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GASTON NAESSENS AND THE SOMATID CYCLE GASTON NAESSENS AND THE SOMATID CYCLE In identifying the mechanisms of the somatid cycle, biologist Gaston Naessens has Opened up a new world of hope against cancer, AIDS and other degenerative diseases. aston Naessens is a Québec-based biologist who, many believe, has made fun- damental discoveries relating to cancer, AIDS and the nature of life itself. Through the use of the Somatoscope, a unique microscope of his own inven- tion, the French-born Canadian discovered a primitive biological entity, which he calls the somatid. Naessens claims that the somatid is found in all biological fluids he has looked at, including plant sap and human blood. Over the last 45 [now 50] years, he has also devel- oped a number of promising new drugs, including GN24, Anablast and 714X—a stabiliser for the immune system. While 714X is at present available to cancer and AIDS patients in Canada, its legal position in the USA is moot, due to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restrictions. Naessens is best known for 714X, which some people believe has helped them control or even cure their cancer or AIDS. To Naessens and his followers, this is ironic, since 714X is only a byproduct of his more fundamental biological work. It is simply an attempt to help people in need, in accordance with his theory. We have now made three separate visits to Naessens's Rock Forest laboratory. We have also visited the Cliniques Santé Levesque, south of Montréal, where people are trained in properly self-administering this product. This special issue of The Cancer Chronicles is the result of an intensive, three-month investigation. We shall focus on Naessens's fundamental ideas rather than case histories of successes with 714X, although some of these can be found in Christopher Bird's book, The Persecution and Trial of Gaston Naessens (H J Kramer, Tiburon, CA, USA, 1991). Naessens's ideas are so far-reaching that it would be naive to expect them to be instantly accepted by the scientific establishment. Yet opposition to Naessens, as well as to those espousing similar views, has gone almost beyond belief. Since the early 1960s, Naessens has been pursued with fury by medical authorities. In 1964, he was "escorted" out of his homeland, France, after a national uproar over another one of his medications, GN24. After the beneficial effects of this drug were publicised, tens of thousands of people attempted to fly into Corsica, where Naessens had sought refuge at the time. This is still well-remembered in France as [Affaire Naessens. Seeking peace to do his work, Naessens resettled in Montréal, Canada. With his wife and co-worker Frangoise (who died in October 1991), he eventually moved to more peaceful quarters in her family's cottage in Rock Forest, a suburb of the provincial town of Sherbrooke. Francoise, a trained laboratory technician, was co-developer of many of Naessens's innovative ideas. Initially, Naessens was able to work quietly with the help of the MacDonald-Stewart Foundation of Montréal, a well-known supporter of innovative cancer research. His work was also investigated by Sherbrooke University—until administrators there realised that he was the Naessens of I'Affaire Naessens. And, inevitably, this scientific revolutionary gained the attention—and hostility—of the Québec Medical Corporation and its deter- mined former director (1964-94), Augustin Roy, MD. In May 1989, Naessens was suddenly arrested and thrown into a filthy prison cell. The charge was negligent homicide, as well as 64 counts of practising medicine without a licence (in Québec, this can refer not just to treatment but to diagnosis). The major charge stemmed from the death of a woman who had refused chemotherapy for her disseminated breast cancer in favour of 714X. The various charges added up to a virtual life sentence. This arrest galvanised public opinion in much of Québec. A group of Naessens's sup- © by Ralph W. Moss, PhD From The Cancer Chronicles nos. 24-25, December 1994 E-mail: mail@ralphmoss.com Website: www.ralphmoss.com From The Cancer Chronicles nos. 24-25, December 1994 E-mail: mail@ralphmoss.com Website: www.ralphmoss.com NEXUS - 29 © by Ralph W. Moss, PhD FEBRUARY — MARCH 2000