Matthias Rath

This article is about the medicin; for the dressage rider see Matthias Alexander Rath , for the philosopher and educator Matthias Rath (philosopher) .

Matthias Rath (* 1955 in Stuttgart ) is a German doctor and alternative medicine . He is considered to be the founder of the controversial " cellular medicine ", which was advertised as an alternative to combating cardiovascular diseases , cancer and immune deficiency .

Research activities

After completing his medical studies in Münster and Hamburg, Rath worked at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf , where he received his doctorate in 1989, and at the German Heart Center in Berlin. In 1990 he became the first director of cardiovascular research at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine in California. The Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Linus Pauling had put forward the controversial theory that high doses of vitamin C and other nutrients not only protect against colds , but could also prevent cancer. Pauling spent his last years trying to scientifically substantiate his theory, known as orthomolecular medicine , which is little recognized in specialist circles.

From exploratory studies on the connection between a deficiency in certain micronutrients and the occurrence of arteriosclerosis , Matthias Rath derived the previously inconclusive hypothesis that vitamin C could be an influencing factor in the development of cardiovascular diseases. According to this, only a permanent undersupply of vitamin C sets the repair mechanism with lipoprotein (a) in motion, which in weakened vascular walls causes their increasing constriction and thus ultimately causes thrombosis .

Rath began developing high-dose vitamin preparations in the USA as early as 1992 while working at Pauling's Institute. They were initially marketed under Pauling's name. After Pauling's death in 1994, Rath fell out with his heirs. They demanded a high five-figure compensation and had Rath forbid the commercial use of Pauling's name in court.

In 1994 he founded his own research and development institute in Santa Clara, California . The main subject of study was the role of micronutrients in the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of chronic diseases. In particular, the approach of researching nutrient synergies was applied .

At around the same time, Rath moved his activities to Europe. On the basis of Pauling's theories, Rath developed his cellular medicine here, which itself promises to cure cancer and AIDS using high-dose vitamin preparations .

The healing method advocated by Rath has meanwhile proven to be ineffective in many scientific studies - no evidence for Rath's claims could be found in animal experiments or clinical tests. This does not prevent Rath from firmly believing in the effectiveness of his products. With his “medical breakthrough” he has already “saved the lives of thousands of patients”. The Berlin Social Court also described its vitamin tablets against cancer as ineffective.

Activity in South Africa

In South Africa , Rath and his foundation had to answer in court after he gave the country's AIDS sufferers false hopes and advised them against antiretroviral therapy. In South Africa, too, there have already been fatalities after the recognized effective therapies were dispensed with in confidence in the effectiveness of cellular medicine. Rath said in an interview: “ ARV drugs are highly toxic chemo clubs that damage the body cells, especially the cells of the immune system. Therefore, taking ARV preparations worsens the existing immune deficiency in AIDS patients. "

Anthony Brink, a South African lawyer and former employee of Rath, claims to have familiarized Thabo Mbeki with many arguments from so-called AIDS deniers . Rath ran advertising campaigns in South Africa which he repeatedly claimed were sponsored or otherwise endorsed by the World Health Organization , UNICEF and UNAIDS . The organizations have repeatedly expressly denied the allegations in press releases.

Rath accused his opponents, for example the African Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), who, in addition to AIDS education and the recommendation of safer sex, are instrumental in drug AIDS therapies, of being shadow organizations of the pharmaceutical lobby, regardless of the The fact that the TAC itself brought the pharmaceutical industry a bitter defeat after it had enforced the low-cost dispensing of ARV drugs in court.

In June 2008, the advertising of vitamin supplements as anti-AIDS medicine was banned by a court.

The doctor and Guardian journalist Ben Goldacre sharply criticized Rath's work in South Africa in his book Bad Science . Rath took legal action against the book publication, whereby the original edition of the book appeared without the chapter. Rath lost the subsequent process, the missing book chapter was then published on the Internet under a Creative Commons license (attribution, non-commercial, no editing) and taken into account in the new edition of the book.

public relation

Rath accuses the entire pharmaceutical industry of exploiting patients with ineffective drugs. Regardless of this, Rath trades in its vitamins and micronutrients himself and invests large sums in his sales network and the expansion of his customer base.

However, the vitamin preparations sold by Rath do not meet the legal requirements for food supplements applicable in Germany - due to the sometimes high doses of active ingredients, the preparations here fall under pharmaceutical law . In order to get the drug approval in Germany, Rath would have had to submit studies that prove the effectiveness and harmlessness of his products. Because he failed to do so, the Berlin Regional Court prohibited him from selling his products in Germany. Rath circumvents this ban by taking advantage of a loophole in the law by selling its vitamin preparations and high-priced dietary supplements by post from its company headquarters in Heerlen / Netherlands . In addition, Rath established the Health Alliance , a closed network of users and so-called "health advisors", who convey the content of cellular medicine, report on their own experiences and thus also contribute to the dissemination of Rath products. A fundamental restructuring of the health system is being sought under the slogan “Health for all by 2020”. Widespread diseases should be "eradicated" with the use of scientifically based natural healing methods. The fee-based training of these health consultants is carried out by an institute founded by Rath, the Dr. Rath Health Academy in Wittenberg.

To spread his theories, Rath founded an advertising agency ( MR Publishing BV ), which organizes advertising events for Rath and publishes brochures on cellular medicine. The advertising campaigns for the products sold by Rath, combined with a staging by Rath himself reminiscent of the veneration of saints, caused a sensation nationwide. His audience paid admission and sometimes donated large sums of money for the events under the name of Dr. Rath Health Foundation acting organization .

Rath accused the Bayer CEO Manfred Schneider of "genocide" because Bayer's most famous drug, aspirin, caused gastric bleeding; Rath filed a criminal complaint against Schneider with the Cologne public prosecutor's office for alleged "bodily harm and homicides".

In 2000, Rath put critical journalists, scientists and politicians in the virtual pillory on his homepage - under the heading “Most Wanted”, he accused almost a dozen people of bribery, bodily harm and genocide. Anyone who speaks against Rath is on the payroll of the pharmaceutical lobby, an industry that is deliberately suppressing the breakthrough in cellular medicine. Rath had mailshots distributed millions of times across Germany, in which he made derogatory and abusive comments about the child oncologist Heribert Juergens . Following a criminal complaint in January 2006, the Hamm Regional Court banned the distribution of the brochure and imposed a fine of 12,000 euros on Rath for insulting.

Political activity

From the Dr. Rath Health Foundation emerged in June 2005 the Alliance for Health, Peace and Social Justice (AGFG), of which Rath was initially deputy chairman. The core of the party program is the health philosophy of cellular medicine , combined with Rath's far-reaching conspiracy theories . For example, Rath sees the non-approval of his preparations as evidence of a so-called “pharmaceutical dictatorship”, which controls politicians and scientists around the world and pulls the strings in the background. On his website and in brochures, Rath claims that the pharmaceutical cartel has declared “war on the health and vital interests of all humanity”. Rath also assumes that “vitamins and other natural remedies are fought and slandered out of greed for profit” in order to continue to earn money at the expense of consumers with “ineffective drugs”, which primarily combat symptoms. He cites excerpts from specialist articles, brochures and press releases as alleged evidence.

Rath was banned from his aggressive tactics by a 1998 court order. In the justification of the Berlin Regional Court it was said: “The brochure is a conglomerate of distortions of facts, denatures and simple untruths. In toto, it is designed to manipulate and deceive. ”In the action of the AGFG party, which has been running since 2006, Rath even warns of the imminent nuclear war, which has the goal of establishing a“ pharmaceutical dictatorship ”.

A campaign launched by Rath in July 2007 publishes files from the IG Farben trial of the Nuremberg Military Court in order to suggest an unbroken continuity from the crimes of National Socialism to the current "suppression of the truth in the service of the pharmaceutical cartel".

reception

Prominent doctors such as Frank Ulrich Montgomery (former chairman of the Marburger Bund ) and Michael Bamberg (former board member of the German Cancer Society ) called for legal action against Rath's methods. Other renowned experts and representatives of patient associations accuse Rath of "doing business with the hope of terminally ill people". In particular, Rath is accused of not using scientifically recognized treatment methods in favor of the measures and preparations recommended by Rath and thus harming patients.

In February 2006, the Association for Consumer Information in Austria obtained a conviction of Dr. Rath Health Programs BV, based in the Netherlands, to refrain from misleading advertising of the alleged cancer (and other diseases) curative properties of their vitamin supplements.

In July 2006, criminal proceedings in Hamburg took place in Germany for violating the Medicines Act . Rath was accused, among other things, of ascribing therapeutic effects to his preparations, which in reality they do not have. Rath stated in the main hearing that he had never promised a cancer cure. The procedure was to §153a StPO upon payment of 33,000 euros as compensation adjusted .

In 2015 he received the negative Golden Board in front of the head for the “greatest anti-scientific nonsense of the year” in the “Life Achievement” category.

The Dominik case

The case of the boy Dominik, who suffered from bone cancer, received special media attention . In spring 2004, after initial conventional medical treatment, his parents opted for the cellular medical treatment advertised by Rath. In a large-scale advertising campaign, it was claimed that Rath's vitamin preparations had cured Dominik's cancer. In addition to multiple appearances by the children's parents , the sick boy himself also took part in numerous advertising events with great media coverage . However, the cancer continued to grow unhindered, so that from September 2004 onwards there were increasing symptoms due to brain and lung metastases. Dominik finally succumbed to cardiovascular failure as a result of cancer in November 2004 at the age of nine, which was unequivocally established by an autopsy . In 2004, Rath claimed that the boy died of internal bleeding. On his website in 2006 he emphasized the "indirect causality between tumor disease and death" according to an expert opinion.

literature

• Ben Goldacre : Bad Science. HarperPerennial, 2009, ISBN 978-0-00-728487-0 . Chapter on Rath (CC license) (PDF; 420 kB)

Web links

• Literature by and about Matthias Rath in the catalog of the German National Library
• Criticism of Rath from the Buko pharmaceutical campaign (PDF) (537 kB)
• Controversial cancer doctor Rath in court. Spiegel-Online about the process in Hamburg
• Kerstin Krupp: Vitamins and Conspiracy Theories. In: Berliner Zeitung . September 30, 1998.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Rath, Linus Pauling : Hypothesis: Lipoprotein (a) is a Surrogate for Ascorbate. In: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. UNITED STATES. Vol. 87, August 1990, pp. 6204-6207.
2. ^ Matthias Rath, Linus Pauling: Immunological Evidence for the Accumulation of Lipoprotein (a) in the Atherosclerotic Lesion of the Hypoascorbemic Guinea Pig. In: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. UNITED STATES. Vol. 87, December 1990, pp. 9388-9390.
3. ↑ About Dr. Rath ( Memento from May 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ); Web archive, accessed January 31, 2012, English
4. ↑ Study contradicts faith healer. In: Berliner Morgenpost . July 7, 2004; Retrieved September 11, 2006.
5. ^ U. Tröger, F. Meyer: Validity of advertising claims for multivitamin preparation Vitacor 20/90 on the internet . In: British Medical Journal . tape 317 , 1998, pp. 1069-1071 ( online ).
6. ↑ Social Court Berlin, Az .: S 82 KR 748/07 berlin.de
7. ↑ Anso Thom: Rath foundation conduct illegal experiments. In: Health-e online journal. September 17, 2005. Retrieved on April 12, 2007 ( Memento of the original of September 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Ben Goldacre: Bad Science. HarperPerennial, 2009, p. 185.
9. ↑ Ben Goldacre: Bad Science. P. 191.
10. ↑ Press release , accessed on September 10, 2008.
11. ↑ Anti-AIDS vitamin advertising banned ; Retrieved June 19, 2008.
12. ↑ Ben Goldacre: Bad Science . Fourth Estate , London 2008, ISBN 978-0-00-724019-7 .
13. ↑ Ben Goldacre, badscience.net, 9 April 2009, Matthias Rath - steal this chapter
14. ^ Ten Point Program of the Health Alliance , accessed on September 9, 2008.
15. ^ Lutz Kliche ( ViSdP ): Rath International. Edition 02/2004 PDF ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (4.47MB), accessed September 11, 2006. 
16. ↑ Klaus Koch: Aggressive Marketing: Advertising by profile. Aggressive Marketing: Advertising by profile. In: Dtsch Arztebl. 101 (7), 2004, pp. A-398 / B-336 / C-329
17. ^ Statements by the Health Alliance , accessed on September 10, 2009.
18. ↑ Regardless of the instrumentalisation of the process files by Rath, the online access profit-over-life.org to important documents from “Nuremberg” is helpful, as documents are made accessible in several languages, sorted thematically and in a selection. The selection is very limited, the origin (volume, process day) is not documented in the system; however, it is instructive for the topics on offer (e.g. Nazi Greater Europe ). Nuremberg.law.harvard.edu is more suitable for scientific purposes , a system that is, however, more cumbersome to use
19. ↑ AK warns: Vitamin cocktails cannot cure cancer!
20. ^ Proceedings against physician Matthias Rath suspended against a fine. ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt. October 9, 2006.
21. ↑ orf.at - "Golden Board in front of the head" to virus deniers . on: orf.at , October 21, 2015, accessed on October 22, 2015.
22. ↑ Public prosecutor sees no medical errors in Dominik's death from cancer. ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt. January 24, 2006.
23. ↑ AP: Dominik did not die of internal bleeding. RP Online, November 19, 2004, accessed January 31, 2012 . 
24. ↑ Open letter from Dr. Matthias Rath to the ARD directors Dr. Rath on January 6, 2006.