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Wits calls for Rath probe
06/10/2005 11:51 - (SA)
Johannesburg - There should be an immediate investigation into the South African activities of a foundation led by controversial vitamin entrepreneur Dr Matthias Rath, Wits University said on Thursday.
It said the health department and Medicines Control Council had to probe reports of scientific misconduct pertaining to the Dr Rath Health Foundation (DHRF) to ensure vulnerable people weren't exploited in the name of research.
University vice-chancellor Prof Loyiso Nongxa said his institution had noted with concern reports by the media and Medecins sans Frontieres on trials by the foundation in the Western Cape.
"Of particular concern are reports of 'clinical trials' of micronutrients among people living with HIV/Aids in Khayelitsha," he said.
The trials hadn't been approved by any research ethics committee, nor have they been subjected to scientific scrutiny.
Manto under fire
The medication being used hadn't been approved for this use by the Medicines Control Council, Nongxa said.
He said people enrolled for the trials were reportedly not given adequate and accurate information about the alternative medication and were, therefore, not able to give informed consent.
"This is directly counter to the laws of this country and the Constitution which states that 'Everyone has the right to bodily and psychological integrity, which includes the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without their informed consent'."
While the university supported any ethical, scientifically valid research into alternative ways of managing HIV/Aids, it condemned the irresponsible and indeed potentially life-threatening activities of the DHRF.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has come under fire for not distancing herself from certain assertions by the foundation. In various advertisements printed in South African newspapers it said Aids could be cured by vitamin supplements and that antiretrovirals were deadly poison.
"I will only distance myself from Dr Rath if it can be demonstrated that the vitamin supplements he is prescribing are poisonous for people infected with HIV," Tshabalala-Msimang said in a written reply to question in Parliament in June.
The Treatment Action Campaign said earlier this year it had substantial evidence that Rath, who has been linked to Aids dissidents, was running unregistered medical practices in Cape Town townships, and was conducting "unauthorised, unethical and dangerous" experiments on people with HIV.
- SAPA
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