Media Black Out? Nobel Prize Committee is facing investigation
Croft Woodruff
Media Black Out? Nobel Prize Committee is facing investigation of bribery and corruption over HPV
Newsmax.com
Swedish Officials Investigating Nobel Prize Board
Friday,
December 12, 2008 7:18 PM!!!!!!!!!!
By: Celia Farber
The Nobel Prize Committee is facing investigation of bribery and corruption after allegedly taking huge payments from a pharmaceutical company that directly benefits from the work of this year's Nobel Prize winner in medicine.
The astonishing scandal, being reported in the European trade press and conspicuously absent from Sweden's major daily newspapers, surfaced just days before the internationally renowned awards were presented in Stockholm on Wednesday.
According to Swedish trade journal Dagens Medicin, Swedish state prosecutors are checking into allegations that two Nobel-affiliated corporations -- Nobel Media and Nobel Webb -- may have received "many millions" of dollars from Swedish-American pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca, which holds patents on and collects royalties for both human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines currently available -- Gardasil in the U.S. and Cerverix in Europe -- stands to benefit financially from the 2008 Nobel Prize given to German Harald zur Hauser for his discovery of HPV and its link to cervical cancer.
Medical industry analyst Johan Unnerus, told the German newspaper Heidenheimer Zeitung on Friday that Astra is expected to earn between $30 million and $50 million annually from its financial interest in the two market-leading vaccines.
The trade journal reported Friday that the Nobel Committee's financial connections with AstraZeneca "may be criminal."
Swedish state Prosecutor Christer van der Kwast told Dagens Medicin that he had ordered a full criminal investigation, on the eve of Wednesday�s lavish award ceremonies, adding dryly: "It was not my intention to ruin the party."
Swedish state radio Sveriges Radio reported more conflicts of interest this week, involving at least two Nobel Committee academics: Professor of metabolic research Bo Angelin, from the Karolinska Institute, is both on the board of AstraZeneca, and a voting member of the Nobel Committee. Another highly placed academic in the Nobel Committee, Bertil Fredholm, was revealed to have been a paid consultant for AstraZeneca through 2006.
"When these kinds of revelations come to light, of course it becomes our highest priority to investigate," van der Kvast said. "The criminal charges that may become formalized are bribery and corruption."
Zhou Yi, an AstraZeneca spokeswoman in London tells Newsmax that while the pharmaceutical giant does collect money from the core patents on the HPV vaccines, the company held no sway in the Nobel selection.
"Our connection is to two Nobel subcommittees, Nobel Media and Nobel Webb," Yi says, "Our sponsorship is strictly about helping get the word out globally on the benefits of medical breakthroughs. These two committees are not the groups responsible for choosing a Nobel Prize winner."
Yi did confirm that AstraZeneca board member Bo Angelin also sits on the committee that votes on Nobel candidates, but said it was still unclear whether he had actually voted for Hauser.
"I can tell you AstraZeneca, as a company, did not influence this award in any way," Yi says.
Meanwhile, controversy also centered on the other half of the Nobel prize in medicine, given to Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute, for his claims of the 1983 discovery of what was termed the �AIDS virus.� See October Snub Fest Continues! below...
International medical ethics watchdog group The Semmelweis Society has issued a press release drawing attention to numerous breaches of scientific standards that undermine the notion that an "AIDS virus" was ever discovered, or proven to be causative.
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http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nobel_prize_bribery/2008/12/12/161399.htmlIn 2006, the professional AIDS activist crowd held a boring, soporific, atrociously irrelevant conference in Toronto, which we dubbed, the International Yawn Fest. It was so bad even Dr. Bob "Scientific Misconduct" Gallo thought it a farce, unworthy of his hallowed attendance. We heartily agreed.
Two years later, with great mirth, we have moved from Snooze Fest to Snub Fest -- the glaring and conspicuous, scientific cold-cocking of that rascal Gallo by the Nobel Committee, who awarded the Nobel Prize to Dr. Montagnier for his discovery of HIV, but overlooked the, ahem, "contributions" of co-discoverer, Dr. Gallo.
Those smart folks in Sweden, we reckon, have a simple rule -- if you "discover" a new human retrovirus via Le French Service Postale, sorry, no prize for you.
The old Grey Lady aka the New York Times said it best:
Half of the award will be shared by two French virologists, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, 61, and Luc A. Montagnier, 76, for discovering H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Conspicuously omitted was Dr. Robert C. Gallo, an American virologist who vied with the French team in a long, often acrimonious dispute over credit for the discovery of H.I.V
Conspicuous?!!? -- You mean like a large matzoh ball hanging off your lip, during a lunch time meeting with the boss?
But it just gets better!
New Scientist -- Was Robert Gallo robbed of the Nobel Prize?
NPR --- Nobel Panel Decides Against US HIV Discovery
Baltimore Sun -- Nobel Panel Snubs Gallo in HIV prize
Herald Sun --- Nobel Rift between Luc Montagnier, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Robert Gallo
Scientific American -- No Nobel for You: Top Ten Nobel Snubs
The Times UK -- Nobel Medicine Prize Row as HIV Scientist is Excluded
Newsweek -- The Shocking Medicine Nobel
Forbes -- A Prize Tarnished
Washington Post -- French AIDS Researchers Split Nobel with German -- Key Role Played by Excluded American
Time -- Bumbling Toward the Nobel
The list of these biting, obviously painful articles (to Gallo's pride and prestige) goes on and on and on and on. They are too abundant to list. This would be comical, if not so tragic. As Shakespeare tells us, "That which originates from a dark deed, will blossom in a foul manner." A less macabre perspective has been proffered by one famous scientist, who described Montagnier and Gallo as "two bumbling thieves fighting over fake diamonds."
Psst. Here's a hint, sotto voce: The problem ain't that Gallo stole the virus from Montagnier -- the problem is that neither of them proved the virus capable of killing cells or causing disease. Have a nice day.
October 08, 2008
The
Wit and Wisdom of Luc Montagnier
It's official – the Nobel Committee endorses Dr. Luc Montagnier (and not Dr. Robert GalloLAV… "virus." ) as discoverer (or inventor) of the Aids… I mean… HTLV-III … I mean,
But which is it? LAV, HTLV-III, or HIV? why all the name changes? Why the quotation marks? Why the bad attitude toward our esteemed Dr. Luc?
Perhaps some of you will be kind enough to come along and help tell the
story of Dr. Montagnier, and his amazing "discovery" – stimulated
cell-cultures, swollen lymph nodes, window-dressers, and all.
In the meantime, a few quotes to get you started. See if they make you scratch
your head even in the slightest, as you try to stick to the orthodox
definition, of "Sida." (That's French, you know, just like Dr. M.).
Interviewer: Why no purification?
Montagnier: "We saw some particles but they did not have the morphology [shape] typical of retroviruses … They were very different. Relatively different. So with the culture it took many hours to find the first pictures. It was a Roman effort! It's easy to criticise after the event. What we did not have, and I have always recognised it, was that it was truly the cause of AIDS."
Montagnier: "I repeat, we did not purify." [1] [2] [3]
Interviewer: So the stage of purification is not necessary?
Montagnier: "No, no, it's not necessary."
Interviewer: Gallo did it?
Montagnier: Gallo? .. I don't know if he really purified. I don't believe so.
Complex stuff! So, what is purification? What is LAV? And what did it do? What was HTLV-III, and where did it come from? What were the proteins from the HTLV-III experiments used to make and manufacture?
But, after all, what does it matter. Sweden has spoken – Montagnier says he didn't need to purify [isolate a virus], and he won the Nobel Prize! (Not Bob Gallo ).
So, I guess we're going with Luc Montagnier's definition of "Sida" from now on? Well, hold onto your hats, and leave your worries behind, and make sure you've got a smile on your face – because it's not the "LAV" that's causing your "Sida," it's….
Montagnier: "I think we should put the same weight now on the co-factors as we have on HIV."
But, what's a co-factor? Is this a cofactor? Do co-factors cause Sida?
And of course, we must immediately stop telling people that being "LAV" positive (LAV is what Lucky Luc called his discovery – a "swollen-lymph-node-associated virus") is a death sentence. According to the expert:
Montagnier: "Psychological factors are critical in supporting immune function. If you suppress this psychological support by telling someone he's condemned to die, your words alone will have condemned him." [4]
Montagnier: "AIDS does not inevitably lead to death, especially if you suppress the co-factors that support the disease. It is very important to tell this to people who are infected." [5] [6] [7]
So, onward and upward. We've got psychological factors to un-suppress, and co-factors to treat! Sida will be conquered! (Even though it's no longer (and never was) a heterosexual problem…unless you're African. So say the experts! So say we all!)
http://barnesworld.blogs.com/--
Croft Woodruff PhD
"It should be obvious that action without wisdom, without clear awareness of the world as it really is, can never improve anything." ~ Theodore Roszak
"Woe to the man who tries to remain objective and to maintain a wide perspective: every one will label him as an enemy." ~ Paul Tournier
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson