FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
May 11, 2010
The Hidden Wikipedia:
How to Find Deleted Material about Nutritional Medicine
(OMNS, May 11, 2010) 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 link
"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/69.109.140.164
and also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Howard_Straus
"A second Wikipedia page, specific to the Gerson Therapy, has been completely
removed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gerson_therapy&redirect=no
. 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.
Matthias Rath, M.D.
Dr. Rath coauthored a number of papers with Linus Pauling. (1-8) They discussed high-dose vitamin
therapy for cardiovascular disease. To see what is going on at Wikipedia concerning him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Matthias_Rath
Paul Anthony Taylor, a supporter of Dr. Rath, comments: "Instead of providing free access to the
sum of all human knowledge, as is its supposed aim, Wikipedia would appear to be just another way
of supporting the scientific, political and social status quo. In a sense, however, the game is
already up for Wikipedia. The official exams watchdog in the UK, Ofqual, recently stated that
schoolchildren should avoid it as it is not "authoritative or accurate" and in some cases "may be
completely untrue"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6943325/Schoolchildren-told-to-avoid-Wikipedia.html
Believe it or not, one of Wikipedia's contributors is the CIA, and they are not just updating
their own entries, either.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/16/2007049.htm
When it comes to nutritional therapies, you won't currently find much of it on Wikipedia."
Robert F. Cathcart, M.D.
The Wikipedia page for this physician has been deleted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Robert_Cathcart
Why? Because Dr. Cathcart "does not meet notability criteria per WP:BIO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BIO
" and "a quick google search shows up no reliable hits for this subject."
Indeed? It appears that someone was not looking. Orthopedic surgeon Robert F. Cathcart III is the
inventor of the Cathcart Elliptical Orthocentric Endoprosthesis, a replacement hip-ball joint
still in widespread use today after 37 years.
http://www.orthomed.com/pros.pdf Some physicians
report it to be superior to other similar devices.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2661497
That alone qualifies him as notable, and invalidates the deletion of his page at Wikipedia. In
addition, Linus Pauling personally singled out Dr. Cathcart for recognition for his nutritional
knowledge as early as 1978. (9)
Possibly, just possibly, the real reason Dr. Cathcart is deleted from Wikipedia has much more to
do with his outspoken advocacy of very high doses of vitamin C to treat viral illnesses.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/cathcart_thirdface.html
and either
http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
or http://www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm
Here is all the deleted material on Dr. Cathcart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Robert_Cathcart&action=history
Take a look and decide for yourself.
For More Information:
Max Gerson, M.D.
Complete bibliography of Dr. Gerson's publications:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson.html
Extensive list of papers about the Gerson Therapy:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/bib_gerson_therapy.html
For free access to a documentary on the Gerson Therapy:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7357629140536485998
A review of this film, from J Orthomolecular Med, 2006:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonmovie.html
Additional Reading:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersontherapy.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/charlotte.html
Matthias Rath, M.D.
Papers coauthored with Linus Pauling:
1. Rath M, Pauling L. Immunological evidence for the accumulation of lipoprotein(a) in the
atherosclerotic lesion of the hypoascorbemic guinea pig. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990
Dec;87(23):9388-90. PMID: 2147514
2. Rath M, Pauling L. Hypothesis: lipoprotein(a) is a surrogate for ascorbate. Proc Natl Acad Sci
U S A. 1990 Aug;87(16):6204-7. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1991 Dec 5;88(24):11588. PMID:
2143582
3. Rath M, Pauling L. Solution To the Puzzle of Human Cardiovascular Disease: Its Primary Cause Is
Ascorbate Deficiency Leading to the Deposition of Lipoprotein(a) and Fibrinogen/Fibrin in the
Vascular Wall. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 125.
4. Pauling L, Rath M. An Orthomolecular Theory of Human Health and Disease. J Orthomolecular Med,
Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 135.
5. Rath M, Pauling L. Apoprotein(a) Is An Adhesive Protein. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th
Quarters, 1991, p 139.
6. Rath M, Pauling L. Case Report: Lysine/Ascorbate Related Amelioration of Angina Pectoris. J
Orthomolecular Med, Vol 6, 3&4th Quarters, 1991, p 144.
7. Rath M, Pauling L. A Unified theory of Human Cardiovascular Disease Leading the Way To the
Abolition of This Diseases As A Cause for Human Mortality. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 7, First
Quarter 1992, p 5.
8. Rath M, Pauling L. Plamin-induced Proteolysis and the Role of Apoprotein(a), Lysine and
Synthetic Lysine Analogs. J Orthomolecular Med, Vol 7, First Quarter 1992, p 17.
Dr. Rath's Assessment of Wikipedia:
http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/THE_FOUNDATION/wiki_rath/how_the_facts_arent_welcome_on_wikipedia.html
Robert F. Cathcart, M.D.
Reference 9. Pauling L. Robert Fulton Cathcart, III, M.D., an orthomolecular physician. The Linus
Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine Newsletter, 1(4):1-3 Fall 1978. Free download of
article:
http://www.orthomed.com/PDF/pauling.pdf
Short biography of Dr. Cathcart:
http://orthomolecular.org/hof/2008/cathcart.html
His extensive website on vitamin C therapeutics:
http://www.orthomed.com/ Bibliography of his publications
with links to full-text articles:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_cathcart.html
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more
information: http://www.orthomolecular.org
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informational resource.
Editorial Review Board:
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
James A. Jackson, Ph.D. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person.
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