South African Lawsuit Exposes
Pharmaceutical Colonialism

March 23, 2007

Cape Town/Santa Clara. South Africa is the one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic – and a multibillion dollar market for pharmaceutical drugs. Now, two organizations promoting these antiretroviral drugs (ARV) have staged in a showdown in court between these highly toxic ARVs and the use of micronutrients as key factors to fight immune deficiencies. The “South African Medical Association” (SAMA) and a group of ARV street promoters have jointly challenged Dr. Rath, a pioneer in vitamin research, and the South African government. Now Dr. Rath has filed his analysis of pharmaceutical colonialism and its genocidal consequences for the people in the developing world in this landmark court case, a must-read for everyone interested in health and social justice.

In Africa and other regions of the world, the brutal colonialism of previous decades has been silently replaced by an even more cruel and deady form of suppression – pharmaceutical colonialism. Under the mask of a “Mother Theresa” pharmaceutical multinationals are using the developing world as a testing ground and as a multi-billion market place for its controversial, toxic and often deadly drugs.

Leading this attack on the health and lives of millions of people in the developing world are the manufacturers of so-called antiretroviral drugs (ARV). These derivatives of highly toxic cancer chemotherapeutics are being promoted to millions of people in Africa and other parts of the world – including children and pregnant women. Under the pretence of curing the immune deficiency disease AIDS these toxic drugs have long been known to do exactly the opposite: they attack the immune system, damage and destroy it and – thereby – make the already existing immune deficiency condition worse.

The Dr. Rath Health Foundation has repeatedly called this unscrupulous promotion of toxic drugs to the poorest and most vulnerable inhabitants of our planet as “genocide”. More over it has continuously exposed organizations and individuals who directly and indirectly share responsibility for this genocide. Not surprisingly these organizations are launching their counter attacks.

In the court of Cape Town, South Africa, a landmark trial will take place later this year where these organizations promoting deadly ARV drugs are seeking “approval” for their unscrupulous activities.

While none of the ARV drugs is registered as a cure for AIDS, the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) are continuously ignoring this fact. In media, street rallies and court rooms they think to get ARV drugs “approved” as a “cure for AIDS” – a “stamp of approval” that all regulatory agencies in the world have denied for good reason: there is no scientific evidence.

In the trial in Cape Town, SAMA and the TAC have accused Dr. Rath, the Dr. Rath Health Foundation, several scientists as well as the government of South Africa (!) for promoting vitamins and other science based natural health approaches to the AIDS epidemic. In an unprecedented wave of hypocrisy SAMA and the TAC are seeking to outlaw the preventive and therapeutic use of vitamins in the battle against AIDS. At the same time they are trying to abuse this court trial to establish toxic ARV drugs – against all scientific evidence – as the only “proven” therapy for AIDS.

Following is the response of Dr. Rath to this remarkable attack on the health and lives of the people of South Africa and beyond.

You can read the full text of Dr. Rath’s analysis and his documentation for the High Court of Cape Town here: