| W. John Martin Stripped of License -- Is All His
Work Bogus? By Bob Huntington and Cheryl Tai with Gail Kansky W. John Martin, M.D., Ph.D. has been stripped of his license to do any clinical laboratory testing and his clinical laboratory license has been suspended. But does he even have a laboratory to shut down anymore, and did he ever find a virus that he has continued to call the "stealth virus"? The most amazing fact we found out was that his license suspension was due to the work of one lone individual who is merely a patient! But let's give you some background first. Dr. Martin received his medical training in Australia and was the chief of the Immunology/Molecular Pathology Unit at the LAC/USC (University of California) Medical Center as well as a professor of pathology at the USC School of Medicine. He was the former director of the Viral Oncology Branch of the FDA's (Federal Drug Administration) Bureau of Biologics which is the principal agency in charge of testing human vaccines. Before that, he worked at the National Cancer Institute. He emerged as a key player in ME/CFIDS research in the late 1980's with a virus that he named a "stealth" virus. By the early 90's, The CFIDS Association had funded him for $231,000. Dr. Martin had said he had discovered "Epione" which was a "potential therapy of stealth viral infection." He named it after the wife of a Greek God of medicine known for skills in "soothing pain". He assured the CFIDS Association that Epione was already in stage 2 testing with an IND number through the federal government. They cut off his funding but never told the patient community why. The reason they cut off funding? They checked with the FDA and found out all Martin had told them about the status of Epione was a lie. If the CFIDS Association (CAA) had, at that time, been more forthcoming about this to the patient community, which they claim to represent, it may well have ended the destructive path that Martin was taking. But they kept those facts to themselves and have, subsequently, caused a lot of harm to hundreds and, perhaps, thousands, of patients in the decade since this happened. When one of the authors of this piece asked Dr. Martin why the CFIDS Association stopped funding him, he said it was a "mere misunderstanding." Stealth viruses, according to Dr. Martin, "Do, indeed, exist and can be at the root of many multi-system neuro degenerative illnesses such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, fibromyalgia, attention deficit disorder, autism and other diseases causing behavioral changes." He also lists Lyme's Disease, Gulf War Illness, a bevy of psychiatric illnesses and oncogenic (cancerous) diseases. But nobody has ever been able to replicate his findings in over a decade. So why has his license been pulled? Martin preyed upon patients who were desperately ill, telling them that he knew what they had (a "stealth" virus) and only he could save them from their "fatal" disease. His therapeutic regimen included antibiotics, antivirals, diet and vitamins, neurontin, and other medications, including anti-depressants, that have all been tried before and are not new. What was different, was that he wanted you to be "monitored" closely which includes lot of tests that he does and not "to conclude a lack of long term benefit" for at least 4-6 months. He thoroughly frightened many by telling them that without funding for him, they had no chance. One person who had been diagnosed with "CFS" scoured every area to find donors, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a single mother of a young child, she was frightened that her child would be left alone in this world. But then she found out facts that angered her and made her regret all the efforts she had made to raise funds for Martin. She, single-handedly, found out the truth about W. John Martin and is working to expose the truth. The university where he had his laboratory had him physically removed by security guards in December of 1995! Despite the closure of his laboratory, William John Martin's curriculum vitai (CV) listed his professorship and laboratory at University of California's Department of Pathology and the NCF is in possession of a copy of his 1997-8 CV. Despite being removed from the University, Martin is a tenured professor and the University will only say he is on "indefinite leave." Martin told patients that their blood was being monitored by the State of California. When this was checked out, the state denied ever receiving any serum, let alone "monitoring" any for him. One patient filed a complaint with the State of California Health and Human Services Agency who sent Martin a letter dated September 15, 2002 which stated, "Your CIJA certificate was suspended by Centers for Medicaid Services and your laboratory's approval to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments was canceled, effective August 27, 2002. Your state clinical study license, CLF 10919, has therefore been suspended effective August 27, 2002. You must CEASE and DESIST all clinical laboratory testing immediately if your laboratory is currently performing tests. This information must be reflected in your website http://www.ccid.org. You may not perform any clinical laboratory test until you are reinstated and your California clinical laboratory license is reactivated. If you have any questions, please call me....". The letter was signed by the chief of the Facilities Licensing Section. There are multiple allegations of fraud now facing W. John Martin and the depositions may have already begun by the time you are reading this report. When we checked his website in late January, there was nothing to indicate that he no longer was testing. In fact, there was still a link to tell you about stealth virus testing and how suggestions, upon testing, would be "relayed to your physician." So we e-mailed the webmaster, Carolyn Viviani. Our message bounced back. We called The Heritage Foundation on January 29th. They are "an 'umbrella' tax deductible Foundation that houses and facilitates many organization's funding" according to the Martin's website. Veronica Flagge, "who is monitoring the donations" said she "was not told about losing any clinic license" but that Martin had not received any funding since last summer. The National CFIDS Foundation did not bother to call Dr. Martin. Two of our board members have already had several lengthy conversations with him in the past with the same result. Dr. Martin is a prolific conversationalist who always talks in circles and never really answers any pointed questions. There are hundreds and hundreds of patients who have been scared by the tactics of Dr. Martin but one woman did something about it and hasn't finished her work yet. She's been in touch with a journalist about this story and a story aired on February 13, 2003 about there being no such thing as a "stealth virus" (Los Angeles NBC TV). One member of the CDC on the TV news program said they were unable to replicate any of Dr. Martin's work on the stealth virus. The CDC holds little validity with us, however, as their own track record leaves a lot to be desired. The television report had the reporter going to Martin's house to interview him after leaving several messages which went unanswered and going there twice before. This time, Martin was in his driveway. When he saw her approach, he ran, leaving his sandals behind in the driveway! Others trying to reach him since have reported that his voicemail has been inactivated. There is a "Stealth Virus" group on the internet where one must be invited to be join. One of our own board members has reported Martin has pointedly ignored any questions about the NBC broadcast on the group list. (It is not difficult to join other groups under a different name than your own.) The postings to this group are heavily monitored and those asking questions that Martin does not want to answer are never posted to the group. The group shut down for weeks at a time after the TV story aired. |
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