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Review: Poisonous lies and their antidotes

summary

Originally published in 1993,Dirty Medicine is the result ofan investigation of the Campaign Against Health Fraud(CAHF). It is a detailed expos of how the pharmaceuticalindustry operated against competition, and the close linksbetween the industry and government organisations.

Martin J. Walker,Dirty Medicine: The Handbook (London: Slingshot publications,

2011), xviii, 318pp.

With the appearance of AIDS in the 1980s, the first company which could offer a successful

treatment could dominate the market, and the Wellcome Foundation was able to make sure

that AZT gained such a position, even though AZT was both highly toxic and ineffective (aslater studies confirmed). In the process, individuals, self-help groups and other organisations

advocating alternative approaches were attacked using various propagandist means,

principally co-ordinated through the CAHF.

Among the issues rubbished by CAHF supporters were many which are now accepted as

normal: the need for good nutrition and the value of vitamin supplements and organic food;

the existence of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

(CFS) as a physical illness; and the existence of allergic conditions arising from exposure to

chemicals. CAHF also attacked homeopathy, a medical system opposed by the

pharmaceutical industry for more than 200 years because of its threat to their profits.

For anyone interested in medicine or journalism, this is compelling reading, and should be

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8/4/2019 Review of Dirty Medicine

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compulsory reading. Solidly researched, it shows how organisations can claim to be impartial

whilst actually serving the vested interests of an industry, and how such organisations can

become a powerful means of misdirecting the public by exploiting the naivety or duplicity of

journalists. It also shows how difficult it can be to defend oneself from the attacks and to

uncover the truth.

Nearly twenty years and five books later, Walker has writtenDirty Medicine: The Handbook

in order to gather together the facts he has uncovered, and to bring our knowledge of the truth

up-to-date. As he points out, One of the reasons my work stands out from much academic

writing is that, until relatively recently, I was the only writer in the field who discussed named

individuals (p.xiv), and it is by naming names that he opens the door to our understanding of

the networks of vested interests and covertly linked actions. As a result, much of this

handbook comprises an invaluable index of individuals and organisations and their links with

each other.

Walker also brings forward two highly important points. Firstly, he notes that the difference

between science and industrial science is the same as that between art and commercialart. Itis the difference between activity without financial profit being a first consideration

and activity hedged by all sorts of commercial considerations (p.xvi). In the context of an

industry which profits from ill-health, and not from health, this is not an academic issue, but

means that our society has to develop a system of health care that really does care, from the

cradle to the grave, and that is led by communities and not by alienated profit-seeking medical

research workers, doctors and scientists (p.14).

His second important point is that the leaders of the healthcare industry know that it is not

enough to use industrial funding to win medical research workers, doctors and scientists to

serve the need for profits, but such funding must also be used to win the publics approval:

Today it is not only real scientists propagating their philosophy but armies of public relations

staff, who train mercenaries to fight the sciences battle (p.21). In this battle, the influential

individual, the soundbite and the constant repetition of slogans have far more power, even

without scientific foundation, than the scientific truth.

If this handbook were only to outline the problems, it would be useful but limited. However, it

goes on to give information about the antidote, those who have fought back, again drawing

on Walkers other books which examine the issues and evidence. At this point, I should

declare an interest, since I am one of those Walker mentions with reference toHalloween

Science, my detailed critique of Ernst and Singhs bookTrick or Treatment? Drawing on the

inspiration of the many people who have stood up to the pharmaceutical industry and itsmercenaries, Walker also gives excellent and practical advice on how to campaign.

Despite the frequent minor, but irritating lapses in editing and proof-reading, this book is an

essential resource and starting point for those confronting the reality of corporate abuse of

power. Walker also explicitly states that it is a work in progress, since new material will

continue to emerge, and he encourages readers to provide him with more information.

Whether it is the corruption of science, of the organs of government or of the mediaso

topical at present with the disclosures about Rupert Murdochs newspaperswhich concerns

us, we need to understand the rationale behind the actions and methods used in order to act.

As he quotes from Karl Marx at the end of the book, philosophers have hitherto only

interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it (p.305).Dirty Medicine: TheHandbookhelps us to do both.