[lbo-talk] Doug Henwood's Critique of Gary Null

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Mar 18 06:52:32 PST 2004


Thomas Seay wrote:


>It's hard for some of these alternative therapies to
>get the funding to do proper research studies and
>lumping them all into the quack basket, which the
>medical community is prepared to do, guarantees that
>all alternative therapies, whether or not they merit
>it, remain at the margin.

"Alternative" types make lots of money. Null himself is a millionaire several times over. My father, suffering from some arthritis pain, went to see someone in the Null circle, who diagnosed him with cytomegalovirus infection> Almost everyone carries CMV, but this particular character recommended a multi-hundred dollar round of intravenous vitamin C, the actual cost of which was probably in the single digits.

Look, I don't doubt that there's great potential in many "alternative" therapies. But very few of them have been subjected to rigorous clinical trials. Null and his like depend on testimonies from the practitioners and patients who claim successful results. Patients who enjoyed less success are rarely available for testimony, since they're dead, like my uncle.

People frequently confuse the corruption of science by money with scientific method itself. And there's a reflexive suspicion among many alterna-types of anything Big Science says, true or not, which combines with a rigid and unquestioning faith in what the likes of Null say, forming a deeply embarrassing and often dangerous mix. Null himself is an HIV denialist and an opponent of vaccinations (which do more harm than good, he's argued). That goes beyond charming quirks to the point of putting lives in danger.

Doug



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