Alternative thinking but ignores Dental issues unfortunately

[Guest guest]

Wallace

Fourfold Healing Newsletter

Exploring the Fourfold Path to

Healing Jul/Aug 2006

Hello,

The solstice has passed. The August meteor showers are approaching.

The days and nights of summer are with us in the northern hemisphere.

As we move through seasons, it is important to study nature and time.

Our sicknesses result from forces and imbalances in the larger world

in which we live. Studying the book of nature is a valuable approach

to understanding this larger world and ourselves.

In this issue, we take a look at AIDS and the HIV virus, with

particular focus on the controversy in diagnosis, treatment

and " therapeutic thinking. " Lowenfels has provided us with an

analysis of research and diagnostic inconsistencies that sheds new

light on our view of AIDS.

I've also included reviews of two new books that I think you'll find

quite interesting. And, of course, we have a delicious and nourishing

recipe, a coconut-inspired treat from Prentice.

Wishing you good health in the coming months,

Tom Cowan

Send newsletter feedback and comments to

thomas_skye@....

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Focus: AIDS Therapeutics: Right Therapeutic Thinking

My medical career has essentially spanned the same time frame as the

AIDS " epidemic " . When I entered medical school in 1980, we began to

hear of this new illness showing up in gay men in New York and San

Francisco. When I graduated in 1984, many deaths had resulted from

this mysterious new illness. By the time I finished residency, it was

announced that the cause had been discovered, a major first step in

the path to controlling this devastating illness. Even then, though,

some things just didn't seem to make sense...

Read on… Goethe urged physicians and scientists to be students of the

book of nature. It is not enough to use so-called natural medicines

or vitamins. Rather, it is the thought process that determines

whether medicine is " natural " .

" Right " therapeutic thinking involves the process of envisioning

the human being as an integral part of the local and cosmic world.

Right therapeutic thinking embraces the alchemical dictum of " as

above, so below " as it attempts to understand the hidden processes

that result in health and illness...

Continue...

Guest Report: HIV - The Untold Story by Lowenfels

Of course you've heard about it: the fatal plague, spread by " unsafe "

sex and blood, caused by the deadly virus called HIV. Anyone can get

it. We've all seen the scary charts, cartoons, and photographs. This

25-year old story is reinforced daily by doctors, celebrities, and

the media. But is the full story being told?

Book Reviews: Full Moon Feast and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Nourishing Recipe: Coconut-Date Energy Balls

Other editions

Focus: AIDS

My medical career has essentially spanned the same time frame as the

AIDS " epidemic " . When I entered medical school in 1980, we began to

hear of this new illness showing up in gay men in New York and San

Francisco. When I graduated in 1984, many deaths had resulted from

this mysterious new illness. By the time I finished residency, it was

announced that the cause had been discovered, a major first step in

the path to controlling this devastating illness. Even then, though,

some things didn't seem to make sense.

Throughout my medical training we were taught that, with viral

infections, two " arms " of the immune system get involved, the

cellular and the humoral. The cellular immune system is based on

white blood cells and rids of us of invaders by engulfing and

digesting micro-organisms such as viruses and bacteria. The signs of

activation of the cellular immune system include fever, mucus, and

often rash, as the white blood cells digest and excrete unwanted

foreign substances. The consequences of the cellular immune system

are the signs of illness that we see and that make us feel sick. The

humoral immune system is the memory part of our immune response. It

is the part that makes antibodies tailored to specific invaders that

tag and remember these substances.

In the normal course of a viral infection, both arms of the immune

system are involved. As an example, with chickenpox we see signs of

activation of the cellular arm with the fever, mucus, cough and rash

that characterize this illness. As with most viral infections, the

signs of the illness are almost identical in type, if not in

severity, across all people. In other words, chickenpox almost always

gives the same type of rash, lasts the same length of time, etc., no

matter who gets the illness. Next, the humoral immune system is

activated, and six weeks later antibodies are produced which impart

life-long immunity to the illness.

With this new disease of AIDS, the interpretation of how the viral

immune system works seemed to change. For the first time we were

being told that, even though every case of AIDS was caused by the

same virus, there were many possible manifestations of this viral

disease. And, shocking to me at the time, I remember distinctly

finding out that the diagnosis of the illness was based on a test

that detected antibodies in the blood to the HIV virus. What?! I had

been taught for years that when we produce antibodies to a virus,

this means we are immune to that virus. Why now, all of sudden, does

detecting antibodies to a virus mean it is the virus making us sick?

For me, this would be akin to saying that the German measles virus,

when contracted by adults, can cause a kind of arthritis. With that

line of " logic " , when a middle-aged person comes in complaining of

joint pains, we would do an antibody test, discover the antibodies

(because the person did have German measles as a child) and then

pronounce that it must be the German measles virus that is causing

the illness. This is a mis-interpretation. We generally assume that

the fact that we have antibodies mean we are immune. Why would it be

different for HIV?

Subsequently other unusual facts and diagnostic discrepancies started

to emerge from the AIDS crisis. We were told that the HIV virus was

contracted through sexual or blood born contact. This was not the

first such micro-organism to have this characteristic. All sexually-

transmitted diseases are, of course, transmitted only through direct

sexual contact, including herpes, Chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and

many others. However, unlike AIDS, all of these illnesses share the

characteristic of being almost equally present in both males and

females. With AIDS, at least in the US, for the first time a sexually-

transmitted illness has stayed almost predominantly within one sexual

group, that is gay men (over 90% of the deaths in the US have been in

gay men).

Additionally, with other blood-born illness such as hepatitis C, many

cases are eventually found among the medical profession, due to the

risk of inadvertently spreading the virus through needle sticks, a

risk predominantly born by medical and dental workers. Inexplicably,

with AIDS, as far as I know, only two dentists in the entire 25-year

history of AIDS have contracted AIDS with no other risk factors (gay

male, IV drug abuser, etc.). This, of course, might lead us to the

question whether these two dentists were completely forthcoming in

their answers about their risk factors.

The final unusual diagnostic discrepancy of the AIDS epidemic was

that over the years, numerous patients, supposedly numbering in the

thousands, who were found to suffer from the full blown AIDS illness,

had no detectable levels of antibodies in their blood. In fact, they

had no evidence of any sort of having a viral infection, even

antibodies, but because they had all the AIDS symptoms, it was

assumed that they must have had the virus at least at some point.

This was an unprecedented conclusion.

Sometime in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the safe sex campaign

began, and at the same time we saw as the introduction of the

different categories of AIDS drugs, each supposedly targeting

different aspects of the virus's life cycle. What was once considered

an early death sentence became a manageable disease, albeit with many

unpleasant and even life-threatening consequences. This brings us to

the present, where the dire consequences of the AIDS epidemic

predicted in this country have largely proved to be unfounded. Back

in the 1980s we were told that unless a vaccine was quickly

discovered, we were basically doomed as a species because the virus

would quickly spread throughout the heterosexual population, as had

other sexually transmitted diseases. Twenty-five years later there is

no vaccine in sight, there have been rare illness in those without

risk factors (i.e. gay men, IV drug use, co-existing other sexually

transmitted illness, malnutrition, etc) and, even today, fewer people

die of AIDS in this country than in car accidents or of alcoholism.

But what about Africa? Don't the AIDS experts tell us that unless

massive action is taken the HIV virus will soon wipe out the

economies and viability of different cultures in many African

countries? Again, some inconsistencies exist in these predictions.

For starters, people in Africa are rarely actually tested for the HIV

virus when they are either screened or diagnosed with AIDS. The

cases, as in this country, almost uniformly occur in people with

other risk factors for illness. These include the some of the same

risk factors of gay male sex, IV drug abuse, malnutrition, co-

existing sexually transmitted illness. But they also include the

specifically African issues of TB, malaria, as well as many other

unchecked infectious illness existing in people highly exposed to

environmental toxins amid a huge burden of poverty and social unrest.

As with most illness, if one examines the epidemiological data, the

best conclusion one can draw is that the poorer, the more

malnourished, the more exposed to TB, malaria, toxic waste, and

social disharmony that a person or culture experiences, the more

likely they are to get sick with AIDS. This is highly unusual way for

a virus to behave, one from which we supposedly have no natural

defenses. These and many other issues surrounding the AIDS

controversy have been extensively documented in all sorts of sources

over the past twenty years. I would refer all my readers to the book

by Maggiore, What If Everything You Thought You Knew About

AIDS Was Wrong?, the website www.virusmyth.org, and the article in

the March 2006 issue of Harper's magazine about the inconsistencies

of the AIDS-HIV connection and the problem with the HIV drugs

(available online at www.harpers.org/OutOfControl.html).

This is not a closed case. Many questions remain that need to be

answered, and more to be asked. As we gear up to spend almost

unlimited resources fighting this virus, it behooves us all to find

out more about the facts behind this perplexing epidemic.

(back to top)

Therapeutics: Therapeutic Thinking

Goethe (left), considered by many to be the father of modern

scientific thinking as well as a great literary figure, urged

physicians and scientists to be students of the book of nature.

Modern, western-trained physicians generally put no stock in this

dictum. Sadly the same can be said even for some who claim the mantle

of " natural " or holistic health practitioners. It is not enough to

use so-called natural medicines or vitamins. Rather, it is the

thought process that determines whether medicine is " natural " .

" Right " therapeutic thinking involves the process of envisioning the

human being as an integral part of the local and cosmic world. Right

therapeutic thinking embraces the alchemical dictum of " as above, so

below " as it attempts to understand the hidden processes that result

in health and illness. Rather than seeing isolated symptoms and

addressing them with chemical medicines, surgery or radiation, the

true natural practitioner tries to educate the person back to health.

He or she does this through a radically different envisioning of the

illness and the human being. For me, it is this step that will lead

us into a new and more exciting approach to healing of both

individuals and the planet.

Let me try to illustrate this concept of right therapeutic thinking

with a few examples. First, a relatively simple one: The most common

illness that most of us will experience is the common cold, sometimes

referred to as a viral infection. As we all know, the experience of a

cold is often fever, mucus, a kind of cloudy feeling in the head,

often followed by a cough, sore throat, congestion and bodyaches.

Conventional medicine postulates that this illness is caused by a

virus that invades our bodies and that will take time for our immune

system to clear. Sometimes, if it is worse, it is said that this

illness is the result of a bacteria that can then be cleared by using

a medicine (antibiotic) that kills the bacteria. Most natural

practitioners treating a cold claim that the same process is

occurring, but that one can stimulate the immune system with such

medicines as Echinacea or vitamin C.

In right therapeutic thinking, a different approach is taken. We look

for the process or observable events that occur. In this case, the

overall picture is one of heat and " activation. " That is, even though

generally we don't feel very active with an infection, there is a lot

happening within our bodies. The tissues are red, the mucus is

running, the lungs are coughing, the skin erupts. It's as if we have

become a hot, frothing volcano, spewing forth increasingly toxic

mucus. If we imagine ourselves in the context of nature, and in

particular the seasons, unmistakably this would be a summer

experience, for winter is the time of coldness and contraction as

literally the greenness of the earth, the smells, flowers, insect

activity; in short, activity and buzzing contracts down into the

earth. In contrast, the summer is literally abuzz. Abundant smells,

colors, tastes burst forth from the earth in the warmth and sunlight.

In the context of the entire earth, the seasons are always in

balance, which is the way the earth maintains its health. If the

summer got too strong, or put another way, if the earth got a cold,

then over time too much activity would be " breathed out " and the

earth would sicken. The earth would become dry and barren if this

exhalation weren't checked. The earth needs the winter experience to

rest and recycle.

How does the earth keep from being in an excess summer mode? One

answer is that, soon after the height of mid-summer, as the earth is

in full bloom, a shift happens, a shift that can actually be felt by

very sensitive people. The meteor showers occur, which seems to bring

about a shift in the activity on earth. Plants begin to die, fruits

become seeds, and a coolness returns to the air. Meteor showers have

been shown to contain a particular type of iron know as ferrum

siderum (literally, meteoric iron). Thus right therapeutic thinking

leads us to the conclusion that iron heals the earth from excessive

summer.

Right therapeutic thinking sees the same process happening within the

human being. When we have a cold or a bacterial infection, our summer

processes have become too strong. We need to tone down the volcano,

rest and recycle. Within the human being, a surprisingly similar

occurrence takes place. Our bodies also use iron to bind and

neutralize poisons. An illness called porphyria occurs when the

unbound protein part of the hemoglobin molecule cannot be bound to

iron. This unbound protein literally poisons and kills us; if it is

bound to iron, it serves as the basis of our ability to use oxygen.

Iron also binds to cyanide to render it harmless, and on and on. We

neutralize poisons by binding them to iron. When we become iron-poor

or anemic, we become weak and susceptible to all manner of toxic

influences, including viruses and bacteria. It should be no surprise,

then, that a medicinal preparation of meteoric iron has been used for

centuries to treat hot, eruptive illnesses that affect humankind.

Delving deeper into the mystery of iron leads us to various

mythological images. For instance, Saint in Christian

folklore was considered the bearer of iron as he brought his sword,

made from iron, down to earth to slay the sulfurous dragon

(illustrated by Fouquet's 15th century painting, right). The

dragon, of course, represents the spewing forth of heat, poison and

all that is unclean. It is fought through the courage and strength

that is represented by the iron sword of Saint . For the

alchemists, iron correlates with the gall bladder and the planet

Mars – the so-called red planet because it is rich in iron oxides.

For those who practice right thinking, this is no surprise as the

gall bladder is the organ that excretes poisons that have been

processed by the liver. The bile flow is the mechanism of flushing

out the mucus, pus and toxins, the markers of the hot, " infectious "

illnesses. Bile flow is stimulated by bitters, which is probably why

bitter herbs, e.g. goldenseal, have always been used in the treatment

of sulfurous, " infectious " diseases.

To turn to a more complex example, let us look at AIDS from the

standpoint of right therapeutic thinking. Setting aside the still

controversial question of whether AIDS is caused by the virus HIV, if

we look at the phenomenon of the person with AIDS, one conclusion

that we could draw is that the person seems defenseless. In

particular they become defenseless to a whole array of ubiquitous and

usually harmless micro-organisms. We all have yeast growing in our

gastrointestinal tract, we are all surrounded by pneumocystis and

many other usually non-pathogenic viruses, bacteria and fungi. But,

uniquely, a person with AIDS has lost the ability to fight, not a

particular organism, but virtually any micro-organism.

This situation is perhaps unique in the history of humankind. I can't

help but wonder whether something has changed in past decades with

regard to our relationship with the whole realm of micro-organisms.

This relationship with micro-organisms leads to the concept

of " self " , of what is a human being. We are taught that we are

autonomous beings who live within this skin, and that " self " resides

within the skin. In fact, within this same skin live billions of

others, a bewildering combination of named and unnamed micro-

organisms. Without these friends living within us, we wouldn't

survive the week. These organisms in our gut and every other orifice

in our bodies digest our food, make vitamins (B12), maintain our

mucosal linings in good repair (e.g. the gut wall), and make

antibiotic-type substances that kill off more pathogenic bacteria. It

is not so far-fetched to say that these others who live within us

actually are our immune system.

In the last 60 years, we have waged war on this " other, " forgetting

that there is no self without our microbial friends. We pasteurize

our milk, give antibiotics to our animals, vaccinate our children and

use antibiotics that get rid of our protective inner friends. This

war on our inner ecology has been both relentless and devastating to

our ability to maintain that which we call self. It also,

fundamentally, has thrown us off from our ability to properly imagine

the world in which we live. Truly, there is no such thing as the

isolated, insular self. Humans must be in community, first with our

inner microbes, the wider community of minerals, plants, animals,

other people, and finally the entire universe. The concept of the

isolated self doesn't square with the reality of our basic

physiology; it is the fundamental illusion of human existence.

In a funny way, the AIDS phenomenon has been instrumental in re-

awakening the value of community. As many people were dying of AIDS,

the value of human care, hospice, networking, etc., gained a stronger

hold in our culture. Seen from the perspective of right thinking,

AIDS is a call to re-envision community, starting with the ecology of

our own bodies. Starting with the Nourishing Traditions diet (based

on the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon), we begin to knit

together the fiber of community starting with our food. We learn how

to care for our inner ecology as well as the ecology of our farms and

land. This ecological approach to AIDS bears fruit not only for

individual patients suffering from immune deficiency but also

reconnects us with the larger issues at work in our culture that are

the true " causes " of this phenomenon.

In summary, I am not so much looking for new medicines or foods to

treat individual illnesses, although those are certainly welcomed.

Rather, I am searching for a new way to envision the human being and

think about what is behind health and illness. Out of this

envisioning will emerge specific therapies that hopefully will help

not only individuals but the culture as a whole. Ultimately, our

sicknesses result from the forces and imbalances in the larger world

in which we live. Studying the book of nature is one approach to

understanding this larger world.

(back to top)

Guest Column: HIV - The Untold Story

by Lowenfels

In this article I will take you on an introductory crash course of

the HIV/AIDS controversy. I cannot possibly show you all the key

points in a casual manner, but I will get you started on the journey.

So fasten your seatbelts...

What is AIDS?

Of course you've heard about it: the fatal plague, spread by " unsafe "

sex and blood, caused by the deadly virus called HIV. Anyone can get

it. We've all seen the scary charts, cartoons, and photographs. This

25-year old story is reinforced daily by doctors, celebrities, and

the media. But is the full story being told?

AIDS is not a single disease, but rather a syndrome – a collection of

twenty-some-odd different diseases. The term AIDS was coined by the

Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the late 1980s as a surveillance

tool so that it could keep tabs on this mysterious syndrome, whose

cause was then unknown. If someone tests " HIV-positive " and has one

of these 20 diseases, then he or she is diagnosed with AIDS. Never

mind that these same diseases can and do occur in HIV-negative

individuals.

In 1993, the CDC definition of AIDS changed. As a result, the number

of cases doubled overnight, and AIDS quickly became a numbers game

that now included people with no disease, yet who had fewer than 200

T-cells. Upon closer examination, one will find that that AIDS cases

are reported cumulatively; this way, they appear to be constantly

growing even when they are not. According to the CDC, AIDS cannot be

reversed; once individuals have been branded with an AIDS diagnosis,

they are medically stigmatized for life, even if they have recovered

and are apparently healthy.

The Dreadful Test

The diagnosis begins with the gravitas of an " HIV test " , which is

claimed to be 99% specific for HIV, yet really only tests for

abnormal amounts of nonspecific antibodies. Those stigmatized

as " HIV+ " simply have a higher level of auto-antibodies than what has

been deemed normal, according to an arbitrary black-or-white

threshold. A global standard is lacking, such that it is possible to

test " HIV+ " in one country, and test " HIV- " in another. There are

many diseases which demonstrably cross-react with the " HIV antibody "

test, including tuberculosis, leprosy, and lupus. HIV proteins have

been found in normal human placentae, not to mention everyone's blood

when undiluted [1]. The auto-antibodies are ubiquitous, yet strangely

are still called " HIV-specific " .

In fact, " HIV " has never been properly isolated, which I will explain

subsequently. Therefore it is ludicrous to claim that an antibody

reaction against a protein of questionable origin is proof of

infection with a deadly virus. To give such a diagnosis based on this

uncertain test is medically irresponsible. " HIV " testing is

psychologically harmful and should be used only for its original

purpose, which was the anonymous screening of blood donations.

How was HIV linked to AIDS?

At an April 23, 1984 press conference held by Reagan's Health and

Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler, Dr. Gallo of the

National Institute of Health announced he had found the " probable

cause of AIDS " . This claim came just days after Gallo's filing for a

patent for the lucrative HIV-antibody screening test, a test that

would be used to screen all blood donations in the U.S. and Europe.

Yet two weeks passed before any actual scientific information was

published. Mysteriously, that pesky word " probable " seemed to all but

disappear in the ensuing months.

There is a story within a story here, which is notable but

essentially a diversion: The legal dispute between France and the

U.S., for the title of " discoverer of HIV " (Montagnier vs. Gallo),

and corresponding royalty profits from the " HIV-antibody " test.

Details of these allegations can be found in the investigation by

Congressman Dingell [2], and a document called " HIVgate " [3]. This

lawsuit was settled in a private meeting between Chirac and Bush, in

which scientific history was literally rewritten to suit political

means. Ultimately it doesn't matter who discovered what, since the

entire " discovery " is based on a platform of faulty logic.

Antibodies are Cross-Reactive in Nature

An antibody is like a " key " that fits into a " lock " region on a

protein/antigen. Imagine a master skeleton key that can fit many

different locks. Conversely, imagine a loose lock that could be

opened by several similar keys if wiggled just right. This is cross-

reactivity. It is a gift from nature because it means that antibodies

formed against one antigen later can be recycled against a similar

antigen.

Mathematical logic states that the greater the variety of antibodies

a person has, the higher the probability they will bind to a given

antigen. Therefore the more antibodies a person has, the more likely

they are to test " HIV+ " . Because of cross-reactivity, it is

impossible to deduce exactly which antigen the antibodies were

originally formed against. Imagine putting three different acids into

three kinds of milk, and trying to guess which acid curdled which

milk. It is impossible. The only thing that can be proven is that the

milk is curdled. Furthermore, it is impossible to tell when an

antibody was produced, since they can persist in the blood for many

years, if not indefinitely.

Retrovirus-Hunting: A Remnant of the War on Cancer

In order to understand the historical context, we must revisit the

War on Cancer started by Nixon in 1971. Inspired by Peyton Rous's

experiments with chicken sarcoma in 1911, virus-cancer researchers

devoted unprecedented research funds into finding a retrovirus that

caused cancer in humans. Twenty years later, after squandering

billions of federal dollars, this project was closed due to complete

failure. What remained was a smorgasbord of unemployed

retrovirologists, with narrowly focused laboratory skills and

thinking. If there was any successful research from the War on

Cancer, which is questionable at best, it would be from Bob Gallo's

lab, which made some mediocre discoveries of doubtful utility.

A Brief Lesson in Retrovirology

A " retro " -virus is named due to the " reverse transcription " of RNA

into DNA by the enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT). Scientific dogma

long held that DNA was always and only one-way transcribed from DNA

into RNA, that is until the discovery of RT in 1970. At first it was

wrongly assumed that the enzyme RT was an exclusive hallmark of

retroviruses, and could be used as a footprint " surrogate marker " in

lieu of an actual virus. But in 1971, it became well-known that RT

was present in all forms of cellular life, namely as an essential

part of the DNA repair mechanism (imagine DNA " band-aids " transcribed

from RNA). Because this surrogate marker was now shown to be totally

nonspecific, special rules for retroviral isolation were codified at

the Institut Pasteur in Paris, under the supervision of

retrovirologist Luc Montagnier. These rules included purification by

centrifugal density gradient, and subsequent electron microscope (EM)

photographs of the purified isolate from the 1.16 g/mL band. EM

photographs are absolutely essential to show that the viral isolate

is indeed pure virus and is not contaminated by debris from animal

cells which could confuse the identification of viral protein. (see

[4] for example photos) The bottom line is that many things may look

like a virus, but only certain things actually are virus, and the

rules are very strict about how to tell the difference.

Gallo's Follies

In 1975, Bob Gallo claimed to have discovered the first cancer-

causing retrovirus in humans, which he named Human Leukaemia 23 Virus

(HL23V). In the following months, his peers showed that this

discovery was a farce; Gallo had not followed the Pasteur Institute

rules and instead used only nonspecific surrogate markers. In order

to " prove " which culture proteins were viral, he used an antibody

test that was later shown to cross-react with ubiquitous cellular

proteins. The scandal was a huge embarrassment for Gallo, who was

quick to blame everything on accidental laboratory contamination.

The point of this history lesson is that Gallo used identical

evidence to claim his discovery of HL23V as he did for HIV. In fact,

Gallo had a stronger case for HL23V than he did for HIV. This is

because he could not find RT in cell cultures from AIDS patients

until he combined the blood of ten different patients in what can

only be called a " a real cell soup " . How can a virus that cannot be

found in one person, magically pop out when mixed with the blood of

nine others?

To his " cell soup " , Gallo added HTLV-I leukemia cells and powerful

oxidizing (cell-damaging) agents, incubated for several days, and

fished out a handful proteins from the 1.16 band, which happened to

show RT activity. No EM photograph of the purified 1.16 g/mL isolate

was ever published by either Gallo or Montagnier. Every single

published photograph was from an unpurified cell culture, depicting

non-viral budding commonly seen in fetal umbilical lymphocytes and

other proliferating cells. As codified by Montagnier himself at the

Pasteur Institute, virus-like particles in an impure culture is proof

of nothing.

Gallo injected rabbits with these putative " HIV " proteins, which

caused them to produce antibodies. He then extracted antibody serum

from the rabbits, and mixed it with the blood of hemophiliacs and gay

male AIDS patients. Because the rabbit antibodies formed against

his " HIV proteins " reacted with the proteins in the patients' blood,

he concluded that these patients must be infected with his virus.

However without first properly demonstrating that the original

culture proteins actually came from a virus and not something else

(which requires an EM photograph), this rabbit trick is merely a feat

of circular logic and cross-reactivity.

As mentioned earlier, the more antibodies an organism has, the more

likely they are to bind to any given antigen. At the time,

hemophiliacs were regularly using unpurified blood products, as the

genetic technology to manufacture monoclonal proteins was not yet

invented. This exposed them to a wide variety of foreign antigens. In

a similar manner, the gay men had been exposed to various antigens

from all the lifestyle stressors they had encountered, including

STDs, recreational/pharmaceutical drugs, and chronic infections from

weakened immunity.

Deceit Exposed

Between 1990 and 1995, National Institute of Health and Congressional

investigations took place regarding scientific misconduct in Gallo's

lab. These investigations ultimately found the seminal publications

on HIV to be " of dubious scientific merit " and " really crazy " (due

among other things to pooling the blood of ten people). In reality,

there has never been adequate proof for this " new virus " , and the

HIV/AIDS theory is a house of cards built on a sham. The only reason

scientists believed it in the first place is because Montagnier and

Gallo conveniently left out the crucial details in their publications!

In a 1997 interview, Montagnier affirmed: " I repeat we did not

purify. " When asked if Gallo purified his culture, he replied: " I

don't believe so. " [5] Also in 1997, the missing EM photographs were

finally published in two separate articles by Bess and Gluschankof.

[6] These photographs showed gross contamination by human cell

membrane " microvesicles " .[7]

Clinical Implications

If the so-called " HIV isolates " are composed primarily of human cell

membrane fragments, it begs the question whether HIV even exists at

all, or whether people who test " HIV+ " simply have auto-antibodies to

proteins from their own cells. That is exactly what has been claimed

by dissenting scientists such as Dr. Heinrich Kremer, Dr. Alfred

Hässig, and the Perth Group.[8] They have shown that the so-

called " HIV antibodies " are actually formed against oligomers of the

human cytoskeletal proteins actin and myosin, i.e. structural

proteins that get exposed to the blood when cells die in an abnormal

fashion (necrosis). This puts AIDS in the category of an autoimmune

disease, which seems to be a good fit with both explaining disease

progression and successful treatment. These researchers have shown

how autoimmune syndromes can be triggered by various combinations of

the five forms of oxidative stress: malnutritional, infectious,

psychoemotional, chemotoxic, and traumatic. This points to AIDS as a

multi-factorial phenomenon with unique triggers in each individual

case, yet following a common degenerative pathophysiology. For more

details on this biological aspect, I refer you to my recent article

from the Townsend Letter[9], and the online library and FAQ at

aliveandwellsf.org.

What I have shared with you in this article is really just the tip of

the iceberg. This subject is as wide as it is deep, and there is a

wealth of information available on the Internet and in books. How far

down the rabbit hole do you want to go? The choice is yours.

References:

1. www.robertogiraldo.com/eng/papers/EveryoneTestsPositive.html

2. The Dingell Report: www.healtoronto.com/galloindex.html

3. HIVgate by Janine :

www.rethinkaids.info/documents/Africa/Janine%20%20-%

20HIVgate.pdf

4. www.healtoronto.com/emphotos.html

5. Interview with Luc Montagnier, by Djamel Tahi,

www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/dtinterviewlm.htm

6. http://aliveandwellsf.org/library#microvesicles

7. www.healtoronto.com/emphotos.html

8. http://aliveandwellsf.org/kremer,

www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/ahassig.htm,

www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/epapadopoulos.htm, www.theperthgroup.com

9. http://aliveandwellsf.org/articles/dfl_townsend_0606.pdf

About Lowenfels:

Lowenfels is a scientist, musician, engineer, yogi, and

bodyworker. He holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and

Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a

Master of Arts from CCRMA at Stanford University. He began

questioning the HIV=AIDS model in 1999. What drives him? " Here in San

Francisco, I find it heartbreaking to see so many men who are visibly

deformed due to their toxic chemotherapeutic battle against a

hypothetical virus...these drugs are physically mutating people by

causing genetic damage to the mitochondria and DNA. "

(back to top)

Book Reviews by Dr. Cowan

Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection

by Prentice

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

by Pinchbeck

I don't normally review two books at once, but these, which seemingly

have nothing in common, inspired me to double up this round.

's book is about food and the connection of food and culture,

while 2012 is about the forecasted return to the earth of the

legendary and perhaps mythical god Quetzalcoatl predicted to occur in

the year 2012. Not much connection there? On deeper examination,

these two books, both well written and fun to read, stimulate many

questions about the current situation that humanity finds itself in.

They both also delve into the subject of the nature of time.

Prentice is someone I have come to know professionally over

the past few years. She writes recipes for this newsletter; we have

done many workshops together; she has cooked for one of our Fourfold

Healing conferences; she is one of the founders of the visionary

community supported kitchen project (www.threestonehearth.com); hosts

the Wise Food Ways website, and is involved in many other food-

related activities. is a master chef, skilled communicator,

effective teacher and a true social visionary when it comes to food

and culture. We now also know that is a very good writer who

has provided a guide to help us choose and prepare the healthiest

foods possible. Full Moon Feast is full of practical, delicious

recipes along with sources for all the best foods in the Bay area and

nation-wide. This book also contains the interesting story of

's evolution in her pathway to embracing the Nourishing

Traditons/Weston A Price style of eating. However, what I want to

focus on here is the full moon aspect of the book. Full Moon Feast is

written as a series of thirteen chapters, each of which describes a

specific season or time of the year connected to certain food-related

activities that traditionally happened during that time of the year.

For example, salmon run and therefore are available for catching at

only certain times of the year. Traditional people celebrated this

salmon moon with specific festivals, prayers, and activities that all

relate to the movement of the salmon. describes these in

vivid detail, then suggests creative uses for the salmon that are

available at this time of the year. She does the same for the other

twelve moons.

What I think is so important and revolutionary about this book and

its approach is that, by connecting local seasonal food with a new

approach to our calendar, Full Moon Feast brings us not only better

health but a change is our thinking. For example, why is it that our

current time-keeping system and calendar is divided up the way it is?

Why do certain months have 30 days, others 31 and one 28 (except

every 4 years)? What do the names of our months relate to, why is

January in mid-winter (except in the southern hemisphere) and July in

mid-summer? What is behind these names and their connections to the

seasons? I have no idea and, in fact, my guess is that there is no

true reason behind many of these names and seasons. They are mostly

arbitrary. In contrast, the moon when salmon return to earth connects

us to real events happening in our natural world.

Certain times are when specific events happen in nature, and if we

are paying attention, these natural occurrences stimulate us to do

certain activities with regard to food. We connect to the celestial

world (moons), the animal world (salmon), the plant world (the corn

moon – when the corn is harvested), and have a guide to understanding

on a visceral level (food) where humans fit into the entire natural

scheme of things. The importance of this is that there is a coming

revolution, a revolution of re-connection, a revolution where the

strategy of domination, where humans attempt to dominate nature must

end. In its place, will come the strategy of connection, not only

with each other, but with the grandeur and meaning of the world

around us. This fundamentally involves a change in our relationship

with time. We must move from understanding time as an abstraction,

time as a commodity, time as our enemy to a relationship with time

that is filled with meaning and connection. 's book is a

valuable guide to getting us started on this strategy of connection

in a deep and timely way with the world around us.

Pinchbeck's latest book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, is

largely about time. Pinchbeck is a writer who has been investigating

psychedelic drugs and changes in consciousness for a long time. In

this current book he turns his attention to the Mayan prediction that

in the year 2012 the end of an age is coming and a new age will

commence. These Mayan predictions were all based on the precise and

accurate study of celestial activity. In fact, Pinchbeck writes a lot

about how the Mayan civilization, so advanced in many ways, was

largely about exploring the relationship betweens humans, time and

celestial events. In doing so, they were able to predict with almost

startling accuracy many events, both outer events and events that

relate to human awareness.

When one's calendar is imbued with meaning, one's life is all about

connection. When a calendar marks very specific, observable and

deeply felt celestial events, then humans can more readily find their

places in the big picture. One of the main scientists Pinchbeck

follows in this book is Arguelles who, in Time and the

Technoshpere, has written that time is " mental in nature. " He writes

that " our current calendar has trapped us in a feedback loop of

accelerating de-synchronization. " When Pinchbeck asks

Arguelles, " How important is it in your opinion that people switch to

your thirteen-moon calendar? " Arguelles replies: " Only harmony can

unify " and " Condition the mind to an irregular standard and the mind

will adjust to disorder and chaos as normal aspects of existence. Our

civilization is based on false time, and artificial time has run out

for humanity. "

Pinchbeck examines crop circles, the work of Rudolf Steiner,

psychedelic plants, ancient cultures, and much more in a fascinating

look at the relationship that some of our most profound thinkers have

drawn between time and human thought and consciousness. In reading

this book, my guess is that your theory of time and the possible

coming changes at the deepest levels of our culture will be altered.

We all know that " things can't go on like this forever " . There is too

much pollution, too much waste, too much global-warming, too much

hatred, too much killing, too much going wrong. 2012 gives some

perspective on how we got here and some insight on what needs to

happen to change our understanding of time and its connection to

culture. Full Moon Feast gives some practical and fun strategies for

implementing these changes in you own life.

(back to top)

Nourishing Recipe

A Recipe from Prentice -

Coconut-Date Energy Balls

I love these little balls – they are sweet without being too sweet,

and are rich with coconut meat and coconut oil. I store them in a

cookie tin and sometimes bring them in the car with me when I know

I'm going to be running around doing errands or other busy-ness.

Their balance of good fats with natural sugars means they give both

an immediate lift but also sustained energy until the next real meal

can be had. They also make a nice sweet for after a meal, a good

snack during a meeting, or a welcome addition to a lunchbox. They are

great for kids to both roll and eat! They need to be kept cool or

they will soften or melt.

Ingredients:

1 cup date paste or 1 1/2 cups pitted dates

1/2 cup coconut spread (available from Wilderness Family Naturals)

3 Tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup dried coconut plus more for rolling the balls in

Optional: zest of a lemon or small orange.

Procedure:

In a food processor, process the date paste or dates for a few

seconds or a minute or so. If using dates, they should be processed

into a chunky paste.

Add the coconut spread (and the optional zest, if using) and pulse a

few times until the two ingredients are mixed.

Melt one tablespoon of coconut oil in a very small pan, and then

start the processor and pour the melted oil in through the top while

the processor is running. Add the 1/4 cup sundried coconut and

process for 5 or 10 seconds more. Then turn off the processor.

Remove the blade and then the processor bowl from the processor. You

can either leave your mixture in there and work from that, or

transfer the paste to another bowl to work from.

Put on some good music or a book on tape, or get a friend to help

you, or call up a friend so that you can chat while you roll the

balls. This is a repetitive and mindless task and though it

shouldn't take more than 20 minutes, it's nice to have a

distraction. Or you could be very zen about it and focus entirely on

the task!

To roll the balls, pick up a very small handful of paste and press it

in your hand. It should stick together. Then take the paste and

press and roll it into a little ball, about one inch in diameter.

Put the balls on a plate as you roll them.

When you have finished rolling all the balls, melt the remaining 2

tablespoons of coconut oil and remove from heat.

Now take each ball and do this: put it in the little pan with the

melted coconut oil. Shake the little pan so that the ball gets

covered with coconut oil. Take the warm oiled ball and immerse it in

the dried coconut flakes so that it gets covered with coconut. I do

this by just putting the ball into the bag of freeze-dried coconut

and rolling it around. Put the ball back onto a clean plate or

straight into a cookie tin. Repeat with all the balls until they are

all covered with coconut. Store in a cool place and eat as desired!

Prentice is both a professional chef and a passionate home

cook. She currently conducts cooking classes, writes a monthly New

Moon Newsletter on her Wise Food Ways website, and offers monthly

Full Moon Feasts in the Bay Area. She is a Bay Area chapter head for

the Weston A. Price Foundation for wise traditions in food, farming,

and the healing arts. Her new book, Full Moon Feast, is about food

and culture and will be available this spring from Chelsea Green

Publishing. © 2006 Prentice

I

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