Protest Barbour as top scientist at UCI

[Guest guest]

I am sending this blind copy about a recent PR piece that appeared in the

Orange County Register mentioning Alan Barbour, MD. The article describes

Barbour as " Trying to find ways to control certain diseases in nature,

circumventing the need for some vaccines. " Around the world, the guy has 85+

patents on Lyme vaccines. Huh?

This is very misleading. Barbour is Mr. Vaccine Patent. A PR obfuscation?

It's a small issue, but if anyone wants to join me in writing a Letter to the

Editor to the Orange County Register and copying in the UC Irvine

Communications office (where this PR piece came from -- I checked), below are

the email and snail mail addresses. I can write an email in no time flat,

click, and send it off, but I realize this is not everyone's thing. However,

if Internet activism is your thing, here's the contact info:

The Orange County Register

625 N. Grand Ave. at the Santa Ana (5) Freeway

Santa Ana, California 92701

(877) 4MY-REGISTER

(877) 469-7344

Letters to the Editor

Opinion & Commentary (714) 796-7980

<A HREF= " mailto:letters@... " >letters@...</A>

<A HREF= " http://today.uci.edu/contact/ " >http://today.uci.edu/contact/</A>

(webpage for UCI Communications Office)

Menning

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Communicatoins

Phone (949) 824-6922

E-mail: smenning@...

Executive Director, Communications

Phone: (949) 824-6925

E-mail: nelsonrs.uci.edu

Jim Cohen

Director, Media Relations

Phone: (949) 824-7913

E-mail: jecohen@...

Here are all the email addresses to quickly copy and paste:

<A HREF= " mailto:letters@... " >letters@...</A>,

smenning@..., nelsonrs.uci.edu, jecohen@....

Lynn

-------------------------

<A

HREF= " http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=31067 & section=LOCAL & su\

bsection=LOCAL & year=2003 & month=3 & day=21 " >Click here: UCI's Hewitt Hall to

open</A>

<A

HREF= " http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=31067 & section=LOCAL & su\

bsection=LOCAL & year=2003 & month=3 & day=21 " >http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/a\

rticle.do?id=31067 & section=LOCAL &

subsection=LOCAL & year=2003 & month=3 & day=21</A>

Friday, March 21, 2003

UCI's Hewitt Hall to open

By GARY ROBBINS

The Orange County Register

Newest addition: UCI's new science center, the 76,500-square-foot Hewitt

Hall, will be dedicated in a ceremony today.

r Architects

RELATED STORIES

• <A

HREF= " http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=31056 & section=LOCAL & su\

bsection=LOCAL & year=2003 & month=3 & day=21 " >The stars of Hewitt Hall</A>

The University of California, Irvine, today opens its newest science

building. Hewitt Hall will be home to some of the school's most distinguished

biomedical researchers. The $26.8 million building, subsidized by public and

private funds, mostly will be devoted to research in immunology, infectious

diseases, evolution and the genetics of aging. Hewitt also features a large

clinical center, expanding UCI's ability to treat and study patients. Hewitt

will be dedicated at 4 p.m. in a public ceremony. Here are five of the

school's top scientists, what they're notable for and what they are working

on:

Doug Wallace, 56, geneticist

World's top expert on the genetics of mitochondria, the " power plants " of

cells.

Working to explain the nature of degenerative diseases, aging and human

evolution.

Dave Felten, 55, neuroscientist and physician

Former MacArthur Foundation " genius " award winner.

Trying to figure out how the brain affects the immune system. Also evaluating

alternative medicines.

Paolo Casali, 55, molecular biologist. Internationally recognized expert on B

cells, which detect viruses, bacteria and tumor cells.

Investigating the " mechanics " of immune and autoimmune diseases, including

lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Alan Barbour, 57, microbiologist and physician

Co-discovered cause of Lyme disease and co-developed first vaccine to fight

the affliction.

Trying to find ways to control certain diseases in nature, circumventing the

need for some vaccines.

Don Forthal, 53, immunologist

A lead investigator in the recent AIDSVAX study, the first large human trial

of a vaccine for HIV.

Focusing on finding ways to better detect viral loads of HIV and better

understand how HIV affects nervous system.

[Guest guest]

I have spoken to Alan Barbour over 3 years ago when I was very ill. My UCI

endocrinologist told me to call him during my visit (to this endocrinologist)

and following a visit to a professor of medicine at UCLA who felt that lyme

disease should be ruled out in my case...also I was an advanced practice

nurse before I became very ill and this physician felt Alan could give me his

insights. Alan told me that I couldn't possibly have lyme disease since it

(lyme disease) was not in California. He did not ask me if I ever lived in

the East coast (I grew up in New Jersey and spent some adult years in East

Brunswick walking daily with my dogs in the woods).

Today, I emailed UCI communications office and let them know that I believe

Alan has a distinct conflict of interest if he indeed has patents on lyme

vaccine, does not practice medicine and has provided information that is

misleading at best and perilous at worst.

Donna