WPI/XMRV in the Legal Spotlight Now

XMRV has raised eyebrows and created controversy since it was announced on ABC News shows, then to the rest of the mainstream media, in the fall of 2009. I covered it back then, as well as a very suspicious Dr. Oz show with Dr Teitelbaum, here at Lumigrate.  I poked around, calling someone I'd met in the past whose family owns a similar sort of research company to ask their opinion.  I even tracked down my old Ear Nose and Throat Specialist who in 1989 had told me they thought CFS was possibly caused by a retrovirus -- where did THAT information 'go' and why is it that 20 years later, there's another similar claim?  The release of information was filled with cues about furthering research with money, and there was a test kit people could purchase to test themselves available, though not one insurances pay for; message was included to pressure the powers at be about THAT as well.  

I've been very much following the subject of CFS and FMS since my onset/diagnosis of CFS in 1989; back then it was called CEBV (Chronic Epstein Barr Virus) because 'they' had thought the fatigue was caused by EBVirus reactivating, then 'they' realized that was a side effect and since 90% of the world's population had EBV in their blood if tested they'd better find a more accurate name.  What had made me raise an eyebrow about Dr Oz's program with Dr Teitelbaum, who I think overall is an awesome leader about this topic but had some suspicious things over the years about the money made by the products he promoted, was that they called it 'chronic exhaustion' throughout the program, only saying 'fatigue' in the symptoms.  Finally, Dr Oz had a piece in O Magazine about it and then she finished out her show as she was transitioning and forming her OWN network, and I realized they were laying the groundwork to profit from the publicity they will obtain when they do.  At least that is my prediction.  We'll see if I'm correct or not about that one. 

What REALLY made me suspicious is they didn't 'use the F word', as I coined the phrase for fibromyalgia, AT ALL.  There'd been this '600 pound elephant in the room' thing going on for a LONG TIME in my mind, as to WHY Oprah, Dr Phil, Dr Oz weren't having shows about fibromyalgia when it affects about a fifth of the women in the United States (though many don't know their symptoms are part of fibromyalgia and they're at risk for developing the full condition if they don't intervene and make changes in their life).  

So I was JUST as suspicious and my radar and 'bull#$% detector' went up just as much around that time when I heard about XMRV.  Someone was behind things for a long time laying the groundwork to profit from something by taking the public thinking in a certain direction.  Hmmmm, is this why Oprah and all related to her (Oz, Phil) were so quiet?  Was there a 'conspiracy', to use that term?  My father, who is no longer living, had said that when he worked in a major corporation where price fixing was illegal, they had sheets which showed what all the competitors were going to charge for future products so they could all fix their prices.  So I grew up knowing that corporations don't follow laws.  We've all seen that the medical industry in many cases has ventured far from following moral laws and ethics.  And, while I worked as the administrative liaison for a notorious air quality research team, it is not much like medical research.  

The BEST THING about these times we are in is the power of the Internet.  I don't have to be the only person I know of who is saying 'is this something that makes YOU go 'hmmm'?'.  

Please remember, I ask of people that they 1) Gather and explore facts 2) communicate with others to help refine your position and define your opinion and then 3) tell others about the facts AND your opinion on them, but most of all be sure to be clear what is fact and what is opinion.  Otherwise it ends up like that childhood game where we start with one sentence and whisper it to each other in 'telephone' and it ends up at the end something quite different.   See, everything we really needed to know we DID learn in kindergarden!  

retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-researcher-judy-mikovits-arrested/

Chicago Tribute/Health covered it too, a few days later.  I found the pieces at this link VERY helpful.  www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-nw-chronic-fatigue-scientist-arrest-20111122,0,5455739.story 

As did MedPage: www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/29945