The Process of Cellular Health has become Irreversible

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http://www.dr-rath-research.org/crusader/milestones.php

 

 

Milestones

The Process of Cellular Health has become Irreversible

 

 

The following chapter highlights the historic development behind this

website. It is based on a presentation by Dr. Rath at a Conference of the

American Academy for the Advancement in Medicine and has been updated for

this website.

 

Only rarely comes the privilege of being present at the moment of triumph in

the control of a major disease, and, for cardiovascular disease, that moment

is now. Over half a century ago the Canadian cardiologist, J.C. Paterson,

published the first clinical studies that vitamin deficiency is a primary

cause for heart attacks and strokes. Each year, more than 12 million people

die worldwide from heart attacks and strokes. Since Dr. Paterson's studies,

over half a billion people have died from cardiovascular disease, more than

in all wars of mankind together. Throughout this century, cardiovascular

disease has become one of the largest epidemics in the history of mankind.

 

I am often asked: " If this knowledge had been used in medicine, could my

father, sister, uncle or son still be alive? " The answer is " Yes, very

likely! " Why did so many people have to die? The main reason is the

non-patentability of vitamins and the massive economic interest of

pharmaceutical companies. Pioneering scientists and health professionals

deserve credit for their advocacy of vitamins and other natural therapies.

Among them are Irwin Stone, Linus Pauling, Abram Hoffer and many others.

Despite their noble efforts, until very recently the opposing pharmaceutical

interest groups prevailed and continued to control public opinion by

discrediting the health benefits of vitamins. As a consequence, hundreds of

thousands of physicians and other health professionals and millions of

people around the world were deceived and remained misinformed and biased

against the health benefits of vitamins.

 

Now, on tthe turn of this century, everything is changing. Vitamins suddenly

make the front pages of newspapers and they are on national TV news almost

every week. The American Medical Association suddenly endorses the use of

vitamins in the fight against heart disease, and legislation allowing health

claims for vitamins is being discussed. The groundwork for this change of

perception in favor of vitamins has been laid over many decades. However,

the trigger for the current large-scale acceptance of vitamins came from the

field of science, from a medical advance, that will lead to the control of

cardiovascular diseases during the next few decades.

 

Here I would like to share with you an account of this advance in

cardiovascular health, of the milestones we have already passed, the

obstacles we have overcome, and of the breathtaking perspective towards

improvement of human health on a global level.

 

The background

In 1990, I came to America with a discovery in my suitcase that would lead

to a new scientific rationale of cardiovascular diseases. The message was

clear: Vitamins are the key to the control of cardiovascular disease, the

number one killer in the industrialized world. But this breakthrough was not

immediately embraced. When I decided to give up my clinical career to pursue

this research avenue, many of my colleagues in Germany warned me that

working on vitamins would ruin my career.

 

During 1989 I presented lectures and introduced my research project to

leading cardiovascular research centers

 

 

 

The cooperation and friendship with two-time Nobel Laureate

Linus Pauling was so close, that Pauling asked Dr. Rath to continue his life

work. In the centre of the picture Dr. Pauling's secretary Dorothy Munro

 

in America - among them Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, University of

Chicago, National Institutes of Health, and the University of California at

La Jolla. Everywhere the new risk factor, lipoprotein(a), was met with great

interest - but working on vitamins was still considered too controversial.

In early 1990 I accepted the invitation of Linus Pauling to work with him,

only to discover that at age 89 he had become tired of fighting and a

breakthrough for vitamins in medicine was nowhere in sight. Heartened by my

discoveries, he and I founded two companies in order to jump-start this

process.

 

1990 was also the year when America's worst prescription drug disaster came

to light. An estimated 50,000 Americans died from taking an antiarrhythmic

drug that actually caused arrest of the heart beat and sudden cardiac death.

This was the same number of people killed in the Vietnam War. A

Congressional investigation established that the FDA had approved this drug

without any controlled clinical studies. This tragedy is presented in Thomas

Moore's book Deadly Medicine, a " must-read " for everyone. Thus, while drug

research had reached another deadlock, vitamins and essential nutrients as

effective and safe alternatives were still ostracized by conventional

medicine and restricted by the regulatory climate.

 

Nutritional medicine was a stepchild in America, but the situation was even

worse in Europe. When you wanted to ship a bottle of 1,000 milligram tablets

of Vitamin C to Germany, it was returned by customs because vitamin C pills

above 500 milligrams are considered drugs. This was the state of affairs

only five years ago. It is with this background that we can truly appreciate

the milestones we have reached and the obstacles we were able to remove in

the meantime. Next part, I would like to give you an account of this process

from my personal experience.

 

 

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