Salt Spring Organization for Life Improvement and Development AIDS Africa Twinning NGO

If someone asked you, "What really causes AIDS?" you'd probably answer, "The virus, you know – HIV." Dr Harold Foster would say you were wrong. Dr. Foster, a UVic geography professor, will present his controversial views on what causes AIDS and how to successfully combat it on Saturday November 26 at the Lions Hall, starting at 7 pm.

According to Dr foster, “The conventionally-held belief that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS is blocking progress in both the development of new treatments for this disorder and more effective preventative measures against the spread of HIV." Dr Foster's research has led him to conclude that AIDS is really four nutritional deficiency illnesses, caused by a single virus. The major factor is a deficiency of selenium, an important trace mineral and antioxidant that helps prevent damage to cells.

In his new book, "What Really Causes AIDS," (available as a free download from his website www.hdfoster.com), Foster shows how HIV has spread much less rapidly in regions where local food supplies are high in selenium.

Senegal, Foster claims, stands out in this regard like a diamond in the dirt. Dakar, its capital, is one of the largest commercial sex-centers of Africa. Senegal also has a very high level of unprotected promiscuity. But in Dakar, HIV-1 prevalence among women attending antenatal clinics has remained at one per cent or less since the time that surveillance began in the mid-1980s until now. Similar very-low-prevalence rates are also recorded in the Senegalese hinterland. Senegal's soils are naturally very rich in selenium.

One of Foster's strongest supporters, Dr. Abram Hoffer, an internationally-acclaimed pioneer in the treatment of illness with nutritional medicine, has argued that “there will be a major catastrophe if Foster’s hypothesis is submerged by the anti-retroviral idea and is not examined as quickly and fully as possible.”

Foster says that his hypothesis is relatively easy to test. With the financial help of charities and individual sponsors, open trials have been conducted in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Kenya. As a result of their successes, two larger open trials were conducted, one in a Ugandan hospital and the other in eleven orphanages in Zambia. In Uganda, 77 per cent of the 40 patients quickly showed significant improvements to their health, while in Zambia, noticeable improvements occurred in every child within four weeks of taking the supplements. As a result of the interest arising from these studies, a 300-patient double-blind placebo-based trial is currently underway in Uganda and a larger scale open trial is due to start soon in Zambia.

Dr Foster has written or edited some 235 books and articles and was named Orthomolecular Doctor of the Year for 2004-2005. He has published hypotheses on the origins of numerous diseases including myocardial infarction, SIDS, cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and stroke.

Dr Foster's talk on Salt Spring is being sponsored by SOLID, an island non-profit society dedicated to linking the people and community of Salt Spring Island with those affected by HIV-AIDS in Africa. SOLID's work focuses particularly on grassroots projects related to HIV/AIDS. Admission is by donation, with a suggested minimum of $10. Proceeds will be split between SOLID and Friends of Mengo, sponsors of Dr Foster's Ugandan research project.