OH-2nd: "Schmidt Hammers Wulsin Over AIDS Research For Heimlich," Congress Daily, 6/27/08
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by Patrick Crowley, Congress Daily, Jun 27, 2008
Malariotherapy is a controversial theory that uses malaria to treat
and cure AIDS patients and is championed by Henry Heimlich, he of the
technique used to dislodge food from a choking victim.
It is also an issue in Ohio’s 2nd District race between Republican
Rep. Jean Schmidt and Democrat Victoria Wulsin, a rematch from 2006
that Schmidt won 50-49 percent.
The Schmidt campaign is using Wulsin’s research of malariotherapy - a
technique that she says does not cure AIDS - in an attempt to raise
money for her re-election.
In a fundraising solicitation first reported by the Buckeye State
Blog, Schmidt said Wulsin "doesn’t share our common values…(and)
respect for human life."
"Wulsin's contempt for the culture of life has even led her to
participate in grotesque medical experiments,” Schmidt wrote in the
letter. "Wulsin was paid for her work in medical 'studies' where
victims of AIDS in Africa and China were, without their consent,
injected with the malaria virus, all in the name of 'scientific
research.'
"This is one of the most despicable examples of utter contempt for our
fellow man that I’ve ever heard of," Schmidt says in the letter.
Wulsin, a physician and public health official, was hired by the
Cincinnati-based Heimlich Institute in 2004 to analyze Heimlich’s work
on using malaria bacteria to treat AIDS patients.
Heimlich's theory, based on the works of others and his own research,
calls for injecting AIDS patients with malaria, with the thought that
high fevers caused by the malaria will kill the HIV virus, and then
the patient can be treated for malaria with other drugs.
Part of Wulsin's work included analyzing data and research done in
China and Africa, where AIDS patients underwent the treatment. She
found that malariotherapy has not worked.
"Dr. Wulsin concluded in her review that the preponderance of evidence
indicates that neither malaria nor immunotherapy will cure HIV/AIDS,"
Wulsin wrote in her report.
Wulsin was paid for her research but was not contracted to do any
additional work or research for Heimlich. There is no mention of
Wulsin’s work, or malariotherapy, on The Heimlich Institute's Web
site.
Wulsin campaign spokesman Kevin Franck said Schmidt’s accusations in
her fundraising letter "are not rooted in the truth."
"Jean Schmidt is not interested in the truth," Franck said. "She is
jockeying for a political advantage."
An anonymous ethics complaint was filed against Wulsin with the State
Medical Board of Ohio. Franck said Wulsin met with the board on April
24, and the complaint was dismissed.
Franck said Schmidt’s campaign knew that the complaint had been
dismissed, but still attacked Wulsin in the solicitation for campaign
funds.
"This shows Jean Schmidt is willing to say anything she can to detract
from her out-of-touch voting record in Congress," he said.
Barry Bennett, Schmidt’s chief of staff, defended the language in the
letter.
"This is not about Wulsin, it’s about getting people to donate to the
candidate," Bennett said. "(Franck) has managed to launch attacks on
this but there is nothing in there that isn’t true.
"We are not saying she was involved in human testing," Bennett said.
"But she wrote the report, she reviewed all the data and she took
their money - their dirty money - and put it in her bank account."
Bennett said voters have not heard the last of Wulsin’s research.
"You can’t claim to be a healthcare expert and then have this in your
past, your immediate past, and not expect it to become an issue," he
said. "You’ll hear more about it as the campaign moves forward."
Copyright @2008 by National Journal Group Inc.