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pharmco-biased regulation and confused policing that Le Ribault, tired of the invisibility of the authorities and angered by the strange death of his colleague, launched G5 in 1994. Le Ribault's determination to confront the big companies and the regulatory agencies was to bring his life collapsing about him. At the end of 1994, Le Ribault, now working on his own with tired of the invisibility of the authorities and angered by the an organic silica molecule suspended in water, which he called strange death of his colleague, launched G5 in 1994. Le Ribault's G5, stepped up production and distribution to people with health determination to confront the big companies and the regulatory problems. It was Le Ribault's case that as a natural, non-toxic agencies was to bring his life collapsing about him. substance, G5 did not need a licence; he saw it as a tonic or dietary supplement. PUBLICITY AND CONSPIRACY The problem of who pays to test a novel medical product, Soon after Le Ribault began to distribute G5, in June 1995 developed outside the pharmaceutical companies, has become a Jean-Michel Graille, a journalist on Sud-Ouest Dimanche , serious issue in America and Europe. On the boundaries of approached him and asked if he could write about his discovery. different kinds of medical treatment, constant war is being waged. Ten years previously, Graille had written a book titled Dossier Trade and practice with non-pharmaceutical treatments are Priore: une nouvelle affaire Pasteur?’ After getting agreement constantly being attacked by big companies. The most common from his editor, Graille attached himself to Le Ribault for four aggressors in this war of attrition are the pharmaceutical months, observing his work as a scientist, innovator and now companies. With close allies in the regulatory agencies, entrepreneur. After some initial scepticism, Graille became university research departments, hospital trusts and the media, the completely convinced of the therapeutic effects of Le Ribault's pharmcos have a strategy of whittling away discovery. In October 1995, Sud-Ouest at the number of herbs that are legally Dimanche published, across five pages of its available and constantly attempting to magazine, a detailed account of Le Ribault's restrict the availability of vitamins and food work and the suppression of his findings. supplements. The publication of this article had The highly capitalised pharmaceutical unbelievable results that dragged Le Ribault companies can afford to compete with each into an uncontrollable conflict with the other, paying hundreds of thousands, often judiciary and other, more hidden, forces. millions, of pounds to carry out trials and . In the days following publication, Le then thousands of pounds for preparatory One executive of a Ribault received 35,000 phone calls, letters rapervrt oo eceescrenattors | pharmaceutical |e tl ad cll obtained licences, they use aggressive mar- company offered scientists, doctors and personal friends to keting strategies, regulatory protection and A help sort out the calls and callers. Sud-Ouest sometimes "dirty tricks" to ensure their com- him £1 ,000,000 Dimanche had to hire eight receptionists to just to bury his discovery. petitive ascendancy. Herb: s, homoeopaths, nutritional therapists and those producers and practitioners who work with non- pharmaceutical treatments, and who are unable to raise the money or hire sympathetic laboratories to carry out trials, are forced to market and use their treatments with one hand tied behind their back, unable to advertise any health-enhancing effects of any of their therapies. Some few innovators are fortunate answer calls. The local telephone service broke down and the phone lines to police stations and post offices were blocked for days. In the three months that followed the article, Le Ribault did his best to treat the thousands of people who converged on the area, seeking help. He says now that pharmacies in the area lost around 35% of their turnover in this tidal wave. The article had other, more sinister, results. Le Ribault claims that as soon achieving special discretionary awards as it came out, other newspapers were from the FDA in America or from the warned not to publish articles. He Medicines Control Agency or MAFF [now DEFRA, the received frequent death threats, his house was burgled and his col- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Ed.] in laborators were threatened. Britain, which exempt their natural therapies from the need to be One middle-aged woman, who had been his aide for many licensed.® The progress of these odd treatments is irregular and years, was attacked, seriously wounded and held hostage for an haphazard and is probably dependent upon whether or not there is hour in Le Ribault's house. He and his colleague knew the competition from pharmaceutical products. assailant, a Marseilles criminal who had tried to force Le Ribault The competitive, financial and professional censorship by to give him a franchise on GS. The police did nothing when they multinationals and doctors of novel natural health therapies, at were informed. this lower end of the health-care market, has inevitably spawned Either by conspiracy or simple criminal opportunism, "illegal" businesses and made criminals out of some doctors, sci- companies suddenly began to spring up claiming to be using entists and therapists. But perhaps more importantly, in an odd organic silica for health therapies. Many of these companies used way, the pharmaceutically protective regulations and their polic- Le Ribault's and Duffaut's names and their photographs and even ing have also created criminals out of many patients. By denying faked their signatures. Illegal advertising material flooded the patients the freedom to choose their own treatments, the laws and market using quotes from Graille's article. Le Ribault later saw the regulatory agencies have forced some patients into an under- _ public laboratory analysis of these products, which he says were ground health-care culture. water or mineral silica or a dangerous, unstable synthesis of It was into this maelstrom of pharmaceutical protection, organic silica. company offered him £1,000,000 just | to bury | his discovery. 22 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2005 REGULATING MOLECULES One executive of a pharmaceutical www.nexusmagazine.com