In the interest of fairness, it is hoped that you will print this rebuttal to the Annie Freeda Cruez article entitled "On The Trail of Quack Cures" which unfairly misrepresents vitamin C treatments and compares those who advocate them with "Fast Buck Artists." We at the Vitamin C Foundation are well aware that conventionally trained medical professionals do not believe that vitamin C has important health benefits, over and above its role as a micro-nutrient. Articles that carry misinformation about vitamin C are numerous, and these erroneous articles are reasons we formed the non profit foundation, to disseminate the scientific facts about vitamin C and its many uses.
Vitamin C advocates have in their numbers included outstanding scientists, most notably the world’s only twice unshared Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling. Pauling’s review of the vast amount of literature convinced him that not only is vitamin C useful in controlling the nuisance of the common cold and flu, but he staked his professional reputation on vitamin C’s value, at high doses, in controlling serious chronic illness such as cancer and heart disease.
Lately, pharmacology professors Steve Hickey and Hillary Roberts, PhDs., of the United Kingdom, have compared vitamin C intake with the dynamic flow of ordinary water through our bodies. Their work helps to explain the reason large doses of vitamin C are required. Such is the case with most animals, unlike humans, that continuously produce vitamin C in the liver. They also clearly explain why studies in humans using low doses are scientifically flawed. We recommend their book "ASCORBATE: The Science of Vitamin C."
The Foundation has amassed, and has published, scientific evidence confirming Pauling’s insight regarding ascorbic acid, vitamin C, and the genetic defect in human beings that prevents us from making this important substance in our bodies. The real "quacks" ignore this evidence, and spreads misinformation about vitamin C. The deception apparently emanates from marketing departments of huge pharmaceutical companies. We note that the world-wide sales of a single cholesterol drug exceeds $10 billion (Lipitor) and that the entire market for this one presription drug exceeds $25 billion. The total world-wide sales of vitamin C, on the other hand, is only $180 million.
The former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine , Marcia Angell, states in her recent book, The Truth About the Drug Companies: "There are 10 drug companies in the U. S. Fortune 500." The startling fact according to Dr. Angell is that "the combined profits of these 10 drug companies exceed the combined profits of the other 490 companies" which include Microsoft, General Motors and Dupont.
Those who are interested in reviewing the literature regarding the science of vitamin C, the amount of which overwhelms any other medical subject, except perhaps, ordinary aspirin, are invited to visit our web site at http://www.vitaminCfoundation.ORG. Explore the promise of better health that this essential, entirely safe and nontoxic nutrient holds for all human beings.
Owen Fonorow Co-Founder C/o Vitamin C Foundation Research Dept. PO Box 3097 Lisle, IL 60532 630-416-1438
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http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/Frontpage/20051031074416/Article/indexb_html
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