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Interview
with HAROLD FOSTER, PhD |
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Harold Foster, PhD |
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Andrew W. Saul Interviews AIDS Researcher HAROLD D. FOSTER, PhDIntroduction by Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD: "What can one say about a scientist as accomplished, as
brilliant, as knowledgeable as Harry Foster? I am delighted I have known him
for so may years as a friend and colleague. His scientific writing is superb.
He has a remarkable ability to examine all the data and to draw from that
data conclusions that are going to be of the greatest value to mankind. I
know of no one who has a better grasp of the relation between the soil that
nourishes us and the diseases we get when that soil is not nourishing enough,
and/or contains toxic elements. His four "What Really Causes" books
(on Schizophrenia, AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, and Alzheimer's Disease, free
downloads at http://www.hdfoster.com/publications ) are superb and ought to be required text books for medical students
due to their insights and for the therapeutic potential that arises from
them. "I am especially excited bout his AIDS book which proves that
while HIV plays an important role in the causation of AIDS, it is only one
factor, and perhaps least important, since it only attacks in the absence of
the essential components of glutathione peroxidase,
especially selenium, the key variable. Much as the addition of niacinamide in
1942 to white flour by the (Editor's note: Years from now,
when your great-grandson perches on your knee, when the final history of AIDS
has been written, I think it will show that the turning point in AIDS
research was nutrition; that the pioneering figure was Harold Foster, and
that the key was his book, What Really
Causes AIDS.) Now on to the interview, conducted
April, 2005. DOCTOR YOURSELF NEWS: Dr. Foster,
you appear to be an increasingly controversial figure. How do you get along
with the faculty at your University? DR. FOSTER: Every person who can
think, write or lecture logically is going to be controversial, since so much
that society is doing is illogical. The faculty is like society. It is made
up of individuals with different viewpoints and biases. Some faculty see me as very intelligent while others view me as
a trouble-making idiot. In between are those who cannot make up their minds.
I am trying to tell the truth, and help solve society's problems; not curry
favor, nor run for public office. DY NEWS: Questioning the
fundamental cause and medical treatment of AIDS is often regarded as the kiss
of death for many a scientist. What keeps you going? FOSTER: I stand midway between the
conventional viewpoint held by those who signed the Durban Declaration (that
HIV alone causes AIDS) and the unconventional viewpoint(s) (that HIV does not
exist, or does not cause AIDS). That is, I believe that HIV causes AIDS by
creating four major nutritional deficiencies. This means that I get shot at
from both sides. I do not know of any rational debates about the possible
causes of AIDS. This is exceptionally unfortunate because unless things
change, this is the way the world ends: no bang, just a whimper. I expect one
billion cases of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Conventional science and medicine is
clearly failing in its war against the viruses that encode for glutathione peroxidase. More than one-third of the planet's population
has been infected by one or more of them. My own approach to the debate now
is to provide the key nutrients to dying AIDS patients in DY NEWS: What kind of support do
you need and seek, specifically? FOSTER: I need the support of
people who act. Discussion is not enough. I would, for example, like to see
church groups paying for and using the key nutrients in their African mission
parishes to reverse the symptoms of AIDS. I would like to see one rich
benefactor with the foresight to promote alternative treatments (including
mine) for HIV/AIDS. It is even more obvious now than it was when I wrote "What
really causes AIDS" that there will be no effective vaccine, and that
drug resistance will soon make anti-retrovirals
useless. I would also like to find a documentary film-maker willing to record
the recovery of a group of AIDS patients receiving the appropriate nutrients.
The documentary could be shown internationally. Obviously, somebody will have
to fund this. DY NEWS: Any helpers so far from
inside the medical/research professions? FOSTER: Some. Four are
establishment doctors from DY NEWS: How did you come to write
your book on AIDS, and now one about Alzheimer's? FOSTER: I had authored or edited
numerous books and a hundred or more scientific papers on disasters and
health, and realized that they were rarely read by the people who needed the
information the most. So I decided to write a series of books, each one
focusing on one specific disease that I felt I knew how to prevent and/or
treat. I started with AIDS because I considered it the world's worst problem.
I still do. I put "What Really Causes AIDS" online so that anybody
with access to the Internet could freely read my ideas. Books on
schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease have followed. So long as I am able, I
intend to write one "What Really Causes" book each year. Multiple
sclerosis will be the focus of the next one. DY NEWS: Tell us what in
particular motivated you to decide to make them free downloads, or even free
in print, by mail, at your expense? FOSTER: I pay for the typing,
typesetting and publication costs for each book and also mailing costs to those
who I really feel should read a particular book. This is not a good way to
make money. I am a poor businessman. I would sooner save a life. DY NEWS: As you, a distinguished
professor of geography, are not a physician, what was it that brought you to
epidemiological research in the first place? FOSTER: I was established as a
disaster planner whose book, "Disaster Planning: the Preservation of
Life and Property" was used as a textbook in numerous universities.
Someone very near to me then developed cancer and I decided to find out what
caused it and how it could be prevented. My approach is called medical
geography. DY NEWS: Are there other medical
geographers, or are you pretty much the lone the trailblazer? FOSTER: There are many other
medical geographers, especially in DY NEWS: Have you published what
you found out about cancer? FOSTER: Yes, I have published
several papers on cancer. I also wrote the book "Reducing cancer
mortality: A geographical perspective" published in 1986 by the Western
Geographical Series. DY NEWS: How did you happen to
meet Dr. Abram Hoffer? FOSTER: Abram treats his patients
a few miles away from where I teach at the University of Victoria, BC. I
started going to his local lectures and he to mine. We found that we had a
great deal in common and our friendship grew from there. DY NEWS: How did www.hdfoster.com come to be? FOSTER: My youngest stepson Dan is
a great videogame fan. Some new game was coming out and I bribed him into
creating a website for me in exchange for the game. The site cost me about
$75. Yes, I know, slave labour!
He is now at art school in DY NEWS: When did your website go
up? FOSTER: I guess it's been on line
for about five years. Several thousand people have downloaded one or more of
the books. DY NEWS: Could you share some
feedback from your readers and website visitors? FOSTER: Here is some e-mail from a
doctor using my nutritional treatment for AIDS. He works in an African
hospice were patients go to die. "I have been having some remarkable results
from the selenium plus amino acids combination. One patient has taken it for
three months now and her CD4 count has jumped from 53 to 213 end of November.
Clinically, she has shown tremendous improvement having been bedridden with
PCP, hair changes and neuropathies but is now up and about. She has not been
on any other medication except some antibiotics. Even most of her other blood
parameters have moved." DY NEWS: What is PCP that the
African physician refers to? FOSTER: In DY NEWS: How about other feedback? FOSTER: There have been many such
stories from recovering HIV/AIDS patients who have downloaded "What
Really Causes AIDS" at http://www.hdfoster.com/publications . One Dutch reader, who was
particularly interested in schizophrenia, paid for the translation and
publication of my book "What Really Causes Schizophrenia" in DY NEWS: What's new at Foster
Labs? FOSTER: A charity has paid for the
manufacture of enough nutrients to conduct a 200 HIV/AIDS patient clinical
trial in DY NEWS: As I have been to FOSTER: There are powerful
organizations that do not want to see a cheap, nutritional treatment for AIDS
or any other disease for that matter. For that reason, I think it better to
be cautious and decline an answer at this time. DY NEWS: Has a foundation,
corporation or non-profit organization been set up to receive donations, or
is donation to your work informal (and not tax-deductible)? FOSTER: I am one man who already
works full time teaching hundreds of students each term. As yet there is no
foundation to back my work. It would be wonderful if one of the thousands of
foundations already out there would consider doing so. DY NEWS: As the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine's
newly appointed Associate Editor, would you like to comment on the Journal's not being indexed by the
National Library of Medicine's Medline? FOSTER: It is a big loss to
Medline and damages its credibility. Some brilliant work has been published
over the years in the Journal of
Orthomolecular Medicine. (Nearly 40 years’ worth is available for free
reading at http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/) DY NEWS: As the people closest to
us are sometimes the most resistant to change, how "hip" to natural
nutrition is your family? FOSTER: Initially, none of them
took nutrients seriously. One by one, they have changed. When the eldest boy
comes to visit, the first thing he does is swipe my nutrients. DY NEWS: What steps have you
personally taken to increase selenium intake, and your
the intake of other nutrients you recommend? FOSTER: I have taken 200
micrograms of selenium daily for 20 years. I also take a comprehensive
multiple nutrient preparation and 6,000 milligrams of vitamin C and extra
vitamin B complex. My aim is to make sure that I am never deficient in any of
the known nutrients. I also buy a wide range of nutrients for family use. DY NEWS: You are taking more
nutrients than what most dietitians say you need to prevent deficiency. Would
you please comment and expand on this? FOSTER: Yes, I am taking far more
vitamin C, for example, than the RDA. This is because I believe that the RDA
is illogical. I am not just trying to avoid scurvy but to achieve optimum
health. There are about 4,000 animals that make their own vitamin C. As far
as I know, they all make it a levels much higher per kilogram of body weight
that the RDA for humans. Why should our requirements be so different? Abram
Hoffer and I are writing a book, at the moment, on why most people need high
levels of niacin. DY NEWS: What do you eat? FOSTER: In addition to
supplements, I try to eat a healthy diet. I emphasize fruits, vegetables,
nuts, fish and chicken. I eat very little red meat or dairy products. DY NEWS: What parts of your books
are your critics attacking you over, specifically? FOSTER: I would say my most
controversial idea is that a group of viruses (HIV-1 and HIV-2, Coxsackie B
and Hepatitis B and C are members) can cause diseases indirectly by depleting
the human body of specific nutrients. This implies that, if you boost the
intake of these nutrients, you can reverse the disease symptoms. This
paradigm is contrary to current clinical drug approaches to such viral
infections and is considered a stupid idea by virologists. Nevertheless, it
works. DY NEWS: Could you please
elaborate on the cause and cure of Hepatitis B and C, about which I receive
many readers' questions? FOSTER: Dr. Will Taylor and colleagues
at the University of Athens, Georgia have shown that there is a group of
viruses that encode for glutathione peroxidase.
This means that as they are replicated, they remove the four key nutrients
that lie at the core of this enzyme (selenium, cysteine,
glutamine and tryptophan) from the human body. Eventually they can cause
severe deficiencies of these nutrients and kill their hosts. Included in this
group of viruses are Hepatitis B and C, Coxsackie B and HIV-1 and HIV-2.
Anyone infected by one or more of these viruses needs elevated selenium, cysteine, tryptophan and glutamine to remain healthy.
Think tapeworm! That is, a parasite-induced functional deficiency. DY NEWS: You have at least one
other controversial idea. Please tell us about road salt and cancer. (Foster
HD. Road-deicing salt and cancer: the need for further study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993 Oct 6;85(19):1603-5.) FOSTER: In 1986, I published the
book, "Reducing cancer mortality: a geographical perspective." It
was essentially a major statistical study of 4.6 million cancer deaths in the
DY NEWS: I am unaware that your
books have been reviewed in major news outlets. Where may the public find and
read media reviews of your work? FOSTER: My "What Really
Causes..." books have been reviewed in the alternative press, in
publications like the Townsend Letters
for Doctors and Patients, Nexus,
and the Journal of Orthomolecular
Medicine. Interestingly, I have written three articles for Nexus following positive reviews. This
has been very useful because, beyond English, this magazine appears in a wide
variety of languages. They have published my work, for example, in Polish and
Italian. DY NEWS: Aside from publicity and
distribution, what do you feel are the biggest obstacles to your pioneering
work? FOSTER: There are two major
roadblocks to human progress: closed minds and greed. Fortunately, as Doug Gwyn pointed out "The truth is not determined by
majority vote." Beyond an inability or unwillingness to innovate, there
are many people doing very well out of the status quo. They will generally
protect it, regardless of the truth. Unfortunately, unless we alter our
dominant HIV/AIDS paradigm, these weaknesses will spell total disaster for
our species. DY NEWS: What specific goals would
you have, would you like to see, in the next year? FOSTER: I would like to raise
enough funds to pay for three clinical HIV/AIDS trials in DY NEWS: I can't restrain my
curiosity. What will be your next topic? FOSTER: I have not made up my
mind. I could, for example, write on Parkinson's disease, digestive cancer,
or diabetes type II. DY NEWS: Do you have some
take-action suggestions for interested readers? FOSTER: Yes. Take responsibility
for your own health. Exercise, eat well and take your nutrients. No smoking and
no drinking! Also support those who dare to stand up for the truth. You owe
them more than passive agreement. DY NEWS: What is your most
important, most enduring message? FOSTER: Actions speak louder than
words. A great deal louder. “WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE WITH HIV / AIDS PATIENTS IS TO
RAISE THEIR SELENIUM, CYSTEINE, TRYPTOPHAN, AND GLUTAMINE LEVELS BACK TO Follow-up interview, March 2006: DY NEWS: Dr. Foster, how
many nutritional AIDS studies do you now have underway, and in what African
nations? FOSTER:
There are, or have been, numerous small open nutritional trials, involving
anywhere from two to forty HIV/AIDS patients, run by individual doctors or
nurses, conducted in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
In addition, there are two larger, more scientific clinical trials currently
ongoing in DY NEWS: Total number of
participants; approximate percent success? FOSTER:
Keeping track of statistics from volunteers in DY NEWS: The specific
nutrients given, and doses of each, and frequency of dose? FOSTER:
This is an impossible question to answer because there is no
one-size-fits-all dose. What needs to be done with HIV/AIDS patients is to
raise their selenium, cysteine, tryptophan and
glutamine levels back to normal. The ideal treatment then depends on what
they previously have been eating. In sub-Saharan DY NEWS: Who is paying
for the supplements? Any grants at all? FOSTER:
In all the initial small trials, I paid for all the nutrients. The expenses
incurred in shipping were often as high as the cost of the nutrients. The two
current trials in DY NEWS: About how many
physicians have reported in to you? Do you have their comments to share with
us? FOSTER:
I was given the Orthomolecular Doctor of the Year Award (2004-2005) and so
must have ISOM's support. Especially keen
supporters in that organization are Drs Abram Hoffer and Brad Weeks. Dr Jim Sparling has been a tower of strength in DY NEWS: What scientists
have allied themselves with you so far? Let's drop
some names, in a positive and encouraging sense. FOSTER:
I am getting more support lately from geneticists, biochemists and some
experts in selenium. I will refrain from naming them. They do not need the
hot water. DY NEWS: Any other
dietary or life style recommendations that seem to help? FOSTER:
The Earth's soils are becoming very mineral depleted and toxic. As a result,
food is less nutritious. Eat organic food, if you can afford it, and make
sure you take ample supplements. DY NEWS: Which drugs are
worst for fighting HIV-AIDS? FOSTER:
This is a tough question to answer. I don't need Big Pharma's
lawyers attention. However, antiretrovirals
are generally associated with serious side effects, especially liver damage.
They also promote viral mutation. Their key weakness, however, is that they
cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier, so HIV continues to destroy the
brain in all HIV/AIDS patients getting antiretrovirals
as a treatment. In short, they inevitably create a type of pseudo-Alzheimer's
patient with increasing memory loss over time. DY NEWS: If you can,
please talk about the hot water you are in at your university, or in the
media. FOSTER:
Most of the covert criticism of my work has come in the Canadian newspapers
and on CBC radio. I have frequency been accused of spreading false hope, even
by the local Member of Parliament, an MD. Much of what has been published
about my work has been deliberately false. To illustrate, I am frequently
portrayed as believing that HIV does not cause AIDS. This is absolutely
untrue. I have simply discovered how HIV causes AIDS. Under the heading
"AIDS Nonsense," The National
Post, a Canadian daily newspaper, published a letter from an (end of interview) What Really Causes AIDS is a book that provides an
original theory for the causes and therefore the treatment of AIDS. It also
describes a strategy to halt the AIDS pandemic. A full-text .pdf download of What
Really Causes AIDS is available, free of charge, at http://www.hdfoster.com/publications.
Harold D. Foster's Papers indexed by the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE: Foster HD. Host-pathogen
evolution: Implications for the prevention and treatment of malaria,
myocardial infarction and AIDS. Med Hypotheses, Vol. 70(1), p 21-25, 2008. Foster HD. A role for the
antioxidant defense system in preventing the transmission of HIV. Med
Hypotheses, Vol. 69(6), p 1277-1280, 2007. Foster HD. How HIV-1 causes AIDS:
implications for prevention and treatment. Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(4):549-53. Review. Foster HD, Hoffer A. Schizophrenia
and cancer: the adrenochrome balanced morphism. Med
Hypotheses. 2004;62(3):415-9. Review. Foster HD, Hoffer A. The two faces
of L-DOPA: benefits and adverse side effects in the treatment of Encephalitis
lethargica, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis
and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(2):177-81. Foster HD. Why HIV-1 has diffused
so much more rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa than in Hocking M, Foster HD. Upper respiratory tract infections among
airline passengers. JAMA. 2002 Dec 18;288(23):2972;
author reply 2972-3. Foster HD. Why the preeminent risk
factor in sporadic Alzheimer's disease cannot be genetic. Med Hypotheses.
2002 Jul;59(1):57-61. Foster HD. Coxsackie B virus and
myocardial infarction. Lancet. 2002 Mar 2;359(9308):804.
Foster HD. Landscapes of
longevity: the calcium-selenium-mercury connection in cancer and heart
disease. Med Hypotheses. 1997 Apr;48(4):355-60.
Review. Foster HD, Zhang L. Longevity and
selenium deficiency: evidence from the People's Republic of 9. Foster HD. Road-deicing salt and
cancer: the need for further study. J Natl Cancer
Inst. 1993 Oct 6;85(19):1603-5. Foster HD. The iodine-selenium connection:
its possible roles in intelligence, cretinism, sudden infant death syndrome,
breast cancer and multiple sclerosis. Med Hypotheses. 1993 Jan;40(1):61-5. Review. Foster HD. Reply to the letter of
L. C. Clark and G. F. Combs, Jr. J Nutr. 1989 Jun;119(6):950. Foster HD. Suicide and mortality
from diabetes. Am J Psychiatry. 1988 Feb;145(2):272.
Foster HD. Selenium and cancer
prevention. J Nutr. 1988 Feb;118(2):237-9. Foster HD. Disease family trees:
the possible roles of iodine in goitre, cretinism,
multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and
Parkinson's diseases and cancers of the thyroid, nervous system and skin. Med
Hypotheses. 1987 Nov;24(3):249-63. Review. Foster HD. Diabetes mellitus and
low environmental magnesium levels. Lancet. 1987 Sep 12;2(8559):633.
Interview and comments copyright
2009, 2006, and 2005 by Andrew W. Saul. Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing
that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
) For ordering information, Click Here . |
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