Matthias Rath, the vitamin campaigner accused of endangering thousands of lives in South Africa by promoting his pills while denouncing conventional medicines as toxic and dangerous, has dropped a year-long libel action against the Guardian and been ordered to pay costs.
Libel battles can make and break reputations, but only rarely do they bear on questions of life and death. The legal case against the Guardian which Matthias Rath abandoned this week is an exception. The vitamin campaigner - who has long proffered his pills as a panacea in defiance of all evidence - objected to remarks our columnist Ben Goldacre made about his South African activities. In a country where 6 million are HIV positive, Mr Rath sought to persuade victims to take vitamins instead of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). He played a part in the madness which allows Aids to claim 1,000 South African lives every day.
Edited extracts of witness statements for the defence in the case of Rath vs GNM Ltd and Ben Goldacre.
Mandla Majola is the coordinator of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in Khayelitsha, a township outside Cape Town. TAC educates people about HIV and Aids:Britain's middle classes are fleeing state schools and the NHS "en masse" because Labour's "extraordinary experiment" of doubling spending on public services has failed to improve standards, Nick Clegg claims today. On the eve of his first party conference as Liberal Democrat leader, Clegg tells the Guardian that "middle class flight" from schools and the NHS poses a dangerous threat to public services which need "cross-class solidarity" to guarantee taxpayer support.
Doctor, doctor - The Guardian 13th September 2008
How dangerous is coffee drinking for women? I hear so many conflicting reports.
From politics and sport to high street shops, family dynasties are everywhere. But, asks Laura Marcus, would you encourage your children to go into the same line of work as you?
We cannot rule out cuts to NHS 'sacred cow', says Cable - The Independent 13th September 2008
The National Health Service faces the threat of cuts under a wide-ranging Liberal Democrat assault aimed at saving £20bn in public money, Vince Cable, the party's deputy leader, has warned.
Lawyers are pocketing £1 in every £2 paid out to victims of NHS blunders.
Legal firms are bringing in a total of more than £3million every week as the compensation culture booms.
Experts say increasing numbers of cases are being taken to court by 'no-win, no-fee' solicitors, who even tout for business in A&E waiting rooms.An organic product sold under Prince Charles's Duchy Originals brand has been found to contain elevated levels of a cancer-causing chemical.
Hand-fried vegetable crisps from the Prince's range are among a number of products identified as containing acrylamide in a study by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).Men 'unhappy' with their bodies - BBC Health News 12th September 2008
One of Britain's leading eating disorder experts says as many as one in five young men are deeply unhappy with their body image.
Dr John Morgan said that for every man with an eating disorder there were 10 more who desperately wanted to change the way they looked.Cardiff-London tensions re-ignite - BBC Health News 12th September 2008
An English health minister who criticised health policies in Wales has returned to the attack.
Ben Bradshaw told a conference the English NHS provided a better service despite spending less per patient than the health service in Wales.'The effects stay with you forever' - BBC Health News 12th September 2008
Reality TV star Jade Goody is set to undergo a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Around 2,700 women are told they have cervical cancer every year in the UK and it is the second most common cancer in women under 35.'Alcohol damaged my adopted child' - BBC Health News 12th September 2008
When Julia Brown adopted, she was aware that her new baby daughter had problems.
For several years medics went through possible diagnoses.
The suggestions included autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyspraxia - a movement disorder.
UK Health News 09/13/2008
Saturday 13 September 2008
Posted by Kieran at 11:30
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Patients are to be allowed to pay privately for treatment with expensive drugs without losing their entitlement. But the government was presiding over healthcare for all. Overweight parents could be paid to walk their children to school as part of a Government campaign to fight the obesity epidemic.
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