rise. The Scientific Revolution, which is said to have begun in the middle of the 16th century, saw many significant discoveries and inventions that overturned long-held ideas and beliefs about the world and how it worked.

Unfortunately, scientific investigations in the field of ‘medicine’ did not succeed in overturning the old belief that disease was the result of an attack by external entities. Instead, this basic assumption was retained and appeared to be supported by the discovery of microorganisms; a discovery that exerted, and continues to exert, a powerful influence on the direction of medical research. However, appearances can often be deceptive; a maxim that has proven to be entirely applicable to bacteria.

Although Louis Pasteur is regarded as the father of the germ theory, it is Dr Robert Koch who is regarded as the founder of modern bacteriology; nevertheless, like Louis Pasteur, Dr Koch is falsely venerated as a hero. It is widely claimed that Dr Koch provided the necessary ‘proof’ that certain diseases were caused by certain bacteria; but this is a mistaken claim, as will be demonstrated.

In order for him to test his theory that bacteria were the causes of disease, Dr Koch developed four Postulates that continue to bear his name. The first Postulate, which is the most crucial for determining a causal agent of disease, comprises two criteria, the first of which is that the microbe alleged to cause a specific disease must be found in all people suffering from that disease. The second criterion is that the microbe should not be found in anyone who does not have the disease it is claimed to cause. The logic of this first postulate is undeniable; any exception to either criterion means that the ‘microbe’ could not be the causal agent of the disease in question. This logic is recognised by Dr Peter Duesberg, who states in his book entitled Inventing the AIDS Virus that,

“A single exception would be enough to pronounce the microbe innocent of creating that disease.”

However, investigations of bacteria and their relationship to different diseases reveal the existence of exceptions to both criteria of Koch’s first postulate; bacteria have been found in the bodies of people who do not have the disease they are alleged to cause, and the relevant bacteria have not been found in all people with the disease they are alleged to cause. The significance of these exceptions is that they utterly refute the basic assumption that bacteria cause disease. These exceptions should have persuaded scientists like Dr Koch to reassess the ‘germ theory’, if not completely abandon it.

There was, and still is, a great reluctance to abandon or even reassess the theory; instead, efforts have been made to solve the anomalies raised by these exceptions by making adaptations to the theory. But these adaptations do not resolve the underlying anomalies; on the contrary, they introduce additional anomalies. The main problem is that the adapted theory retains the underlying assumption that ‘bacteria’ are pathogens; but it is precisely this assumption that is fundamentally flawed.

The adapted theory claims that people who have been found to ‘house’ bacteria, but not to have the disease they are alleged to cause, are ‘asymptomatic carriers’. The implication of this label is that carriers can transmit their bacteria to other people, who will then become ‘infected’ and fall ill with the disease; but this label fails to clarify the situation and only raises further questions.

There are many aspects of the original and adapted theories that remain unexplained; for example, there are no explanations for the mechanism by which bacteria are ‘transferred’ from the bodies of the ‘carrier’ to another person, or for the basic mechanism by which bacteria produce the variety of symptoms of an infectious disease. There is also no explanation for the fact that ‘asymptomatic carriers’ do not become ill; it is merely asserted that these people have a ‘latent infection’. But this assertion offers no explanation for the situation; the concept of a ‘latent infection’ directly contradicts the core assertion of the ‘germ theory’ that bacterial infections cause disease.

One alleged ‘pathogen’, that falls into the category of those that are said to produce ‘asymptomatic carriers’, is the common bacterium called Staphylococcus. It is widely reported that a ‘Staph infection’ causes illness; it is nevertheless acknowledged that this bacterium can be found on the skin of healthy people. This anomalous situation fails Koch’s first postulate; the bacterium cannot therefore be regarded as a ‘pathogen’. The significance of this bacterium is further discussed in the next section, because it is claimed to be a ‘superbug’ that causes a serious ‘MRSA infection’.

Another example that demonstrates the fallacy of the claim that specific bacteria cause specific diseases, or any disease at all, is that of Dr Max Pettenkofer MD, who Eleanor McBean reports to have swallowed, on more than one occasion, the contents of a glass containing millions of cholera bacilli in full view of a class of his students; yet it is reliably reported that Dr Pettenkofer failed to succumb to the disease.

Although it has been suggested by certain sections of the scientific community that Koch’s postulates are flawed, out-of-date and need to be revised, such a suggestion ignores the central point, which is that allegedly ‘pathogenic’ bacteria can be found in abundance in and on the bodies of healthy people. These bacteria cannot therefore be regarded as pathogens merely on the basis that they are sometimes found in some people who are ill. Dr Peter Duesberg states the logical conclusion succinctly,

“Simply finding a microbe is not enough to convict it of causing a disease.”

The analogy of discovering firemen at the scene of a fire and inappropriately accusing them of being the cause is yet again pertinent.

As discussed above, investigations also discovered a problem with the other criterion of Koch’s first postulate, which states that the bacterium must always be present in people with the disease it is alleged to cause; many exceptions to this ‘rule’ have also been found. In Orthopathy, Herbert Shelton provides some examples, one of which is from an article published in the journal The Lancet in 1898, which states that,

“Dr Beddow Bayly says that the diphtheria bacillus is missing in 14 per cent of cases of clinical diphtheria.”

Herbert Shelton cites a further example in which it had been found that 50 per cent of TB (tuberculosis) cases had failed to exhibit the tubercle bacillus and quotes Dr Hadwen’s words that,

“Nobody has ever found a tubercle bacillus in the early stages of tuberculosis.”

If the tubercle bacillus were the cause of TB, it would always be present at the very earliest stages of the disease. The significance of this example is that TB is one of the main diseases that Dr Koch is reputed to have ‘proven’ to be caused by a bacterium, and specifically by the tubercle bacillus. However, unlike the anomaly with the other component of the first postulate, there has been no adaptation of the theory to explain the absence of the bacterium in people with the disease it is alleged to cause. The subject of TB is discussed in more detail in chapters four and eight, as it remains a disease of significance.

It is important to refer again to the work of Dr Hillman in respect of observations of samples under a microscope, especially in view of the fact that bacteria are almost always fixed and stained before they are examined under a microscope; these procedures are said to be able to make bacteria easier to observe. It is reliably reported by many mainstream scientific sources that in his investigations and observations of bacteria within ‘diseased tissue’, Dr Koch used both fixing and staining preparation procedures. Whilst these procedures may assist the observation of bacteria, it is inappropriate to make assumptions about the actions of bacteria in a living human body, merely from observations of their presence in diseased tissue samples viewed under a microscope, after they have been subjected to fixing and staining processes. As Dr Lipton’s work showed, the condition of their environment has a direct effect on living samples, whether they are cells or bacteria.

In addition to the observation of bacteria under microscopes, many experiments have been conducted that are claimed to have ‘proved’ that bacteria are transmitted between people and that they are capable of causing the same disease after transmission. But the evidence, which shows that in many cases the ‘germ’ is absent when it should be present or present when it should be absent, means that there are fundamental flaws in the theory that cannot be ‘proved’ by experimentation. The monkey experiments used to ‘prove’ the transmission of polio is a pertinent example of flawed experimental methods that do not ‘prove’ what they are claimed to prove.

The assumption that bacteria are fundamentally pathogenic is continually challenged by discoveries about their real nature and functions.

One of the acknowledged facts is that bacteria live in a variety of habitats; as recognised by the establishment definition that states,

“Some live in soil, water or air …”

However, the definition makes the additional claim that,

“… others are parasites of humans, animals and plants.”

It is an error to refer to any bacterium as a parasite, the establishment definition of which refers to an organism that contributes nothing to the welfare of the host. Recent discoveries about bacteria show that some of the actions they perform include a number of vitally important functions that substantially contribute to the welfare of a variety of hosts.

Although the definition states that bacteria live in soil, their range of habitats in the ground extends beyond merely the soil; these habitats include, for example, the roots of certain plants in which they ‘fix’ the nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into the appropriate form for the plant to absorb. Bacteria also inhabit the digestive systems of animals, including humans; their functions in these habitats include processing foods to allow the release of vital nutrients for absorption into the body.

It has been estimated that the human body contains approximately 50 trillion cells; it has also been estimated that the human body contains a similar number of bacteria. It is abundantly clear that the human body is one of their natural habitats; which means it is therefore totally inappropriate to refer to bacteria as ‘invaders’ or as parasites of humans, or of any other living organism.

The discussion earlier in this chapter about the microorganisms that normally live in and on the body is particularly relevant to this section, as bacteria are by far the most common endogenous microorganisms; they are also the most often claimed to be simultaneously harmless and harmful. This anomaly is demonstrated by a July 2017 article entitled Commensal-to-pathogen transition: One-single transposon insertion results in two pathoadaptive traits in Escherichia coli-macrophage interaction, which states that,

“Escherichia coli is both a harmless commensal in the intestines of many mammals, as well as a dangerous pathogen.”

The article claims that genes are one of the factors that contribute to the bacteria’s ability to ‘switch’ from harmless to harmful; but it also exposes the poor level of understanding about the processes involved in such a ‘switch’ in the comment that,

“Our understanding of how often and by which mechanisms bacteria transit from a commensal to a pathogenic lifestyle is still far from complete.”

This lack of a complete understanding raises questions about the underlying assumption that bacteria make such a transition; the discussions in this section will demonstrate that there is no evidence that any bacterium is or becomes a ‘dangerous pathogen’.

Bacteria are extremely hardy; they live under some of the most extreme conditions, from extreme cold to extreme heat; they also live in some of the most hostile environments, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Some types of bacteria require oxygen for their survival, others cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. Some even have the ability to become dormant, if the conditions require it.

Bacteria can therefore be said to be truly ubiquitous.

It has been shown that bacteria are one of the most ancient ‘life-forms’ on Earth; their single-celled ancestors appeared at least three and a half billion years ago. Dr Peter Duesberg, a molecular biologist and also a member of the prestigious NAS, makes the comment in Inventing the AIDS Virus that,

“Microbes lived on this planet long before humans. We coexist with a sea of microbes and benefit from many, including those that naturally reside in the human body.”

There is, in reality, a very fundamental relationship between bacteria and all other life-forms on Earth; biologist Dr Lynn Margulis explains this relationship in her 1998 book, Symbiotic Planet,

“All life, we now know, evolved from the smallest life-forms of all, bacteria.”

Although this is an acknowledged fact within biology, the ‘information’ promulgated by the medical establishment remains focused on the idea that bacteria are pathogens; even though it has been recognised that most microorganisms are not pathogenic.

This is an inconsistency that continues to have serious consequences; it is therefore extremely important to expose the fallacy of the claim that any bacterium is a pathogen.

From the earliest investigations of bacteria, they have always been categorised as ‘germs’ and therefore as primary causal agents of disease. To the scientists of the 19th century, it seemed that the only relevant investigations to conduct were those that would discover which specific bacterium was the cause of which specific disease. Although shown to be erroneous, this approach has persisted throughout the field of medical research and has continued into the early 21st century.

There have, however, been some scientists who have investigated bacteria from a different perspective and realised that ‘science’ had misunderstood these microorganisms. One such scientist is Dr Ivan Wallin PhD, a microbiologist, who investigated the behaviour and functions of bacteria; the result of his work led him to state in 1927 that,

“Above all, it must be emphasised that our knowledge of the behaviour of bacteria is decidedly limited.”

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Dr Wallin’s peers were firmly of the opinion that bacteria were fundamentally pathogenic and refused to consider any other view.

Although knowledge about the behaviour and functions of bacteria has expanded since 1927, the medical establishment retains its intransigence. There is a continuing reluctance to relinquish the ‘germ theory’, for a variety of reasons, many of which are discussed in chapter nine; however, these reasons obviously include the fact that to do so would necessitate fundamental changes to the prevailing ‘healthcare system’.

Erroneous ideas about bacteria are slowly being changed as the result of new discoveries, and replaced with knowledge of their real functions, some of which are:

Bacteria are saprotrophic, which means that they feed on and break down dead organisms and release the nutrients back into the environment to be utilised by other organisms.

Bacteria break down waste products and are used in sewage treatment plants for just such a purpose.

Bacteria are involved in the cycles of important elements such as oxygen, nitrogen and carbon.

The discovery that bacteria are saprotrophic has profound implications, one of which is that it provides the most plausible explanation for their presence within diseased tissue. It is fully acknowledged within the wider field of science that bacteria are part of the community of ‘decomposers’ that break down dead organic matter, which includes the bodies of animals and humans. Their ability to decompose dead organic matter, which results in the release of nutrients into the ‘environment’, should not be considered to be a function that is performed solely on the death of an animal or human and only occurs in the external environment.

Human cells die every day; it is part of the normal processes of ‘life’, which include the processes necessary for the elimination of dead cells from the body. In addition to the dead cells that require removal is the added burden of damaged cells; this damage can occur as the result of different factors, but is mainly the result of exposures to toxins. The fact that bacteria act as saprotrophs means that they perform the function of decomposing damaged as well as dead materials within the body; a function that is similar to the break-down of food in the digestive system that results in the release of nutrients in the appropriate form for the body to absorb.

Another erroneous idea maintained by the medical establishment relates to blood and the bloodstream; as indicated by a December 2002 article entitled, Are There Naturally Occurring Pleomorphic Bacteria in the Blood of Healthy Humans which states that,

“In our search for spirochetes involved in Alzheimer’s disease, we observed pleomorphic bacteria in the blood of healthy human subjects …”

The article reports that the observation of bacteria in the blood of healthy human subjects was ‘surprising’; the reason that this is described as a surprise is because the bloodstream has long been believed to be a ‘sterile’ environment; but this is a mistaken belief. The medical establishment claims that the presence of bacteria in the blood represents an ‘infection’ or blood poisoning, also known as sepsis or septicaemia; but this too is erroneous; bacteria do not ‘infect’ or ‘poison’ the blood.

Although the article refers to the search for a spirochete, a type of bacterium, in Alzheimer’s disease, there is a great deal of evidence that demonstrates a far closer association between this disease and neurotoxins, particularly aluminium; the neurotoxic effects of aluminium were discussed in chapter two. However, the idea that bacteria may be involved in Alzheimer’s disease demonstrates just how deeply embedded the ‘germ theory’ is in the search for the causal agents of a wide variety of diseases, despite the huge volume of evidence demonstrating the existence of other and far more plausible causal factors.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms that, over the course of many billions of years of evolution, have developed into many forms. It has been discovered that the development of larger life-forms has occurred through a process called symbiosis. Dr Ivan Wallin PhD was one of the first proponents of the idea of symbiotic relationships; he was the first to recognise combinations of single-celled bacteria and their development into more complex multicellular life-forms.

In his 1927 book entitled Symbionticism and the origin of species, Dr Wallin explains the idea of symbiotic relationships and how, as the title suggests, they have played a significant role in the development of new species. His ideas were, unfortunately, rejected by his peers, who remained committed to the dogma that bacteria are fundamentally pathogenic. Fortunately, his ideas have not been totally ignored; one scientist who has followed and expanded upon his work is Dr Lynn Margulis, who has also recognised the erroneous theories about bacteria, as she explains in Symbiotic Planet,

“Microbes, especially bacteria, are touted as enemies and denigrated as germs.”

Unfortunately, Dr Wallin abandoned his research because of the attitude of his peers; a situation that substantially impeded the progress of scientific investigation in this field until Dr Margulis began to research his work and further develop his ideas. Whilst the evolution of new species, a major aspect of her research, is extremely interesting, it is not pertinent to the current discussion.

One of the most important aspects of Dr Wallin’s work is that it demonstrates that bacteria are the foundation of all ‘life’, which thoroughly refutes the claim that any of them can be ‘pathogenic’. One of Dr Wallin’s most profound discoveries was in respect of mitochondria, which are organelles that are present within most cells of animals, the main exception being red blood cells. Dr Wallin discovered that mitochondria are bacterial in origin and that,

“… mitochondria are living organisms, symbiotically combined within the cells of animals.”

Plants have similar organelles, called plastids, which, like the mitochondria of animals, are also bacterial in origin.

The fact that mitochondria and plastids are bacterial in origin is acknowledged within mainstream cell biology, as indicated by the 2002 textbook entitled Molecular Biology of the Cell, which states that,

“It is widely accepted that mitochondria and plastids evolved from bacteria …”

What is most surprising, considering the ramifications of this discovery, is that the idea that these organelles were produced from symbiotic relationships with bacteria is no longer controversial, as Dr Margulis explains,

“Acceptance of symbiotic origin for mitochondria and plastids was finalised with the discovery that both these kinds of organelles contain distinct DNA, separate from that of the nucleus and unequivocally bacterial in style and organization.”

Unfortunately, this information is not widely promulgated to the general public, who are constantly ‘informed’ that bacteria are dangerous pathogens, despite the fact that most cells in the human body contain mitochondria that are bacterial in origin.

Mitochondria perform an extremely important function, which is that of generating energy for the cell; this energy is in the form of a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), without an adequate production of which cells in the living organism would fail to function properly. The bacterial origin of mitochondria demonstrates the erroneous nature of the idea that bacteria are fundamental parasites that contribute nothing to the welfare of the host. There are serious consequences from the failure of the medical establishment to recognise the scientifically established facts about bacteria; the main consequence relates to the continuing use of antibiotics to ‘kill’ allegedly pathogenic bacteria; antibiotics are discussed in the next section.

The significance of bacteria to all forms of ‘life’ is indicated by Dr Margulis, who states in Symbiotic Planet that,

“We evolved from a long line of progenitors, ultimately from the first bacteria. Most evolution occurred in those beings we dismiss as ‘microbes’.”

Recognition of the importance of bacteria to all ‘life’ obviously poses a serious and direct challenge to the ‘germ theory’; the sums of money invested in the applications derived from it are far too large to readily permit a revelation that the theory is fatally flawed. The influence of ‘vested interests’, which is discussed in detail in chapter nine, is a major deterrent to any scientific investigation that would pose a challenge to their dominance; this means that investigations likely to question the ‘consensus’ view require efforts that are rarely acknowledged or appreciated, as Dr Margulis indicates,

“Our culture ignores the hard-won fact that these disease ‘agents’, these ‘germs’, also germinated all life.”

It is a commonplace within science for new ideas to be ‘hard-won’, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for certain new ideas to be accepted, especially if they do not accord with the ‘consensus’ view. The problems with the requirement for all scientists to accept and support the ‘consensus’ are also discussed in chapter nine.

One of the many fascinating attributes of bacteria is their ability to change their form; an attribute referred to as pleomorphism. Science orthodoxy almost exclusively teaches bacterial monomorphism, which means that all forms with the same shape belong to the same species but do not change into other forms. It has, however, been acknowledged that there are some exceptions to the rule of bacterial monomorphism, but that these exceptions are restricted to only a few types of bacteria and occur in only specific circumstances.

Pleomorphism is not, however, a newly recognised phenomenon. In his 1938 book entitled Impaired Health: Its Cause and Cure, Dr John Tilden MD discusses the changes that bacteria can undergo and, although he does not use the term ‘pleomorphism’, it is clear that this is the phenomenon he refers to in the following statement,

“That the explorers of the microscopic world have some excuse for the infinite number of varieties already discovered, there is no question; for these infinitely small beings have the habit of taking on an individuality, or personality, in keeping with the chemic changes of the medium with which they are correlated.”

The phenomenon of pleomorphism was discussed even earlier by Dr Ivan Wallin in his 1927 book, in which he states that,

“It has further been established that the morphology of a microorganism may be altered by changing the environmental factors.”

Dr Wallin refers to pleomorphism exhibited by mitochondria, which is not surprising considering that the genetic material of mitochondria is bacterial in nature. However, he refers to experiments that had investigated the effects of phosphorus poisoning on mitochondria, which were discovered to have undergone pleomorphic modifications. These experiments clearly corroborate the assertion that bacteria are affected by the chemical nature and composition of their environment.

Unfortunately, the scientific community has great difficulties in accepting pleomorphism as a phenomenon exhibited by most, if not all, bacteria; a situation that Dr Milton Wainwright PhD discusses in his 1997 article entitled Extreme Pleomorphism and the bacterial life cycle: a forgotten controversy, in which he states that,

“Nearly all modern microbiologists belong to the monomorphic school …”

Although he states that most microbiologists reject pleomorphism, it is nevertheless, a genuine phenomenon; the demand for scientific consensus denies the emergence of new ideas, which impedes scientific progress. Fortunately, there is a growing recognition of pleomorphism, even if of a limited nature, as Dr Wainwright indicates,

“Reports of the existence of limited pleomorphism continue to appear somewhat infrequently in the modern literature.”

One group of bacteria that are acknowledged to be ‘highly pleomorphic’ are Rickettsiae, which include the bacterium claimed to be the causal agent of typhus, which Florence Nightingale claimed was not caused by a ‘new infection’ but by the worsening conditions within the hospital wards.

Another bacterium known to be pleomorphic is Deinococcus radiodurans; which, interestingly, has not been claimed to be the causal agent of any disease. A 2009 article entitled, Nutrition induced pleomorphism and budding mode of reproduction in Deinococcus radiodurans states that the researchers,

“… observed different forms of the bacterium morphology by varying the culture medium concentration.”

Although the researchers only varied the concentration of the culture medium, these changes nevertheless resulted in the bacteria altering their forms according to the nature of the environment in which they were placed. The observation of different morphologies demonstrates that bacteria are highly adaptable and that they adapt their form according to the conditions of the environment they inhabit. The article also provides an interesting revelation in the admission that,

“The conflicting aspect of the true morphology of the bacterium in natural environment and observed morphology in laboratory conditions always posed questions to microbiologists.”

This ‘conflict’ demonstrates that bacteria exhibit different behaviours within the confines of the laboratory from those within their natural environment; it also emphasises the serious consequences that can arise from assumptions made from the results of laboratory experiments that are extrapolated to ‘nature’ and to situations in the real world. The article reveals that most microbiologists do not have an adequate level of knowledge about bacteria in one of their ‘natural’ habitats; the living human body.

Although pleomorphism is acknowledged to exist, most medical establishment sources interpret the phenomenon to refer to changes that merely involve a ‘variation’ in the shape or size of bacteria rather than a complete change in their form. This denial of the existence of full pleomorphism is another situation that can be attributed to the rigid adherence to the dogma that bacteria are ‘germs’; that they cause disease and therefore need to be killed by antibiotic medicines or prevented by vaccines. Dr Wainwright was certainly aware of the difficulties of gaining acceptance by the medical establishment for the concept of full or ‘extreme’ pleomorphism; he states that,

“While claims for such limited pleomorphism offend no one, modern reports of extreme pleomorphism are likely to suffer derision, or more usually just be ignored.”

Deriding claims and ignoring evidence do not constitute a scientific method of disproving the veracity of claims about any phenomena.

It is obvious that pleomorphism does not fit the existing ‘consensus’ view of bacteria; but it does provide a compelling explanation for the variety of bacterial forms that are often mistakenly believed to be distinctly different entities, each of which is claimed to be the causal agent of a distinctly different disease.

It is the contention of some people, particularly in the ‘alternative health’ community, that bacteria only become pathogenic under certain conditions; that they only play a secondary role in disease. This view claims that bacteria are not the original cause of disease, but that they proliferate as the direct result of disease. It is further claimed that it is the proliferation of the bacteria that directly contributes to the worsening of the disease due to the ‘toxins’ released by these ‘bad’ bacteria.

The idea that ‘bacterial toxins’ are the causes of many illnesses is fundamentally flawed; the main reason is due to the normal presence in the body of many trillions of bacteria. If only a tiny percentage of the trillions of bacteria in the body produced ‘toxins’ people would always be ill, from the moment of birth and throughout their entire lives. If any of these toxins were truly ‘deadly’, it raises the question of how life could ever have begun, considering that bacteria are one of the earliest ‘life-forms’.

In his book entitled Food Is Your Best Medicine, Dr Henry Bieler MD discusses the role of bacteria and explains why they are found in diseased tissue,

“After the cells have been damaged by toxic wastes, it is easy for bacteria, as scavengers, to attack and devour the weakened, injured and dead cells.”

His use of the word ‘scavenger’ and his description of bacterial activity as an ‘attack’ may appear misleading, but Dr Bieler does not accuse bacteria of causing disease; he is expressing recognition of their function as decomposers of dead and damaged cells.

The idea that bacteria play a secondary role in disease has also been claimed to have been proved by experiments in which examination of diseased tissue in its early stages revealed no bacteria, but that later stages of the disease revealed the presence of bacteria. A suggestion of this kind ignores the acknowledged fact that bacteria are saprotrophic; a fact that fully explains their presence at the site of severely damaged tissue, which is to be ‘decomposed’ and eliminated from the body.

Organic materials are acknowledged to be decomposed through ‘biodegradation’, which refers to the processes carried out by microorganisms, especially bacteria; this clearly demonstrates that the scientific community recognises that bacteria are saprotrophic. A number of investigations have discovered that many different materials can be biodegraded by different organisms.

The use of microorganisms to biodegrade environmental pollutants is known by the term ‘bioremediation’; as indicated by a July 2010 article entitled Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminants: An Overview, which discusses bioremediation and states that,

“Many indigenous microorganisms in water and soil are capable of degrading hydrocarbon contaminants.”

Bacteria are not the only decomposers, other organisms have also been recognised to be saprotrophic; however, bacteria are particularly effective in the biodegradation of important environmental pollutants, as the article states,

“Bacteria are the most active agents in petroleum degradation … Several bacteria are even known to feed exclusively on hydrocarbons.”

This therefore demonstrates an extremely useful and beneficial property of bacteria, but their usefulness in the processes of bioremediation should not be used to justify the continued production and use of petrochemical products that pollute and contaminate the environment; as will be discussed in greater detail in chapter six.

Bacteria are also capable of biodegrading many other pollutants, such as heavy metals, as indicated by a 1998 article entitled Physical properties and heavy metal uptake of encapsulated Escherichia coli expressing a metal binding gene. This article is extremely revealing because E. coli are regarded as a major cause of food poisoning, but it is also widely recognised that E. coli normally reside in the intestines of healthy people. These bacteria are regarded as both commensal and pathogenic; the anomalous nature of this claim was previously mentioned. The fact that they are found in healthy people who do not suffer from ‘food poisoning’ is a situation that fails to meet Koch’s first postulate, which means that E. coli cannot be the cause of any disease, including ‘food poisoning’.

The CDC website provides information about E. coli on a page entitled What are Escherichia coli? which includes the following surprising admission,

“It does get a bit confusing – even to microbiologists.”

The idea that microbiologists are confused about any bacterium demonstrates that there are serious and fundamental problems with the ‘germ theory’ on which they base their work, and also corroborates the assertion that the medical establishment possesses a poor level of understanding about these microorganisms.

There is certainly a great deal of information about bacteria still to be discovered. Nevertheless, the knowledge that has accumulated since Dr Koch conducted his experiments in the late 19th century demonstrates that his theory that they are the causes of disease needs to be abandoned. The growing weight of evidence shows that the real functions of bacteria are far from ‘disease-causing’; their role is an important one that is vital for the continuing existence of life on Earth.

Dr Margulis, in particular, recognised the amazing attributes of bacteria and was able to contemplate them from a completely different perspective than that of most scientists, as indicated by her comment that,

“Life is an incredibly complex interdependence of matter and energy among millions of species beyond (and within) our own skin.”

Life is indeed complex and interdependent. The world is not a battleground, in which the germs must be killed, because clearly what kills the germs will surely kill all life-forms.

Dr Stefan Lanka provides an eloquent summary in his 2005 interview for Faktuell,

“The basis of biological life is togetherness, is symbiosis, and in this there is no place for war and destruction.”

The establishment definition of an antibiotic refers to it as,

“a substance, produced by or derived from a microorganism, that destroys or inhibits the growth of other microorganisms.”

Antibiotics are used primarily in the treatment of ‘bacterial infections’; they are considered to be ineffective for ‘viral infections’.

The first antibiotic to be developed was penicillin, which is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest achievements of ‘modern medicine’.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The discussion in the first section of this chapter revealed that the medical establishment is fully aware of the fact that most bacteria are harmless. The discussion in the previous section revealed that the medical establishment is fully aware of the fact that many trillions of bacteria normally reside within the human body. These revelations demonstrate that the use of antibiotics to destroy bacteria in the name of ‘healthcare’ is an error of incalculable proportions.

The justification for their use is that antibiotics are claimed to have the ability to ‘target’ bacterial cells, as indicated by a March 2006 article entitled How do antibiotics kill bacterial cells but not human cells that states,

“It is the selective action of antibiotics against bacteria that makes them useful in the treatment of infections …”

The explanation within the article includes the claim that,

“… modern antibiotics act either on processes that are unique to bacteria … or on bacterium-specific targets.”

Chapter one demonstrated that pharmaceuticals are incapable of only acting on a specific ‘target’. The same applies to antibiotics; the fact that they do not solely act on ‘bad’ bacteria is acknowledged by the establishment definition which states that,

“They may alter the normal microbial content of the body (e.g. in the intestine, lungs, bladder) by destroying one or more groups of harmless or beneficial organisms …”

The fact that the bacterial community within the human body is estimated to number many tens of trillions may imply that the loss of some beneficial groups is not a serious problem. But this is a flawed idea; more importantly, it misses the salient point, which is that antibiotics cause damage and their effects are not limited to the bacterial cells they are claimed to ‘target’.

Dr Henry Bieler MD, who studied the functions of the endocrine glands, explains in Food is Your Best Medicine the real mechanism of action of penicillin in the body,

“Penicillin often accomplishes truly miraculous results by whipping the endocrine glands into hyperactivity.”

Although Dr Bieler refers to ‘miraculous results’ it is clear that he does not mean that penicillin ‘works’ as it is claimed to do; instead, he explains that the endocrine glands respond to the toxicity of penicillin and stimulate the body to expel it. This is shown by his further comment about penicillin, which he refers to as,

“… so toxic that it is thrown out by the kidneys just a few seconds after it is injected …”

There are many different types of antibiotics, penicillin is just one, although some of the most commonly used antibiotics are of the penicillin family; the forms in which antibiotics are administered include pills and liquids as well as injections.

The key point is that, whatever their type or form, all antibiotics are inherently toxic; they are produced with the specific intention of destroying microorganisms; but their effects cause harm to more than their intended target ‘victim’. As Dr Bieler has indicated, the endocrine glands are affected by the toxicity of the antibiotics and, in particular, it is the adrenal glands that are stimulated to release large volumes of their secretions into the bloodstream. The hyperactivity of the adrenals may result in the reduction of pain, fever and certain other symptoms, but these benefits have not been achieved by the action of the antibiotics; they are only achieved by the actions of the body.

It is clear, therefore, that antibiotics perform no ‘miracle’.

Their ability to cause harm has been recognised, albeit to a limited extent, by the medical establishment; for example, the UK NHS states that,

“The most common side effects of antibiotics affect the digestive system.”

The ‘side effects’ listed include vomiting and diarrhoea, both of which are direct effects of the ingestion of the antibiotic drugs and are clear indications of the body’s efforts to eliminate substances recognised to be toxic.

The medical establishment does make one claim that is correct; this is the claim that antibiotics are overused; but this is an understatement because antibiotics should never be used, for all of the reasons discussed in this chapter.

A recent development in the treatment of ‘bacterial infections’ is that antibiotics appear to be losing their effectiveness; a situation that is claimed to be the result of their overuse, and interpreted to be caused by the ability of the microbes to develop ‘resistance’ to the drugs used to combat them.

The poor level of understanding about the functions of the human body, in conjunction with the rigid adherence to the ‘germ theory’, continue to inspire the medical establishment to generate theories that bear little or no resemblance to reality. This situation is demonstrated by the February 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Antibiotic resistance, which claims that,

“A growing number of infections … are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.”

Although no explanation is offered for the mechanism by which bacteria develop ‘resistance’ to antibiotics, the fact sheet claims that,

“Antibiotic resistance occurs naturally, but misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the process.”

This claim is fundamentally flawed; it is the use of antibiotics, not their ‘misuse’ that is the cause of this problem.

It may be that the pleomorphic nature of bacteria enables them to adapt their morphology and develop resistance to antibiotics; but the refusal to recognise the existence of bacterial pleomorphism has impeded a thorough investigation of ‘drug resistance’ and, if this is a genuine phenomenon, the mechanism of action by which this is accomplished. However, whatever the mechanism by which resistance occurs, this is not the real issue; the fundamental problem is the belief that bacteria are ‘germs’ that need to be destroyed and the development and use of toxic substances to kill them.

The reason that antibiotics appear to have become less effective in the treatment of ‘bacterial infections’ is due to a mistaken belief about their mechanism of action within the body. If an ‘infection’ fails to heal after an initial course of antibiotics, additional courses will often be prescribed; but these drugs only continue to stimulate the endocrine system and especially the adrenal glands. The result of this prolonged stimulation is that these glands will become weakened, which will impair their ability to perform their functions, some of which are extremely important, such as controlling metabolism and activating the body’s response to stress.

Repeated courses of antibiotics will precipitate further and more serious health problems, which may be interpreted as the loss of effectiveness of the antibiotics and drug resistance, or as being another ‘disease’ for which the patient will be treated with another course of similarly toxic pharmaceutical drugs. One of the possible outcomes from repeated courses of antibiotics is an increased risk of cancer; as indicated by an April 2017 article entitled Antibiotic ‘link to bowel cancer precursor’ which states that,

“People who take antibiotics for a long time are more likely to develop growths on the bowel which can be a precursor to cancer, a study suggests.”

The long-term use of antibiotics will never resolve health problems, because, as Dr Bieler states,

“Stimulating an exhausted body by means of drugs is just as nonsensical as whipping a tired horse to make it work.”

The endocrine system, which is discussed in more detail in chapters six and seven, regulates a wide variety of vital processes throughout the body; it is therefore a matter of extreme importance that this system functions as efficiently as possible.

In addition to the perceived problem of ‘antibiotic resistance’ is that of ‘antimicrobial resistance’, which, according to the February 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Antimicrobial resistance,

“… threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi.”

The discussions throughout this chapter demonstrate that this statement is fundamentally flawed.

The erroneous claim that microbes cause infections and the mistaken ideas about antibiotics have led to the creation of another category of ‘germs’. These are ‘superbugs’, a label used to describe bacteria that are claimed to have become resistant to many widely-used antibiotics. One of the most common superbugs is called MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), the establishment definition of which is,

“an increasingly common dangerous bacterium that is resistant to many antibiotics.”

Methicillin is an antibiotic of the penicillin family.

The establishment definition of Staphylococcus states that,

“Some species are saprophytes; others parasites.”

The discussion in the previous section showed that this bacterium, which can be found in many parts of the body, especially the skin, hair, nose and throat, is commonly found in healthy people. This situation defies Koch’s first postulate; a bacterium that can be found in healthy people cannot be a pathogen; it certainly cannot be described as dangerous.

It is claimed that only ‘some’ strains of this bacterium are resistant to antibiotics, but this does not mean that any strain is able to cause disease. It should be noted that Staphylococcus is recognised to be pleomorphic; which may provide an insight into a likely explanation for their appearance in many ‘strains’ and for their apparent ‘resistance’ to antibiotics in laboratory cell-culture experiments.

The concern about the overuse of antibiotics is certainly justified; but the solution to this problem is not justifiable, because it is proposed that better, meaning stronger, antibiotics need to be developed to tackle ‘superbugs’. Many fear-mongering reports have been generated about the possible consequences if a solution cannot be found; a typical example of which is a May 2016 article entitled Global antibiotics ‘revolution’ needed that claims,

“Superbugs, resistant to antimicrobials, are estimated to account for 700,000 deaths each year.”

The article also reports that this number is estimated to increase to 10 million by the year 2050 if the ‘problem’ is not solved. It should be clear that ‘better’ antibiotics cannot provide the solution to this problem; instead they will exacerbate the situation. As increasing numbers of people take repeated courses of stronger and more toxic antibiotics, they will certainly suffer from worsening health problems.

The UK Government commissioned a review to investigate the problem of resistance; the result of which was a report entitled Review on Antimicrobial Resistance that is available from the website (amr-review.org); the report claims that,

“Routine surgeries and minor infections will become life-threatening once again and the hard won victories against infectious diseases of the last fifty years will be jeopardized.”

These claims are unfounded; the use of antibiotics is not the reason that these so-called ‘infectious diseases’ ceased to be ‘life-threatening’.

One of the reasons for the reduction in mortality after surgery was due to the introduction of hygienic practices for surgeons. The credit for this success is usually attributed to Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, who, in the mid-19th century, recommended that surgeons wash their hands in between each operation. Unfortunately, this hygienic practice is usually reported as being a good example of ‘infection control’; but the use of the word ‘infection’ is only correct in the context of a reference to something that pollutes or contaminates.

Prior to these hygienic practices, many surgeons did not thoroughly wash their hands between operations; their hands would therefore be contaminated by blood and other bodily matter from their previous patient, and it was this ‘matter’ that poisoned the patient on whom the surgeon next operated. It was as the result of this ‘noxious matter’ introduced into their bodies that patients suffered from ‘blood poisoning’, which led to a high rate of post-surgical mortality; it was not due to an infection with a ‘germ’.

Until it is realised that bacteria are not an ‘enemy’ that must be destroyed, the continuing use of antibiotics will continue to pose health problems of ever-increasing intensity for increasing numbers of people around the world.

It is clear that the real problem to be solved is the rigid adherence by the medical establishment to the ‘germ theory’; it is only when they cease to believe in ‘germs’ as the causes of disease that the use of antibiotics will also finally cease.

The previous discussion referred to the WHO claim that ‘antimicrobial resistance’ poses a serious threat to effective treatments for ‘infections’ caused by a variety of pathogens. Although viruses and bacteria are considered the most common, they are not the only microorganisms claimed to be pathogenic.

The establishment definition of a pathogen refers to a microorganism that is a parasite, the establishment definition of which is,

“any living thing that lives in or on another living organism.”

This definition also includes the claim that,

“Human parasites include fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms.”

The impression conveyed by these two statements is that the terms pathogen and parasite are virtually synonymous.

The previous discussions about viruses and bacteria have demonstrated the fundamentally erroneous nature of the claim that either of them is parasitic or pathogenic. This error means that the other microorganisms referred to as pathogens also require discussion to demonstrate that they too are fundamentally misunderstood and incorrectly classified as ‘germs’.

There is, however, an exception; worms are not microorganisms; and they only become ‘parasites’ under very specific circumstances.

Fungi are neither plants nor animals; they belong to a separate biological classification. The establishment definition of fungus claims that,

“They live either as saprophytes or as parasites of plants and animals …”

The website of the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) explains more specifically that,

“The vast majority of fungi are saprophytic …”

It is technically incorrect to use the term ‘saprophytic’ for fungi, because the suffix ‘_phyt’ is derived from the Greek word for ‘plant’ and fungi are not plants; the correct term is saprotrophic.

The RHS statement indicates that it is only a small minority of fungi that can be referred to as ‘parasites’; saprotrophs are not parasitic. This raises the question of whether any types of fungus can be referred to as either parasitic or pathogenic.

The 1996 4th edition of the textbook Medical Microbiology is accessible on the NIH website. Chapter 74 of this book was written by Dr George Kobayashi PhD, who indicates that fungi are not fundamentally pathogenic,

“Fungi rarely cause disease in healthy immunocompetent hosts.”

Dr Kobayashi does, however, claim that some fungi cause disease.

The reference to a healthy immune system that is able to prevent a fungal disease is identical to the explanation used for people who are allegedly ‘infected’ by either a bacterium or a virus, but who fail to become ill. This means that, like viruses and bacteria, fungi cannot be fundamentally pathogenic if their ability to cause disease requires other factors to be involved in the process.

The discussion about bacteria demonstrated that their attribute of being saprotrophic has a beneficial function for the human body. The fact that fungi are also recognised as saprotrophic therefore requires a reassessment of their presence in the body.

It is claimed that many types of fungus can cause ‘infections’ in the body. One type of fungus alleged to do so is Candida; but this yeast is recognised to be yet another normal resident of the human body. Its ability to cause ‘infection’ is said to be triggered by an imbalance in the normal microbial community, and that it is this imbalance that causes an overgrowth of Candida. One of the causes of an imbalance is attributed to the overuse of antibiotics.

A particularly interesting statement made by Dr Kobayashi more than two decades ago in the textbook cited above, is that,

“A few fungi have developed a commensal relationship with humans and are part of the indigenous microbial flora …”

The term commensal refers to a relationship in which one organism benefits from another but without adversely affecting it. This indicates the existence of a very different relationship between fungus and host from that of a parasitic one.

Scientific investigations continue to produce some interesting discoveries about the variety of normal ‘inhabitants’ of the human body; as indicated by a May 2013 article entitled The emerging world of the fungal microbiome which states that,

“Every human has fungi as part of their microbiota, but the total number of fungal cells is orders of magnitude smaller than that of the bacterial microbiota.”

The presence of different fungi in the body is therefore not the result of an ‘invasion’; they should therefore not be regarded as ‘parasites’. The article also makes the revealing admission that,

“The vast majority of studies have focused on fungal outgrowth when the host is compromised, with little known about the dynamics of the mycobiome during health.”

The ‘mycobiome’, which is different from the ‘microbiome’, refers to the normal community of fungi that live in the human body.

The previous section discussed how injected antibiotics cause the body to ‘supercharge’ the endocrine system and that this leaves the body in a weakened state; it also discussed how ingested antibiotics affect the digestive system. All antibiotics therefore make the body more susceptible to increased cell damage from their toxic effects; this would readily explain the increased presence of Candida after many courses of antibiotics.

The presence in the human body of fungi needs to be recognised as normal; their role should be regarded as providing assistance in the body’s normal processes of decomposition of dead cells and other detritus, and their removal from the body.

The ability of ‘science’ to develop a better understanding of the role and functions of fungi is hampered by the same obstacles that exist for bacteria and viruses; which is the medical establishment dogma that they are mostly pathogenic and need to be killed with toxic treatments.

The establishment definition of protozoa refers to,

“a group of microscopic single-celled organisms.”

It adds the statement that,

“Most protozoa are free-living but some are important disease-causing parasites of humans …”

The three examples listed by the definition are Plasmodium, Leishmania and Trypanosoma, which are said to be the causal agents of malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis, respectively.

The term ‘protozoa’ is derived from the Greek words for ‘first’ and ‘animal’. Dr Lynn Margulis, however, refutes this terminology and states that they cannot be referred to as ‘animals’ because,

“All animals and all plants develop from embryos, which are by definition multicellular.”

Dr Margulis asserts that living organisms should be classified into five kingdoms, one of which she names ‘protoctists’. Her reason for this separate classification is because these organisms are different from those belonging to the other four kingdoms, which refer to animals, plants, fungi and bacteria.

Scientific investigations have continued to discover the wide variety of ‘microbiota’ that normally inhabit the human body; a July 2011 article entitled Microbial Eukaryotes in the Human Microbiome: Ecology, Evolution and Future Directions states that,

“Microbial eukaryotes are an important component of the human gut microbiome.”

The article refers specifically to microbes that are normal residents of the human digestive system, which is the main focus of the study. The digestive system is not, however, the only part of the body in which microbes reside. Although the article discusses the role of bacteria and fungi, it also refers to other microorganisms that are called protists, which are part of the category that Dr Margulis refers to as protoctists. The article makes the interesting statement that,

“While intestinal protistan parasites are often considered a tropical malady, they are actually broadly distributed across the globe, and their prevalence within a population is often linked to poor sanitation of human waste.”

Yet again the problem of poor sanitation is associated with poor health; this is no ‘coincidence’. There is no need to invoke the existence of ‘germs’ to understand that living in close proximity to human and animal waste matter is extremely unhealthy. The presence of bacteria and fungi in waste matter is due to their functions as saprotrophs; this is, after all, the reason that bacteria are utilised in sewage treatment plants.

The revelation that these ‘parasites’ occur throughout the globe, without necessarily causing disease, is highlighted by another significant statement in the article, which is that,

“… many people infected with known parasites … are asymptomatic.”

Clearly, if people have no symptoms, they cannot be regarded as ill, which means that they cannot have been ‘infected’ by a pathogen, which, by definition, is the causal agent of disease. These inconsistencies require a further examination of the diseases these ‘parasites’ are alleged to cause.

Malaria is regarded as one of the greatest killer diseases, especially in ‘developing’ countries; but there is a growing body of evidence that refutes the fundamental claim that it is caused by the ‘parasite’ known as Plasmodium.

The subject of malaria is discussed in detail in chapter eight, but some of the evidence that serves to deny its parasitic cause indicates that malaria is another condition that often occurs as the result of unhealthy living conditions. This evidence is indicated by Herbert Shelton with reference to the work of Dr M L Johnson PhD, who wrote an article for the periodical New Biology that was published during the mid-20th century. Dr Johnson is quoted as having written that,

“Where social conditions have been improved, malaria has gradually receded before any special measures have been taken to conquer it.”

In addition to the claim by the medical establishment that people who live in ‘malaria endemic’ areas of the world are most at risk from contracting the disease is a further, but totally contradictory claim; this latter claim is demonstrated by the WHO January 2016 position paper on the subject of a malaria vaccine that states,

“Adults who have lived in areas with high malaria transmission since childhood and remain resident in such areas are generally not at risk of death from malaria.”

This statement indicates that people can be ‘immune’ to malaria; yet it completely contradicts the claim that malaria is a highly dangerous disease. The only reason for promoting the idea that people can become immune to malaria, which is otherwise regarded as ‘deadly’, would be to justify the introduction of a vaccine. Both views are, however, incorrect as will be demonstrated in chapter eight.

The Leishmania parasite is regarded as the cause of leishmaniasis, which is said to have three forms. The parasite is said to be transmitted by sandflies to the human body, where it invades the cells of the lymphatic system, spleen and bone marrow and causes disease. The functions of the lymphatic system include the elimination from the body of toxins and other waste matter; which strongly indicates that this condition has a toxic rather than parasitic cause. The treatment of leishmaniasis includes drugs that contain antimony, which is highly toxic and therefore exacerbates the condition.

The March 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Leishmaniasis refers to the ‘risk factors’ for the disease and states,

“Poor housing and domestic sanitary conditions (such as a lack of waste management or open sewerage) may increase sandfly breeding and resting sites …”

The use of the word ‘may’ indicates that it has not been proven that these conditions induce sandflies to select them for their breeding and resting sites. Sandflies, like mosquitoes, are blood-suckers, which indicates the reason for their presence in close proximity to humans or other animals; but this does not prove that sandflies transmit ‘disease’. Furthermore, under the heading Key facts, the fact sheet makes the increasingly common claim that,

“Only a small fraction of those infected by Leishmania parasites will eventually develop the disease.”

However, one of the forms of the disease, which is called kala-azar, is claimed to be fatal if left untreated; a situation that contrasts starkly with the idea that the majority of ‘infections’ will not result in the disease. The inconsistencies within these claims make it clear that the ‘parasite’ cannot be the cause of any illness; the insanitary living conditions, as well as other factors, invariably play a far more significant role.

Trypanosoma is another parasite that is said to cause various diseases, one of which is called trypanosomiasis. The April 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Trypanosomiasis, human African (sleeping sickness) states that it is transmitted by tsetse flies, but also that,

“For reasons that are so far unexplained, in many regions where tsetse flies are found, sleeping sickness is not.”

The obvious explanation for this anomaly is that tsetse flies do not transmit the parasite or the disease; the fact sheet also claims that,

“Without treatment, sleeping sickness is considered fatal although cases of healthy carriers have been reported.”

The existence of ‘healthy carriers’ demonstrates that the alleged ‘parasite’ cannot be the cause of this disease. In Natural Hygiene: Man’s Pristine Way of Life, Herbert Shelton discusses ‘septic infection’; it must be noted that his use of the term ‘sepsis’ refers to ‘poisoning’ not to ‘infection’. In his discussion, he states that ‘poisoning’ is capable of causing sleeping sickness.

The claim that protozoa are parasites that are the cause of deadly diseases is clearly unfounded.

There is overwhelming evidence that thoroughly refutes the claims that these illnesses are caused by ‘parasites’; insanitary living conditions together with other factors have a far more profound effect; as the discussions in chapter eight will demonstrate.

The term used for a ‘parasitic worm’ is ‘helminth’, the establishment definition of which is,

“any of the various parasitic worms, including the flukes, tapeworms and nematodes.”

This has given rise to the label ‘helminthiasis’, the establishment definition of which refers to,

“the diseased condition resulting from an infestation with parasitic worms (helminths).”

Worms are the exception referred to in the discussion about other ‘germs’. There are some types of worm that can and do enter the human body, and these are invariably of the kind that are visible to the naked eye, and are therefore not microorganisms. Their presence usually, although not exclusively, occurs in the digestive system; but this only occurs under certain circumstances.

As indicated by the definition, the medical establishment claims that it is an ‘infestation’ that causes the disease, but this is not the case; in reality, it is a diseased condition that precedes an infestation of worms.

The idea that the ‘diseased’ condition precedes the presence of worms in the digestive system is explained by Herbert Shelton in Orthopathy, in which he cites the words of Dr John Tilden MD, who states that,

“It should not be forgotten that parasites will not find lodgement in the intestinal tract of normally healthy people.”

Herbert Shelton adds his own comment that,

“Tapeworm and hookworm cannot develop in a normal stomach and bowels.”

By ‘normal’ he means a ‘healthy’ digestive system; in other words, one that has not been overloaded with a variety of ‘toxic’ materials.

In Natural Hygiene: Man’s Pristine Way of Life, Herbert Shelton states that the worms that inhabit the digestive system feed on what he refers to as ‘morbid materials’; which is a clear indication of the importance of diet in matters of health.

It is recognised that the functions of earthworms include the decomposition of dead material, but the only references to the functions of other worms describe them as ‘parasitic’ and pathogenic’; this is an area that requires further scientific investigation.

The treatments for ‘helminthiasis’ include ‘albendazole’, which is recommended by the WHO, as indicated in the March 2019 fact sheet entitled Soil-transmitted helminth infections. It is interesting to note that some of the common ‘side effects’ of this drug include nausea, abdominal pains and headaches; all of which are indicative of the toxic nature of the ‘treatment’, which will only increase the toxic load of the body and the likelihood of further infestations of worms.

The previous discussions in this chapter have exposed the serious flaws in the ideas and assumptions on which the ‘germ theory’ has been based. In addition to the lack of any original scientific basis for the ‘theory’, is the overwhelming evidence to support the assertion that no disease is caused by any microorganism.

The inevitable conclusion to be drawn from this is that the ‘germ theory’ is fatally flawed; it must therefore be regarded as having been thoroughly refuted.

But this refutation raises a number of questions about other aspects of the theory, the main one of which relates to the existence and functions of the ‘immune system’, the establishment definition of which refers to,

“the organs responsible for immunity.”

The establishment definition of immunity refers to,

“the body’s ability to resist infection, afforded by the presence of circulating antibodies and white blood cells.”

The concept of ‘immunity’ is therefore inextricably interconnected to the idea that external entities invade and infect the body thereby causing disease; but the refutation of the ‘germ theory’ means that diseases cannot be the result of ‘infections’. This, in turn, means that the entire concept of ‘immunity’ needs to be re-examined from a completely different perspective.

The definition of immunity refers to the presence of antibodies, the establishment definition of which refers to,

“a special kind of blood protein that is synthesized in lymphoid tissue in response to the presence of a particular antigen and circulates in the plasma to attack the antigen and render it harmless.”

An antigen is defined by the establishment as,

“any substance that may be specifically bound by an antibody molecule.”

It is clear therefore, that antibodies and antigens are interdependent ‘entities’; but these definitions do not explain the processes involved. Antigens are also defined by the Medical Encyclopedia on the NIH website; this definition provides some examples and states that,

“An antigen may be a substance from the environment, such as chemicals, bacteria, viruses, or pollen.”

The definition of an antibody states that it is produced in response to the presence of antigens; it also states that antibodies attack antigens, which include pathogens. This definition suggests therefore, that the human body is a permanent battleground of antibodies, pathogens and antigens.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is alleged that during an ‘infection’, the body produces a specific ‘antibody response’ within the immune system to the pathogen. Once the antibody has been produced, it is said to remain in the body to recognise and to provide protection against any future ‘infection’ by that pathogen. It is also claimed that the existence of the appropriate antibodies provides ‘proof’ of a prior infection, and that they can be detected by means of certain antibody tests.

The discussion about viruses indicated that many people are diagnosed with an infectious disease, such as a cold, without any tests having been conducted to determine the nature of the alleged ‘infection’ or identify the causal agent.

It is abundantly clear that there are many problems with these ideas, not least of which is the fact that tests do not detect the actual microorganism; instead, they only detect ‘antibodies’, which are proteins, not living organisms.

Another major problem is that most of the microorganisms claimed to be pathogenic are endogenous; they are normal components of the human microbiota. This therefore raises the question of why the body would produce ‘antibodies’ with the specific purpose of attacking endogenous microorganisms; in other words, why would the body seek to attack its normal inhabitants, which are part of itself?

Although there is no explanation for this phenomenon, the medical establishment has generated another adaptation of the ‘germ theory’ that introduces the idea that the body can, and indeed does, attack itself. This idea is claimed to provide an ‘explanation’ for a category of diseases referred to as ‘autoimmune diseases’, a number of which are discussed in chapter seven. The inclusion of pollen as one of the many types of antigen introduces the notion that the immune system is implicated in ‘allergies’, which are also discussed in chapter seven.

The refutation of the ‘germ theory’ means that there is no need for the body to protect itself against any ‘pathogens’; this therefore requires a further discussion about the concept of ‘immunity’, which is claimed to exist in two forms, referred to as ‘natural immunity’ and ‘acquired immunity’.

The medical establishment claims that ‘natural immunity’ is passed during pregnancy from a mother to her baby. It is also claimed that babies retain a certain level of immunity after birth whilst their own immune system develops. However, despite these claims, newborn infants are the primary targets of the vaccine industry on the basis that they need to be ‘protected’ from the large number of so-called ‘infectious diseases’ to which they could succumb.

The other form of immunity, called ‘acquired immunity’, is claimed to be conferred through vaccination; the discussions in chapter two demonstrate that vaccines confer no immunity whatsoever.

In addition to the natural immunity passed by mother to baby during pregnancy, is the immunity passed during breast-feeding. This is recognised by a 1998 article on the website of the NIH, entitled Breastfeeding provides passive and likely long-lasting active immunity; the title is self-explanatory.

Nevertheless, there are no exemptions from the vaccination schedule for breastfed babies; a situation that is highly anomalous, although unsurprising. It is clear that the medical establishment disregards important aspects of scientifically-established facts that contradict their core message, which is that vaccines and drugs are essential to prevent and treat disease.

There are many contradictions that arise as the result of the poor level of understanding the medical establishment possesses about many of the functions of the human body; this includes a poor level of knowledge about the immune system.

This can be demonstrated by a 2011 article entitled The Bodyguard: Tapping the Immune System’s Secrets, published on the website of Stanford Medicine. The article refers to Dr Garrison Fathman MD, a professor of immunology, and states that he regards the immune system as a ‘black box’, in the context that there is not a great deal of knowledge about its internal ‘workings’. This is an astounding admission considering the strenuous efforts of the medical establishment to promote the idea that the immune system protects people from ‘infectious diseases’.

The article also reports that, if asked by a patient about the state of their immune system, Dr Fathman is quoted to have stated that he would have difficulty in responding,

“I would have no idea how to answer that, and I’m an immunologist. None of us can answer that.”

Dr Fathman is also reported to have made the additional comment that,

“Right now we’re still doing the same tests I did when I was a medical student in the late 1960s.”

This is an astonishing admission of the lack of ‘progress’ that has been made in the field of immunology, especially in view of the discoveries about the human microbiota made during the past few decades. The compartmentalisation of different scientific disciplines contributes substantially to the lack of progress towards a better understanding of the intact living organism that is the human body.

The article refers to the immune system as ‘staggeringly complex’; which further indicates the poor level of understanding about ‘immunity’ and the immune system. The article also quotes the words of Dr Mark Davis, director of the Institute for Immunology, Transplantation and Infection, who, with reference to the immune system, states,

“That’s an awful lot of moving parts. And we don’t really know what the vast majority of them do, or should be doing.”

And in yet another astonishing admission, Dr Davis is quoted to have stated that,

“We can’t even be sure how to tell when the immune system’s not working right, let alone why not, because we don’t have good metrics of what a healthy human immune system looks like.”

In the absence of a good level of understanding of a healthy immune system, the medical establishment is in no position to make authoritative assertions about its function in ‘disease’.

The fact that microorganisms are neither invaders of the body nor the causes of disease means that the body cannot have a distinct ‘system’, the function of which is solely to produce antibodies to attack alleged invaders. The proteins called antibodies may have specific roles in the body, but whilst they are believed to be part of the body’s defensive ‘army’, their real function, or functions, will remain a mystery.

The lack of any genuine basis for the theories about ‘immunity to disease’ is highlighted by Herbert Shelton, who states succinctly that,

“It is not enough to say that those ‘exposed’ individuals who failed to develop allegedly infectious disease are immune. This merely says that they do not develop the disease because they do not develop it. It explains nothing.”

However, there is one meaning of the word ‘immunity’ that is relevant to health, because it is certainly possible to be ‘immune’ to illness. The ordinary dictionary definition of the word ‘immune’ refers to ‘being unaffected by something’, and it is this meaning that is incorporated into a statement made by Dr John Tilden,

“Can one person become immune and another not? The dilemma appears to be fully settled when it is understood that health – full health – is the only reliable opposition to disease; that everything which improves health builds immunity to all disease-building influences …”

Chapter ten discusses the variety of ways in which people can build this kind of ‘immunity’ to illness by creating ‘health’ in their body.

The discussion in this chapter provides a thorough refutation of the ‘germ theory’; but this will inevitably raise further questions, especially about the many ‘infectious diseases’ that are said to have afflicted mankind for centuries, and about the real causes of these diseases if they cannot be attributed to ‘germs’. These questions are discussed in the next chapter with reference to a number of ‘infectious diseases’.

”The practice of poisoning a person because he is ill is based on erroneous notions of the essential nature of disease.”  – Herbert Shelton

The medical establishment claims that there are two types of disease, infectious and non-infectious; those of the latter type, which are also known as noncommunicable diseases, are discussed in chapter seven.

Infectious diseases, also called communicable diseases, are said to possess two defining features that differentiate them from ‘non-infectious’ diseases. The first is that they are claimed to be caused by ‘pathogens’, as indicated by the WHO web page entitled Infectious diseases which states that,

“Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi …”

The second feature is that they are claimed to be transmissible between people, as indicated by the establishment definition of ‘communicable disease’ that refers to,

“any disease that can be transmitted from one person to another.”

It is clear that these features are inextricably interconnected. The claim that infectious diseases are transmitted between people is totally dependent on the claim that they are caused by pathogenic microorganisms. It is these ‘microorganisms’ that are claimed to be the ‘infectious agents’ that are spread, both directly and indirectly, between people, who become ‘infected’ with the ‘pathogen’ and develop the disease they are alleged to cause. However, as revealed in the previous chapter, the claim that microorganisms are pathogenic is erroneous; the claim that diseases are transmissible between people is therefore equally erroneous.

The logical conclusion to be drawn from this is that the term ‘infectious disease’ is a misnomer, because, in reality, there is no such phenomenon as an ‘infectious disease’.

The assertion that no diseases are ‘infectious’ will inevitably be considered highly controversial, because it contradicts information promulgated by the medical establishment about ‘infectious diseases’; but its controversial nature does not deny its veracity.

One of the main reasons that this assertion will be considered controversial is because it conflicts with a common experience, which is that diseases appear to behave as if they are infectious. It is therefore appropriate to quote the maxim that ‘appearances can be deceptive’; the appearance of infectiousness is indeed deceptive. It is not unusual for people to be ill at the same time and to have the same or very similar symptoms; this is often assumed to mean that they have the same disease that has been ‘spread’ by some kind of ‘germ’. Although it is not surprising that the overwhelming majority of people make this assumption, it is nevertheless an entirely erroneous one.

Within all forms of research, it is the evidence that is primary; this means that if a prevailing theory fails to adequately explain empirical evidence, it is the theory that requires reassessment. Prevailing theories may even need to be totally abandoned, especially when other theories exist that offer more compelling and comprehensive explanations for the available evidence. The increasing efforts to achieve ‘consensus’ within the field of ‘medicine’ have ensured that certain theories, especially the ‘germ theory’, form the ‘consensus’ view; but this is entirely inappropriate as it hampers researchers from formulating more compelling theories that better explain the evidence. The purpose of research is encapsulated by a statement attributed to Dr Albert Szent-Györgyi PhD,

“Research is to see what everyone else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought.”

Dr Peter Duesberg echoes this sentiment in his comment that,

“Many pivotal contributions to science throughout history have consisted less of new observations than of new explanations for old data.”

Although the medical establishment continues to make ‘new observations’ from laboratory experimentation, it fails entirely to provide plausible explanations for certain ‘old data’; especially data about ‘infectious diseases’. There is clearly a consensus view with respect to these diseases, but that does not mean it is a correct view.

One of the reasons for the perpetuation of the fallacy that ‘germs’ cause ‘infectious diseases’ is to support the pharmaceutical industry, which is a key member of the medical establishment, and to promote the need for medicines and vaccines to combat these diseases. However, despite the seemingly best efforts of the industry, modern medicine has been unable to contain ‘infectious diseases’, which are reported to be proliferating; as indicated by a July 2013 article entitled Emerging Infectious Diseases: Threats to Human Health and Global Stability which states that,

“Today, however, despite extraordinary advances in development of counter measures (diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines), the ease of world travel and increased global interdependence have added layers of complexity to containing these infectious diseases that affect not only the health but the economic stability of societies.”

The idea that infectious diseases can threaten ‘economic stability’ is based on the notion that ill people are not productive members of society; the problems with this idea and its global implications are discussed in chapters eight and nine.

Although the article refers to ‘extraordinary advances’ in the measures employed to contain infectious diseases, it fails to explain the distinct lack of success these measures have had in achieving their objective. The reference to ‘layers of complexity’ is wholly inadequate as an explanation for the failure of medicines and vaccines to be effective against infectious diseases. The real reason they are ineffective is because diseases are not caused by germs; they cannot be treated with toxic medicines or prevented by toxic vaccines. The many and very real threats to human health are discussed in chapter six.

The article states that infectious diseases have been emerging and re-emerging for millennia and that the emergence of new infectious diseases is inevitable. In addition, it suggests that the vast majority of new infections are ‘likely’ to have originated in animals, particularly rodents and bats; the use of the word ‘likely’ indicates that this idea remains unproven. The idea that animals harbour ‘germs’ that can be spread to humans is unfounded, as demonstrated by the discussions in the previous chapter. A number of animal diseases are discussed in the next chapter to demonstrate that they are also not caused by pathogens.

The article does however, acknowledge that the emergence and re-emergence of so-called ‘infectious diseases’ are driven by numerous factors, which include: technology and industry; poverty and social inequality; war and famine. Many of these factors are certainly relevant to health, or rather to ill-health, but the article relegates them to being of lesser significance than ‘germs’, which are claimed to pose the greatest threat.

The fact that ‘infectious diseases’ are not caused by ‘germs’ and are not transmissible, inevitably raises questions about the real nature of the illnesses referred to as ‘infectious’, and about their ability to appear to simultaneously affect large numbers of people with very similar symptoms.

The definition of each individual infectious disease lists a number of different symptoms that a person ‘may’ experience when they are deemed to have that ‘disease’. However, because many symptoms are common to a number of diseases, a ‘correct’ diagnosis may require people to undergo additional tests that are claimed to be able to identify the pathogen, and therefore the disease. The most common types of test involve the examination of blood or urine samples; but, as previously stated, such tests do not detect the actual ‘pathogen’; instead, they detect proteins, referred to as ‘antibodies’, that will help to identify the pathogen responsible for the infection, because each antibody is specific to each type of ‘germ’.

Yet the medical establishment interprets the presence of antibodies in the body in two entirely different ways. One interpretation is that the production of antibodies claimed to be specific to a pathogen, indicates that the person has immunity to the disease it is said to cause. The other interpretation is that the presence of antibodies means that the person has been ‘infected’ by a pathogen and has the disease it is said to cause. These interpretations are mutually exclusive; nevertheless, they are both promulgated by the medical establishment as ‘information’ about infectious diseases, antibodies and immunity. It should be obvious, however, that neither interpretation is correct.

It is claimed that ‘infectious diseases’ are collectively responsible for the loss each year of many millions of lives and that these numbers are sporadically augmented by a virulent ‘outbreak’ of disease. Some of the most frequently cited ‘deadly outbreaks’ are the Black Death, the 1918 Flu and HIV/AIDS, all of which are discussed in this chapter.

The situation in which very large numbers of people become ill and suffer very similar symptoms is usually referred to as an ‘epidemic’, which Herbert Shelton describes as ‘mass sickness’ and explains that,

“In all epidemics, the so-called epidemic disease is but one among several symptom complexes presented by the sick.”

Although it may appear that people display the same symptoms, it is rare that everyone will experience exactly the same set of symptoms with exactly the same intensity and for exactly the same duration. It is clear therefore, that people only ever experience varying ‘symptom complexes’.

There are reasons that large numbers of people may be ill at the same time and display similar symptoms, as will be explained in the discussions in this chapter; but these reasons do not include infections with ‘germs’ that have been transmitted between people.

The refusal to recognise the fundamentally flawed nature of the ‘germ theory’ continues to present a serious obstacle to the implementation of genuine solutions to the many real threats to human health. This situation will continue to worsen whilst the medical establishment remains intransigent and continues to perpetuate flawed theories, especially through medical training. Although previously cited, Dr Carolyn Dean’s statement is again pertinent and deserves repetition,

“In fact, we were told many times that if we didn’t learn it in medical school it must be quackery.”

It is this arrogant attitude that prevents progress towards the achievement of a better understanding about human health and illness; but the failings of the medical establishment do not invalidate other research studies and investigations that present far more compelling explanations of a number of so-called ‘infectious’ diseases; as the following discussions will demonstrate.

Smallpox has been previously discussed at some length; the reason for returning to this disease is to dispel the popular belief that claims smallpox to have been responsible for the devastating loss of life suffered by the indigenous peoples of America, because it was ‘carried’ there by Europeans. Variations of this story also refer to other diseases carried to the New World by the Spanish initially and later by the Portuguese and the British. These diseases include measles, influenza, bubonic plague, diphtheria, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, chicken pox, yellow fever and whooping cough; it is commonly asserted, however, that smallpox was responsible for the greatest loss of life.

Within this ‘myth’ are a number of interrelated assertions, one of which is that none of these diseases had previously existed in the New World. Another is that, because these diseases were ‘new’ to them, the indigenous people had no immunity and were therefore unable to offer resistance to ‘infection’ with the germs carried by the Europeans. The inevitable conclusion, according to the myth, is that millions of people became ‘infected’ and therefore succumbed to, and even died from, the diseases the germs are alleged to cause.

However, yet again, nothing could be further from the truth.

Although the main reason this myth is false is because it is based on the fatally flawed ‘germ theory’, its assertions can also be shown to be in direct contradiction of a number of the claims made by the medical establishment about ‘infectious’ diseases.

One of these contradictions arises because few of the diseases alleged to have been ‘carried’ to the New World are regarded as inherently fatal, but they are claimed to have caused millions of deaths. Yet, if these diseases were so deadly to the indigenous peoples, how were any of them able to survive; as there clearly were survivors.

It is claimed that the crews of the ships that arrived in the New World spread their diseases easily because they are highly contagious. It is also claimed that these sailors remained unaffected by the germs they ‘carried’ throughout the long voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Although some people are claimed to be ‘asymptomatic carriers’, it is highly improbable, if not impossible, that every crew member of every ship that sailed to the New World would have merely carried the ‘germs’ without succumbing to the diseases.

The most common explanation offered for the failure of the crews to succumb to these diseases is that they had developed immunity to them; but this explanation is highly problematic. According to the medical establishment, a healthy, competent immune system is one that contains antibodies that will destroy pathogens. Therefore, if the European sailors were ‘immune’ to all these diseases due to the presence of the appropriate antibodies, their bodies would not contain any ‘germs’. If, on the other hand, the European sailors did carry ‘germs’ they could not have been ‘immune’.

It is not the purpose of this discussion to deny that millions of people died, but to refute the claim that they died from ‘infectious diseases’, especially smallpox, because they had no ‘immunity’ to the ‘germs’ transmitted to them by Europeans. This refutation means therefore, that they must have died from other causes.

Fortunately, historical research has uncovered evidence of the existence of a number of causal factors that would have contributed to the devastating loss of life in the New World after 1492. One source of research is the work of historian Dr David Stannard PhD, who studied contemporary writings during his investigation of the history of the discovery of the New World. This research is documented in his book entitled American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World, in which he reveals many pertinent factors, not least of which relates to the conditions in which most Spanish people lived during the period prior to the first voyages to the New World; he explains,

“Roadside ditches, filled with stagnant water, served as public latrines in the cities of the fifteenth century, and they would continue to do so for centuries to follow.”

These conditions are strikingly similar to those that prevailed in many European countries during the same period. The majority of the people lived without sanitation or sewers; they lived with their own waste and sewage. Those who lived in towns and cities had limited, if any, access to clean water, which meant that they drank polluted water and rarely washed themselves. The majority of the populations of these countries were also extremely poor and had little to eat. In his book, Dr Stannard quotes the words of J H Elliott, who states,

“The rich ate, and ate to excess watched by a thousand hungry eyes as they consumed their gargantuan meals. The rest of the population starved.”

Insufficient food that leads to starvation is certainly a factor that contributes to poor health, but eating to excess can also be harmful to health; which means that the rich would not have been strangers to illness either. It is not merely the quantity of food, whether too little or too much, that is the problem; of far greater significance to health is the quality of the food consumed.

The conditions in which the native populations of the New World lived were, by comparison, strikingly different; as Dr Stannard relates,

“And while European cities then, and for centuries thereafter, took their drinking water from the fetid and polluted rivers nearby, Tenochtitlan’s drinking water came from springs deep within the mainland and was piped into the city by a huge aqueduct system that amazed Cortes and his men – just as they were astonished also by the personal cleanliness and hygiene of the colourfully dressed populace, and by their extravagant (to the Spanish) use of soaps, deodorants and breath sweeteners.”

One of the most significant contributions to the substantial reduction in morbidity and mortality from disease, especially smallpox, in Europe was the implementation of sanitary reforms. It is therefore wholly inappropriate to claim that people who lived in such clean and hygienic conditions would have been more susceptible to disease. In reality, the people who lived in such clean and hygienic conditions would have been far healthier than any of the colonists, all of whom lived in countries where most people lived in squalid conditions, amidst filth and sewage and rarely, if ever, bathed.

The original objective of the first voyage led by the Italian, Christopher Columbus, is said to have been to find a western route to Asia; however, the main purpose of the voyages to new lands was to seek and obtain valuable resources, such as gold and silver. When the conquistadors observed the golden jewellery worn by indigenous peoples, they assumed that the land was rich with such treasures and this resulted in atrocious behaviour, as Dr Stannard describes,

“The troops went wild, stealing, killing, raping and torturing natives, trying to force them to divulge the whereabouts of the imagined treasure-houses of gold.”

Using these methods, the Spanish ‘acquired’ the gold and jewellery they desired, but when no more could be collected directly from the people, they proceeded to utilise other methods. One of these methods was to establish mines, using the local population as the work force, to extract the precious metals from the ground. In addition to being forced to work, the indigenous peoples endured appalling conditions within the mines, as Dr Stannard explains,

“There, in addition to the dangers of falling rocks, poor ventilation and the violence of brutal overseers, as the Indian labourers chipped away at the rock faces of the mines they released and inhaled the poisonous vapours of cinnabar, arsenic, arsenic anhydride and mercury.”

To add insult to injury, the lives of the Indians were viewed by the Spanish purely in commercial terms, as Dr Stannard again relates,

“For as long as there appeared to be an unending supply of brute labor it was cheaper to work an Indian to death, and then replace him or her with another native, than it was to feed and care for either of them properly.”

Mining was not the only type of work they were forced to perform; plantations were also established, with the local population again comprising the total labour force. The appalling conditions and the violence they suffered led to their lives being substantially shortened; as Dr Stannard further relates,

“It is probable, in fact, that the life expectancy of an Indian engaged in forced labor in a mine or on a plantation during those early years of Spanish terror in Peru was not much more than three or four months …”

The number of deaths that resulted from such brutal work and treatment is unknown, but clearly substantial, as indicated by author Eduardo Galeano, who describes in his book entitled Open Veins of Latin America, that,

“The Caribbean island populations finally stopped paying tribute because they had disappeared; they were totally exterminated in the gold mines …”

It is hardly surprising that so many died in the gold mines considering the conditions they were made to endure; these included exposures to many highly toxic substances, as described above.

There was a further and even more tragic reason that many people died, but this did not involve brutal work and appalling working conditions. It is reported that some of the native people refused to be enslaved and forced to work; instead they took their fate into their own hands, the tragic consequences of which are explained by the words of Fernandez de Oviedo as quoted by Eduardo Galeano in Open Veins,

“Many of them, by way of diversion took poison rather than work, and others hanged themselves with their own hands.”

The number of people who died this way is also unknown, because these events were mostly unrecorded. Dr Stannard writes that there was a considerable level of resistance by the native people that often led directly to their deaths at the hands of the conquistadors, but the number of people who died this way is also unknown.

Dr Stannard states that ‘diseases’ were also a factor that caused the deaths of many of the indigenous people. Unfortunately, in this claim, like the overwhelming majority of people, he has clearly accepted the medical establishment claims about infectious disease. Although this reference to diseases must be disregarded, Dr Stannard’s research is otherwise based on documented evidence; for example, he refers to eyewitness accounts written by people such as Bartolomé de Las Casas about the atrocities that devastated the native population. Dr Stannard also refers to documented reports, which state that many tens of thousands of indigenous people were directly and deliberately killed; he refers to these as massacres and slaughters.

Dr Stannard records that many native people attempted to retaliate but were invariably unable to overpower the conquistadors who had superior weapons; many of them died as the result of these battles. Others chose not to fight but instead attempted to escape, the result of which was that,

“Crops were left to rot in the fields as the Indians attempted to escape the frenzy of the conquistadors’ attacks.”

Starvation would no doubt have accounted for many more deaths.

The enormous scale of the loss of life can be illustrated by statistics that relate to the indigenous population of Hispaniola, which Dr Stannard reports to have plummeted from 8 million to virtually zero between the years 1496 to 1535. He indicates that this devastation in Hispaniola was not unique; but represents a typical example of the almost total annihilation of the indigenous populations that occurred throughout the land now known as America.

The Spanish were not the only ‘conquerors’ of the New World; the Portuguese established themselves in Brazil soon after the Spanish had arrived in Hispaniola. The consequences for the indigenous population of Brazil were, however, virtually the same as those for Hispaniola, as Dr Stannard records,

“Within just twenty years … the native peoples of Brazil already were well along the road to extinction.”

The arrival of British settlers, beginning in 1607, saw no reprieve for the indigenous peoples; although the confrontations were initially of a more ‘military’ nature; Dr Stannard relates that,

“Starvation and the massacre of non-combatants was becoming the preferred British approach to dealing with the natives.”

The medical establishment has a clear vested interest in perpetuating the myth that it was the ‘germs’ that killed many millions of people who had no immunity to the diseases the germs are alleged to cause.

Unfortunately, this myth has distorted history, as it has succeeded in furthering the ‘germ theory’ fallacy, and failed to bring to light the real causes of the deaths of many millions of people; but, as the work of people like Dr David Stannard, Eduardo Galeano, and others, have shown, there is ample evidence to support other and more compelling explanations for that enormous death toll, all of which may eventually succeed in overturning the myth.

The medical establishment view with respect to ‘childhood diseases’ is indicated by a 2008 article entitled Childhood Diseases – What Parents Need to Know, which states that,

“Children encounter many infectious diseases, especially in the early months and years of life. Some upper respiratory viral or bacterial infections – such as colds, bronchiolitis, or croup – are quite common and difficult to avoid.”

The article does not explain why ‘infectious’ diseases are common nor why they mainly affect babies and young children; its main purpose is to advise parents about vaccines, which are claimed to be,

“… incredibly effective in preventing childhood diseases and improving child mortality rates.”

Although many childhood diseases are claimed to be ‘vaccine-preventable’, there is one notable exception, namely the ‘common cold’, that continues to baffle modern medicine. The alleged reason that no vaccine has been produced to combat the common cold is due to the theory that it can be caused by more than 200 different viruses.

This clearly cannot be the case; however, the alleged existence of hundreds of different ‘viruses’ that can cause a cold raises the question of why these viruses do not attack people simultaneously. The medical establishment theory alleges that infections weaken the immune system and that this weakened state permits ‘germs’ to take advantage and attack the body. This situation should mean that people would have many concurrent infections and diseases.

The medical literature does refer to instances of concurrent infections, but they are not considered to be commonplace; this is clearly another anomaly that defies the tenets of the ‘germ theory’, which claims that ‘germs’ may cause ‘opportunistic infections’.

One of the main reasons that babies are recommended to have vaccines is claimed to be because they are extremely vulnerable due to their immature immune systems. If this were true, babies and small children would be far more prone to illness from multiple concurrent infections with ‘germs’, against which they have not been vaccinated, including the 200 or more cold viruses.

This too is clearly not the case.

The US immunisation schedule involves vaccines against fourteen diseases, because, according to the CDC web page entitled Vaccinate Your Baby for Best Protection,

“Diseases that vaccines prevent can be very serious – even deadly – especially for infants and young children.”

It is unnecessary to discuss all fourteen diseases, but they include chickenpox, measles and German measles (rubella), all of which are regarded as ‘viral’ infections that particularly affect children. All three of these diseases produce very similar symptoms, the most common of which are a fever and a rash.

It is claimed that the replication of a ‘virus’ in a cell causes cell death; yet there is no explanation by the medical establishment for the mechanism by which the death of a cell is able to induce a fever or a skin rash, or any of the other symptoms of a so-called ‘viral’ disease.

The medical establishment view of disease contains many flaws, one of which relates to the nature of symptoms; this is discussed in more detail in chapter ten. Another flaw is the belief that the human body possesses no inherent mechanisms that affect health. These flaws have been exposed by various pioneers who have been dissatisfied with the teachings of the medical establishment system and have conducted their own investigations. For example, in chapter one reference was made to the experience of Dr John Tilden MD who changed his practice from a drug-based one to a drugless one.

One of the discoveries that has resulted from these investigations is that the body does possess the ability to self-heal, which it performs through mechanisms that expel and eliminate substances that are toxic and therefore injurious to the body. One of those mechanisms utilises the skin, one of the major organs of the body. The elimination of toxins through the skin produces ‘eruptions’ that may be described as rashes, spots or pustules. The body’s efforts to eliminate toxins may also involve a fever. These symptoms are, however, usually interpreted, albeit erroneously, as ‘bad’ and to require medicine to suppress them; but pharmaceutical drugs only increase the level of toxins in the body. In his book Impaired Health Vol 2, Dr Tilden explains the elimination process involved in measles,

“Measles is the manner in which a child’s body throws off toxemia.”

Dr Tilden mainly refers to toxins resulting from poor eating habits. The diet of most children in the 21st century is very different from that of children who were patients of Dr Tilden, who died in 1941. However, as will be discussed in chapter six, this does not mean that children’s diets in the 21st century are better than those of the mid-20th century; in many instances, they are far worse.

Diet is clearly a significant factor as digestive problems are associated with a variety of ill-health conditions. Dr Tilden explains in his book that many diseases often begin with,

“… a decided derangement of the gastrointestinal canal …”

It is for this reason that a child with a fever and a rash will usually have no appetite; the digestive system needs to eliminate the accumulated toxins; a further intake of food will only worsen the problem. Dr Robert Mendelsohn MD indicates in Confessions of a Medical Heretic that one of the main ‘problem foods’ for young babies and small children is cow’s milk. He regards human breast-milk as the only suitable food for a baby and refers to bottle-feeding with cow’s milk as,

“… the granddaddy of all junk food …”

He expands on the health problems likely to arise for a baby that is not fed breast milk,

“The bottle-fed human baby is substantially more likely to suffer a whole nightmare of illnesses …”

Foods are only one possible source of ‘toxins’; other sources include the ‘medicines’ that are claimed to provide relief from the symptoms of disease and the vaccines that are claimed to provide protection from disease.

One of the major questions about childhood diseases relates to their apparent contagiousness; many children seem to be simultaneously ill with the same disease that appears to have been spread amongst them.

The main problem is that this question relies on the fundamental assumption that there is a specific disease entity that the children have all ‘caught’; but this is not the case. Like all people, children only ever experience different ‘symptom complexes’, which are always the result of different factors that vary according to each child; they do not have the same disease, as will be discussed further in chapter ten.

Simultaneous outbreaks of similar illnesses can occur as the result of simultaneous exposures to certain toxins. It should be noted that children undergo developmental stages at certain ages, and these may include efforts to ‘clean’ the body that involve certain symptoms.

Another cause of simultaneous outbreaks involves the simultaneous exposure to vaccines. Although it is only the serious reactions that are recorded, many children react to vaccine ingredients by producing rashes and fevers, both of which are acknowledged to be the direct effects of vaccines. These symptoms can easily be interpreted, albeit mistakenly, to be the result of an ‘infectious’ disease.

Despite their different labels, childhood diseases can all be explained as the various processes that are performed by the body in the attempt to expel ‘toxins’ and self-heal; as Herbert Shelton explains,

“Childhood brings its peculiar diseases – the successive efforts of nature to purify a depraved system.”

Children’s bodies are, unfortunately, becoming increasingly ‘depraved’; a word that also means ‘polluted’. Many of the pollutants to which children are increasingly exposed are discussed in chapter six; they include, but are not limited to, the toxic chemical ingredients of processed food products, plus medicines and vaccines, as well as the synthetic chemicals, such as plastics, used to manufacture products intended for use by babies and small children.

The establishment definition of leprosy refers to it as,

“a chronic disease, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves.

Leprosy is a disease that is said to have existed for many millennia; it is reported to be one of the diseases described in the writings of Hippocrates. It is claimed that leprosy was rife during the Middle Ages; a period in which diseases were viewed in many parts of the world as supernatural in origin and the result of curses or punishments from the gods.

For a long period of time, leprosy was considered to be highly contagious; a situation that resulted in the segregation of people with the disease from the main population and their quarantine into separate living areas or leper colonies. This situation has changed substantially; leper colonies no longer exist and the disease is now regarded as another ‘bacterial infection’, as indicated by the definition.

In the late 19th century, when the ‘germ theory’ was gaining increased popularity, Dr Hansen of Norway identified a bacterium that he claimed to be the causal agent of leprosy; a discovery that resulted in its alternative name, Hansen’s disease. Prior to this discovery, the treatment of leprosy involved the use of a variety of strange and dangerous substances that are reported to have included: blood, bee stings and arsenic. Another of the early ‘treatments’ for leprosy involved the use of mercury, the dangers of which are described by Dr Carolyn Dean in Death by Modern Medicine,

“Mercury is second only to plutonium in toxicity. When it first began to be used, centuries ago, nobody really knew its dangers. Mercury ointment was a treatment for the skin lesions of leprosy, beginning in the 1300’s.”

Dr Hansen’s ‘discovery’ resulted in the method of treatment for the disease to be changed from mercury ointments to penicillin. The current treatment involves multiple antibiotics, as indicated by the March 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Leprosy, which states that,

“Leprosy is curable with multidrug therapy (MDT).”

MDT involves a combination of different antibiotics; the reason for this is included in the establishment definition of leprosy that states,

“Like tuberculosis, leprosy should be treated with a combination of antibacterial drugs, to overcome the problem of resistance developing to a single drug …”

A November 2011 article entitled Advances and hurdles on the way towards a leprosy vaccine refers to a decline in the incidence of the disease, but states that this decline has ‘stalled’ with the suggestion that the drugs may not be totally effective against the disease. The reason that antibiotics may appear to have a limited effectiveness is because of their debilitating effect on the endocrine glands, especially the adrenals, as previously discussed.

The article attempts to address the issue of drug resistance and includes the interesting revelation that,

“… the mechanism(s) underlying nerve injury in leprosy is very poorly understood.”

The article adds the interesting comment that,

“… BCG was originally developed and widely implemented for the control of both leprosy and tuberculosis.”

Tuberculosis and the BCG vaccine are discussed in more detail later in this chapter; however, it must be noted that TB and leprosy are claimed to be caused by different bacteria, which raises the question of how the vaccine for TB could be effective for leprosy; this question is not answered by the tenets of the ‘germ theory’.

The intention of the article is clearly to support the development of a leprosy vaccine on the basis that antibiotics are becoming ineffective and lead to ‘resistance’; a situation that is claimed to have the potential to lead to the devastating resurgence of the disease. The article makes yet another astonishing admission which is that,

“Leprosy (or Hansen’s disease) is one of the most renowned, but least understood diseases of man.”

The article also highlights the flawed nature of the underlying theory relating to infectious diseases in the revealing statement that,

“M. leprae infection does not always cause disease, and it is estimated that anywhere between 30-75% of infections are spontaneously cleared without causing significant symptoms.

This revelation demonstrates that M. leprae fails to meet the criteria of Koch’s first postulate, and provides unequivocal evidence that this bacterium cannot be the cause of the condition called ‘leprosy’. Furthermore, M. leprae is recognised to be a pleomorphic bacterium, which means that its morphology is very likely to be dependent on the conditions of its environment.

The most recognisable symptoms associated with leprosy are the disfiguring skin eruptions, but the label of ‘leprosy’ was not always applied to a specific type of skin problem, as Herbert Shelton explains,

“For ages the term leprosy was applied to a wide variety of skin diseases …”

The previous discussion demonstrated that skin eruptions occur when the body is attempting to eliminate ‘toxins’, which can involve those arising from unhygienic and insanitary living conditions. This point is highlighted by Dr Gerhard Buchwald in Vaccination: A Business Based in Fear, in which he provides details of the living conditions people endured when leprosy was a commonly diagnosed disease,

“Leprosy was a constant guest in the times when increasing numbers of people lived together in the most cramped spaces as the city walls made the expansion of cities difficult. As soon as the cities grew beyond the city walls and people had more space available, leprosy disappeared.”

There is a very clear association between certain factors, especially insanitary living conditions, and an ‘eruptive’ disease. Herbert Shelton provides another description of the results of sanitary reforms and improved living conditions,

“Europe was once a hot bed of leprosy. Even as far west as England it was a serious problem. It has practically disappeared from Europe and this has not been due to any vaccine or serum drug that has wiped it out. The improved social conditions — sanitation, diet, personal cleanliness, better housing, and other healthful factors — that have evolved in Europe, with no aid from the medical profession have eliminated this disease.”

It is abundantly clear that unhygienic living conditions were major contributory factors for diseases such as smallpox and leprosy; it is equally clear that the implementation of sanitation measures was a substantial contributory factor for the reduction in morbidity and mortality due to these diseases.

Skin eruptions, whether diagnosed as leprosy or smallpox, are manifestations of the body’s elimination processes, as explained by Dr Henry Bieler in Food is Your Best Medicine,

“In the same way, if the bile poisons in the blood come out through the skin, we get the various irritations of the skin …”

However, although skin eruptions can manifest as a variety of symptoms that are claimed to indicate the presence of certain diseases, it is a mistake to regard them as separate disease entities. The different kinds of lumps, bumps, spots, rashes and pustules are manifestations of the body’s efforts to expel toxins through the skin.

There is very little recognition within the mainstream medical literature of the sanitary reforms that substantially reduced the incidence of leprosy. Unfortunately, neither is there sufficient recognition within the medical establishment literature of one factor that has been shown to produce leprosy. Fortunately, there is adequate evidence from other sources; for example, Eleanor McBean explains in her book entitled Swine Flu Exposé that,

“Many vaccines also cause other diseases besides the one for which they are given. For instance, smallpox vaccine often causes syphilis, paralysis, leprosy, and cancer.”

The dangers of the smallpox vaccine have been discussed; although it is significant that leprosy is identified as one of the possible ‘diseases’ it can cause. But this should not be surprising considering that vaccines contain a variety of toxic ingredients that require elimination from the body. Further evidence of the link between vaccines and leprosy is provided by William Tebb in his book Leprosy and Vaccination,

“According to all the evidence which I have been able to obtain, leprosy was unknown in the Sandwich Islands until many years after the advent of Europeans and Americans, who introduced vaccination; and there is no aboriginal word in the Hawaiian language for this disease.”

Clearly, the symptoms diagnosed as leprosy had existed long before the introduction of vaccines, but it is equally clear that vaccines contribute to many health problems.

Although the disease is considered to have greatly declined, it is not thought to have been eradicated; it is claimed to still exist in the parts of the world that are referred to as ‘developing’ countries, as will be discussed further in chapter eight.

The establishment definition of syphilis refers to,

“a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, resulting in the formation of lesions throughout the body.

The word syphilis is reported to have originated in 1530 with the Italian Girolamo Fracastoro, who was one of the early proponents of the idea that ‘germs’ cause disease. His introduction of the word syphilis was initially in a poem, in which he used the word to refer to both a character and the disease with which the character was suffering. In the poem Fracastoro seems to be of the opinion that the illness was the result of a pollution of the atmosphere.

The exact origin of the disease referred to as ‘syphilis’ is said to be unknown; although two hypotheses have been proposed. One hypothesis suggests that syphilis was ‘carried’ to Europe in the late 15th century by the Spanish, who had been ‘infected’ in the New World and transmitted the disease on their return to their native country. The other hypothesis suggests that it was not ‘new’, but had not been previously recognised.

A December 2015 article entitled The Return of Syphilis, on the website of The Atlantic, which will be referred to as the Atlantic article, refers to a quote from the book Guns, Germs and Steel, in which the author, scientist Jared Diamond, provides a description of the early form of syphilis,

“Its pustules often covered the body from head to the knees, caused flesh to fall from people’s faces and led to death within a few months.”

This description would seem to be more applicable to leprosy than syphilis; it clearly refers to a very different disease from the one that is now referred to as ‘syphilis’; as acknowledged by Herbert Shelton who states that,

“The original ‘syphilis’ and what is called ‘syphilis’ today are not the same symptom-complex at all.”

A major flaw in the hypothesis that syphilis originated in the New World, is that 15th and 16th century eyewitness accounts do not describe any of the indigenous peoples as being covered in pustules or with their flesh hanging from their faces. The evidence referred to in the discussion about smallpox, reveals that the documented accounts describe the indigenous people as scrupulously clean. As also cited in the smallpox discussion, Dr Stannard refers to incidents in which the Spanish conquistadors committed rape, but this fails to provide ‘evidence’ that syphilis either originated in the New World or that it is sexually transmitted.

The hypothesis that syphilis was previously unrecognised also fails to provide a clear explanation for its origin, or for the notion that it is sexually transmitted. There is, in fact, no evidence that definitively demonstrates syphilis to be sexually transmissible; it is certainly not caused by a bacterium.

The discussion about leprosy indicated that the label had been used for a variety of skin problems that were usually treated with mercury. However, the dangers of mercury remained unknown and mercury ointments became the standard treatment for syphilis as well as leprosy; as Dr Carolyn Dean explains,

“When syphilis appeared in Europe, around 1495, those same ointments were used for its skin manifestations. Its side effects slowly became known and were listed openly centuries later in old medical texts, but mercury and its side effects were tolerated because the effects of untreated syphilis were felt to be much more dangerous than the side effects of the ‘cure’. Syphilis was responsible for keeping mercury ostensibly viable for 400 years …”

The recognised symptoms of mercury poisoning include the shedding and peeling of the skin, symptoms that may have been diagnosed as syphilis, leprosy or even smallpox. The symptoms that are now associated with syphilis are substantially different; although mercury remained a ‘treatment’ until the early 20th century.

One of the main methods for diagnosing any disease relies on the symptoms or symptom-complex displayed by the patient. However, in the case of a diagnosis of syphilis, the symptoms are not always specific and therefore not easily recognisable. This point is acknowledged in the Atlantic article cited above that discusses the problem with the identification of syphilis, because,

“… the symptoms of syphilis often mimic those of other diseases.”

The article also states that,

“… syphilis can be difficult to prevent and to recognise …”

Syphilis has long been referred to as ‘the great imitator’, as Herbert Shelton explains in detail in his 1962 book entitled Syphilis: Is it a Mischievous Myth or a Malignant Monster,

“Let us take the paradox that ‘syphilis’ not only imitates every other known disease, so that no man, in the absence of reliable serologic tests, can possibly diagnose the ‘disease’ from its symptoms and pathology alone (a fact that makes it difficult to understand how physicians of the past ever discovered that there is such a disease), but also imitates health.”

It was the discovery in 1905 of the bacterium Treponema pallidum, the alleged ‘pathogen’, that instigated the changes to both the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis. One of the main changes was the introduction of the Wassermann test, which was claimed to assist a correct diagnosis of syphilis by the detection of antibodies to the bacterium. The interpretation of the test was that the presence of the ‘right’ antibodies was claimed to prove ‘infection’. The conflicting interpretations of the presence of antibodies have been discussed.

One of the problems with the Wassermann test was that the results were not specific to syphilis. In his book, Herbert Shelton refers to a number of diseases that could produce a positive test result; interestingly they include leprosy as well as malaria and diabetes.

He also states that pregnancy was able to produce a positive Wassermann test result; a situation that clearly demonstrates the test was not specific to any ‘disease’ and therefore a totally inappropriate method of diagnosing syphilis.

Unfortunately for Americans during the early 20th century, a negative Wassermann test result was a prerequisite for the issuance of a marriage licence. A positive test result could, and in many instances did, have serious and even tragic consequences, an example of which is related by Herbert Shelton,

“A few years ago, Walter Winchell told of a prospective groom who received a notice that his blood was ‘positive’. This meant that he would be denied a license to marry. He was now a branded man. He committed suicide. Several days after his suicide, the laboratory forwarded a corrected ‘negative’ report with an apology for the error it had made.”

The Wassermann test was not restricted to adults prior to marriage; it was also used to test all members of a family, including children of all ages, in the event of a positive test result for one parent. The reason that children were tested was not due to any suspicions about sexual abuse; it was due to a belief that children born to parents with syphilis would have hereditary ‘defects’. This belief, which had not been based on any scientific evidence, was later proven to be totally unfounded.

The origin of the belief in an association between sexual activity and syphilis remains elusive; there is no evidence that syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease. The only plausible explanation for the original belief is that it was a remnant of long-held superstitions that ‘disease’ was a punishment from the gods for sins committed; and that syphilis was therefore the punishment for the sin of sexual activity.

What is most significant is that syphilis is first recognised during the time when the vast majority of the population of Europe lived in highly insanitary conditions, which included a lack of clean water for either bathing or for washing clothes. The eruption of pustules as a method of eliminating toxins can occur anywhere on the body, including the genitals; especially when this area of the body is rarely washed. However, the people rarely washed any parts of their bodies and often wore the same items of apparel, which were infrequently changed and rarely washed.

The improvements in sanitation and personal hygiene during the past century, indicate that, in the 21st century, skin eruptions in the genital area must have other causes, none of which relates to a bacterial ‘infection’ or to sexual activity.

Syphilis is no longer diagnosed using Wassermann tests, but the tests that have replaced them are no more reliable or accurate because the disease remains admittedly difficult to recognise. There are some tests that are said to be able to detect the presence of the bacterium when viewed with dark-field microscopy, but detection of the presence of a bacterium does not prove it is the cause of the condition. As previously discussed, the presence of bacteria in the body is entirely normal.

Although, as indicated by its title, the Atlantic article suggests that there is a resurgence of this disease, it states that,

“Syphilis had become relatively rare in developed countries since the discovery of penicillin …”

The discussions in the previous chapter demonstrate that penicillin cannot be claimed to be responsible for the reduction in the incidence of any disease.

However, although sanitation and personal hygiene habits have improved, they have failed to completely eradicate this ‘disease’; this means that other factors must be involved. One of the factors that have been shown to contribute substantially to the body burden of toxins is vaccination, which has also been shown to be associated with the development of many diseases. Although previously cited, the words of Eleanor McBean bear repetition,

“Many vaccines also cause other diseases besides the one for which they are given. For instance, smallpox vaccine often causes syphilis, paralysis, leprosy, and cancer.”

Vaccines have also been shown to produce other effects, as Herbert Shelton explains,

“It was discovered that smallpox vaccination will give a positive Wassermann reaction …”

This provides further evidence that this test is unable to detect any specific ‘disease’.

The resurgence of syphilis is reported in the Atlantic article to be based on statistics from 2014 produced by the CDC. These statistics have been updated and are reported in an October 2016 Press Release entitled 2015 STD Surveillance Report Press Release on the CDC website. The press release claims that all STDs, not just syphilis, have increased in incidence, and adds the comment that,

“Most STD cases continue to go undiagnosed and untreated …”

Unsurprisingly, the CDC also claims that,

“Widespread access to screening and treatment would reduce their spread.”

Unfortunately, the recommended treatment includes antibiotics, the problems with which were discussed in the previous chapter.

It is clear that reports about the increased incidence of syphilis, whether true or not, serve the interests of the medical establishment and support their efforts to continue to generate fear. The trend to continually increase the use of antibiotics is a complete contradiction of the acknowledgement that they are vastly overused; the medical establishment cannot justify both views.

It is also clear that there is no need to invoke the existence of a ‘germ’ or to blame sexual activity as an explanation of the disease that has been named syphilis. The same applies to any other so-called ‘sexually transmitted disease’.

The establishment definition of influenza refers to,

“a highly contagious virus infection that affects the respiratory system.”

It is claimed that influenza, or ‘the flu’, is often a seasonal illness, the symptoms of which are described by the November 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Influenza (Seasonal),

“Seasonal influenza is characterized by a sudden onset of fever, cough (usually dry), headache, muscle and joint pain, severe malaise (feeling unwell), sore throat and a runny nose.”

Although it is not regarded as an inherently dangerous illness, the fact sheet adds that,

“… influenza can cause severe illness or death especially in people at high risk.”

The sectors of the population considered to be at ‘high risk’ are children younger than the age of 5, adults older than the age of 65, pregnant women and people with certain chronic medical conditions.

The influenza epidemic of the early 20th century that is generally referred to as the ‘1918 Flu’ is claimed to have been responsible for the loss of many millions of lives. In marked contrast with other outbreaks of ‘influenza’, seasonal or otherwise, this epidemic had a far greater impact on a completely different demographic, as it mainly affected adults between the ages of 20 and 40. Furthermore, contemporary sources indicate that the symptoms of this epidemic bore very little resemblance to the usual symptoms of flu. An article entitled The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 on the Stanford University website relates some of the symptoms reported by physicians,

“Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours. One physician writes that patients with seemingly ordinary influenza would rapidly ‘develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen’ and later when cyanosis appeared in the patients, ‘it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate’. Another physician recalls that the influenza patients ‘died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth’. The physicians of the time were helpless against this powerful agent of influenza.”

This was clearly no ordinary ‘influenza’.

Despite the severe nature of these symptoms and its impact on young adults, rather than those in ‘high risk’ groups, the medical establishment maintains the assertion that this was an epidemic of ‘influenza’ and that it was caused by a virus. A typical example of this stance is provided by the CDC in a 2006 article entitled 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics that claims,

“All influenza A pandemics since that time, and indeed almost all cases of influenza A worldwide … have been caused by descendants of the 1918 virus …”

Nothing could be further from the truth; a non-living particle cannot have a ‘descendant’.

The refutation of the ‘germ theory’ means that no type of influenza can be caused by a virus and this, in turn, means that there must be other, more compelling explanations for this epidemic of an allegedly ‘infectious’ disease. The label ‘1918 Flu’ suggests that the epidemic only occurred during the year 1918; however, there is evidence that indicates serious ill-health problems existed over the course of a much longer period of time, which began as early as 1915 and continued until the late 1920s. There are compelling explanations for these health problems; as this discussion will demonstrate.

One of the many anomalies that emerge from mainstream reports about the ‘1918 Flu’ is the wide variation in the mortality statistics that are quoted; some reports claim that between 20 and 40 million lives were lost, others claim the upper figure to be 50 million; whereas some even suggest the figure could have reached 100 million. Although it is inevitable that these figures can only be estimates, such an incredibly wide margin indicates a paucity of reliable original data to support the mortality claimed to have been caused solely by the ‘flu’.

It is claimed that the ‘1918 Flu’ accounted for more deaths than the First World War, which ended in November 1918 after four years of worldwide conflict. Whether this claim can be substantiated or not, it should be obvious that the war and the epidemic cannot be regarded as unrelated. The connection between them has been recognised, albeit to a limited extent, by the medical establishment; as indicated by a 2010 article entitled The US Military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 that states,

“World War 1 and influenza collaborated: the war fostered disease by creating conditions in the trenches of France that some epidemiologists believe enabled the influenza virus to evolve into a killer of global proportions.”

There was no virus that evolved into a ‘killer’; however, the conditions endured by the troops engaged in the conflict would certainly have had a direct and detrimental impact on their health. It is obvious that soldiers engaged in the actual fighting were at the forefront of the threat to life and limb, but they also faced dangers other than those posed by the human enemy they fought.

Military personnel are supposed to be the fittest and healthiest group within any population; after all, fitness and health are prerequisites for admittance into military service. However, some reports indicate that soldiers were among the most severely affected by the influenza epidemic; for example, a 2014 article entitled Death from 1918 pandemic influenza during the First World War states that,

“Pandemic influenza struck all the armies, but the highest morbidity rate was found amongst the American as the disease sickened 26% of the US Army, over one million men.”

The article also reports that,

“… the German army recorded over 700,000 cases of influenza …”

It is clear therefore, that the ‘disease’ affected all parties to the conflict; which raises questions about the origin of the disease and the transmission of ‘germs’ between soldiers on opposing sides of the war.

The seemingly virulent nature of the disease has led to some attempts to trace the ‘source’ of the outbreak, although clearly any such attempt that is based on locating a ‘virus’ is doomed to failure. Nevertheless, these efforts have uncovered details that are useful to an investigation of the real causes; for example, the 2014 article cited above refers to the conditions in the trenches and states,

“The origin of the influenza pandemic has been inextricably linked with the men who occupied the military camps and trenches during the First World War.”

There are genuine explanations for the illness that existed in the military camps and in the trenches; however, although related to a certain extent, these explanations do not rely on the theory that the troops were responsible for the spread of an ‘infectious’ germ.

One of the contributory factors for the ill-health suffered by the troops is vaccination; all soldiers received a number of vaccines against a variety of diseases they were thought likely to encounter. The previously cited 2010 article refers to vaccines for rabies, typhoid fever, diphtheria and smallpox.

Another contributory factor was the ‘medicines’ with which the ill and wounded were treated. Eleanor McBean refers to the 1918 Flu in Swine Flu Exposé and states that,

“It was a common expression during the war that ‘more soldiers were killed by vaccine shots than by shots from enemy guns.’ The vaccines, in addition to the poison drugs given in the hospitals, made healing impossible in too many cases. If the men had not been young and healthy to begin with, they would all have succumbed to the mass poisoning in the Army.”

The ‘medicine’ commonly prescribed for the treatment of influenza during the early 20th century was aspirin, the dangers of which were unknown at the time. But its dangers have since been recognised and aspirin has been shown to cause respiratory problems; as indicated by a November 2009 article entitled Salicylates and Pandemic Influenza Mortality, 1918-1919 Pharmacology, Pathology and Historic Evidence that states,

“Pharmacokinetic data, which were unavailable in 1918, indicate that the aspirin regimens recommended for the ‘Spanish influenza’ predispose to severe pulmonary toxicity.”

The article refers to pathology findings reported during 1918 and states that they are,

“… consistent with aspirin toxicity.”

The symptoms described by the previously cited Stanford University article are strikingly similar to symptoms that are recognised to result from a high intake of aspirin. This does not mean that it is the ‘dose’ that makes aspirin a poison; instead, it means that very serious and often fatal effects are the result of a high intake of aspirin. Low doses are also toxic, but their effects are less severe and may even remain undetected.

One of the consequences of the war was the need for a constant supply of new recruits to replace the soldiers who had been injured or killed. This need for additional troops meant that entry requirements for admittance to the military were, by necessity, lowered. The inevitable result of this was that the new recruits were not necessarily as fit and healthy as the men they replaced, and they were therefore more vulnerable to the effects of the toxic vaccines and medicines and to the appalling conditions they had to endure.

In addition to providing aspirin as treatment for ‘influenza’, the medical establishment also attempted to develop vaccines to combat as well as prevent the disease, which was originally believed to be caused by a bacterium. These vaccines are discussed in a 2009 article entitled The fog of research: Influenza vaccine trials during the 1918-19 pandemic which states that,

“Bacterial vaccines of various sorts were widely used for both preventive and therapeutic purposes during the great influenza pandemic of 1918-19. Some were derived exclusively from the Pfeiffer's bacillus, the presumed cause of influenza, while others contained one or more other organisms found in the lungs of victims. Although initially most reports of the use of these vaccines claimed that they prevented influenza or pneumonia, the results were inconsistent and sometimes contradictory.”

Although it is now firmly believed that the 1918 pandemic was due to viral influenza, in 1918 it was firmly believed that the disease was pneumonia, or a combination of influenza and pneumonia, and that it was caused by a bacterium called Pfeiffer’s bacillus.

A 2010 article entitled The State of Science, Microbiology and Vaccines Circa 1918 further explains the uncertain nature of those early vaccine trials,

“Many vaccines were developed and used during the 1918-1919 pandemic. The medical literature was full of contradictory claims of their success; there was apparently no consensus on how to judge the reported results of these vaccine trials.”

The vaccines were clearly recognised to have been of dubious efficacy, yet the underlying theory, that the cause was a bacterium, was not questioned; the idea that the disease was infectious also remained unquestioned. Chapter three refers to a description by Herbert Shelton of an experiment that had failed to demonstrate the infectious nature of the ‘1918 Flu’. In his article entitled Contagion, he describes a number of other experiments that attempted to determine the alleged bacterial agent that caused the disease,

“Several groups of volunteers were inoculated with pure cultures of Pfeiffer’s bacillus, with the secretions of the upper respiratory passages and with blood taken from typical influenza cases. About 30 of the men had the germs sprayed and swabbed in the nose and throat. The Public Health Report sums up the results in these words: ’In no instance was an attack of influenza produced in any one of the subjects’.”

As previously cited, Herbert Shelton refers to epidemics as ‘mass sickness’, to which he adds the comment,

“For example, in the 1918-19 influenza-pneumonia pandemic, there were great numbers of cases of mumps, of measles, of typhoid fever, of sleeping sickness, and more cases of colds than influenza.”

Inexplicably, despite these other diseases, the pandemic is only ever referred to as one of ‘influenza’. The incidence of other diseases indicates that people were not all suffering from the same symptom-complex; which means that they were not all suffering from the same ‘disease’ that had a single causal agent; whether viral or bacterial.

Two of the other diseases that Herbert Shelton reports as coinciding with the ‘flu pandemic’ require further discussion, because they provide additional evidence for some of the factors that contributed to the illness that is labelled as ‘flu’.

According to some contemporary reports, there were many cases of typhoid fever within the military; however, this was one of the diseases against which the soldiers had been vaccinated. It would therefore be extremely inconvenient for the medical establishment, and especially for the vaccine industry, if soldiers were reported to be suffering from a disease against which they had been vaccinated and therefore seemingly ‘protected’. It would not be unreasonable to assume, therefore, that certain illnesses were re-classified as ‘influenza’. The medical establishment practice of renaming conditions has been shown to be a not uncommon one; the re-classification of polio as AFP is only one example of the practice.

Sleeping sickness is more often called sleepy sickness in order to differentiate it from African sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis. However, sleepy sickness has another name; it is also called ‘lethargic encephalitis’ (LE), which is claimed to be the result of a viral or bacterial infection. It is reported that an epidemic of LE occurred during the period between 1916 and 1930. This was a singular event; LE had never previously erupted as an epidemic, nor has it ever done so since that time, although it is still claimed to exist. It is significant that this epidemic of LE is synchronous with the epidemic of ‘influenza’.

Dr Peter Breggin MD refers to LE in his 2008 article entitled Parallels between Neuroleptic Effects and Lethargic Encephalitis and states,

“Lethargic encephalitis (LE) was identified by von Economo in the winter of 1916-1917 in Vienna. The pandemic was most severe in Europe and North America, with cases reported throughout the world. Over a decade, the disease afflicted more than a million people and caused hundreds of thousands of fatalities. The last epidemic was reported in 1926 and the disease largely disappeared by 1930.”

Chlorpromazine was the first neuroleptic drug; it was developed in the 1950s and is still in use; the trade name is Thorazine. In Toxic Psychiatry, Dr Breggin refers to Delay and Deniker, two French psychiatrists who were among the first to use chlorpromazine to treat their patients; Dr Breggin relates that,

“They immediately noticed that small doses produced a neurological disease very similar to a special type of virulent flu virus that killed tens of thousands during and shortly after the First World War.”

Although he refers to a ‘flu virus’, his reference to a ‘neurological disease’ is highly significant; he adds that,

“The type of flu mimicked by the drugs was called lethargic encephalitis …”

Dr Breggin’s 2008 article expands on the similarity between the effects of neuroleptic drugs and the symptoms of LE; neuroleptic drugs are also known as antipsychotic drugs and are used for patients diagnosed with some ‘psychiatric disorders’, especially schizophrenia. The epidemic of lethargic encephalitis was not caused by neuroleptic drugs; however, it is clear that certain pharmaceuticals are capable of inducing a ‘neurological disease’; which means that their ingredients must be neurotoxic.

The ingredients of the vaccines of the early 20th century are different from those of the vaccines of the early 21st century; but the features they share are their toxicity and neurotoxicity. There is also evidence that 20th century vaccines could produce lethargic encephalitis; as recorded by Annie Riley Hale in her book entitled The Medical Voodoo,

“In the British Journal of Experimental Pathology August 1926, two well-known London medical professors, Drs Turnbull and McIntosh, reported several cases of encephalitis lethargica – ‘sleeping sickness’ – following vaccination which had come under their observation.

Post-vaccination encephalitis is a recognised phenomenon; as indicated by a September 1931 article entitled Post-Vaccination Encephalitis that states,

“Post-vaccination encephalitis is a disease of unknown etiology that has appeared in recent years and which occurs without regard to the existence of known factors other than the presence of a recent vaccination against smallpox.”

The smallpox vaccination may not have been the only vaccine capable of causing encephalitis; as mentioned above, there were others available in 1918. The article makes a further interesting comment that,

“Drug manufacturers aggressively promoted their stock vaccines for colds, grippe and flu. These vaccines were of undisclosed composition.”

Further evidence to support the assertion that vaccinations were contributory factors to the illness labelled as ‘1918 Flu’ is provided by Virus Mania, in which the authors state that,

“A frequently observed symptom of the Spanish flu was internal bleeding in the lung (typical of tuberculosis patients for example) – a phenomenon that was also described as a result of smallpox vaccinations.”

All vaccinations of the early 20th century contained toxic ingredients, which they also describe,

“Additionally, the medications and vaccines applied in masses at that time contained highly toxic substances like heavy metals, arsenic, formaldehyde and chloroform …”

Although medicines, such as aspirin, and vaccinations contributed substantially, they were not the only factors relevant to the morbidity and mortality attributed to the ‘influenza epidemic’.

The early 20th century was also a period during which chemical manufacture increased; one chemical in particular, namely chlorine, is relevant to this discussion.

In his book entitled Pandora’s Poison, Joe Thornton discusses in detail the extremely toxic nature of chlorine gas, which, although a chemical element is not an element that occurs naturally. He explains that, in nature, chlorine is always found within a chloride salt, a substance that is stable and relatively harmless. However, in the late 18th century, a chemical experiment unexpectedly produced chlorine gas, which is highly reactive, destructive and deadly, as Joe Thornton explains,

“First recognised as an element in the early nineteenth century, chlorine is a heavy, green-colored gas with a powerful odor. If released into the environment, chlorine gas will travel slowly over the ground in a coherent cloud, a phenomenon familiar to World War I soldiers who faced it as a chemical weapon, one of chlorine’s first large-scale applications. Also familiar to these men was chlorine’s toxicity, which arises from its tendency to combine with and destroy organic matter, like that of the lungs and eyes.”

He also details a number of extremely important facts about the military use of chlorine during the period of WWI,

“Elemental chlorine was first deployed in 1915 on the battlefields of Ypres, with horrific consequences.”

The chemical industry continued to experiment with chlorine and produced further weapons, as Joe Thornton also explains,

“The military industry soon began to make other chlorine-based chemical weapons, such as phosgene and mustard gas (dichlorodiethyl sulphide), which made their debuts during the next two years at Verdun and again at Ypres.”

The industrial development of chlorine-based chemicals for the military industry was undertaken by both sides in WWI, as he further explains,

“As both sides developed sophisticated means to deliver war gases in shells, grenades, and other armaments, casualties of chlorine chemical weapons rose into the tens of thousands.”

Although not inherently fatal, survivors of a chlorine gas attack would have respiratory problems for the rest of their lives; Joe Thornton details the effects they suffered,

“Chlorinated chemicals were particularly effective chemical weapons because they were highly toxic and oil soluble, so they could cross cell membranes and destroy the tissues of lungs, eyes and skin, incapacitating soldiers and causing extreme pain.”

These symptoms are not unlike those described by the Stanford University article, which suggests the likelihood that cases of chlorine gassing may initially have been mistakenly identified as cases of ‘influenza’.

Chlorine-based chemicals are discussed further in chapter six; they are, however, not the only type of chemical that can produce respiratory problems that may also have been mistakenly identified as ‘influenza’. Nitroglycerin was first produced prior to the 20th century, but is reported to have been manufactured in large quantities and used extensively during WWI. The significance of nitro-glycerine is reported by Nicholas Ashford PhD and Dr Claudia Miller MD in their 1998 book entitled Chemical Exposures: Low Levels and High Stakes, in which they state that,

“Nitroglycerin, used to manufacture gunpowder, rocket fuels and dynamite, may cause severe headaches, breathing difficulties, weakness, drowsiness, nausea and vomiting as a result of inhalation.”

These symptoms are remarkably similar to some of the symptoms attributed to both ‘influenza’ and ‘lethargic encephalitis’.

The ‘war effort’ inevitably created a substantially increased demand for the industrial manufacture of machinery, equipment and weapons, many of which needed to be welded; welding is another hazardous occupation as Nicholas Ashford and Dr Miller also explain,

“Welding and galvanised metal causes evolution of zinc oxide fumes that, when inhaled, provoke an influenza-like syndrome with headaches, nausea, weakness, myalgia, coughing, dyspnea and fever.”

Dyspnoea refers to breathing difficulties.

It is clear that many factors can produce severe illness and symptoms that may have been attributed to influenza.

As part of the recognition of the centennial anniversary of WWI, the Imperial War Museum in England produced a website containing material about the conflict, including a number of audio recordings made by survivors of that carnage who talk about their experiences, particularly in the trenches. The war veterans talk about the atrocious conditions they had to endure; that they were often up to their stomachs in water and that their dugouts were just mud and filth.

They report that in the freezing winter weather their wet boots froze overnight on their feet, leading to the numbness that is referred to as ‘trench foot’. Some also described how they were ‘casual’ in their latrines and ‘casual’ in burying their dead. They also provide useful insights about the poor diet they endured, stating that it consisted of a little meat, bread, chocolate and cheese; in addition, most of them smoked. They carried their water in petrol cans and occasionally had a rum ration; they claim that the quantity of food they had was poor, but clearly the quality was extremely poor.

It should be obvious that many of the conditions they suffered can be likened to the insanitary and unhygienic conditions that prevailed in the centuries before sanitary reforms were introduced. It is therefore unsurprising that many men were ill and died as the result of the years they spent living in such conditions; it seems remarkable that any men were able to survive such atrocious conditions.

The audio recordings also explain that, as well as those who were directly involved in the war, there were others, women mostly, who assisted the war effort by working in munitions factories, for example. Their jobs included filling the shells with cordite or ‘the black powder’ as they called it. They also worked with hazardous substances like TNT, which is trinitrotoluene, a highly toxic substance.

It is abundantly obvious that the ‘epidemic’ represented a unique time in history; that it involved the sickness and death of many millions of people. It is also abundantly obvious that these high levels of morbidity and mortality were not due to a disease caused by a virus, but that there were many contributory factors that acted together and synergistically.

In the effort by the medical establishment to maintain the viral hypothesis for this epidemic, a number of reports refer to a University of Arizona study that has made an apparent ‘discovery’ of how the alleged 1918 ‘flu virus was able to kill many millions of people over the course of a very short period of time. This study is quoted to have included the comment that,

“Ever since the great flu pandemic of 1918, it has been a mystery where that virus came from and why it was so severe and, in particular, why it killed young adults in the prime of life.”

Yet the ‘answer’ provided by the study fails to explain the mystery; instead, it claims that the adults who succumbed to the flu had antibodies to a different flu virus that had caused an earlier, less virulent epidemic, and that therefore they did not have immunity to the virus that was responsible for the epidemic in 1918.

The previous discussions about immunity and antibodies demonstrate that this ‘answer’ contradicts some of the basic tenets of the ‘germ theory’; but the ‘germ theory’ itself fails to explain the reason that only certain people became ill, whilst others remained unaffected. This anomaly is exposed by Herbert Shelton, who states,

“If the ‘epidemic influence’ were the cause of the epidemic then all who come within its range would develop the ‘epidemic disease’.”

This clearly did not occur during 1918 and 1919. Eleanor McBean, who was a child during the epidemic and assisted her parents to care for the sick, reports that she failed to become ill despite her close proximity to many people with the allegedly ‘infectious’ disease.

It is abundantly obvious that there was no ‘epidemic disease’. The stresses of war and combat, the multiple toxic vaccinations, the use of toxic ‘medicines’, the appalling conditions in which soldiers lived and fought, the exposure to deadly chlorine gas and other toxic materials provide ample evidence to adequately explain the epidemic of illness and the devastating loss of life.

These factors, which acted synergistically, provide a compelling explanation for this singular event without the need to invoke the existence of an elusive virus. This ‘epidemic’ was, however, a worldwide phenomenon, as will be discussed further in chapter eight.

The establishment definition of ‘plague’ refers to,

“an acute epidemic disease of rats and other wild rodents caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted to humans by rat fleas.

According to the October 2017 WHO fact sheet entitled Plague,

“People infected with plague usually develop acute febrile disease with other non-specific systemic symptoms after an incubation period of one to seven days, such as sudden onset of fever, chills, head and body aches, and weakness, vomiting and nausea.”

The fact sheet claims that there are two main forms of plague; bubonic and pneumonic.

It is reported that, in the past there have been three major outbreaks of ‘plague’, although a number of minor outbreaks have also occurred.

The first of the major epidemics occurred in the 5th century BCE and is often referred to as the Plague of Athens. An article entitled The Plague on the website (livius.org), refers to the writings of Thucydides, a Greek historian of the period. The article contains excerpts from his work that refer to the epidemic and describe a wide range of symptoms experienced by people who had been affected; they include violent spasms, bleeding mouth and a sensation of internal burning.

The second epidemic occurred in the 6th century CE and is often referred to as the Plague of Justinian, who was the Roman Emperor of the period. An article entitled Justinian’s Plague on the website (ancient.eu), refers to the writings of Procopius, a Byzantine historian of the period. The article states that few details are known about the symptoms, but that they are reported to have included delusions, fever and coma.

A significant feature of both epidemics is the suddenness of the onset of symptoms that were of a far more serious nature than those described by the ‘plague’ fact sheet.

The third major epidemic occurred in the 14th century CE and is usually referred to as the Black Death. Fortunately, several contemporary eyewitness accounts have survived and these enable a better understanding of the prevailing conditions that, in turn, offer a better explanation than that of an ‘infectious’ bacterial disease, which, in view of the refutation of the ‘germ theory’, cannot be the case.

It is generally claimed that the Black Death erupted spontaneously; that it spread rapidly around the world; and that it caused millions of deaths; the WHO fact sheet claims the total mortality to have been an estimated 50 million people.

The mainstream narrative about the epidemic states that the fleas, which are said to normally live on rats, suddenly became ‘infected’ with dangerous bacteria that cause a deadly form of ‘plague’. These infected fleas are said to have spread their dangerous bacteria to vast populations of rats, which succumbed to the deadly disease and died in incredibly huge numbers. It is also claimed that when their rat hosts died, the ‘infected’ fleas moved to new, mostly human, hosts.

The transfer of infected rat fleas to human hosts is claimed to be the mechanism by which many millions of people ‘caught’ the disease, became ill and died in devastatingly large numbers. It is also claimed that the reason so many people died is because they had no ‘immunity’ to the disease.

Yet again; nothing could be further from the truth.

Although the above is only a brief overview, it nevertheless illustrates the main points in the mainstream narrative. There are, however, a number of serious flaws in this narrative; as this discussion will demonstrate.

One of the main problems is that 14th century records do not refer to vast hordes of dead rats, which, if the mainstream narrative were correct, ought to have littered the streets of all the countries that are claimed to have been affected by the Black Death. Equally problematic is the incredibly rapid speed with which the disease is reported to have spread; a circumstance that cannot be accounted for by the ‘rat-flea’ story. A further point that remains entirely unexplained is how the fleas were completely unaffected by the disease-causing bacteria they are alleged to have carried.

The first of these flaws has been recognised by British archaeologist, Barney Sloane, who has claimed that the ‘Black Death’ could not have been transmitted by rats; as reported in an August 2011 article entitled Can We Stop Blaming Rats for the Black Death. The article refers to archaeological work that has been conducted in London and states that,

“… excavations in the city have turned up little evidence of a massive rat die-off coinciding with the plague.”

The article also refers to an alternative theory that has been posited; this theory suggests that the conditions of the 14th century would have been more favourable to gerbils than to rats. However, there is no evidence to support this theory; the archaeological excavations failed to uncover evidence of a massive gerbil die off; but this is unsurprising as gerbils are not native to England.

There has been a slight amendment to the establishment theory about the Black Death since the 2007 edition of the dictionary that is used for the disease definitions in this book. The WHO fact sheet refers to ‘small animals’ rather than rodents as the vectors of transmission. However, this explanation is equally invalid, because there is no evidence from the archaeological site in London that there had been a massive die off of any type of small animal.

The rapid speed with which the disease is claimed to have been spread has been recognised as problematic by scientists and archaeologists involved in the London excavations. The lack of an obvious animal ‘carrier’ has led to the proposal of other hypotheses, one of which is that the ‘infection’ was airborne, rather than animal-borne, and that transmission occurred through the atmosphere and via human contact. But this hypothesis fails to explain the basic mechanism by which a virulent and deadly ‘disease’ suddenly erupted, prevailed for a number of years and then suddenly disappeared. The reported duration of the epidemic varies between 3 and 8 years.

These anomalies highlight serious flaws in the explanations about the purported mechanisms of diseases described as ‘infectious’.

The previous discussion about the ‘1918 Flu’ demonstrated that the sudden onset of ‘disease’ and the resulting widespread morbidity and mortality are related to multiple factors that often act synergistically; these factors do not include any so-called ‘germ’.

There is an inherent tendency to view historical events in the light of prevailing theories. It is therefore unsurprising that, with the ‘germ theory’ firmly entrenched in medical establishment thinking, the ‘Black Death’ continues to be reported as an ‘infectious disease’ caused by bacteria, which, according to the WHO fact sheet, are,

“… usually found in small mammals and their fleas.”

The archaeological evidence has not yet persuaded the medical establishment to alter their obviously incorrect theory.

It sometimes requires a scientist from an entirely different scientific discipline to view evidence from a new perspective, and thereby produce a more compelling explanation for that evidence. In this instance, a new hypothesis about the likely causes of the Black Death has been developed by a dendrochronologist, a scientist who studies tree-rings to identify different growth patterns.

The dendrochronologist in this instance is Professor Mike Baillie, whose study of tree-ring data of the 14th century led him to discover some interesting tree growth patterns, and to undertake further investigations that included the study of ice-core data, as well as contemporary 14th century accounts of the event. Professor Baillie has recorded the results of his research and the basis for his hypothesis in his book entitled New Light on the Black Death, in which he includes extracts from some contemporary documents. One of the extracts he quotes includes the statement that,

“There have been masses of dead fish, animals and other things along the sea shore and in many places trees covered in dust … and all these things seem to have come from the great corruption of the air and earth.”

Contemporary writers were sufficiently observant to be aware of, and write about, ‘masses of dead fish, animals and other things along the sea shore’, as well as ‘trees covered in dust’. They would, therefore, also have been sufficiently observant to have noticed, and specifically written about, masses of dead rats or even gerbils, had there been any to observe. Such reports are conspicuous by their absence; a situation that supports the archaeological findings.

An even more significant aspect of the quoted extract is the reference to ‘the great corruption of the air and earth’. In addition to these documents, Professor Baillie obtained evidence from his examination of tree rings that led to his statement that,

“The Black Death sits in a clear environmental trough visible in smoothed tree ring chronologies from around the world.”

The corruption of the atmosphere certainly must have been extremely severe to have been able to generate a ‘clear environmental trough’; it was sufficiently severe to have been able to cause death from respiratory problems; as Professor Baillie states,

“The most likely mechanism would be through affecting their respiration system in some catastrophic way. After all, writer after writer on the Black Death makes the point that it is the ‘pulmonary’ form of the disease that was the dominant killer.”

It is clear therefore that ‘something’ must have occurred to have caused such a severe corruption of the atmosphere over a large portion of the world. One interesting and undisputed fact is that a major earthquake erupted in Europe on 25th January 1348. Professor Baillie reveals however, that this was not a singular event, but part of a series of earthquakes that occurred during the mid-14th century, both before and after the January earthquake.

Another interesting piece of the puzzle is that an unusually high level of ammonium has been discovered from the examination of ice core data. A higher than normal level of ammonium has also been discovered in ice cores that have been dated to periods in which other epidemics of ‘plague’ occurred. The result of his investigation of the evidence led Professor Baillie to conclude that,

“There really is enough information about comets, earthquakes and ammonium to permit the quite serious suggestion that the Black Death was due to an impact by comet debris on 25th January 1348 as witnessed by the major earthquake on that day.”

Investigations and analysis of the toxic chemicals found within comets and comet debris have produced further supportive evidence for this conclusion; Professor Baillie explains,

“Apart from ammonium, it is now known that a range of unpleasant, toxic and evil-smelling chemicals, including hydrogen sulphide and carbon disulphide, have been detected in recent comets.”

The presence of ‘evil-smelling chemicals’ would certainly explain the documented reports about the ‘corruption of the atmosphere’; their toxicity also explains how these chemicals would have caused severe respiration problems and rapid death from asphyxiation for those people in close proximity to the dense atmospheric poisoning.

Herbert Shelton provides further documentary evidence of 14th century earthquakes and the subsequent pollution of the atmosphere, in his 1967 article entitled Pestilence and Plagues that states,

“Hecker’s Epidemics of the Middle Ages says of the Plague that ‘mighty revolutions in the organism of the earth, of which we have credible information, had preceded it. From China to the Atlantic the foundations of the earth were shaken, throughout Asia and Europe the atmosphere was in commotion, and endangered by its baneful influence, both vegetable and animal life’.”

In the same article, Herbert Shelton also quotes from Berdoe’s Origins and Growth of the Healing Art that provides further information about the prevailing conditions,

“In 1337, four millions of people perished by famine in China in the neighbourhood of Kiang alone. Floods, famine and earthquakes were frequent, both in Asia and Europe. In Cyprus a pestiferous wind spread a poisonous odor before an earthquake shook the island to its foundations, and many of the inhabitants fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies after inhaling the noxious gases. German chemists state that a thick stinking mist advanced from the East and spread over Italy in thousands of places, and vast chasms opened in the earth which exhaled the most noxious vapors.”

These conditions can be explained by comets, comet debris and earthquakes; they cannot be explained by rat fleas ‘infected’ with disease-causing bacteria.

Another outbreak of ‘plague’ occurred in England during the 17th century. Although it is reported to have been minor by comparison to the Black Death, some fascinating details have been found from contemporary writings, including those of notable authors Daniel Defoe and Samuel Pepys, both of whom lived during the period in which it occurred.

The following extract from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, dated 24th December 1664, states that he,

“… saw the Comet, which is now, whether worn away or no I know not, but appears not with a tail, but only is larger and duller than any other star …”

The episode of ‘plague’ that affected England, and especially London, occurred in June 1665, and therefore only a few months after the sighting of the comet.

This is also described by Daniel Defoe, who, in his novel entitled A Journal of the Plague Year, wrote that,

“In the first place, a blazing Star, or Comet, appeared for several months before the Plague …”

The evidence from contemporary records as well as tree-ring and ice core data demonstrates the existence of a ‘corrupted atmosphere’ during the 14th century. The earthquakes and impact of comet debris provide credible explanations for that corrupted atmosphere and for its ability to have permeated a significant portion of the planet. The toxic substances known to be associated with comets and comet debris provide an extremely compelling explanation for the rapid onset of severe respiratory problems, asphyxiation and death.

The medical establishment theory about fleas infected with bacteria that were spread by small animals to humans is entirely unsupported by the evidence; the theory that the Black Death, or any other epidemic of ‘plague’ can be caused by a bacterium is shown to be fatally flawed.

The establishment definition of tuberculosis refers to,

“an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis and characterized by the formation of nodular lesions in the tissues.

Tuberculosis (TB) is another disease claimed to have a long history that dates back many millennia. Various documents from early periods of history contain references to certain illnesses, the recorded symptoms of which are claimed to demonstrate a positive identification of tuberculosis. Some of the writings refer to tuberculosis by its alternative names, which include consumption and the White Plague.

Tuberculosis is primarily a pulmonary disease, as the definition states,

“In pulmonary tuberculosis … the bacillus is inhaled into the lungs where it sets up a primary tubercle …”

A tubercle is a ‘nodular lesion’ that is usually, but not always, associated with tuberculosis. However, no explanation is offered by the medical establishment for the mechanism by which bacteria are able to generate tubercles; nor is there an explanation for the mechanism by which they induce the symptoms attributed to TB. According to the September 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled Tuberculosis, these symptoms include,

“… cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.”

It is claimed that a number of ‘discoveries’ made by Dr Robert Koch provided ‘proof’ that certain bacteria were the causal agents of certain diseases. One of his most notable achievements is claimed to have been that in 1882 Dr Koch ‘discovered’ the M. tuberculosis bacillus; it is reported that in the course of his experiments he had utilised newly-developed staining chemicals, which made the bacteria more easily visible. It was for this ‘discovery’ of the bacillus that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905.

It is also claimed that the ‘infectious’ nature of TB had been proved prior to Dr Koch’s discovery of the bacterium. That ‘proof’ is reported to have been demonstrated by the injection of ‘tuberculous matter’ from human cadavers into laboratory animals that subsequently became ‘infected’. It should be clear that these experiments are only able to ‘prove’ that the injection of noxious matter into animals will cause them to become ill; they do not prove that illness is ‘infectious’. More importantly, the manner in which people are said to be ‘infected’ with TB is not through the injection of tuberculous matter into their bodies; the definition claims that the bacteria are inhaled.

The ‘proof’ that Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes TB is attributed to Dr Koch’s experiments that involved the injection of ‘cultured’ bacilli into animals. These experiments are said to have produced the formation of ‘tubercles’, the presence of which is claimed to provide the ‘proof’ that the bacteria he injected into the animals were solely responsible for the formation of the tubercles. It is also claimed that the results of these experiments met the criteria of his postulates.

These claims are all highly problematic; however, the real problems they raise are not due to Koch’s postulates but to the erroneous belief that ‘germs’ cause disease.

The discussions in chapter three showed that no ‘germ’ conforms to the criteria of the first postulate; a situation that Herbert Shelton explains in his book about syphilis,

“There is not a single germ that is held responsible for a single so-called disease that fully meets a single one of these conditions …”

Furthermore, in Orthopathy, Herbert Shelton refers to Dr Walter Hadwen’s 1921 lecture, in which the latter quotes Dr Muthu, who was renowned for his experience with tuberculosis and had stated that tubercle bacilli were not found in 50 per cent of cases. Dr Hadwen’s comment, which was cited in chapter three, also deserves repetition,

“Nobody has ever found a tubercle bacillus in the earliest stages of tuberculosis.”

The absence of the bacillus at the onset of disease demonstrates conclusively that it cannot be the causal agent.

The main characteristics of tuberculosis are respiratory problems that result from the alleged bacterial ‘infection’ of the lungs and produce symptoms that enable the disease to be ‘spread’; as described by the WHO fact sheet that states,

“When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected.”

The cough associated with TB usually results in the production of sputum, which is one of the means by which a diagnosis can be made; as also described by the fact sheet,

“Many countries still rely on a long-used method called sputum smear microscopy to diagnose TB.”

The sputum samples are examined to detect the presence of bacteria and then cultured to determine the exact type of bacteria in the sample. These tests have not always been successful in detecting the alleged ‘pathogen’, as related by Nicholas Ashford and Dr Miller in Chemical Exposures,

“During the late nineteenth century, researchers collected sputum from patients with tuberculosis but were unsuccessful in culturing any organism.”

Dr Koch was one of those ‘researchers’ who is reported to have had difficulties with culturing the bacteria; however, an appropriate culture medium was eventually discovered that proved to be useful, as further reported in Chemical Exposures,

“… the tubercle bacillus was fastidious and would grow out only after many weeks on a specialized culture medium.”

The nature of the ‘specialised culture medium’ is not specified, although the culture medium used by Dr Koch is reported to have been agar, which is derived from algae and therefore not a natural constituent of the human body. The assumption that the ability to ‘grow’ the bacteria demonstrates their pathogenicity is highly flawed; it fails to recognise the phenomenon of bacterial pleomorphism.

The bacterium alleged to be the cause of TB has been recognised to be pleomorphic; this recognition is indicated by a 2010 article entitled Pleomorphic appearance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis that states,

“This organism exhibits extreme pleomorphism in certain circumstances …”

Despite the scientific evidence, the medical establishment continues to deny the existence of pleomorphism, except in certain limited circumstances. The main consequence of this refusal to fully recognise pleomorphism is the failure to recognise that the substances chosen for use as a culture medium will directly influence the morphology of the bacteria under investigation.

It should be clear that the ‘success’ attributed to Dr Koch’s experiments is unfounded. However, in addition to the anomalous situation in which the ‘germ’ is absent from the bodies of people diagnosed with TB, is the further anomaly in which there is an absence of illness in people who are claimed to have been ‘infected’ by the ‘TB germ’. The WHO fact sheet claims that,

“People infected with TB bacteria have a 5-15% lifetime risk of falling ill with TB.”

The discussion about bacteria in chapter three referred to ‘asymptomatic carriers’ and to ‘latent infection’, both of which refer to ‘infection’ in the absence of illness. However, asymptomatic carriers are deemed to be able to transmit the bacteria, and therefore the disease, whereas those with latent infection are claimed not to be able to do so. This is highly anomalous; yet the medical establishment fails to offer an explanation for their claim that a bacterial ‘infection’ can have two entirely different outcomes. It should be obvious that, if TB bacteria were ‘pathogens’, they should always cause disease and that, if TB were an ‘infectious disease’, it should always be transmissible.

These anomalies and contradictory statements invalidate the claims made about the infectiousness and transmissibility of the TB ‘germ’; nevertheless, the fact sheet makes an extravagant claim, which is that,

“About one-quarter of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit the disease.”

The use of the word ‘yet’ is intended to suggest that illness with TB is inevitable, but this suggestion is in complete contrast to the claim that, in 85 to 95 per cent of cases, people ‘infected’ with TB bacteria do not develop tuberculosis.

For those people who do become ill, it is claimed that the TB bacteria had changed their status from ‘latent’ to ‘active’; but, yet again, no explanation is offered for the mechanism by which this change of status occurs. Nevertheless, ‘active TB’ is regarded as synonymous with ‘disease’, for which the medical establishment offers ‘treatment’, which inevitably takes the form of antibiotics, as indicated by the fact sheet that states,

“Active, drug-susceptible TB disease is treated with a standard 6 month course of 4 antimicrobial drugs …”

The purpose of these drugs, as with all antibiotics, is to kill as many bacteria as possible; the reasons for using multiple drugs are that they attack the bacteria in different ways and that they help to avoid ‘drug resistance’. Antibiotics for most ‘bacterial infections’ are usually prescribed for a short period of approximately 7-10 days. A 6-month course of highly toxic drugs is therefore an extremely aggressive measure against the disease. These drastic treatment measures inevitably exacerbate the problem of antibiotic overuse; the fundamental problems with antibiotics and their dangerous consequences have been discussed.

One of the main antibiotics used in the treatment of TB is isoniazid, some of the more minor ‘side effects’ of which include nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, constipation, dry mouth, fever, and skin reactions. Isoniazid is also associated with more serious effects that can include dizziness, inflammation of the nerves, psychotic episodes, blood disorders, raised blood sugar levels, and peripheral nerve damage. The most serious effect is severe and sometimes fatal liver damage, which is indicative of a systemic poisoning and a clear demonstration that the drug is highly toxic. These effects, which pose a serious threat to health, are considered to be ‘worthwhile’ risks to take in the effort to control the spread of TB ‘infection’, despite the low percentage of people ‘at risk’ of developing the disease.

The drive to ‘eradicate TB’ includes the recommendation that treatment should be extended to people diagnosed with ‘latent TB’. Based on the WHO claim that this group represents about one quarter of the world population, currently estimated to be approximately 7 and a half billion, the manufacture of antibiotics for almost 2 billion people would provide the pharmaceutical industry with a phenomenal boost to their profits. More importantly, however, it would create a major tragedy of inestimable proportions for the people who receive these toxic treatments.

The discussion in the previous chapter showed that the overuse of antibiotics is claimed to be the cause of a loss of drug effectiveness, because bacteria have developed ‘drug resistance’. The problem of ‘resistance’ is also associated with the drugs used as treatments for TB and has led to the creation of an allegedly new ‘form’ of the disease, called multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which is described by the fact sheet as,

“… a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful, first-line anti-TB drugs.”

The ‘side effects’ of rifampicin are reported to include nausea, vomiting, headache, drowsiness and dizziness.

As discussed, the real effect in the body from antibiotics is an increased level of activity in the effort to eliminate substances the body recognises as toxic. The increased activity occurs mainly in the endocrine glands but, if the antibiotics are ingested, effects can also be produced in the digestive system, as demonstrated by the ‘side effects’ of both isoniazid and rifampicin that include nausea and vomiting.

This increased level of activity within the body may succeed in achieving a reduction in intensity or even the cessation of symptoms; a result that is often mistakenly credited as being due to the action of the drugs. However, the continuation of any antibiotic drug ‘treatment’ over a long period of time will gradually exhaust the endocrine glands, damage the digestive system and create a number of serious health problems, which are very likely those that are interpreted as ‘drug resistance’. The rigid adherence of the medical establishment to the ‘germ theory’ means that the only solution available for people diagnosed with MDR-TB, is a further cocktail of even more toxic drugs that will only exacerbate their existing health problems.

Antibiotics are the main, but not the only, method by which the medical establishment attempts to control TB; they have also developed a vaccine, known as the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is claimed to provide protection against TB. Many, but not all, countries include this vaccine in their standard infant immunisation schedule. One notable exception is the US; a situation that is extremely surprising considering the fervour with which vaccines are normally promoted in that country; the CDC explains on their website that the reason for this policy is because,

“BCG does not always protect people from getting TB.”

The poor level of efficacy of the BCG vaccine is also recognised by the UK NHS on a page entitled Who should have the BCG (TB) vaccine? that states,

“There's no evidence the BCG vaccine works for people over the age of 35.”

It has however, been proven that the BCG vaccine is ineffective for all age groups. This was demonstrated by a large field trial to test the vaccine conducted between the years 1968 and 1971 by the WHO in India; a country in which TB was, and still is, regarded as endemic. In one area comprising 309 villages, about 364,000 people were vaccinated against TB, whilst people in another area of roughly the same size remained unvaccinated. The results however, caused the vaccination ‘experts’ considerable concern, because more cases of TB occurred in the vaccinated area than in the unvaccinated area. The incidence of TB in ‘developing’ countries is discussed further in chapter eight.

Despite the recognition that the BCG vaccine is not always effective, it remains widely used on the basis that TB is regarded as a major worldwide problem, as indicated by the WHO fact sheet that states,

“Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.”

The fact sheet also provides statistics of worldwide morbidity and mortality from TB,

“In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with TB and 1.6 million died from the disease.”

Although TB is considered to be a serious disease, the vast majority of people survive, because, according to the fact sheet,

“TB is a treatable and curable disease.”

This claim cannot be substantiated; the treatments that are used do not cure TB.

The reason that treatments fail to cure TB is due to a lack of understanding about the functions of the human body and its self-regulating mechanisms. Previous discussions have referred to the liver as one of the main organs that eliminate toxins; the kidneys also perform a similar function. If either of these organs becomes congested and unable to work efficiently, toxins can build up in the body and the blood; a situation that would be extremely dangerous and potentially fatal. Fortunately, the body’s self-regulating mechanisms include other organs that provide assistance in the processes of elimination; this assistance is called ‘vicarious elimination’ as explained by Dr Henry Bieler in Food is Your Best Medicine,

“Toxic blood must discharge its toxins or the person dies, so nature uses substitutes. The lungs and skin help the kidneys and liver respectively.”

He expands on the function performed by the lungs and states,

“From the irritation caused by the elimination of poison through this vicarious channel, we get bronchitis, pneumonia or tuberculosis, as is determined by the particular chemistry of the poison being eliminated.”

The ‘poisons’ that require elimination can include substances consumed within the diet; for example, chemical food additives that are used in the manufacture of processed food products consumed by a large proportion of the world population. As the discussions in chapter six will demonstrate, most food additives are toxic. The greater the intake of these toxic substances, the greater will be the body’s efforts to eliminate them. Dr John Tilden explains the connection between tuberculosis and all of the factors that may constitute what he refers to as a ‘faulty diet’,

“I recognize the disease as coming from perverted nutrition brought on from crowded digestion …”

TB is not necessarily the result of ‘crowded digestion’ due to over-eating; it can be due to the accumulation of substances, such as food additives, that the body regards as ‘toxins’ but may not be easily able to eliminate. This may be one reason that certain so-called ‘developed’ countries are reporting increases in the incidence of TB. However, TB also occurs in conjunction with poor living conditions, poverty and malnutrition; this is an indication that ‘crowded digestion’ is not the only factor that contributes to the disease.

Unfortunately, the preoccupation with the ‘germ theory’ means that, instead of addressing the real problems that cause tuberculosis, the medical establishment concentrates on the use of toxic drugs and vaccines, both of which exacerbate illness.

A matter of increasing concern with respect to TB is that, according to one of the key ‘facts’ in the WHO fact sheet, a strong association exists between TB and HIV, which is the subject of the next discussion. The fact sheet claims that,

“HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other’s progress.”

As the following discussion will demonstrate; yet again, nothing could be further from the truth.

The establishment definition of AIDS refers to,

“a syndrome first identified in Los Angeles in 1981; a description of the causative virus – the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) – was available in 1983.”

The definition also states that,

“AIDS is essentially a sexually transmitted disease …”

The mainstream media reports during the early 1980s about a new disease called AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) were highly dramatic. They gave the impression that the world was on the verge of a new and deadly ‘plague’ that threatened to decimate the global population, and that anyone who contracted this disease was doomed to suffer horribly and die. This new ‘plague’ seemed to have the potential to rival the Black Death and the 1918 Flu and be destined to become one of the most deadly scourges humankind had ever faced.

The media reports made a number of claims, which were: that ‘infection’ with the virus could not be cured; that progression to ‘full-blown AIDS’ would occur for an exceptionally high proportion of people infected with the virus; that there was no cure for AIDS; and that once a patient had progressed to AIDS they would become seriously ill and succumb very quickly to an early death.

These predictions of impending doom were not fulfilled. The fact that this ‘deadly plague’ failed to materialise prompted a revision to the medical establishment definition of AIDS, which states,

“Until recently, AIDS has been considered to be universally fatal, although the type and length of illness preceding death varies considerably.”

Although less deadly than first predicted, ‘infection’ with the ‘virus’ called HIV is still regarded as a serious health problem, as indicated by the July 2018 WHO fact sheet entitled HIV/AIDS that claims,

“HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far.”

Yet again, nothing could be further from the truth.

The claims made by the medical establishment about the virus called HIV and the syndrome called AIDS are erroneous; not only because they are based on erroneous notions about ‘germs’ and ‘infectious diseases’, but also because they are based on fallacies; as this discussion will demonstrate.

The discovery of ‘AIDS’ began in 1981 when a number of men in the San Francisco area were diagnosed with two relatively rare diseases, Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), a type of cancer, and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). Although rare, KS and PCP were not new diseases, nor were either of them claimed to be caused by a virus; nevertheless, they became the first ‘AIDS-defining’ diseases.

The early research into these cases, which represented an abnormally high incidence of two otherwise rare diseases, indicated that they occurred almost exclusively within two ‘risk groups’, one of which comprised gay men with an extremely active sex-life. Their sexual activities, the details of which are unnecessary for this discussion, were often accompanied by the use of ‘poppers’ and antibiotics.

‘Poppers’ are a type of drug that is inhaled; they are made from alkyl nitrites, which are a group of chemical compounds that can be metabolised within the body to form nitrosamines, most types of which are recognised carcinogens. An article entitled AIDS and Poppers on the Virus Myth website (virusmyth.com) explains the connection,

“Kaposi’s is a blood vessel tumor, and nitrites act on blood vessels.”

The article states that the majority of the early cases of KS were gay men who regularly inhaled ‘poppers’ and had done so for a significant period of time. The previous discussion about TB referred to the lungs as a ‘vicarious channel’ for the elimination of toxins; the inhalation of toxic nitrites will cause damage to the respiratory system, including the lungs. The long-term toxic irritation of the lungs will produce a variety of symptoms that could also lead to a diagnosis of either pneumonia or PCP.

Although antibiotics were often taken as treatments for existing ‘infections’, they were also taken prophylactically over a significant period of time. The adverse health effects from the long-term use of antibiotics have been discussed.

The other main ‘risk group’ comprised drug addicts, most of whom were intravenous drug users; the adverse health effects from the injection of toxic substances into the bloodstream have been discussed in connection with vaccinations; the injection of toxic ‘illegal’ drugs will also produce serious adverse health effects.

It should be noted that many drugs now categorised as ‘illegal’ were originally manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry for use as ‘medicines’. As previously discussed, many pharmaceutical medicines have been synthesised from the ‘active ingredients’ of plants; for example, morphine, a legal drug, is derived from the opium poppy, from which heroin, an illegal drug, although originally a legal one, is also derived.

It is clear that the first patients diagnosed with ‘AIDS’ were long-term consumers of a substantial quantity of toxic drugs, whether nitrites, antibiotics or ‘recreational’ drugs. The clinicians and researchers who studied these early cases soon developed a hypothesis that ‘AIDS’ was a toxicological health problem. This point is extremely significant as it offers a compelling explanation for the serious health problems suffered by these patients; it is, however, a point that was, and remains conspicuous by its absence from the reports of the mainstream media that only refer to the medical establishment dogma that ‘HIV causes AIDS’.

In 1997 Dr Peter Duesberg PhD and Dr David Rasnick PhD co-authored an article entitled The Drugs-AIDS Hypothesis, published on the Virus Myth website; in their article they explain that the drugs used by the first AIDS patients were inherently toxic and that,

“Drug toxicity provides chemically plausible causes of disease.”

Unfortunately, any research into the toxicological aspects of ‘AIDS’ was abruptly curtailed on 23rd April 1984 when, at a press conference in the US, it was announced by the HHS that,

“the probable cause of AIDS has been found.”

It was claimed that the cause was a ‘virus’; or, to be more precise a ‘retrovirus’. Although initially labelled ‘HTLV-III’, this virus was eventually to become known as ‘HIV’ (human immunodeficiency virus).

At the press conference, it was also announced that a vaccine would be available in about 2 years; a claim that, more than 3 decades later, has yet to be realised, although there are a number of ongoing projects that continue the effort to develop a vaccine.

The ‘hero’ of the day also appeared at the press conference; namely, Dr Robert Gallo, a virologist and the alleged ‘discoverer’ of the virus. At the time of his ‘discovery’ he was working at the US NIH (National Institutes of Health) where he studied possible connections between retroviruses and cancer.

In addition to the American research, a viral cause of AIDS was also under investigation by French scientists, most notably Dr Luc Montagnier and Dr Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, both of whom would later be awarded the Nobel Prize for their ‘discovery’ of the virus.

The announcement of the ‘viral’ cause of AIDS had significant consequences, the most important of which was that ‘AIDS research’ became focused solely on studies that followed the viral hypothesis. It is only research of this nature that has received any substantial level of funding since 1984, despite the very clear evidence of toxicological causes of ‘AIDS’. Over the course of more than three decades, the funding of AIDS research based on the viral hypothesis has amounted to many hundreds of billions of dollars. The US budget for the year 2019 for the ‘domestic funding of HIV’ was reported on the US Government website to be a little over $28 billion.

Another significant circumstance, and one that has had profound consequences, is that, on the day of the press conference, Dr Gallo filed an application for a patent on a ‘test’ that was said to be able to determine whether a person had been ‘infected’ by the virus.

The most astounding fact is that, despite the press conference announcement and Dr Gallo’s patent application for a diagnostic test, the viral hypothesis had yet to undergo the usual scientific validation procedures. On the day of the press conference, no original scientific papers that proved the hypothesis that the virus was the cause of AIDS had been published in any peer reviewed journal. This was unprecedented in ‘science’; as Dr Peter Duesberg explains in Inventing the AIDS Virus,

“Science by press conference was substituted for the conventional processes of scientific validation, which is based on publications in the professional literature.”

Although there are significant problems with the ‘peer review’ process, as will be discussed in chapter nine, it was a serious breach of scientific convention to call a press conference and announce a scientific ‘discovery’, prior to the scientific community having the opportunity to review the research study, test its results and evaluate its conclusions. The relevant study papers were published soon afterwards; however, as will be demonstrated, they failed to provide actual ‘proof’ to support the viral hypothesis that had been claimed at the press conference.

One of the main problems is that, even within the dogma of the ‘germ theory’, the viral hypothesis for ‘AIDS’ was illogical; the two original ‘AIDS-defining’ diseases were not claimed to be caused by viruses. Unfortunately, this point was overlooked by the majority of scientists who accepted the viral hypothesis as announced at the press conference.

There is, however, a large and growing group of scientists whose views differ from the medical establishment dogma about the viral hypothesis of AIDS. One of these scientists is Dr Peter Duesberg, who, at the time of the press conference, was also studying retroviruses in connection with cancer, and therefore eminently qualified to assess the claims made by Dr Gallo. Dr Duesberg knew from his own research that, as a retrovirus, HIV should not be able to kill the cells it ‘infected’.

Dr Duesberg’s view was, and still is, that HIV is largely a ‘harmless passenger virus’ and that AIDS cannot be caused by an infectious agent. Based on his years of research, he maintains the view that the cause is far more likely to be toxicological, as indicated by his 1997 co-authored article previously cited. His view also supports that of the clinicians and researchers who examined many of the first AIDS patients during the early 1980s.

In 1987, Dr Duesberg wrote an article that was published in the prestigious journal Cancer Research. In this article, he refuted the prevailing HIV/AIDS hypothesis; however, it caused a strong reaction from the medical establishment that had wholeheartedly accepted and believed in the viral hypothesis. As a result, Dr Duesberg was virtually ostracised by the orthodox scientific community; he was also denied the renewal of his research grant. Nevertheless, Dr Duesberg maintains his view that the retrovirus particle called ‘HIV’ is part of normal human body functioning and harmless; and, as such, it cannot cause any disease let alone the allegedly deadly disease known as ‘AIDS’.

Amongst the many thousands of scientists who refute the ‘HIV causes AIDS’ dogma is Dr Kary Mullis PhD, the recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Dr Mullis’ refutation of the orthodox theory was the result of his research during 1988 whilst he was engaged by the NIH to set up analyses for HIV testing. During the course of this work, he needed to cite the original research papers that contained the ‘proof’ that HIV caused AIDS. However, he was unable to find any such papers; as he has explained in his interviews with the London Sunday Times and with Spin Magazine. On the home page of the Virus Myth website is the statement made by Dr Mullis in 1993 that,

“If there is evidence that HIV causes AIDS, there should be scientific documents which either singly or collectively demonstrate that fact, at least with a high probability. There is no such document.”

In the Foreword he wrote for Inventing the AIDS Virus, Dr Mullis states that, according to his research,

“No one had ever proved that HIV causes AIDS.”

Nothing has occurred in the intervening decades to alter this fact; there is still no scientific proof that a virus called ‘HIV’ causes the illness referred to as ‘AIDS’.

The scientific papers produced by Gallo and his colleagues that were finally published in May 1984 in the journal Science, have been found to only demonstrate a weak correlation of the ‘virus’ with AIDS patients. Whatever these papers contained; they clearly did not provide the unequivocal ‘proof’ that HIV causes AIDS; otherwise Dr Mullis would have acknowledged their existence.

In Inventing the AIDS Virus, which was published in 1996 and therefore more than a decade after the press conference announcement, Dr Duesberg referred to the continuing absence of any evidence that AIDS was, or could be, a deadly infectious disease,

“Despite projections of wild spread, HIV infection has remained virtually constant throughout the industrialized world ever since it could be tested in 1985, whether in the United States or Europe; the estimated incubation period between infection and disease has been revised from ten months to more than ten years; and the predicted heterosexual explosion has failed to materialize.”

A substantial increase in the incubation period is not the only revision to the orthodox AIDS theory; there have been many, including a substantial expansion of the conditions that are regarded as ‘AIDS-defining’. According to the CDC, the conditions also include cervical cancer, tuberculosis and a number of ‘bacterial infections’. PCP has also undergone a slight change in its definition; it is now claimed to be caused by a yeast-like fungus called Pneumonia joveci.

It is clear that many of the ‘AIDS-defining’ conditions listed by the CDC are not viral diseases; which contradicts the claim that a virus called ‘HIV’ is the cause of ‘AIDS’; the original theory has also undergone a revision. The explanation offered for the classification of non-viral diseases as ‘AIDS-defining’ is that ‘HIV’ weakens the immune system and that this weakness permits an ‘opportunistic infection’ (OI) caused by another ‘germ’. According to a page entitled Opportunistic Infections on the CDC website,

“Opportunistic infections (OIs) are infections that occur more frequently and are more severe in individuals with weakened immune systems, including people with HIV.”

This point is of particular significance for TB, as indicated by the WHO TB fact sheet that states,

“TB is a leading killer of HIV-positive people.”

The WHO HIV/AIDS fact sheet claims that TB is,

“… responsible for more than 1 of 3 HIV-associated deaths.”

These claims are highly anomalous; the majority of TB cases are claimed to occur in India, whereas the majority of HIV/AIDS cases are claimed to occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The orthodox theory of HIV/AIDS would seem to have been revised, as indicated by the CDC web page about opportunistic infections that states,

“When a person living with HIV gets certain infections (called opportunistic infections, or OIs), he or she will get a diagnosis of AIDS, the most serious stage of HIV infection.”

It is clear therefore that HIV is no longer regarded as the sole cause of AIDS.

A diagnosis of ‘AIDS’ does however require confirmation of the presence of ‘HIV’, which is alleged to be detectable by a test, as indicated by the fact sheet that claims,

“HIV infection is often diagnosed through rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), which detect the presence or absence of HIV antibodies.”

The discussion in the first section of this chapter explained that the presence of antibodies is interpreted in two completely different and mutually exclusive ways. One interpretation is that antibodies indicate ‘protection’; the other is that they indicate ‘infection’. The presence of ‘HIV’ antibodies as detected by HIV tests is interpreted to indicate ‘infection’.

The discussion about syphilis explained that the Wassermann test was unable to identify antibodies specific to the ‘germ’ alleged to cause syphilis; the same is true of the HIV test. Antibodies are proteins, certain types of which are deemed to be specific to each ‘pathogen’. Some of the proteins deemed specific to ‘HIV’ include those labelled p24 and p41. However, in his article entitled HIV Tests Are Not HIV Tests, Professor Henry Bauer PhD states that,

“Far from being specific to HIV or AIDS patients … p24 and p41 are not even specific to illness.”

He makes the point quite clearly that HIV tests are not able to specifically identify ‘HIV antibodies’; furthermore, he comments that,

“Tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) do not detect HIV …”

In another similarity with the Wassermann tests, ‘HIV tests’ can also produce ‘positive’ results due to a number of other conditions; these are called ‘false positives’. One particularly significant example is that HIV tests can generate ‘positive’ results for people with tuberculosis; although they are ‘false positives’ they provide one explanation for the allegedly close association between TB and HIV. However, as Professor Bauer indicates in his article, the ‘antibodies’ detected by the HIV tests are not even specific to illness.

In a further similarity with the Wassermann test, the HIV test commonly produces ‘false positives’ for pregnant women, for whom a positive HIV test result can have very serious consequences, not only for herself but also for her baby; as will be demonstrated. Other conditions that can produce false positive HIV test results include leprosy, influenza and malaria. A number of vaccinations have also been associated with false positive ‘HIV’ test results. The similarities between HIV and syphilis are indeed striking.

The discussions about vaccination indicated that many, if not all of them contain animal proteins; which may account for the detection by HIV tests of the existence of certain abnormal proteins in the body that are mistakenly labelled as ‘antibodies’.

There are clearly many fundamental problems with the tests that are used to determine a person’s HIV status; yet these tests are used around the world, as will be further discussed in chapter eight.

Another revision to the HIV/AIDS dogma is the change in the descriptive label of this health problem from ‘AIDS’ to that of ‘HIV infection’, about which the WHO fact sheet states,

“There is no cure for HIV infection.”

Despite the lack of a ‘cure’, there is the inevitable recommendation by the WHO that ‘HIV infection’ requires ‘treatment’, as the fact sheet states,

“HIV can be suppressed by combination ART consisting of 3 or more ARV drugs.”

The alleged mechanism of action of the drugs used in ART (antiretroviral therapy) is also described,

“ART does not cure HIV infection but suppresses viral replication within a person’s body …”

There is no evidence that ‘viral replication’ is a disease-causing process; there is, however, a great deal of evidence that ART drugs are toxic, which means that they are harmful to health.

The treatments that are now used are different from those recommended during the 1980s and early 1990s, although they are all based on the same principle of suppressing viral replication. The initial treatment for AIDS patients was AZT (azidothymidine), a drug that was originally developed in the 1960s to be a treatment for leukaemia. AZT is described as a DNA chain terminator, which means that it kills growing lymphocytes by termination of DNA synthesis. Lymphocytes are white blood cells.

When AZT was first tested as a treatment for cancer, it failed to prolong the lives of leukemic animals and was therefore rejected as a suitable treatment for humans with leukaemia, or any other form of cancer. Most cancer chemotherapies are administered as a short series of treatments, with rest periods in between each course to allow the patient’s system to recover from the effects of the toxic treatment.

Conversely for AIDS patients, AZT treatments were to be taken for ‘life’, which, at the high doses that were initially prescribed, became extremely short. It is reported that everyone who received these high doses of toxic AZT died soon after their course of ‘treatment’ had begun. However, although these people are reported to have died from ‘AIDS’, the real cause of their deaths was the highly toxic AZT treatment. This is confirmed by Professor Bauer who states on his website The Case Against HIV, under the sub-heading, What Antiretroviral Drugs Do, that,

“AZT actually killed about 150,000 ‘HIV-positive’ people between the mid-1980s and the mid 1990s.”

The combination drugs that are currently used do not cause death quite so rapidly; although AZT is still an ingredient of ART drugs, the dose is much smaller. This should not be interpreted to mean that it is ‘the dose’ that makes ‘the poison’; the important point to be emphasised is that the size of ‘the dose’ determines the intensity of the effect; large amounts of a poison will cause very serious effects very quickly. Smaller doses over the course of a long period of time will also cause serious effects; but the effects will take a greater period of time to become noticeable.

One of the most tragic consequences of the belief that ‘HIV’ is a deadly virus, is that ‘treatment’ with highly toxic drugs can be administered to babies, the most vulnerable members of the human population. As previously mentioned, pregnancy is one of the ‘conditions’ that may produce a ‘false positive’ HIV test result. This result, even though false, is interpreted to indicate the presence of a deadly virus that endangers the lives of both mother and baby. The result of the erroneous idea that ‘HIV’ can be transmitted by an ‘infected’ mother to her baby during pregnancy, is that an expectant mother with a ‘positive’ HIV test result will be ‘treated’ with toxic ART drugs and the baby will be treated almost immediately after birth.

The recommendations for pregnant women in the US are explained on the page entitled Management of Infants Born to Women with HIV Infection on the AIDS Info website, which states that,

“All newborns perinatally exposed to HIV should receive postpartum antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to reduce the risk of perinatal transmission of HIV.”

One of the antiretroviral drugs recommended for newborn babies is zidovudine, also known as azidothymidine; in other words, AZT.

This is another situation in which the word ‘tragic’ is woefully inadequate!

It is clear that the pharmaceutical industry is a major beneficiary of these treatment recommendations; as demonstrated by the WHO fact sheet, which claims that,

“In 2017, 21.7 million people living with HIV were receiving ART globally.”

This level of drug coverage is to be further increased, as the fact sheet states,

“Expanding access to treatment is at the heart of a set of targets for 2020 which aim to bring the world on track to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

The extension of this policy to all countries around the world, especially those described as ‘developing’, is discussed in further detail in chapter eight; however, it should be abundantly clear that the ingestion of toxic drugs does not save lives.

Another group of scientists, led by biophysicist Dr Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos PhD from the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia, has also refuted the establishment dogma that HIV causes AIDS since the beginning of the alleged ‘epidemic’ in the early 1980s. Their stance, which differs slightly from that of Dr Duesberg, is that HIV has never been proven to exist. The reason for making this claim is based on their study of the published scientific papers, which, they claim, fail to show that the ‘virus’ was ever isolated.

The failure to perform this important step in viral research means that the structure of the antibodies specific to HIV is unknown. This is clearly one of the reasons that the HIV ‘test’ is not a test for HIV and that it is not specific to HIV antibodies. The work of the Perth Group in this field of HIV/AIDS research is documented on their website (theperthgroup.com). The point they make is, however, an extremely important one as it indicates that the entire HIV/AIDS industry is based on a fallacy.

In addition, the Perth Group states that diseases claimed to be ‘AIDS-defining’ are largely produced as the result of oxidative stress, which is discussed by Dr Valendar Turner MD in his article entitled The Yin & Yang of HIV, that states,

“… when oxidation is prolonged or excessive, cells become abnormal, injured and susceptible to diseases.”

Oxidative stress results from an excess of free radicals that damage cells and tissues; it is a major factor in all conditions of illness, as will be discussed in later chapters, especially chapter ten.

The significance of the reference to oxidative stress is that it is supportive of the original view that ‘AIDS’ was essentially toxicological; that the conditions suffered by the patients first diagnosed with the ‘disease’ were the result of a high intake of toxic drugs over a long period of time; toxic substances increase the production of free radicals and oxidative stress causes damage to the cells, tissues and organs.

Although Dr Duesberg maintains that the virus exists as a harmless passenger virus, his words are still pertinent,

“The only solution is to rethink the basic assumption that AIDS is infectious and is caused by HIV. But the federal and industrial downpour of funding has created an army of HIV-AIDS experts that includes scientists, journalists and activists who cannot afford to question the direction of their crusade.”

The AIDS establishment continues to steadfastly refuse to end their crusade or to relinquish their unproven notion that HIV is an infectious virus and that AIDS is a fatal ‘disease’. But even more egregious is that the medical establishment vilifies the work of the thousands of scientists like Dr Peter Duesberg, Dr David Rasnick, Dr Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos and Dr Kary Mullis, who refute the orthodox theory and provide compelling explanations for the illnesses that are classified under the label of ‘AIDS’.

Clearly, there is no specific illness that can be labelled ‘AIDS’; like so many other conditions, there are many causes and most of them are toxicological. Although the ‘HIV’ test is meaningless, it is extremely dangerous; a positive result on this test leads to toxic drugs, illness and an early death. Yet the public has been propagandised with stories of a dangerous virus and the deadly disease syndrome that it causes. The vast majority of people have accepted these stories and believe in the notion that the drugs are ‘life-saving’ when, in reality, they are life-threatening.

The story of HIV/AIDS is one that is fraught with bad science, politics, egotists, changed definitions, destroyed careers, greed and fraud. Although this may sound like an exaggerated claim these adjectives have been chosen carefully and used correctly; as will be discussed in more detail in chapter nine.

* * *

The claim promulgated by the medical establishment that the human race is in mortal danger from ‘infectious diseases’ caused by deadly ‘germs’ has been shown to be unfounded.

The consequences for people are, however, extremely serious, because the measures used for the prevention and treatment of these ‘diseases’ have the ability to severely impair their health and endanger their lives. These measures, which are inherently toxic, will only continue to produce ever-greater numbers of victims of iatrogenesis.

The real causes of so-called ‘infectious diseases’ are not ‘germs’, they are far more closely associated with environmental pollutants; as the discussions in chapters six and ten will demonstrate.

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”  – Voltaire

The establishment definition of the term ‘zoonosis’ refers to,

“an infectious disease of animals that can be transmitted to humans.”

The significance of zoonoses is that, according to the WHO web page entitled Managing public health risks at the human-animal-environment interface,

“Zoonoses comprise a large percentage of all newly identified infectious diseases as well as existing infectious diseases.”

In an effort to address the problems due to zoonoses, the WHO has partnered with the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) and the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) to form a collaboration, which, in April 2010, produced a document that reports the ‘vision’ of this partnership to be,

“A world capable of preventing, detecting, containing, eliminating and responding to animal and public health risks attributable to zoonoses and animal diseases with an impact on food security through multi-sectoral cooperation and strong partnerships.”

The causal agents of zoonoses are claimed to be mainly bacteria, viruses and parasites, although of different species from those claimed to cause ‘infectious diseases’ exclusive to humans; fungi are not considered to be significant causes of zoonoses. However, as demonstrated by the discussions in the two previous chapters, bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi are not pathogens, they do not cause human ‘infectious diseases’; this means therefore, that they cannot be the causal agents of ‘infectious diseases of animals’, whether zoonotic or non-zoonotic.

On the basis of the erroneous belief that ‘germs’ do cause zoonoses, the measures employed to address them are very similar to, if not the same as, those employed to address human infectious diseases. These measures, which were shown to be harmful to humans, will inevitably be harmful to animals. In addition, there are serious ramifications for human health, as a result of the harmful measures employed directly in the treatment of animals destined for the human food chain.

Although the FAO-OIE-WHO document does not discuss the recommendations in detail, it claims to ensure ‘food security’ through the prevention of ‘food-borne pathogens’. It is clear that this is intended to refer to the use of chemical compounds that are inevitably toxic by nature because their intended purpose is to kill the pathogens. However, food is not made ‘safe’ by the addition of toxic, antimicrobial chemicals; as will be discussed in greater detail in chapter six.

It is therefore extremely important to expose the serious and far-reaching consequences of the rigid adherence to the ‘germ theory’ with respect to animal ‘infectious diseases’ and the measures employed to combat them.

It is claimed that zoonoses are transmitted in a number of ways, one of which is through direct contact, an animal bite, for example; another method of transmission is said to occur through the air via ‘infected droplets’. It is also claimed that the ‘pathogens’ can be transmitted via a ‘vector’ or ‘carrier’. A vector is usually an insect that carries and is therefore able to transmit a ‘parasite’; the most common vectors are mosquitoes, many species of which are claimed to carry various parasites said to be the causes of a number of diseases. The best-known example of a ‘vector-borne’ disease is malaria, which is discussed in more detail in chapter eight.

Like human ‘infectious diseases’, each zoonosis is said to be caused by a distinct species of pathogen; however, unlike human pathogens, animal pathogens are said to have the ability to infect more than one host; as indicated by a 2002 article entitled Identifying Reservoirs of Infection: A Conceptual and Practical Challenge, which states that,

“… 77% of livestock pathogens and 91% of domestic carnivore pathogens infect multiple hosts.”

The term ‘reservoir host’ refers to an animal that is claimed to harbour and be the natural ‘home’ of a particular pathogen. Some sources claim that ‘reservoir hosts’ do not succumb to the disease the pathogen is alleged to cause, even though they are said to transmit infection; these animal ‘reservoir hosts’ are therefore comparable to human ‘asymptomatic carriers’. It is clear however, that, like the theories about human ‘infectious diseases’, the theories about animal diseases contain many anomalies and contradictions; they are also similarly erroneous.

An erroneous theory of disease causation inevitably generates a flawed theory of disease eradication; a situation that clearly applies to all so-called ‘infectious diseases’. However, according to a 2008 article entitled Zoonoses – With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemies, only infectious diseases that exclusively affect humans are capable of eradication on the basis that it is only possible to achieve adequate vaccination coverage of the human population. The existence of multiple animal ‘reservoir hosts’ is said to make the eradication of zoonoses much more difficult, as the article states,

“… zoonotic infections (those that have an animal reservoir) can probably never be eradicated …”

This idea clearly applies to all animal diseases, but is disproven by claims about the ‘eradication’ in 2011 of rinderpest, which, although non-zoonotic, is a disease that was reported to have affected many different animals, both domestic and wild; it is the only animal disease claimed to have been eradicated.

Although the eradication of smallpox and rinderpest are widely acclaimed as representing major ‘successes’ in the fight against disease, many hundreds of ‘infectious diseases’ are said to exist; the eradication of only two of them cannot be regarded as a cause for celebration. On the contrary, these alleged ‘successes’ must be contrasted with the many reports that suggest the number of infectious diseases is increasing, rather than decreasing; a point that is demonstrated by a 2014 article entitled Emerging zoonotic viral diseases, which states that,

“The last 30 years have seen a rise in emerging infectious diseases in humans and of these over 70% are zoonotic.”

The failure to successfully control the increasing incidence of ‘infectious diseases’ is largely due to the incessant search for ‘pathogens’ to the exclusion of almost any other factors that may cause or contribute to illness. The result of this focus on ‘germs’ has been the alleged ‘discovery’ of vast numbers of so-called ‘pathogens’, as described in a 2001 article entitled Risk factors for human disease emergence that states,

“A comprehensive literature review identifies 1415 species of infectious organism known to be pathogenic to humans …”

The article adds the comment that,

“The majority of pathogen species causing disease in humans are zoonotic …”

As mentioned above, the measures employed to combat animal ‘diseases’ include the use of pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines, both of which adversely affect the health of animals, including those reared for human consumption. The vaccination schedule for some animals is similar to that for humans, as indicated by the page entitled Badgers on the website of The Wildlife Trusts, which states that,

“Cattle are already vaccinated for up to 16 diseases …”

The implications for human health from the consumption of meat from vaccinated animals are, however, poorly understood; as acknowledged by a 2003 article entitled Human Illness Associated with Use of Veterinary Vaccines, which states that,

“The extent to which veterinary vaccines pose a health hazard to humans is unclear.”

Unfortunately, the article regards the main human health hazard to be from exposure to the ‘germs’ contained within animal vaccines, rather than their toxic ingredients. Although the human body is able to process and excrete ingested toxins through the digestive system, the level of toxins consumed from the meat of vaccinated animals is poorly recognised and rarely studied due to the belief that vaccines are ‘safe’.

The pharmaceuticals used in animal husbandry include antibiotics and growth hormones; although the latter are obviously not used to combat ‘germs’. However, the safety of the drugs administered to animals reared for human consumption has not been conclusively established. A 2010 article entitled Risk Assessment of Growth Hormones and Antimicrobial Residues in Meat acknowledges that the use of these drugs has,

“… provoked much debate on the safety of livestock products for human consumption.”

In order to determine the correct ‘dose’, the risk assessment procedures for veterinary drugs require the setting of ADIs (Acceptable Daily Intakes) and MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits). The problem with these ‘safety’ procedures is that they only assess the ‘dose’ of each substance individually. The claim that there is a ‘safe’ dose of each individual substance ignores the fact that many different veterinary drugs and vaccines are used; it also fails to recognise the synergies that may occur from interactions between drugs and vaccines used in various combinations.

Animals reared for food are subjected to a wide variety of ‘treatments’ that are claimed to assure their ‘safety’ for human consumption, but, in reality, these treatments achieve the complete opposite; they cause a great deal of harm. The article refers to the use of growth hormones and states that,

“The hormonal substances used for growth promotion in cattle are the naturally occurring steroids …”

The substances produced by the pharmaceutical industry, whether preparations derived from natural hormones or completely synthesised substances, are not equivalent to hormones that are produced naturally by an animal. Although referred to as ‘naturally-occurring’, that does not mean these hormonal substances are ‘safe’ or that specific hormones only produce a single specific effect within the animal’s body. The article claims that these ‘hormonal substances’ have a negligible impact on human health, but a ‘negligible impact’ is not equivalent to ‘no impact’. The use of hormonal substances in animals reared for food is discussed in a 2015 article entitled Hormone Use in Food Animal Production: Assessing Potential Dietary Exposures and Breast Cancer Risk, which refers to hormone drugs approved by the FDA for use in food animals and states that,

“There is concern that these drugs or their biologically active metabolites may accumulate in edible tissues …”

Although these drugs are claimed to have a ‘negligible impact’ on human health, this has not, however, been fully established; as the article also states,

“To date, the potential for human exposure to residues of these compounds in animal products, as well as the risks that may result from this exposure, is poorly understood.”

The previously cited 2010 Risk Assessment article refers to the use of ‘antimicrobials’; however, although bacteria are not the only zoonotic pathogen, antibiotics are one of the most commonly used drugs in animal husbandry. Significantly, their use for animals is on a scale that positively dwarfs their use in the treatment of human ‘infections’.

Furthermore, the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry is not limited to the treatment of ‘infections’; as indicated by a 2012 article entitled A Review of Antibiotic Use in Food Animals: Perspective, Policy and Potential, which states that they are used,

“… to treat clinical disease, to prevent and control common disease events, and to enhance animal growth.”

The article acknowledges the widespread use of antibiotics for animals reared for human consumption; however, although it may be assumed that this means there have been extensive studies performed to evaluate and determine the safety and efficacy of these drugs, the article indicates otherwise,

“Furthermore, in existing studies, neither the risks to human health nor the benefits to animal production have been well studied.”

Nevertheless, despite the lack of adequate studies, animal husbandry involves a wide variety of antibiotics, as the article also indicates,

“Twelve classes of antimicrobials – arsenicals, polypeptides, glycolipids, tetracyclines, elfamycins, macrolides, lincosamides, polyethers, betalactams, quinoxalines, streptogramins, and sulfonamides – may be used at different times in the life cycle of poultry, cattle and swine.”

This huge volume of antibiotic drugs, all of which are toxic by nature, as well as by intention, is virtually ignored in the reports issued by the medical establishment on matters of animal health. Instead, it is invariably claimed that the main problem posed by the overuse of antibiotics is ‘drug-resistance’; a claim that is also made on the WHO web page about ‘managing public health threats’, which states that,

“Antimicrobial resistance in human pathogens is another major public health threat which is partly impacted by use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and agriculture.”

The real problem caused by the overuse of antibiotics has been discussed. The harm caused by antibiotics is not restricted to humans; it should be clear that they are equally harmful for animals.

The real causes of human diseases include environmental pollutants, many of which are discussed in chapter six; it should be clear however, that these environmental pollutants will also have a serious and detrimental impact on animal health.

Nevertheless, the 2014 article about emerging diseases suggests that the emergence of new zoonoses is the result of increased contact between humans, livestock and wildlife. Expanding populations of humans and livestock have certainly resulted in substantial changes to land use; these changes include the development of huge monoculture farms, whether for rearing livestock or for growing crops. This expansion of agriculture has had an impact of varying severity on wildlife populations and brought many wild animals into close contact with farmers and their livestock. The result of this closer contact is that wild animals have been increasingly exposed to the many chemical compounds used in most agricultural practices; but these chemicals are ignored in theories about animal diseases, including those claimed to affect wild animals.

Instead, it is claimed in the article that ‘new zoonoses’ have emerged because increasingly close contact between humans, livestock and wildlife has permitted the spread of ‘pathogens’ that seek new hosts to ‘infect’, and facilitated their transmission between animal and human ‘hosts’. This claim is unfounded; as the previous discussions have demonstrated, there is no evidence to support the assumption that so-called ‘pathogens’ cause disease, transmit infection or even travel between ‘hosts’.

The importance of exposing the fallacy of the ‘germ theory’ cannot be over-stated. The continuing belief in this fatally flawed theory continues to pose increasingly serious hazards to the health of all people and all animals. The potential for a substantially heightened danger for wild animals in particular is indicated by a very worrying prediction in the article that states,

“The WHO and most infectious disease experts agree that the source of the next human pandemic is likely to be zoonotic and wildlife is emerging as the primary source.”

Chapter three demonstrated that the dire predictions about HIV/AIDS failed to materialise; that the 1918 Flu was not caused by a bacterium or a virus; and that rats and their fleas have been exonerated as the causes of the Black Death. Although some reports claim that ‘HIV’ evolved from a monkey virus that ‘escaped’ from Africa, this is an erroneous claim, as demonstrated by the discussion in the previous chapter.

The failure of the medical establishment to acknowledge the fallacy of the ‘germ theory’ raises serious questions about the prediction of a new pandemic, the consequences of which have the potential to be disastrous, not only for the wild animals deemed to be the ‘source’, but for all animals, including humans. These consequences will not be due to any ‘pathogen’, but to the measures that are likely to be introduced to address or even prevent the predicted ‘problem’. These measures will almost inevitably involve the introduction of toxic chemicals intended to kill the ‘germs’ alleged to cause the ‘disease’. It is possible that the solutions may even involve the deliberate destruction of wild animals; a practice that has been implemented in certain situations.

The first step in any genuine effort to ‘eradicate disease’ must be the eradication of the belief in the ‘germ theory’; until this is accomplished, all animals, and humans, will continue to face real threats to health from the inappropriate and dangerous measures introduced by the medical establishment and the animal health community to address so-called ‘infectious diseases’.

The following sections discuss a few animal diseases to demonstrate the serious consequences of the erroneous assumptions about their causation, and of the inappropriate measures used to control them. The final section discusses vivisection to demonstrate the reason that animal experiments should cease.

As the discussions refer to animal diseases, the definitions used in this chapter are those provided on the OIE website.

The OIE definition of rabies refers to,

“… a viral disease that affects the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals, including humans.”

Rabies is classified as a zoonotic disease; as the definition explains,

“Rabies is one of the most deadly zoonoses. Each year, it kills nearly 60,000 people worldwide, mostly children in developing countries.”

It is claimed that rabies is present throughout all continents of the world, with the sole exception of Antarctica; however, the May 2019 WHO fact sheet entitled Rabies states that,

“Rabies is one of the neglected tropical diseases that predominantly affects poor and vulnerable populations who live in remote rural locations.”

It is claimed that rabies is transmitted via an animal bite and that the overwhelming majority of cases occur due to a dog bite, which exposes a person to ‘infected’ saliva. But this explanation does not seem to be consistent with the above statements that rabies mainly affects ‘poor and vulnerable’ children in ‘developing’ countries.

The OIE information sheet makes the interesting comment that the rabies virus is not immediately active after the bite but instead,

“… will generally remain at the entry site for a period of time before travelling along the nerves to the brain.”

The WHO fact sheet refers to some of the symptoms associated with the disease. Although the initial symptoms are mild and include pain at the wound site and a fever, far more serious symptoms are said to develop later; the fact sheet explains,

“As the virus spreads to the central nervous system, progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord develops.”

The discussion in chapter three demonstrated that the particles called ‘viruses’ are inert outside of a host cell; which means they cannot ‘travel’ around the body.

According to the fact sheet there are two forms of the disease, one of which is called ‘furious’ rabies because it is said to produce ‘hyperactive behaviour’. This behaviour may include hydrophobia, which is an alternative term for ‘fear of water’ and also the original name for rabies. The other form of the disease is called paralytic rabies, because it is claimed that the virus can induce paralysis.

The bite from an ‘infected’ animal is said to require prompt ‘treatment’, which rather unusually involves the administration of the rabies vaccine. The vast majority of vaccines are administered prior to ‘exposure’ as a preventive measure; but the rabies vaccine can be administered both before and after ‘exposure’. However, this vaccine is not routinely administered prophylactically, except for people who are considered to be ‘at risk’ from rabies; which mainly refers to people who work with animals, vets and animal researchers, for example.

The rabies vaccine is used for both animals and people, although the first rabies vaccine was produced only for human use. Its development is credited to the French chemist, Louis Pasteur, and it is considered to be another of his ‘achievements’. As discussed in chapter three, Dr Geison’s research revealed that the ‘science’ of Louis Pasteur was not as meticulous as it is believed to have been; his formulation of the rabies vaccine was equally flawed.

Prior to Louis Pasteur’s study of rabies, the ‘treatments’ used for patients diagnosed with this disease were of a most bizarre nature; they owed their existence more to superstition than to ‘science’. In her book The Poisoned Needle, Eleanor McBean presents an extract from an essay entitled Rabies Past/Present in Scientific Review, written by physician and surgeon Dr Millicent Morden MD. The essay includes reference to examples of the pre-Pasteur treatment of rabies,

“In 1806 a Mr. Kraus was awarded $1000, by the then rulers of New York temtory for his scientific discovery which had kept rabies out of New York for over twenty years. His formula is a matter of record and consisted of the groundup jaw bone of an ass or dog, a piece of colt’s tongue and the green rust off a penny of George the First reign.”

These treatments would be more appropriately described using the previously cited words of William White that refer to ‘a combination of absurdity with nastiness’. In view of the absurdity of these treatments, it is not surprising that the medical establishment regards it as ‘fortunate’ that Louis Pasteur decided to turn his attention to a study of rabies. But it has not been fortunate; the experiments he conducted were similar to the previously described gruesome monkey experiments, which were claimed to demonstrate the transmission of polio. In his book entitled The Blood Poisoners, Lionel Dole describes the nature of Louis Pasteur’s experiments,

“The manner in which Pasteur made rabbits "rabid" by boring holes in their skulls and inserting filth into their brains was not science but simply brutal quackery.”

Nevertheless, it was on the basis of this brutal quackery that Louis Pasteur developed his rabies vaccine. The medical establishment references to this vaccine indicate that it was a resounding success; contemporary reports however, tell a very different story and one that again speaks of Louis Pasteur’s fundamental errors and even of fraud.

In her essay, Dr Morden refers to two medical practitioners who were contemporaries of Louis Pasteur but outspoken in their criticism of his work; as the following extracts demonstrate. The first extract refers to Dr Bruette’s exposure of the fraud of the rabies vaccine,

“Dr William A. Bruette, former assistant chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry in Washington, was also a contemporary of Pasteur and gave many proofs of Pasteur’s incorrect findings. Dr Bruette has proved, as a matter of fact, that rabies vaccine is not only a fraud, but harmful. He scorns the use of rabies vaccine and states that ‘inoculation spreads disease.’ He goes as far as to call the sale of rabies vaccine an out and out racket.”

Although 21st century vaccines are different from those used in the 19th century, they are all based on the same flawed theory. The second extract refers to Dr Woods’ exposure of a major flaw in the theory about the alleged cause of rabies,

“Dr Matthew Woods, another contemporary of Pasteur, then a leading member of the Philadelphia Medical Society, wrote much on the subject of rabies. He stated, ‘… at the Philadelphia dog pound, where on an average more than 6,000 vagrant dogs are taken annually, and where the catchers and keepers are frequently bitten while handling them, not one case of hydrophobia has occurred during its entire history of twenty-five years, in which time 150,000 dogs have been handled’.”

Dr Morden cites a further quote from Dr Woods, in which he suggests alternative causes for the symptoms that are often labelled as ‘rabies’,

“In animals, so-called rabies is fundamentally due to maltreatment or malnutrition or both.”

Dr Bruette and Dr Woods were by no means the only medical practitioners to disparage Louis Pasteur’s rabies vaccine; a critical view was also held by Dr George Wilson MD, President of the British Medical Society, who, at the Society’s AGM in 1899, made the following statement that was published in the British Medical Journal,

“I accuse my profession of misleading the public. Pasteur's anti-rabies vaccination is – I believe, and others with me – a piece of deception.”

Unfortunately, the rabies vaccine is far more than a piece of deception; it was, and still is a serious public health problem that poses severe health hazards for both humans and animals. It should be clear that maltreatment and malnutrition, the alternative causes suggested by Dr Woods, can be neither prevented nor treated by vaccination. The health of a person or an animal can certainly be adversely affected by vaccines. In his book, Lionel Dole expands on the many problems associated with the use of the rabies vaccine,

“Pasteur cannot be proved to have saved a single life with his vaccines, but it is quite certain that many people died from his treatment of them, even when the dogs that had bitten them remained perfectly well. …”

Any dogs that remained ‘perfectly well’ could not have been ‘rabid’; nevertheless, many dogs were destroyed on the basis that they had a disease that they could transmit to people, if bitten.

Although it is claimed that rabies is caused by a virus, the refutation of the ‘germ theory’ in chapter three demonstrates this to be an unfounded claim. There is, however, other evidence that also denies the viral cause of rabies, as explained by Hans Ruesch, a Swiss medical historian, who states, in his book entitled 1000 Doctors (and many more) Against Vivisection, that,

“Medical students are taught that Pasteur solved the ‘problem’ of rabies in the last century – thanks to experiments on dogs. They – and the public – are not told that neither he nor his successors have ever been able to identify the virus which is supposed to cause rabies. …”

Hans Ruesch’s book was first published in 1978; in other words, more than four decades after the invention of the electron microscope; this, in turn, means that there had been more than ample time for scientists to have identified the virus alleged to cause rabies. The fact that it had remained unidentified in the late 1970s demonstrates that there can be no original ‘proof’ that rabies is caused by a ‘virus’; the idea that it can be transmitted to humans through the bite of an allegedly ‘infected’ dog is similarly unproven.

In the conclusion to her essay, Dr Morden provides a summary of the mistaken ideas about the existence of an ‘infectious disease’ called rabies,

“Is rabies then a disease? Have we isolated a virus or germ? Is the Pasteur-treatment specific? Is rabies, in short, fact or fancy? I believe it is fancy, for I have handled so-called rabid animals and humans without benefit of Pasteur treatment and in no case has there been a death or any other symptoms of rabies. I submit that rabies is non-existent and that the Pasteur treatment for rabies is worse than the disease, if it were a disease, which it is not.”

The claim that human rabies is a disease of the central nervous system and involves inflammation of the brain, otherwise known as encephalitis, provides an indication of some of the possible causal agents for these symptoms; for example, the discussion about the 1918 Flu referred to cases of ‘post-vaccinal encephalitis’. Some of the possible ‘side effects’ of the rabies vaccine include pain, dizziness and nausea; more serious effects include breathing difficulties and swelling of the throat, both of which are regarded as medical emergencies and demonstrate the dangers of the vaccine.

Although contributory factors, vaccines are not the only sources of neurotoxins to which people and animals can be exposed. However, the control of rabies is said to require animal vaccinations, mainly for dogs; in many countries these vaccines are mandatory.

Despite the belief that they are ‘lower beings’ than humans, animals also experience vaccine ‘side effects’; they can suffer stress, pain and discomfort from the vaccination process, as well as the more serious effects from their toxic ingredients. The acknowledged ‘side effects’ include vomiting and fever, both of which are obvious signs of poisoning. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) provides information on the web page entitled Vaccination FAQ about the possible, common ‘side effects’ that can occur and states that some of the more serious reactions,

“… can be life-threatening and are medical emergencies.”

The seriousness of these effects demonstrates the extent to which animals are at risk from the effects of vaccines, including the rabies vaccine.

Unfortunately, the OIE claims that the appropriate measure required to eradicate rabies is to,

“Vaccinate at least 70% of dogs.”

Although rabies is mainly claimed to be transmitted via a dog bite, other animals are also implicated as vectors that are able to transmit the ‘virus’ alleged to cause rabies; these animals include bats, raccoons and cats. The idea that rabies can be eradicated by only vaccinating dogs is, therefore, yet another anomaly that remains unexplained.

Despite the complete lack of evidence that it is a genuine disease, rabies continues to be considered as an important zoonosis that requires many animals, especially pets, to be subjected to vaccines; this is highly lucrative for the pharmaceutical industry but extremely detrimental to the health of both humans and animals.

The OIE definition of bovine TB refers to,

“… a chronic disease of animals …”

It is claimed that bovine TB is caused by Mycobacterium bovis, which suggests it is a disease that is exclusive to cattle, but the OIE definition indicates otherwise,

“This disease can affect practically all mammals, causing a general state of illness, coughing and eventual death.”

Although human TB is said to be caused by a different bacterium, M. tuberculosis, it is nevertheless claimed that bovine TB is zoonotic, which indicates that humans are also able to contract this disease. One of the main routes by which transmission to humans is said to occur is through drinking raw milk from allegedly ‘infected’ cows; a situation that is claimed to occur more frequently in ‘developing’ countries, in which the pasteurisation of milk is not a common practice. It is claimed that the pasteurisation process makes milk ‘safe’ because it kills bacteria; but this is yet another disastrous legacy of the ‘germ theory’ and the flawed science of Louis Pasteur.

Cattle are a major source of food for people throughout most parts of the world; a serious and potentially fatal cattle disease is, therefore, understandably a matter of grave concern for cattle farmers; but they are misled about the real causes of animal diseases, including bovine TB.

One of the major concerns of the medical establishment is the lack of success in the attempts to control and eradicate this disease; this concern is expressed by a 2007 article entitled Tuberculosis: a reemerging disease at the interface of domestic animals and wildlife, which states that,

“As many countries attempt to eradicate M. bovis from domestic livestock, efforts are impeded by spill back from wildlife reservoirs.”

The term ‘reservoir host’ was briefly discussed in the opening section of this chapter, in which it was explained that it is used to refer to animals that naturally ‘harbour’ a pathogen. Although the discussion in chapter three referred to bacteria as part of the human microbiota, it should be obvious that the human body is not their only natural habitat; bacteria are acknowledged to inhabit the bodies of most, if not all animals, and certainly all mammals. It is therefore unsurprising that M. bovis should have been ‘found’ in the bodies of a number of different mammals.

The OIE information sheet about bovine TB claims that M. bovis has been ‘isolated’ from a very wide range of animals, including, but not limited to: sheep, goats, equines, buffaloes, bison, camels, pigs, deer, antelopes, dogs, cats, foxes, mink, badgers, ferrets, rats, primates, elephants, otters, hares, moles, raccoons, lions, tigers, leopards and lynx. The ‘isolation’ of a bacterium from any of these animals does not prove they are ‘reservoir hosts’ or that they can facilitate the transmission of infective agents. Significantly, however, it is not claimed that these animals are necessarily ‘diseased’. Nevertheless, the 2007 article claims that,

“It will not be possible to eradicate M. bovis from livestock until transmission between wildlife and domestic animals is halted.”

The priority given to livestock can have disastrous consequences for wild animal species claimed to be ‘reservoirs’ of allegedly ‘pathogenic’ bacteria. This is a situation that has arisen in the UK, where the badger is claimed to be the main ‘reservoir’ of M. bovis and held responsible for the existence of TB in cattle herds; but this claim is unproven, as the article acknowledges,

“… although most of the evidence is indirect, it is hypothesized that badgers are a source of infection for cattle and responsible for the increase in tuberculosis among domestic cattle herds.”

The basis for this ‘hypothesis’ is that M. bovis has been ‘isolated’ from badgers; a correlation that has been assumed to mean causation; but this is a mistaken assumption. Furthermore, it should be obvious that, even if bacteria were transmitted between animals, they could just as easily be transmitted in the opposite direction; in other words, from cattle to badgers. The main problem is the erroneous belief that bacteria are pathogens that can transmit disease between animals.

There are claimed to be two possible solutions to the bovine TB problem in the UK; badgers should be either vaccinated or culled, even though neither of these measures would be able to genuinely reduce the incidence of TB in cattle. Nevertheless, a badger vaccination programme was implemented, but halted in 2015 due to a shortage of the BCG vaccine. However, the result of this programme was described in a December 2015 article entitled UK Badger vaccination projects threatened by global BCG shortage on the website of the Farmers Guardian that states,

“The latest report from the vaccination area concludes there has been no meaningful change in TB levels.”

The shortage of the BCG vaccine inevitably resulted in the implementation of badger culling programmes, as indicated by a December 2015 article entitled Badger cull kills more than 10,000 animals in three months; the title is self-explanatory.

In April 2018, the UK Government remained committed to the eradication of bovine TB and, according to their website,

“The Government is committed to eradicating bovine TB and sees badger culling as central to this.”

The Wildlife Trusts disagrees with this view and instead claims that badgers have been made the scapegoats for bovine TB; on their web page entitled Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB), is the statement that,

“The scientific evidence demonstrates that culling is likely to be ineffective in fighting the disease …”

Unfortunately, they recommend that cattle should receive the TB vaccine, together with all of the other vaccines administered to them.

However, as demonstrated by the discussions in chapter two, no vaccine is effective; this inevitably applies to animal vaccines as well as those used for humans. The OIE acknowledges that animal vaccines are of questionable efficacy and states that the animal TB vaccine,

“… is not widely used as a preventive measure in animals: the efficacy of existing vaccines is variable and it interferes with testing to eliminate the disease.”

The comment that the vaccine ‘interferes with testing’ is significant because both the test and the vaccines are made using bacterial antigenic material. Nevertheless, a reaction to a vaccine is claimed to indicate ‘immunity’, whereas a reaction to the test is claimed to indicate ‘infection’. This is an inconsistency that is entirely inexplicable within the context of the ‘germ theory’, and raises serious questions about the ‘science’ used to determine the health, or otherwise, of animals reared for human consumption.

Advice about TB testing for cattle farmers in the UK is provided by TB Hub, which is described as a joint industry initiative and is supported by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), a UK Government department. Under the heading How does it work? on the page entitled Tuberculin skin testing, is the statement that,

“… the skin test in cattle relies on measuring the immune response of the animal to injections of tuberculin. Tuberculin is a complex mix of proteins extracted from cultures of M. bovis grown in the laboratory and killed by heat.

The page provides further details about the testing procedure and how the results are interpreted to determine which cattle have been ‘infected’ with bovine TB,

“The skin test is comparative as the animal’s immune response to injections of both bovine and avian (bird) tuberculin is measured and compared. By simultaneously injecting two types of tuberculin into the deep layers of the skin of the neck, the test can better distinguish between animals infected with M. bovis and animals previously exposed to or infected with other types of mycobacteria found in the environment which do not cause bovine TB.

It is claimed that an animal 'infected' with the TB bacterium will produce a reaction at the site of the bovine tuberculin injection, as indicated by the statement that,

“Cattle that are infected with M. bovis tend to show a greater reaction to bovine tuberculin than avian tuberculin.

The animals deemed to be infected undergo further procedures to confirm the extent of their reaction; however, the general process is described succinctly by the OIE that states,

“The standard control measure applied to TB is test and slaughter.”

Fortunately, this measure is not applied to humans who test positive on a TB skin test.

The slaughter of animals regarded as ‘infected’ due to a significant reaction to the test is a relatively new phenomenon. In her book Animal Research Takes Lives, Bette Overell cites an article entitled Animal health without vaccines written by F Newman Turner, editor of the magazine The Farmer. An extract from the article states,

“Tuberculosis has also been treated effectively, and animals rejected by the Ministry of Agriculture as tubercular have, after natural treatment, subsequently been readmitted to the herd by the same Ministry, as sound, and have continued to pass the tuberculin test regularly. I have even taken the discharges of cows badly suffering from mastitis and applied the virulent bacteria to the udders of healthy cows, with no ill-effect whatever to the healthy cow.”

It is clear therefore, that a reaction to the test is not indicative of ‘infection’ with a ‘dangerous’ disease that is always fatal.

The establishment obsession with the idea that microorganisms are the major causes of disease, has effectively denied attention to any other theories about the causes of health problems in cattle, or to alternative treatments that are not based on pharmaceutical products.

One of the factors rarely considered as relevant to animal TB is the effect of the huge quantities of drugs and chemicals that are used in modern day farming practices and agriculture generally; antibiotics in particular, are used in immense quantities, as discussed in the opening section of this chapter.

Furthermore, if the ‘germ theory’ were correct, the routine use of antibiotics in cattle farming would ensure that all animals were continually protected and none of them would succumb to any ‘bacterial infection’. However, far from being protective of their health, antibiotics are harmful to animals as well as humans; this is discussed by Heinrich Kremer in his book entitled The Silent Revolution in Cancer and AIDS Medicine,

“The treatment of animals or man with antibacterial drugs can have harmful effects on mitochondrial function, especially in tissues that have a high proliferation rate.”

Antibiotic drugs are harmful for animals; but they are not the only toxic substances to which livestock can be exposed. Although many environmental pollutants and contaminants can adversely affect the health of animals, certain farming practices are contributory factors to animal illness, even though they are implemented in the name of animal welfare, as the next discussion will demonstrate.

The OIE definition states that,

“BSE is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of cattle.”

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is usually referred to by the abbreviation BSE, but it is also known as ‘mad cow disease’, which is said to be an apt description of an animal with this condition.

BSE is not the only form of Spongiform Encephalopathy; there are other types that affect other animals, and these are referred to under the general heading of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, or TSE, the causes of which are explained by the OIE information sheet about BSE that states,

“BSE, like other TSEs, is characterized by the presence of an abnormal infectious protein called a prion in nervous tissue.”

The information sheet also states that,

“The subsequent spongy degeneration of the brain results in severe and fatal neurological signs and symptoms.”

Although referred to as ‘transmissible’, one form of TSE only affects sheep and goats; this disease is more commonly known as ‘scrapie’, which is also an apt description of the behaviour of animals with this condition, as they often scrape their fleeces against stationary objects. However, scrapie is also described as a fatal degenerative disease that involves more than fleece scraping.

The characteristic of the ‘infectious protein’ that is claimed by the OIE to be ‘abnormal’ and the cause of TSEs is that it is ‘misfolded’. It is also claimed that the misfolding of a protein induces other proteins to become ‘misfolded’ and it is this process that is claimed to activate the ‘disease’. However, despite these claims, the establishment information about TSEs shows that the actual mechanism of action, by which the proteins become misfolded and produce disease, is poorly understood.

It is not only animals that are claimed to be affected by diseases claimed to be caused by misfolded proteins known as prions. A well-known example is CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), which is claimed to be the human version of BSE and is described as an incurable fatal neurodegenerative condition. One form of CJD, referred to as vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), is claimed to be acquired from animals, which has led to the classification of BSE as a zoonotic disease.

Interestingly there are a number of human neurodegenerative diseases that are also claimed to be associated with misfolded proteins; these diseases include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

Although BSE is claimed to be caused by an ‘infectious agent’, the source of this ‘pathogen’ is unknown; as the OIE information sheet indicates,

“Scientists believe that the spread of this disease in cattle is caused by feeding rendered material from infected cattle or sheep back to other cattle.”

The statement that ‘scientists believe’ demonstrates that this idea has not been conclusively proven; although the OIE claims that,

“… dairy herds are fed concentrate rations that contain meat-and-bone meal …”

The idea that a feed product containing ‘meat and bone meal’ is the cause of BSE was refuted by Mark Purdey, who, in his book entitled Animal Pharm, relates his research and experiences as a farmer during the first BSE outbreak in the 1980s in England,

“As a working livestock farmer and TSE researcher with firsthand experience of BSE erupting in cattle that had been purchased into my organic farm, I was struck by the fact that no cases of BSE had ever emerged in cows that had been born and raised on fully converted organic farms, despite those cattle having been permitted access to the feed that contained the incriminated meat and bone meal (MBM) ingredient – as part of their 20% conventional feeding stuff allowance decreed in the organic standards at that time.”

Although Mark Purdey demonstrated that MBM was not the cause of BSE, it should be noted that cattle are herbivores, not omnivores. The natural diet of cattle is grass, which is rich in cellulose; the digestive systems of cattle consist of four stomach compartments that are able to process grass and obtain the required nutrients from it. The use of meat and bone meal as a ‘feed’ for cattle was clearly inappropriate.

The types of MBM alleged to have been the cause of BSE have since been banned, but cases of BSE continue to be reported, which demonstrates that MBM could not have been the sole or even the main cause of this disease.

Through his research, Mark Purdey discovered that a much more likely cause of BSE was phosmet, a chemical insecticide used as a cattle ‘wash’ in the control of warble fly, an insect pest common to cattle. This insecticide, which contains a chemical compound made from phosphorus, is applied directly onto the animals, usually over their necks; the neurotoxic properties of phosphorus-based chemicals is discussed in chapter six.

However, cattle in the UK suffered a significantly greater degree of neurological effects than cattle in the many other countries that also used this insecticide; the reason for this is explained by Mark Purdey, who states that,

“In 1982 measures were passed that enforced twice annual application of a uniquely concentrated dose (20 mg/kg bodyweight) of a systemic acting organo-dithio-phosphate insecticide for the control of warbles on UK cattle. Amongst a myriad of toxicological effects, the systemic types of dithio-phosphate can chelate copper and open up the blood brain barrier; thereby disturbing the overall crucial balance of metals in the brain.”

The application of the insecticide ‘wash’ onto the necks of cattle enabled the toxic chemicals to penetrate into their heads and seep into their brains. The effects were clearly extremely unpleasant for the cattle, as demonstrated by the behaviour that earned the label ‘mad cow disease’. The subsequent ‘outbreak’ of BSE in the UK due to the high concentration of phosmet, resulted in the slaughter of millions of cattle. The incidence of BSE in countries that did not use such a high concentration of phosmet was lower than in the UK, as Mark Purdey explains,

“The few other European countries who instigated warble fly campaigns (e.g.; France, Switzerland, Ireland, etc) used lower doses of insecticide, and, not surprisingly, developed proportionately fewer cases of BSE as a result.”

Unsurprisingly, Mark Purdey’s research was not widely publicised, but of greater concern are the actions taken by the authorities to discredit his research work; as he also explains in his book,

“Despite publication in a variety of scientific journals, the authorities and their key advisors are ignoring these findings and are doing their utmost to marginalise those of us who are trying to pursue this line of research.”

Unfortunately, the medical establishment invariably fails to associate toxic chemicals with the outbreak of any ‘disease’, except in rare circumstances, in which the link is too obvious to be ignored.

One of the likely reasons for the failure of the UK establishment to associate toxic insecticides with BSE is because of the potential consequences. The revelation that it was the high concentration of a recommended toxic insecticide wash that had caused the problem and resulted in the unnecessary slaughter of millions of cattle, would have had serious ramifications, as Mark Purdey explains,

“If, however, it was officially verified that phosmet was a cause of BSE, compensation claims worth billions would be filed, not only against the British government but also the insecticide manufacturers.”

The connection between BSE, a disease of the nervous system, and neurotoxic chemicals offers a far more compelling explanation than that of an allegedly infectious ‘misfolded’ protein. Although misfolded proteins have been found in connection with neurodegenerative diseases, this fact does not ‘prove’ that they are the cause. It is far more likely that proteins become misfolded as the result of exposures to toxins, especially neurotoxins.

Unfortunately, whilst the ‘germ theory’ remains firmly embedded within the medical establishment doctrines about disease, the real role of proteins within the body will not be properly studied and will remain poorly understood.

Another cattle disease that is similar to both bovine TB and BSE and also based on the ‘germ theory’ dogma, is foot and mouth disease (FMD), which is regarded as viral, highly infectious and sometimes fatal. The previously cited article about reservoirs of infection states that,

“… Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is maintained in unvaccinated cattle populations …”

However, in his book entitled Universal Immunization, Medical Miracle or Masterful Mirage, Dr Raymond Obomsawin PhD recounts details from his interview with Dr Archie Kalokerinos MD, who, at the time, was Chief Medical Officer at the Aboriginal Health Clinic in Australia,

“He related an experience wherein cattle feeding on grass grown on re-mineralized soil, were grazing literally nose to nose – at the fence line – with another herd infected with hoof and mouth disease. Without the benefit of any specific protective measures including vaccines, the uninfected herd manifested total immunity.”

Although not a ‘laboratory experiment’, this observation from the real world provides empirical evidence that FMD cannot be infectious. Furthermore, the fact that the uninfected herd were also unvaccinated supports the assertion that vaccination does not confer immunity to disease; it can, and clearly does, confer ill-health.

The OIE definition of myxomatosis refers to,

“… an important disease of rabbits caused by a poxvirus called the Myxoma virus (MV).

Myxomatosis is not classified as zoonotic; which means that it is not a disease of concern for human health. It is, however, an extremely unusual animal disease for two reasons, the first of which is that it is claimed to only affect rabbits and hares. The second reason is that its degree of virulence is claimed to be dependent upon the species of rabbit ‘infected’ by the virus; as the OIE states,

“MV causes a very mild disease in its original host native to South America, but in some species of rabbits and hares, especially the European rabbits it causes a severe disease with high mortality.”

It would seem that the Myxoma virus is highly specialised; yet, inexplicably, it is claimed that MV has a completely ‘normal’ mode of transmission. According to the OIE,

“Spread mainly occurs through fleas and mosquitoes which ingest the virus while biting infected animals and then transmit the disease to other susceptible animals.”

This statement suggests that transmission of the ‘virus’ is synonymous with transmission of ‘disease’, but this cannot be the case if animals must be ‘susceptible’ before succumbing to the disease. Unfortunately, the OIE does not explain what constitutes ‘susceptibility’; but their statement indicates that the onset of disease requires other factors in addition to an alleged ‘infection’ with a virus.

It is claimed that a number of biting insects are carriers of the Myxoma virus, but that mosquitoes are the principal vectors. The two species of mosquito associated with the transmission of myxomatosis are Aedes and Anopheles, both of which are also associated with the transmission of many human diseases. Aedes is said to transmit diseases such as yellow fever; Anopheles is said to be the main vector of malaria. Yet these mosquitoes are claimed to only transmit the Myxoma virus to rabbits, despite the fact that they bite humans and a variety of animals.

It is reported that the Myxoma virus was introduced into the rabbit population of Australia in the mid-20th century as a method of ‘biological control’. However, the refutation of the ‘germ theory’ means that myxomatosis cannot be caused by a virus; which raises questions about the Australian experience and about the real causes of this disease. These questions prompted the authors of this book to conduct a more in-depth investigation of the subject, the results of which are revealed in this discussion.

The establishment reports state that myxomatosis was first recognised in 1896 as the result of the work of Giuseppe Sanarelli, an Italian microbiologist, who is said to have imported a colony of domestic European rabbits from Brazil to Uruguay for research purposes; but all the rabbits died suddenly from a virulent ‘infectious disease’ that acquired the label ‘myxomatosis’. Although claimed to be a viral disease, the actual ‘virus’ could not have been observed prior to the invention of the electron microscope in the 1930s.

The rabbit problem in Australia is reported to have begun after the inadvertent release of some European rabbits in 1859. The result of this incident was that rabbit numbers rapidly increased to such an unprecedented level that they very quickly became a significant pest, especially for Australian farmers and landowners. The prior ‘discovery’ that myxomatosis was a fatal disease of European rabbits led to the notion that the introduction of the ‘disease’ into the rabbit population might be an effective method of reducing their numbers.

The first attempt to introduce myxomatosis was conducted in 1926; it is reported to have been unsuccessful. Further attempts were made during the 1930s, but, although curtailed by the advent of WWII, they are also reported to have been unsuccessful. However, efforts to reduce the rabbit population by infecting them with myxomatosis were resumed in 1949 under a research programme headed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Professor Frank Fenner, an Australian virologist, is regarded as the key scientist in myxomatosis research. He joined the CSIRO team in early 1951 after the first ‘outbreak’ of the disease; as he recounts in his book entitled Nature, Nurture and Chance,

“Several field trials failed, but in the Christmas-New Year period of 1950-51 the disease escaped from one of the four trial sites in the Murray valley and spread all over the Murray-Darling basin, killing millions of rabbits.”

This episode is claimed to have virtually eradicated the rabbit population and is regarded as the first ‘successful’ introduction of myxomatosis; Professor Fenner states that it was this ‘outbreak’ that inspired him to study the virology of the disease. He adds an extremely interesting comment that,

“The climatic conditions at the time of the outbreak of myxomatosis in the Murray-Darling Basin had been such that there was also an outbreak of encephalitis in that region …”

The simultaneous outbreak of human encephalitis and myxomatosis generated an understandable level of concern that these diseases were somehow related; it was even suggested that the Myxoma virus may have been responsible for the cases of encephalitis. These fears were alleviated after it had been reported that Professor Fenner and two of his colleagues had remained unaffected after being inoculated with the virus. Although neither disease is caused by a virus, their concurrence is nevertheless significant; it will be shown that they have causes in common.

The CSIRO myxomatosis programme involved a number of field studies conducted by Professor Fenner and his team of researchers over the course of a number of years. This research is documented in a series of seven papers entitled Studies in the Epidemiology of Infectious Myxomatosis of Rabbits. The second paper of this series refers to the CSIRO experiments conducted during 1950, and contains some interesting information about the procedures used to ‘infect’ the rabbits with the ‘virus’; the paper states,

“All rabbits caught were inoculated subcutaneously with 1.0ml of a glycerolated liver-lung extract from a diseased rabbit …”

This means therefore, that rabbits were inoculated with ‘extract of diseased rabbit’.

This second paper also refers to the role of mosquitoes in the spread of ‘infection’, and states that the relevant species are Anopheles and Culex, but not Aedes. On the basis of the idea that they are the vectors of MV, the researchers collected mosquitoes in order to extract the ‘virus’. The process of obtaining ‘virus’ from mosquitoes is quite revealing; it is described in the paper under the sub-heading Recovery of virus from mosquitoes, which states that the researchers caught 168 female Culex mosquitoes that were,

“… ground up in a mortar and pestle and taken up in 5ml normal saline. Of this suspension 0.5ml was inoculated subcutaneously into the right flank of a laboratory rabbit.”

In other words, in these experiments, rabbits were inoculated with ‘extract of ground mosquito’, rather than ‘extract of diseased rabbit’.

The third paper in the series documents another process of obtaining ‘virus’ from mosquitoes; the process is described in this paper under the sub-heading Recovery of virus from mosquitoes which states that the mosquitoes were,

“… quickly cooled and then ground with alundum in a cold mortar and pestle in batches of about fifty insects, taken up in 2ml of saline containing 10% horse serum, 2,000 units of penicillin per ml and 20,000 units of streptomycin per ml. After centrifugation a proportion of the supernatant material was ampouled and stored in a dry ice cabinet. The rest was inoculated intradermally in the rabbit …”

The results of the entire series of field studies display a varying degree of ‘virulence’ of the disease introduced into the rabbit population. The researchers also report that they had observed many rabbits with scar tissue, which they interpreted to indicate that some rabbits had been able to recover from the disease; this means that the disease cannot be inherently fatal.

The most significant aspect of these field study experiments is that ‘outbreaks’ of the disease, other than the one that occurred in 1950/51, were all reported to have been at a greatly reduced ‘virulence’; none of them had the same devastating effect on rabbits. The researchers claim that the reason for the reduced mortality was that the rabbits had developed ‘resistance’ and had become ‘immune’ to the disease. But this claim is unfounded, because myxomatosis ‘outbreaks’ continue to occur in Australia.

The Australian field studies were not the only efforts to introduce myxomatosis to control rabbits. An article entitled Failure of Myxomatosis on Skokholm Island, published in 1955 in the journal Nature, details three separate attempts to introduce myxomatosis and states,

“In each attempt the marked rabbits (inoculated with the virus) appeared to have died within the usual period of less than fourteen days; but there was little or no spread to uninoculated rabbits.”

The failure of any spread of disease on these occasions is claimed to be because the virus can only ‘infect’ a healthy animal through a scratch, cut or insect bite. However, this raises a fundamental question about the allegedly successful spread of the disease in 1950/51 that is claimed to have killed millions of rabbits.

It is clear that the many efforts to introduce an ‘infectious disease’ of rabbits produced inconsistent results that are inexplicable from the perspective of the ‘germ theory’. These variable results are, however, more than adequately explicable from the perspective of toxic chemicals.

The phenomenal surge in rabbit numbers after 1859 had encouraged Australian farmers and landholders to utilise a variety of poisons in their attempts to exterminate the rabbit ‘pest’; they had therefore used poisons for almost a century before the myxomatosis programme began. An article entitled The Balance of Nature Upset in Australia on the Rewilding Australia website, refers to some of the poisons used for ‘pest control’ during the 19th century; they include strychnine, arsenic, cyanide and phosphorous baits. Lead arsenate is also documented to have been used as a pesticide, but, although not used to poison rabbits, this highly toxic substance is a persistent environmental contaminant.

The impression from most establishment reports about myxomatosis is that the rabbit ‘problem’ was not successfully tackled until the field studies of the 1950s. However, this would seem to be a false impression, as the Rewilding article cites a letter written in 1921 by an Australian who laments the loss of large animals that would have been natural predators of rabbits and other ‘pests’. The author of the letter claims that the loss of these predators was mainly the result of the ‘compulsory poison law’; he states,

“We also have a compulsory poison law, which compels every landowner in the Commonwealth to continually poison his land, from year’s end to year’s end.”

He also states that, as a consequence of this law, the land was,

“… always covered more or less with the carcases of poisoned rabbits …”

The various poisons used during the 19th century were certainly dangerous and clearly resulted in the death of large numbers of rabbits; but they were unable to completely exterminate them. Rabbits are known to be prolific breeders, and therefore any rabbits that survived the mass poisonings would have been able to contribute to the recovery of their numbers.

Although their use largely ceased in the early 20th century when new petrochemical-based pesticides were introduced, many ingredients of the old poisons, such as arsenic, are known to be persistent; which means that they continued to contaminate the soil and water.

Rabbits were not the only ‘pests’ to be controlled through the use of poisons; mosquitoes are also relentlessly poisoned due to the notion that they are the vectors of many deadly diseases. The obvious area in which to apply an insecticide is the normal habitat of the insect. As mosquitoes require water for breeding purposes, they are naturally found in their greatest numbers near to sources of fresh water such as rivers and streams. Rabbits also require water to drink; which means that they too need to live near sources of fresh water.

It is therefore unsurprising that mosquitoes and rabbits are found in similar habitats; it is interesting to note that the areas in which the myxomatosis field studies were conducted were mainly riverside habitats, as the second of the field study papers states,

“A close connection was demonstrated, on the flats bordering the Murray River, between the distribution of these insects and myxomatosis activity.”

Strangely, although poisons had been used over a significant period of time against both of these ‘pests’, there are no references to insecticides, pesticides or other chemicals in any of the seven papers of the field study series. Yet various types of pesticides had been used; as acknowledged by the Australian Department of the Environment website which refers to the introduction of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and states,

“Since they were first introduced into Australia in the mid 1940s, OCPs have been used in many commercial products …”

The OCPs introduced into Australia include DDT, chlordane, dieldrin and heptachlor, all of which have since been banned, either in the 1970s or 1980s, due to their extreme toxicity. The timing of the introduction of these extremely toxic substances and the subsequent virtual extermination of the rabbit population in 1950/51 cannot be dismissed as unconnected.

Organophosphates (OPs) are another class of toxic chemicals used in Australia to combat many insect ‘pests’, including mosquitoes; these chemicals act on the nervous system and have been associated with encephalitis. The simultaneous ‘outbreaks’ of encephalitis and myxomatosis indicates a very strong likelihood that OP insecticides had been used in the area. The field studies were solely focused on the belief in a viral cause of myxomatosis and so they failed to investigate any possible toxicological aspects of the rabbit ‘disease’. They clearly failed to recognise the possibility that insecticides may have been contributory factors; especially insecticides containing neurotoxins.

Phosphorus compounds are different from organophosphates, although both are recognised to be toxic. As previously discussed, phosphorus had been used as fertiliser since the late 19th century, and the work of Dr Scobey indicated the existence of a connection between phosphorus and paralysis. Furthermore, the Rewilding article refers to the use of phosphorous baits in the battle to poison rabbits.

The symptoms of phosphorus poisoning in humans include eye irritation, respiratory tract problems, eye burns and skin burns; interestingly, the symptoms of myxomatosis are red runny eyes, high fever, swollen mucous membranes, swollen eyes, nose, mouth and ears, plus respiratory problems. These similarities are striking and strongly indicate that, despite physiological differences between humans and rabbits, phosphorus-based chemicals should also be considered as likely contributory factors for the rabbit ‘disease’ that is referred to as ‘myxomatosis’.

Another highly toxic pesticide is sodium fluoroacetate, which is also known as 1080. This compound is an organofluorine; its effectiveness as a rodenticide is claimed to have been reported in the early 1940s. It is also reported to have been introduced into ‘rabbit control programmes’ in the early 1950s, which indicates that it may not have contributed to the first devastating ‘outbreak’ during 1950, but is likely to have contributed to some of the later ‘outbreaks’.

The ‘poison laws’ that demanded the application of many poisons were implemented to address the ‘rabbit problem’; yet they clearly failed to take account of the environmental impact from the use of multiple toxic chemicals. It is well-documented that many toxic chemicals act synergistically, which substantially enhances their combined toxicity.

It is abundantly clear that adherence to the ‘germ theory’ severely limited the investigations of the Australian researchers, as it narrowed their focus to the idea that myxomatosis was caused by a ‘virus’. As the field study papers indicate, the rabbits were in fact inoculated with ‘extract of diseased rabbit’ and ‘extract of ground mosquitoes’. The only context in which these extracts can be referred to as ‘virus’ is in the original meaning of the word that refers to a ‘poison’ or ‘noxious substance’, rather than an ‘infectious agent’. The alleged ‘success’ that resulted in millions of dead rabbits prevented any alternative research to study other possible causes of the 1950/51 ‘outbreak’ of disease.

In the absence of any definitive documentary evidence, it may be suggested that the idea that ‘rabbit poisoning’ is the cause of myxomatosis is purely speculative. There is however, ample evidence that a variety of poisons had been used over a significant period, some poisons were even mandated, as indicated by the ‘poison laws’. It is therefore wholly appropriate to posit the theory that toxic chemicals and pesticides contributed to the various ‘outbreaks’ of myxomatosis, but that during 1950, a pesticide, or a combination of pesticides had been used in greater quantities or a stronger concentration than usual. This more potent degree of poisoning would certainly account for the high rabbit mortality that was synchronous with the cases of human encephalitis.

It is, of course, highly unlikely that the unique, and far more compelling, explanation of the real cause of myxomatosis presented in this discussion will be acknowledged by the medical or scientific communities, for the same reason that they refuse to acknowledge the real cause of the disease referred to as BSE.

The OIE definition of anthrax refers to,

“… a disease caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus anthracis.

Like rabies, anthrax is said to be found on all continents of the world, with the sole exception of Antarctica; yet the OIE anthrax information sheet claims that only a few types of animal are likely to contract the disease,

“While most animals are susceptible, anthrax is typically a disease of ruminants and humans.”

In a 2008 document entitled Anthrax in humans and animals, the WHO reveals the low level of medical establishment knowledge about anthrax,

“Although anthrax has been recognized for centuries, little is known about the disease …”

This is an incredible admission in view of the authoritative assertions made by the medical establishment about this disease; however, as will be demonstrated, these assertions are full of anomalies and contradictions. One of the anomalies is that, although it is claimed to be zoonotic and caused by a bacterium, anthrax is also claimed to be non-contagious, as the OIE states,

“Anthrax does not spread from animal to animal nor from person to person.”

The reason that ruminants are thought to be more susceptible to the disease is explained in the WHO document that states,

“It is a long-held belief that animals generally acquire anthrax by ingestion of spores while grazing or browsing.”

By contrast, people are believed to contract anthrax in a different manner, which is via contact with ‘infected’ animals and animal products; this ‘contact’ includes consumption of the meat of ‘infected’ animals. Nevertheless, the WHO acknowledges that,

“… anomalies in the epizootiology of the disease often arise that are hard to explain in terms of simple ingestion of spores.”

These anomalies may be the reason behind the idea that there are three types of anthrax; namely cutaneous, inhalational and gastrointestinal. However, even if anthrax were caused by bacteria, which of course it cannot be, these ‘types’ merely represent the different routes through which the ‘infection’ would enter the body.

The bacterium B. anthracis is referred to as ‘spore-forming’; it is however, more correct to use the term ‘endospore’ in order to differentiate bacterial spores from fungal spores. As discussed in chapter three, bacteria have the ability to become dormant under certain conditions; ‘endospore’ is the term used for this dormant state. It is claimed that the dormant state ceases when an endospore gains entry into the body of a grazing animal, where it proceeds to ‘germinate’ and become ‘pathogenic’.

Although the WHO admits to knowing little about anthrax, it is nevertheless regarded as a disease of significant concern for humans; it is said to be fatal if untreated. Unfortunately, the appropriate ‘treatment’ involves the use of large doses of antibiotics.

It is claimed that the danger from B. anthracis bacteria arises from the toxins they produce; according to the OIE,

“The bacteria produce extremely potent toxins which are responsible for the ill effects, causing a high mortality rate.”

The WHO anthrax document describes some of the ill-effects these toxins are claimed to produce,

“The spectrum of disease ranges from asymptomatic to severe, terminating in sepsis, septic shock and death.”

The idea that a toxin can produce ‘asymptomatic disease’ is highly anomalous.

The symptoms of sepsis and septic shock clearly demonstrate that ‘toxins’ of some description are major causal agents of anthrax; the refutation of the ‘germ theory’ means that these toxins do not, however, have a bacterial origin.

The scientific study of anthrax began during the 18th century, but, although some theories were proposed, no causal agent was found. More serious outbreaks of disease in farm animals occurred during the 19th century and these prompted further study of the problem. The ‘discovery’ in 1876 of the bacterium B. anthracis is attributed to Dr Robert Koch, who is also credited with providing the ‘proof’ that this bacterium is the causal agent of anthrax. The disease of farm animals also drew the attention of the French chemist Louis Pasteur, as the OIE states,

“… effective vaccination against anthrax was first demonstrated by Louis Pasteur in 1881.”

Unfortunately, Louis Pasteur’s work with anthrax suffered from the same flawed ‘science’ as all his other work. In Pasteur: Plagiarist, Imposter, R B Pearson relates a number of incidents that demonstrate the failure of the Pasteur anthrax vaccine to protect animals from the disease. In a particularly clear example, he describes the use of the Pasteur vaccine in Russia, where 4,564 sheep were vaccinated, after which 3,696 sheep died; a phenomenally high failure rate.

The Pasteur animal anthrax vaccine was replaced in the 1930s by one developed by veterinarian Max Sterne. The CDC web page entitled Anthrax Sterne strain (34F2) of Bacillus anthracis, explains that the Sterne strain of the bacillus is,

“… currently the predominant strain used for immunization of domesticated animals against anthrax worldwide, and has been used for this purpose for many decades.”

Although claimed to be ‘avirulent’, this vaccine nevertheless uses ‘live’ anthrax spores, as indicated by a 1991 article entitled Anthrax vaccines: past, present and future, which states that,

“Most livestock vaccines in use throughout the world today for immunization against anthrax are derivatives of the live spore vaccine formulated by Sterne in 1937 and still use descendants of his strain 34F2.”

Anthrax is also claimed to pose a serious health threat to humans, however, according to the WHO web page entitled Guidance on anthrax: frequently asked questions,

“Anthrax responds well to antibiotic treatment.”

One of the questions refers to the existence of a vaccine, to which the WHO response is that,

“There is a vaccine against anthrax, but it is not approved for widespread use because it has never been comprehensively tested in human trials.”

The reason for this surprising situation is because it is claimed to be ‘unethical’ to expose humans to such a deadly ‘pathogen’; however, certain groups of people deemed to be ‘at risk’ are advised to receive this vaccine to ‘protect’ them. Tannery workers were included in the ‘at risk’ category and have, in the past, been routinely vaccinated, but this requirement no longer applies.

The main group of people who continue to be regarded as ‘at risk’, and are therefore vaccinated against anthrax, are military personnel; especially, although not exclusively, those in the US. The reason that military personnel are considered to be ‘at risk’ is because they are claimed to face a potential threat from the use of anthrax spores as ‘biological weapons’ during military conflicts.

The discussions in chapter two demonstrated that no vaccine is either safe or effective; this includes the anthrax vaccine; a fact that is acknowledged by a 2002 article entitled The Anthrax Vaccine Program: An Analysis of the CDC’s Recommendations for Vaccine Use, which states that,

“The anthrax vaccine was never proved to be safe and effective.”

Although never proven to be safe or effective, the anthrax vaccine has been proven to be unsafe and to produce serious adverse health effects. The above cited article by Dr Meryl Nass MD also makes the pertinent comment that,

“It is one cause of Gulf War illnesses, and recent vaccinees report symptoms resembling Gulf War illnesses.”

These illnesses, usually referred to as Gulf War Syndrome, are discussed in further detail in chapter seven.

It is claimed that B. anthracis is used in ‘biological weapons’; but the processes involved in creating ‘anthrax weapons’ are highly classified military secrets. However, these processes must involve extremely toxic substances, because no bacterium is a deadly pathogen.

Any investigation to discover the real causes of ‘anthrax’ requires a discussion about woolsorters’ disease, the symptoms of which include blood poisoning. This disease was also known as splenic fever; it should be noted that the spleen filters the blood.

In England in the early 19th century, wool was a major industry but woolsorting was not considered to be a particularly hazardous occupation; however, this changed in the late 1830s. According to a 2004 article entitled The history of woolsorters’ disease: a Yorkshire beginning with an international future,

“… the national introduction of alpaca, mohair, and the various Eastern wools in the 1830s quickly increased cases of bronchitis, pneumonia and deadly blood poisoning within the woolsorters group.”

The article claims that the first cases of woolsorters’ disease were reported in 1838, but little progress was made in the ensuing decades to discover the cause of the problem, even though the number of deaths had begun to rise significantly. Unfortunately, reports about Dr Koch’s ‘discovery’ of B. anthracis encouraged an investigation to ascertain whether woolsorters’ disease and anthrax were related. The article explains that experiments were conducted which showed that,

“… animals inoculated with blood from a fatal case of woolsorters’ disease died of anthrax.”

In an effort to demonstrate that these experiments provide definitive proof, the article also states,

“This important link with anthrax in cattle and sheep was finally confirmed when cattle in Bradford died of anthrax after drinking water that had been used to wash imported wool.”

These cattle deaths do not provide confirmation that anthrax ‘spores’ were the cause; they do however, indicate poisoning, and suggest that the water the cattle drank contained toxic substances.

The 2008 WHO report admits that the poor level of knowledge about anthrax leaves many unanswered questions, one of which is,

“… how precisely do grazing and browsing animals acquire it?”

This question is inexplicable from the perspective of the ‘germ theory’. It is however, fully explicable from the perspective of a ‘toxin’ or ‘poison; after all, the ‘disease’ is acknowledged to be due to ‘toxins’. The medical establishment erroneously attributes the source of the toxins to be bacterial; the real sources are of a very different nature.

The most significant toxin that can explain the early cases of woolsorters’ disease is arsenic, which was the main ingredient of a sheep dip that had been developed in 1830. Arsenic is discussed in more detail in the next chapter; it is, however, a persistent toxin. The use of arsenic in sheep dip has produced considerable environmental contamination, as indicated by an article entitled Arsenic and Old Wool, which refers to various arsenic-based compounds that have been used as ingredients of sheep dip and states,

“The pervasive toxicity of these compounds is evidenced by the fact that old sheep dip sites in Australia contaminated by arsenic are now considered a threat to public health.”

The article also indicates that The Lancet carried many reports during the 19th century about shepherds who suffered from the effects of the toxic sheep dip; but shepherds were not the only people exposed to the hazards of arsenic. In addition to shepherds and woolsorters, anyone who handled wool from sheep dipped in arsenic-based compounds would have been affected by this highly toxic substance. The rise of ‘bacteriology’ in the latter part of the 19th century ensured, however, that little, if any, attention was paid to a toxicological investigation of the disease.

Although a significant contributory factor, arsenic is not the only toxic substance that can account for the poisoning of grazing animals. As will be further discussed in the next chapter, certain industries have released a wide variety of toxic substances into the environment; many of these contaminants are eminently capable of causing serious harm to the health of animals, including livestock.

One industry in particular that has been associated with anthrax ‘outbreaks’ is tanning; the WHO document states that,

“… the main enzootic livestock areas traditionally lay ‘downstream’ from tanneries and the implication has been that watercourses have carried contaminated tannery effluent …”

The use of the word ‘contaminated’ is intended to indicate the existence of anthrax spores from ‘infected’ animals; the alleged ‘contamination’ of hides with anthrax spores is the reason that tannery workers were vaccinated against the disease. The real contamination would be from the use of toxic chemicals by the tanning industry; these toxins included arsenic, as the Arsenic and Old Wool article states,

“White arsenic was further used as a preservative of hides, skins and furs.”

Mining is another industry associated with the release of toxic substances that contaminate the environment. Tin mining, for example, is particularly hazardous because tin ore is usually found in association with sulphur and arsenic. Interestingly, tin mining was one of the industries in 19th century Yorkshire, the English county in which woolsorters’ disease arose.

It is clear therefore, that exposure to highly toxic substances, especially arsenic used in sheep dip, provides a more compelling explanation for woolsorters’ disease in humans; and that the contamination of grazing land with toxic industrial effluent and toxins released from mining provides a more compelling explanation for the animal disease known as anthrax.

The Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary defines vivisection as,

“a surgical operation on a living animal for experimental purposes.”

According to the NAVS (National Anti-Vivisection Society) web page entitled Areas of Science that Use Animals,

“The scope of animal use in science today includes virtually every field of investigation.”

The scientific fields that utilise vivisection are categorised by NAVS under the general headings of research, testing and education.

Investigations classified as ‘testing’ include experiments that are conducted to ascertain the ‘safety’ of chemical ingredients used in manufactured products, many of which are everyday items used by millions of people around the world. The widespread use of chemicals is discussed in the next chapter; however, testing their safety clearly relies on the idea that it is only the dose that makes a substance toxic; an idea that has been shown to be false.

The category of ‘education’ is self-explanatory and mainly involves the dissection of animals in classrooms.

The category of ‘research’ covers a range of fields of study, as described by the NAVS web page entitled Animals Used in Research,

“Animals are used in basic and biomedical research, behavioural research, military research, agricultural research, veterinary research and drug development and testing.”

The types of research pertinent to this discussion mainly involve biomedical research, drug development and drug testing, all of which can be combined under the general heading of ‘medical research’. However, some of the arguments used, whether to support or object to animal experimentation in medical research, are applicable to other types of research and to safety testing.

The main justification for vivisection within medical research is that it is indispensable; it is claimed to be vital for the study of disease and for the development of effective drugs and vaccines to combat them. This argument is expressed by Dr Hans Selye MD in his book entitled The Stress of Life,

“Yet, few antivivisectionists would consider it more ethical to stop medical research altogether and thereby expose countless human beings to unnecessary suffering.”

This argument is encapsulated within the phrase ‘it’s the bunny or your baby’.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Although well-intentioned, this is a fallacious argument; no bunny has to be sacrificed in order to save babies.

Dr Selye, whose important study of the role of ‘stress’ is discussed in chapter ten, was trained under the orthodox medical system that retains the belief in a number of flawed theories about diseases and their causes. In addition to the idea that ‘germs’ are the causes of ‘infectious diseases’, is the idea that ‘genes’ are relevant causal factors for a number of ‘non-infectious diseases’. But both of these ideas are erroneous; neither ‘germs’ nor ‘genes’ are the causes of disease.

A wide variety of animal experiments have been conducted to investigate both ‘infectious’ and ‘non-infectious’ diseases over the course of many decades. Yet, there have been no significant reductions in morbidity or mortality; in fact, the statistics demonstrate that these problems are worsening. As indicated in the discussion about iatrogenesis, drugs and vaccines do not offer solutions to health problems; instead they exacerbate ill-health.

Anti-vivisection organisations such as NAVS correctly argue for medical research without animal experiments; it is clearly unethical to inflict suffering on animals during experiments designed to relieve human suffering. However, concentrating solely on the cruelty of animal experiments misses the core issue, which is that the theories on which most medical research is based are fundamentally flawed.

Unfortunately, there is an almost complete lack of recognition of the full extent of the flaws within the teachings of the medical establishment system; and also, to a certain extent, within those of the ‘alternative health community’. Although many physicians have recognised some of the problems, very few have recognised them all.

However, although they support the idea that medical research is necessary, anti-vivisection organisations raise a number of valid objections to the use of animals for research purposes. The main objections are that animals suffer during the experiments and that they have an unnatural life in the laboratory environment.

Another objection is that animals used in research are almost always killed at some stage of the experiment; to counter this objection, medical researchers often use the euphemism ‘sacrificed’ so that animal deaths are represented as a scientific necessity rather than cruelty. The reality is that, whether it occurs before, during or afterwards, the overwhelming majority of animals are killed so that researchers can examine them and determine the effects of the ‘experiment’ they have conducted.

It is probably true to say that medical researchers perform their work under the impression that they are conducting ‘medical science’ and that it has a genuine and meaningful purpose; as expressed by Dr Selye, who refers to,

“… one of the noblest and most human aspirations of man, the desire to understand himself.”

Although the dissection of dead animals can permit an understanding of the physiological effects of ‘disease’, it cannot generate an understanding of disease processes within a living body, whether human or animal. Furthermore, no experimentation conducted on living, or dead, animals can take ‘man’ to a better understanding of ‘himself’.

Despite the belief that laboratory experimentation is an essential aspect of research, there are many limitations to the experiments conducted in the name of ‘medical science’, one of which is, as discussed in chapter three, the failure to appreciate that the procedures used in the preparation of specimens for microscopy can directly affect the specimens, whether they are tissues, cells, disease molecules, bacteria or the particles called ‘viruses’.

This limitation was acknowledged by Dr Harold Hillman, who stressed that many of the ‘structures’ observed under microscopes are, in reality, artefacts that have been produced by the preparation procedures such as fixation, for example. An October 2011 article entitled Optimization of fixation methods for observation of bacterial cell morphology and surface ultrastructures by atomic force microscopy discusses fixatives and fixation methods and makes the extremely interesting point that,

“The effects of different fixation methods on bacterial morphology were rarely studied, and thus research gaps still remained in this issue.”

It should be noted that fixatives often contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, which will inevitably affect living specimens, especially pleomorphic bacteria.

Although this may not seem to be relevant to a discussion about vivisection, it serves to highlight the existence of research gaps and limitations within medical research. The NAVS web page entitled Animals Used in Research recognises the existence of certain limitations and states,

“Limitations of animal models are well documented, and reproducibility issues with animal experiments remain an ongoing issue for the scientific community.”

Reproducibility is considered to be an essential feature of scientific experimentation.

The existence of ‘research gaps’ is also recognised on the NAVS web page, which states that,

“… a large gap remains between experimental findings with animal experiments in the lab and the intended application of this information in the clinic.”

This ‘gap’ is immensely significant; it completely undermines the fundamental belief that animal experiments are vital to the furtherance of an understanding of human disease, and to the development of suitable ‘treatments’.

The existence of these limitations and research gaps demonstrates that conclusions drawn from laboratory-based animal experiments are, at best, highly questionable, even from the perspective of the medical establishment. In reality, these gaps and limitations expose a poor level of understanding about ‘disease’; a situation that has been acknowledged by published ‘peer-reviewed’ study articles, as demonstrated by the numerous articles quoted throughout this book. Many of the cited articles admit that certain key aspects of the science relevant to the subject of the study are ‘unknown’, ‘poorly understood’ or even ‘rarely studied’.

Nevertheless, the ‘information’ about diseases published by health organisations such as the WHO, CDC, NIH, NHS etc, implies that the ‘medical establishment’ is fully cognisant of all aspects of all diseases, including their causes and the appropriate methods with which to manage and treat them; the discussions in this book demonstrate otherwise.

Another limitation to the use of animal experimentation in the study of disease is that only certain effects can be observed and objectively measured; as explained by the authors of Chemical Exposures who state that,

“… rats, mice and other animals are unable to tell researchers if they have headaches, feel depressed or anxious or are nauseated.”

These, and many other relevant but non-measurable effects, remain unknown to researchers.

The existence of non-measurable effects is significant for animal experiments conducted to determine the ‘safe dose’ of chemicals. Animals cannot express many of the effects they experience; therefore, researchers cannot know all of the effects produced by any chemical.

As the discussions in this book demonstrate, the environment in the real world is very different from that of the sanitised laboratory, in which the conditions are strictly controlled and animals are usually only exposed to single substances. In the real world, people as well as all other living organisms, are exposed to multiple substances simultaneously and in varying combinations, none of which has been thoroughly tested to determine the full range of their effects.

Although most remain untested, a small percentage of substances have been tested more thoroughly than others, and an even smaller percentage of substances have been tested in a few limited combinations. The results from these tests have, however, demonstrated the existence of synergistic interactions between some substances. One substance in particular that reacts synergistically with certain others is mercury; as explained in the book entitled Uninformed Consent, in which the authors quote the words of Dr Boyd Haley PhD who states,

“… the determination of safe body levels of mercury by using animal data, where the animals have not been exposed to other heavy metals, is no longer justified. Mercury is far more toxic to individuals when other heavy metals are present.”

Medical research experiments that are intended to ascertain the safety of a drug suffer from the same limitations as those for chemical testing. The ingredients of pharmaceuticals are chemicals, which interact with a variety of other chemicals and many of these interactions may be synergistic. The lack of testing of all possible combinations of all substances means however, that there is a major knowledge gap, with respect to all of the effects that may be produced by interactions between the many hundreds of thousands of chemicals that now pervade the environment.

Animal research experiments are also conducted to determine the efficacy of a drug and its ability to alleviate a particular disease; but the limited knowledge about the effects of the drugs on animals means that their effects on humans remain unknown, until the drug reaches the human testing phase of clinical trials. It is claimed to be unethical to experiment on humans; however, clinical trials cannot be regarded in any other way than as human experiments. In the case of drug trials, people should not be poisoned in the mistaken belief that they are testing ‘medicine’.

Another justification for the use of animals is that they are ‘lesser beings’, and therefore different from, humans; yet vivisection is justified on the basis that animals are sufficiently similar to humans to qualify as ‘suitable models’ for the study of human disease. This is a blatant contradiction.

One of the most significant objections to animal experimentation is that animals are not suitable models for studying human diseases. Each type of animal is physiologically different from all other types of animal, as well as being different from humans; this point is explained by Dr Russell Blaylock in Health and Nutrition Secrets,

“Many animals have physiological and biochemical systems quite different than humans …”

These physiological and biochemical differences mean that conclusions drawn from animal experiments cannot be reliably extrapolated as if they are meaningful for human disease studies. Nevertheless, although the results are recognised to be ‘approximations’, medical research studies contain conclusions that are claimed to assist the development of knowledge about diseases and the appropriate measures with which to ‘treat’ them.

The problem with vivisection in medical research is described by Dr Moneim Fadali MD, who is firm in his condemnation of the practice, and is quoted by Hans Ruesch in his book entitled 1000 Doctors (And Many More) Against Vivisection, to have stated that,

“Animal model systems differ from their human counterparts. Conclusions drawn from animal research, when applied to human beings, are likely to delay progress, mislead, and do harm to the patient. Vivisection, or animal experimentation, should be abolished.”

There is a fundamental error in the assumption that an artificial environment created in a laboratory can simulate the environment within a living organism; this point is also discussed by Hans Ruesch who also quotes bacteriologist Rene Dubos from his own book entitled Mirage of Health,

“The experimenter does not produce nature in the laboratory.”

It may be argued that researchers recognise this fact; nevertheless, they believe that the laboratory provides a sufficient approximation of nature and that this enables them to produce adequate experimental ‘evidence’ that can be reliably extrapolated and applied to the human body. These are erroneous beliefs and assumptions.

Nevertheless, in the belief that it is more ethical to experiment on animals than on humans, researchers use many types of animals; rats and mice are the most common, although others include cats, dogs, frogs, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and monkeys. It may be assumed that the preference for rats and mice is because they are suitable approximations for the study of human disease; but this is not the case. Rodents are used because they are cheap, small and easy to handle, as Dr Selye admits,

“Rodents also have the advantage of being small, inexpensive and singularly resistant to infections which make them especially suitable for large-scale experimentation.”

Dr Selye is by no means the only physician to acknowledge that rodents are used for these reasons; but that does not make them suitable or even approximate animal models. Furthermore, the reference to rodents being ‘singularly resistant to infections’ indicates that from the perspective of ‘germs’, the rodent response differs from the human response; a situation that raises serious questions about the relevance of any rodent-based research for the study of human ‘infectious diseases’.

In fact, rodents possess a number of significant physiological differences from humans, one of which is that humans have a gall bladder, but rats do not; this means that rats digest fats differently from humans. Another difference is that rodents manufacture Vitamin B in their appendix, whereas humans do so in their liver. Another difference is that humans do not manufacture vitamin C but rodents do. A further difference is that rats and mice cannot vomit, which means that they process and expel toxins from their bodies differently from humans. These differences clearly raise even more questions about the suitability of any member of the rodent family for medical research purposes.

It may be suggested that primates would be far more suitable animal models for the study of human disease, on the basis that they share many similarities with humans and are far closer to man ‘genetically’. However, although primates are used in some experiments, they are not more suitable models for the purposes of human disease research. Professor Vernon Reynolds, a primatologist and professor of biological anthropology, provides his response to this suggestion with reference to man’s closest primate ‘relative’, the chimpanzee. On the website of the Vivisection Information Network, on the page entitled Medical quotes, he is quoted as stating that,

“No chimps … have been of any use in the experiments they were used for … The whole wretched business (and it is big business) should be stopped and stopped now.”

One of the most fundamental points that needs to be emphasised is, that using an animal as a model for investigating a particular human disease would only be relevant if the animal also suffered from the disease under investigation; but this is not the case. In fact, research studies often require the disease to be artificially induced in the laboratory animal; the methods employed to do this frequently involve the use of chemicals that are known to be toxic and the cause of illness. In the study of ‘genetic diseases’, the methods can involve the use of radiation to produce mutations that are claimed to resemble certain diseases, especially cancers.

It is claimed that disease conditions are induced in order to facilitate the study of various pharmaceutical chemicals, to discover if any have the potential for development into a ‘treatment’. It is also assumed that the animal response will be indicative of, or at least similar to, the human response, should the drug reach the stage of human clinical trials, in which the human response is investigated. But, as previously discussed, unintended reactions are labelled ‘side effects’, whereas, in reality, all reactions are direct effects.

These artificial methods of inducing disease in animals are claimed to be useful, even though it is admitted that they do not produce exactly the same ‘disease’ conditions that are suffered by humans. However, this exposes one of the major problems with the medical establishment understanding of ‘disease’; the idea that there are distinct disease conditions is fundamentally flawed. As will be explained and discussed in detail in chapter ten, people do not suffer from the same diseases; a fact that undermines all disease-based medical research studies.

The use of chemicals and radiation to induce ‘disease’ in animals is a clear indication that these are relevant, and highly significant, factors in the causation of ill-health.

Organisations such as NAVS have stated unequivocally that no animal species is suitable for the study of human disease, and that humans are the only appropriate models. This important point is also explained by Professor Pietro Croce, a former vivisectionist, who states, in his book entitled Vivisection or Science: A Choice to Make, that,

“Even the choice between different species of animal is illusory: actually one is not even speaking of there being a choice at all, but of a kind of fishing blindly among different possibilities in a haphazard way or, worse, according to opportunistic criteria in deciding which animal is more or less convenient: the mouse, the rabbit, the guinea pig are ‘convenient’ because they are easy to keep; cats and dogs because they are easily and cheaply obtainable: everything except the one element which ought to be the deciding factor: an animal having morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics applicable to man. However, such an animal can only be man himself.”

This argument should not be interpreted as a justification for human experimentation.

It should be clear from the discussion in this section, that neither humans nor animals should be used for any experimental research purposes, including medical research that attempts to understand disease, but cannot do so because it is based on fundamentally flawed theories that are unsupported by empirical evidence.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons that animal experimentation continues is unrelated to notions of altruism, or the belief that the medical establishment will find the cures for all of mankind’s ailments eventually, given enough time and money. Hans Ruesch is one of the many scientists and researchers who have objected to vivisection over the course of many decades; he encapsulates part of the underlying problem in the following powerful statement,

“The investigator, who dares to question the official brainwashing that human or animal health was in the past, or currently, or will, in the future be based on vivisection, can quickly and easily arrive at the truth, which is increasingly well-documented. If vivisection is to survive, the public must be kept ignorant of the truth. There is no money in hygiene or prevention. The unscientific and obscene institution of vivisection is protected and promoted solely by those in big business who make fortunes from it at the expense of true medicine.”

The important role of ‘hygiene’ is discussed in chapter ten, in which it will be shown that no ‘medicine’ is required for health.

Furthermore, the influence of ‘big business’ within the medical establishment, and especially within ‘medical science’, is discussed in detail in chapter nine.

Although discussions in previous chapters have referred to some of the causes of certain diseases, the next chapter discusses in greater detail the major factors that contribute to, and even directly cause, a great deal of human illness and suffering.