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OB tes Ny E\N? CANCER BOY WINS RIGHT TO ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT During the five-month legal tussle, which culminated in last week's victory in the High Court, Dominik remained in hospital, officially in the care of social services. The amputation was postponed. Dr Rath, who helped the Felds with their "Save Dominik" cam- paign, maintains that under his care the boy's condition has improved. "The X-ray CT [com- puted tomography] images of Dominik's lungs speak for them- selves," Dr Rath said. "The lung metastases present one year ago have completely vanished. It is, therefore, clear that cancer is cur- able by natural means." (Source: The Telegraph, UK, 11 April 2004) Ae who had lost custody 4 of their young son to social services after insisting that his bone cancer be treated by using alternative medicine won a lengthy legal battle in early April to get him back. Dominik Feld, 9, became a cause célébre in Germany after his parents, Josef and Anke, defied a leading oncologist's advice that their son's right leg should be amputated if they wanted to save his life and stop the disease spreading. When the specialist, Dr Heribert Jurgens, also warned that Dominik had a less than one- in-five chance of survival with chemotherapy, the Felds decided to inves- tigate alternatives. Seeking a second opinion, the Felds heard about a method pioneered by Dr Matthias Rath, a qualified medical doctor who prefers to promote non-toxic treatments such as cell therapy for his patients. Dr Rath suggested that cancerous tissues could be removed from the bone marrow, avoiding the need for amputation, and that cell therapy be substituted for chemotherapy. Perturbed, Dr Jurgens tipped off offi- cials from Germany's social services, who decided that the Felds were not acting in Dominik's best interests. In November RISE OF THE CORPORATE MILITARY MONSTER lhe US government is relying on pri- vate military contractors as never before. Approximately 15,000 military contractors, maybe more, are now working in Iraq. Whatever the limitations of the military code of justice and its in-practice applica- tion, the code does not apply to modern- day mercenaries. Human rights abuses go unpunished, reliance on poorly monitored contractors is bleeding the public treasury, and the contractors are simultaneously cre- ating opportunities for the government to evade public accountability. In Iraq, they are on the verge of evolving into an inde- pendent force at least somewhat beyond the control of the US military. It is unclear exactly what law applies to the contractors as they do not fall under international law on mercenaries. Nor does the national law of the United States clearly apply to the contractors in Iraq— especially because many of the contractors are not Americans. There are already many examples of what can happen—notably, accusations that Dyncorp employees were involved in sex trafficking of girls in Bosnia. Meanwhile, in Iraq, a problem of a whole different sort is starting to emerge. The security contractors are already involved in full-fledged battlefield opera- tions, increasingly so as the insurgency escalates. A few days after the four Americans were killed in Fallujah, Blackwater Security Consulting engaged 2003, they obtained a court order to remove the boy from his parents' custody. The order prompted a heated debate in Germany over parental rights, particularly as Dominik's cancer seemed to improve while he was receiving the cell therapy feantmant treatment. While the Felds, from Siegen in central Germany, appealed against the decision, protesters staged rallies outside the High Court in Koblenz at each hearing. A family petition attracted more than 30,000 signatures. Donations from supporters helped to fund their appeal and temporary injunctions brought by the Felds to ensure that the cell therapy continued. 6 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2004 "Excellent. So when do we send it a signal to start bombing the place?" www.nexusmagazine.com