May 15, 2010

Contents:

1. The Hidden Wikipedia: Find deleted material about nutritional medicine
2. Get Out Migration: Mainstream media ignores huge rally
3. Nestle needs to give rainforests 'a break'

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The Hidden Wikipedia: Find deleted material about nutritional medicine

by Andrew W. Saul, PhD, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

There is nothing quite like a paper trail, and Wikipedia has one. Consequently, you can read for yourself all the material that has been added, and then deleted.

For example: Wikipedia's page about Max Gerson, M.D., is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Gerson . The doctor is widely known for the nutritional cancer therapy that bears his name. Gerson's principal biographer is his grandson, Howard Straus http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonbio.htm . Mr. Straus tells the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service of some interesting experiences he has had with Wikipedia bias:

"Some years ago, on seeing that the pages for Dr. Max Gerson and the Gerson Therapy were only stubs (short place-holders with little information on them), I took it upon myself to flesh out the pages. I thought Wikipedia was fairly neutral on balance, so I put in all the information that I could, and kept it factual with references, citations, and literature links.

"Within a month, the following had happened:

"The information was labeled as "biased" and "unreliable" because I am Dr. Gerson's grandson and biographer. There appeared a big red flag at the top of the article labeling the articles neutrality "dubious." The photograph I posted was removed. Provable, referenced facts, with dates and places, all suddenly became "claims," even quotes from no less than Nobel Laureate Albert Schweitzer, M.D., who famously said: "I see in Dr. Max Gerson one of the most eminent geniuses in medical history." Dr. Schweitzer and his wife were patients of Dr. Gerson, making this a first-hand account from a rather reliable source.

"All my links, references and citations were removed. They were replaced by links to the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute, which offer only criticism of the Gerson Therapy. Even quotations from published scientific papers were removed. Attempts to rectify these actions were immediately overwritten.

"It's easy enough to show the progression of the pages, since Wikipedia displays former edits on request, dated and documented. One can verify this by clicking on the "History" tab at the top of the Max Gerson page, and looking at 2005 and before. My editing is archived at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/6... and also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/H...

"A second Wikipedia page, specific to the Gerson Therapy, has been completely removed. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gerson_the... . To see something of what happened, you can click the "History" tab here as well."

The OMNS adds just one other intriguing statement about Dr. Gerson's work that is probably too "unreliable" to be seen on Wikipedia:

"I know of one patient who turned to Gerson Therapy having been told she was suffering from terminal cancer and would not survive another course of chemotherapy. Happily, seven years later, she is alive and well. So it is vital that, rather than dismissing such experiences, we should further investigate the beneficial nature of these treatments." (H.R.H. Charles, Prince of Wales)

Max Gerson is not the only nutritionally-oriented physician whose work is slanted or censored at Wikipedia. Others include Matthias Rath, M.D., and Robert F. Cathcart III, M.D.

For more information about Max Gerson, M.D.: http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n18....

For more information about Orthomolecular.org: http://www.orthomolecular.org/

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Get Out Migration: Mainstream media ignores huge rally

by Rafe Mair

The May 8th Get Out Migration rally in Victoria was a glorious day for all supporting Alexandra Morton and her walk from Sointula to Victoria, demanding that fish farms be self contained or banned from our waters.

The rally started at Centennial Square in Victoria from which the enormous crowd marched to the Legislature where the it probably doubled. It was far and away the biggest protest crowd I've seen.

The estimates of the size of the crowd ranged from what I would say was 4,000 plus to, in two cases, 10,000. I believe the latter estimate is too high, but the lawn was jam packed as were the stairs leading up to the door of the Legislature. It was certainly in the thousands. I compared it to the rally over the Pitt River issue two years ago where the high school gym held over 1,000 and can say the Salmon are Sacred crowd was at least four or five times larger! 

It was an excited, happy, noisy throng who listened to a number of speeches with great enthusiasm and who all came away with a vow to see this fight through to what must certainly be a successful conclusion.

The Vancouver Province, however, reported on this in two short paragraphs on A28 saying that there were nearly 1,000 people! I really no longer know how to describe this rag except to say that it's little wonder that they're bankrupt. It's sad to see this kind of coverage, which so badly distorted the truth for so many who couldn't make this trek themselves.

Calling numbers in a crowd any time is difficult so perhaps it should be left to Vicky Husband, a veteran environmentalist and activist, who holds an Order of Canada. She said it was the biggest environmental gathering that she had ever seen and very likely the biggest in BC history.

It was a simply grand day for Alex who has taken an enormous amount of crap since she started this fight over eight years ago, and to see her so honoured by so many brought tears to many eyes, including mine.

To see her, once again, insulted by the mainstream media saddens all of us fighting this battle but makes us all realize that in some cases, this certainly being one, it's high praise indeed to be ill judged by your enemies.

Once again, you can balance off coverage by a media that seems little more than a public relations advocate for government by forwarding this to your address book and asking the recipient to do likewise.


For more of Rafe Mair's political comments on the fish farming issue and about Alexandra Morton: http://rafeonline.com/2010/03/the-time-has-come/#mor...

For more information about Rafe Mair and to read his writing on many health and environment issues: http://rafeonline.com/

For more on the Get Out Migration: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/alexandra_morton/...

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Nestle needs to give rainforests 'a break'

by Greenpeace Canada

Need a break? Before you have one with a Kit Kat watch this video - 'Have a break?' We need your help to get the rainforests a break and to help you spread the word we've launched this video spoof. It exposes the true cost behind having a break the Kit Kat way: you could be taking a bite out of Indonesia's precious rainforests, thanks to Nestle, maker of Kit Kat , using palm oil that comes from forest destruction.

In Canada, Nestle products made with palm include: KitKat, Rolo, Coffee Crisp, Turtles, Butterfinger, Drumsticks, Crunch ice cream, most baby cereals and all infant formulas.

Take action. Watch this spoof video and email Nestle to ask them to stop buying palm oil from destroyed forests: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/cl.../

For more information on this issue: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/nestle-gi.../

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