Alpha interferon and hocus pocus science
The false claim about alpha interferon is nothing new to me. Look, over the years there have been at least six people in this country, all with no more than a primary school education (if that much), who have come to me with bottles filled with strangely-coloured liquids and sediments, claiming in all sincerity that they have discovered the cure for Aids. What is it about some of us Trinidadians?

[[[[Now, what most lay people are not aware of is that there is a certain percentage of “scientific” papers, which have been published or submitted for publication, and which have either been deliberately fraudulent or because of the inexperience of the so-called researchers have drawn conclusions, which are based on false premises frequently due to inadequate and uncontrolled data. There are, of course, many reasons for such opportunism, including using their publications as attempted means of receiving research grants or to ensure academic promotion in their university, etc.

It was also once claimed that alpha interferon may work better in the black races than the white. So said, a large study was done at the University of Makerere in Kampala, Uganda, using the drug on no less than 260 people, who were HIV positive. Prof Roy Mugerwa, the professor of medicine there, a colleague of high international repute and a close friend of mine, after a most thorough and professional study, came to the following conclusion in 1998: “The study did not show any benefit from oral treatment with alpha interferon in a population of African patients with symptomatic HIV infection. ]]]]

Patients with HIV infection will be better redirected to more rational approaches to the treatment of this deadly infection.”

Three days ago, Prof Mugerwa also sent this email to me: “Dear Courtenay, I am pleased to hear from you. Based on our findings, the Ministry of Health here has discouraged its use. Indeed the drug is neither recognised nor used (even) in Kenya where it was originally promoted.” Then last Friday, Dr Richard Muga, the Director of Medical Services in Kenya, wrote to me: “Dear Prof Bartholomew. As I explained to you on the phone, a lot of work was done in Kenya on oral alpha interferons by the Kenya Medical Research Institute. The overall outcome of these studies showed no significant therapeutic value against HIV/Aids. These drugs are therefore not recommended for use in Kenya. Alpha interferons are not used in the HIV/Aids protocol.”

Are you appreciating what I am saying? I am reporting that even the Ministry of Health in Kenya, where this so-called research was first promoted in 1990, those research findings were blackballed (no pun intended). What more do you want of me to convince this country?

Now, in the days of Fr JJ Graf, St Mary’s College dominated the scholarships in science. In fact, how well I remember when in my year, out of the 16 House Scholarships given to the top 16 students in the Senior Cambridge Examination (equivalent to today’s O’Levels), 14 were awarded to St Mary’s students, and we, in our delight and competitive spirit, took our bicycles and rode around the QRC block, ringing our bells teasingly after the results were announced that afternoon.

The 14 St Mary’s winners in those days were in order of merit as my scrapbook records, the now Prof Ken Julien, Prof Jim Dub (deceased in Canada), Dr. Ivan Perot, Horace Vespry, Prof C Bartholomew, Kenneth Snaggs, Dr. Tommy McKenzie, Desmond Douglas (deceased), K Pollak, Dr Archie Redman, JH Thomas (deceased), Arnold Gibbs, Errol Guiseppi, Prof Bert Quesnel (migrated to Manchester) and Fr. Albert Clarke (in London). Three of this group went on to win the island scholarship the following year. In those days only one scholarship was awarded in each of the disciplines of science, mathematics and languages.

Of course, there are several observational aspects to the above scholarship winners, which should be of interest to the sociologists in the University. Let me put it this way and in the style of my favourite calypsonian Stalin. In that era, “black man” come out to study—party was not the overridding preoccupation!

This leads me to the morning when I went to exercise my franchise in the last elections. My voting centre was Queen’s Royal College, that great historic institution of learning. As I entered the large hall I saw a huge wall upon which were inscribed all the names of their island scholars. Among them were notable citizens like LC Hannays (1910), HOB Wooding (1920), OE Williams (1917), father of present-day lawyer OE Williams (brilliant but not quite as brilliant!), R Capildeo (1930), Eric Eustace Williams (1931), LAH McShine (1932), VS Naipaul (1940), Lloyd Best (1952), and too many others to mention in this short column.

And so, this brings me in a rather roundabout way to Best and the point I wish to make. Now, I do not always agree with everything my good friend Lloyd writes, brilliant as he is and with a mind much sharper and faster-thinking than mine, but neither does he agree with every advice I give to him, especially when it comes to excesses of dasheen and yam! Lloyd, however, was recently forced in his column of February 8 to comment about “a public (in Trinidad and Tobago) half educated and semi-literate”. In fact, this is truly what we are fast becoming, it seems.

Look, I cherish any intelligent debate and the challenge of it, but I cannot cope with unscientific science, especially, by non-scientists. So said, having conclusively shown two weeks ago that alpha interferon is of no use, and that it was hocus-pocus science (by the way, the derivation of that word came from the name “Hocus”, who was a lawyer!), a representative of the Nation of Islam here (you would need to have heard it to believe it) used the media of radio, and in a most unimaginably vulgar fashion (all in the name of Islam) attempted to denigrate me in defence of this drug—and that by a man who does not possess the basic educational qualifications in science to be admitted to any medical school in any part of the world. And so, to my long-standing dear friend and medical colleague, Dr Mansoor Ibrahim, senior member of the Shura Committee of ASJA, I say: “Mansoor, we must talk.”

Indeed, Zeuxis in about 400 BC, I believe, once wrote: “Criticism is much easier than craftsmanship.” But more appropriate is the advice of Prof Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), that great physiologist, whose work we all had to study in medical school. He once said: “Learn the ABC of science before you try to ascend to its summit.” But, lack of appreciation of the limit of one’s limitation is a most unfortunate handicap.

But, you know, all of us are ignorant, albeit in different subjects. And so, that is why I have insisted that the Express captions my column “Science Report”, if only because I know nothing about most things and only a little science. It reminds me of the snide remark once made against a top lawyer in England, who was then the Lord Chancellor: “The Lord Chancellor knows a little bit about everything. He even knows a little law.”

But I am fast becoming to be more like the wise Socrates of ancient Greek history, who once said: “The only thing that I know is that I know nothing—except that I know that Baileys Original Irish Cream is the best thing that has come out of Ireland since George Bernard Shaw.

-------------------------------------------------
PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer Sunday, February 23, 2003
(02-23) 22:40 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

AIDS vaccine experiment fails but shows promise in blacks:

An experimental AIDS vaccine being developed by VaxGen Inc. does not appear to protect most people from the disease, but showed promise in protecting blacks and Asians, the company said late Sunday.

The company's much-anticipated vaccine only reduced the expected rate of infection by 3.8 percent in the high-risk people who volunteered to take the treatment. But the expected infection rate for the 314 black volunteers who received the vaccine was reduced by 78 percent. The rate was reduced by 67 percent for all nonwhite volunteers other than Hispanics.

"This is the first time we have specific numbers to suggest that a vaccine has prevented HIV infection in humans," VaxGen vice president Phillip Berman said in a prepared statement Sunday night. "We're not sure yet why certain groups have a better immune response."

The Brisbane, Calif.-based company said it planned to continue developing the vaccine and will examine more closely why it worked better in blacks and Asians than it did in whites and Hispanics.

The publicly traded company's stock has risen and fallen dramatically during the last year as rumors of the experiment's results swirled. It sold for as low as $4.81 a share and as high as $23.25. It closed at $13.02 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market Friday.

The experiment, which initially involved 5,400 people at high-risk for the disease, had been criticized by some activists who say it could encourage risky behavior. Even if the vaccine proved effective on some level, there might be no way to tell if it has worked on a particular individual.

But VaxGen has won widespread praise from doctors and the FDA for its handling of an ethically difficult test. The company counseled patients in the experiments to practice safe sex because the vaccine may not work and because one-third of the volunteers received the placebo.

Experts believe a vaccine is the only way to stop the worldwide AIDS epidemic, which has already killed 20 million people and infected 40 million more.