'Big 3' gunning for Rath
2005-11-23 17:53
Johannesburg - A campaign to stop controversial German vitamin entrepreneur Matthias Rath from conducting "illegal" HIV trials in South Africa would be stepped up, said three organisations on Wednesday.
"We are convinced (if Rath continues with the trials), there will be a catastrophe," said Congress of SA Trade Unions president Willie Madisha.
"He has got to be stopped."
Madisha was speaking at an announcement that Cosatu, the SA Council of Churches (SACC) and the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) had joined forces to increase civil society's fight against HIV/Aids.
Their effort would include devising a national HIV-prevention plan to break the stigma attached to the pandemic and to encourage massive voluntary HIV testing.
It would also aim to increase the number of people on antiretrovirals (ARVs) to at least 200 000 by mid-2006.
Rath is 'very problematic'
Madisha said a part of the programme would be stopping the "unlawful activities" of Rath and others and "to make our communities aware of the dangers to them posed by false promises and information about HIV".
Regarding Rath, SACC spokesperson Joe Mdhlela said: "We think this is very problematic."
One reason the SACC was unhappy that Rath was being "embraced by the powers that be" was because this caused confusion on how to treat HIV/Aids.
TAC executive member Nonkosi Khumalo agreed, saying the country's leadership should make a stand on the issue.
She said the TAC planned to take a number of people to court, including the health department and the Medicines Control Council (MCC), with the aim of stopping Rath's trials in the Western and Eastern Cape.
The Rath Foundation advocates its vitamin products as a treatment for HIV/Aids.
It claims ARVs are toxic, and that the TAC, which advocates the use of the drugs, is a front for the pharmaceutical industry.
There have been reports recently of the deaths of people taking part in Rath's trials.
The trials have not been approved by any research ethics committee, nor have they been subjected to scientific scrutiny, according to the University of the Witwatersrand.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been criticised for not distancing herself from certain claims by the foundation.
The department was criticised by the three organisations on Wednesday concerning its actions on HIV/Aids.
85% not getting ARVs
Although prepared to work with the department, they believed the pandemic would not be curbed as long Rath and others were embraced.
On Monday, a report by the United Nations and World Health Organisation found that at least 85% of South Africans needing ARVs had not received them by mid-2005.
The three organisations called for a national HIV-prevention summit, presidential leadership on the pandemic and the strengthening of the SA National Aids Council.
The three organisations' campaign will be officially launched on World Aids Day in Durban on December 1.
- SAPA