Plague: One Scientist's Intrepid Search for the Truth about Human Retroviruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Autism, and Other Diseases

by Kent Heckenlively, Judy Mikovits

Overview

#10 on Amazon Charts, USA Today Bestseller

“This book is my best attempt to tell the truth about my research, the culture in science today which is hostile to new ideas, and what science can really do if allowed to pursue promising areas of inquiries.”—Dr. Judy Mikovits, PhD

This is a story for anybody interested in the peril and promise of science at the very highest levels in our country. On July 22, 2009, a special meeting was held with twenty-four leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health to discuss early findings that a newly discovered retrovirus was linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), prostate cancer, lymphoma, and eventually neurodevelopmental disorders in children. When Dr. Judy Mikovits finished her presentation, the room was silent for a moment, then one of the scientists said, “Oh my God!” The resulting investigation would be like no other in science.

For Dr. Mikovits, a twenty-year veteran of the National Cancer Institute, this was the midpoint of a five-year journey that would start with the founding of the Whittemore-Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease at the University of Nevada, Reno, and end with her as a witness for the federal government against her former employer, Harvey Whittemore, for illegal campaign contributions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

On this journey Dr. Mikovits would face the scientific prejudices against CFS, wander into the minefield that is autism, and through it all struggle to maintain her faith in God and the profession to which she had dedicated her life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628739299
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	11/18/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	828 KB

About the Author

Kent Heckenlively is a former attorney, a founding editor of Age of Autism, and a science teacher. During college Heckenlively worked for US Senator Pete Wilson, and in law school he was a writer and an editor of the school’s law review and spent his summers working for the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. Kent and his wife Linda live in Northern California with their two children, Jacqueline and Ben.

Judy Mikovits, PhD, spent twenty years at the National Cancer Institute, working with Dr. Frank Ruscetti, one of the founding fathers of human retrovirology, and has coauthored more than forty scientific papers. For five years she was the research director of the Whittemore-Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease. Dr. Mikovits lives in Southern California with her husband, David.

Table of Contents

A Note from Judy Mikovits, PhD ix

Foreword: A Disease Able to Affect the Economies of Nations Hillary Johnson xi

Prologue-The Arrest xxix

1 The HHV-6 Conference and the Culture of Science 1

2 The Move to Nevada 19

3 Day Two in Jail 33

4 A Retrovirus in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? 41

5 The Appearance of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Autism in the Medical Literature 59

6 Day Three in Jail 83

7 The Submission to Science 93

8 The Invitation-Only July 22 Meeting 113

9 Day Four in Jail 139

10 The Autism Question 165

11 Science and Sensibility 183

12 Day Five and Freedom? 195

13 The Counter Offensive 209

14 The Long, Hot Confirmation Summer of 2010 231

15 The December 19 Hearing and Damages 247

16 The 1st (and Last) International Workshop on XMRV and the Worlds Most Celebrated Virus Hunter Enters the Fray 259

17 The Name Game and the "Immaculate Recombination" 283

18 Whittemore Justice 297

19 The Silverman Mistake 325

20 The Lipkin Study 349

21 The Rediscovery of XMRV? 371

Acknowledgments 383

Notes 385

Editorial Reviews

"Plague is a must-read book so revolutionary in its implications that its author courageously faced character assassination and unlawful incarceration to keep her findings from being relegated to the dustbin of medical history. Riveting, if not at times paradigm shifting, this book reveals a dark side to modern medicine that no one knows exists, but that everyone should."
—Sayer Ji, founder and director of GreenMedInfo and board member of the National Health Federation

“For anyone who is too busy to read but wants to know the inside story on the state of American science, find the time, now, and read Plague.”
—Ritchie C. Shoemaker, MD, author of Mold Warriors: Fighting America's Hidden Health Threat

“A fascinating combination. The authors weave together a fascinating medical history, a modern day scientific drama, and a legal thriller in a unique narrative that calls attention to the deep dysfunction and corruption in the heart of the medical industrial complex.”
—Mark Blaxill, co-author of The Age of Autism and co-founder of Safe Minds

“Kent Heckenlively’s riveting descriptions of Mikovits’ arrest and incarceration—she was actually jailed for her work and principles—renders Mikovits a modern day Dr. Stockman from Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. The skilled telling of the drama that unfolded around Mikovits’ work on the XMRV retrovirus leaves the reader unable to put the damn book down.”
—Lou Conte, author of The Vaccine War

“Unbelievable!! Thank you to Dr. Mikovits and Kent Heckenlively for your courage in discussing issues of research corruption, intimidation, and the power of the medical establishment to try to conceal the truth about scientific research.”
—Wayne Rhode, author of The Vaccine Court

“Plague raises questions we all need to be asking our scientists, our politicians, and our society.
—Max Swafford, educator and author

"Plague is a must-read book so revolutionary in its implications that its author courageously faced character assassination and unlawful incarceration to keep her findings from being relegated to the dustbin of medical history. Riveting, if not at times paradigm shifting, this book reveals a dark side to modern medicine that no one knows exists, but that everyone should."
—Sayer Ji, founder and director of GreenMedInfo and board member of the National Health Federation

“For anyone who is too busy to read but wants to know the inside story on the state of American science, find the time, now, and read Plague.”
—Ritchie C. Shoemaker, MD, author of Mold Warriors: Fighting America's Hidden Health Threat

“A fascinating combination. The authors weave together a fascinating medical history, a modern day scientific drama, and a legal thriller in a unique narrative that calls attention to the deep dysfunction and corruption in the heart of the medical industrial complex.”
—Mark Blaxill, co-author of The Age of Autism and co-founder of Safe Minds

“Kent Heckenlively’s riveting descriptions of Mikovits’ arrest and incarceration—she was actually jailed for her work and principles—renders Mikovits a modern day Dr. Stockman from Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. The skilled telling of the drama that unfolded around Mikovits’ work on the XMRV retrovirus leaves the reader unable to put the damn book down.”
—Lou Conte, author of The Vaccine War

“Unbelievable!! Thank you to Dr. Mikovits and Kent Heckenlively for your courage in discussing issues of research corruption, intimidation, and the power of the medical establishment to try to conceal the truth about scientific research.”
—Wayne Rhode, author of The Vaccine Court

“Plague raises questions we all need to be asking our scientists, our politicians, and our society.
—Max Swafford, educator and author

From the Publisher