HIV Innocence Group Truth

When I decided to deconstruct Viral Forensics, the latest fraud being perpetrated on the general public by AIDS Denialists Clark Baker and David Rasnick, the hardest part was deciding where to start. Their website offers up a plethora of lies that beg to be corrected. I decided to start with the name:

Viral Forensics; A Private Investigation Agency.

The first part, Viral, is self explanatory. The “service” claims to use Electron Microscopy as a tool to scan whole blood to look for a myriad of different viruses, although it is really just a new, clever way to perpetuate their AIDS Denialist agenda. The second part, Forensics, was puzzling. No where on the website will you find any mention of “solving crimes”, “courts of law” or anything having to do with the legal justice system. Nor does the site say how this “service” could be used in any type of “investigation” whatsoever, despite the fact that the words “Private Investigation Agency” make up 60% of the name. The word “Forensics” in the name of the company is just a clever way to try and avoid California Business and Professions Code Section 1241(b):

1241.  (a) This chapter applies to all clinical laboratories in
California or receiving biological specimens originating in California for the 
purpose of performing a clinical laboratory test or examination, and to all persons
performing clinical laboratory tests or examinations or engaging in clinical 
laboratory practice in California or on biological specimens originating in California,
except as provided in subdivision (b).
   (b) This chapter shall not apply to any of the following clinical
laboratories, or to persons performing clinical laboratory tests or
examinations in any of the following clinical laboratories:
   (1) Those owned and operated by the United States of America, or
any department, agency, or official thereof acting in his or her
official capacity to the extent that the Secretary of the federal
Department of Health and Human Services has modified the application
of CLIA requirements to those laboratories.
   (2) Public health laboratories, as defined in Section 1206.
   (3) Those that perform clinical laboratory tests or examinations
for forensic purposes only.
   (4) Those that perform clinical laboratory tests or examinations
for research and teaching purposes only and do not report or use
patient-specific results for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment
of any disease or impairment of, or for the assessment of the health
of, an individual.
   (5) Those that perform clinical laboratory tests or examinations
certified by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse only for those
certified tests or examinations. However, all other clinical
laboratory tests or examinations conducted by the laboratory are
subject to this chapter.

In other words, Baker and Rasnick are breaking the law trying to avoid the law via strict regulations such as CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Amendments) and CAP (College of American Pathologists) that apply to other labs handling human blood products containing potentially infectious agents. Once again Clark Baker believes that he is above the law. And he is not shy about stating it:

“Because we are not a diagnostic laboratory, Viral Forensics is not subject to the limitations set by the College of American Pathologists (CAP)…”

When they state right on their website that “we are not a diagnostic laboratory…” they are outright lying!

“Has a clinician told you that you are infected with HIV, HPV, Hepatitis C, or other infectious disease?  How certain are you that the diagnosis (bolding mine) was accurate?”

“TEM is the ONLY reliable way to establish whether HIV or other pathogens are present in your blood.”

“Few doctors are aware of these cross-reactions and even fewer rule them out when ordering ELISA, Western Blot, or PCR tests to “diagnose”  (bolding mine) patients.  Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is the only technology available to visually confirm the presence or absence of pathogens in human blood.   If you have questions about your blood test results, contact Viral Forensics for an optical examination of your blood samples.”

All of those examples prove that their “service” is strictly meant to diagnose…or, in their minds, “correct” a false diagnosis. And when a laboratory blatantly says that they already know the outcome of their tests, you really should see that as a huge red flag that their “services” are not objective. And objectivity is a hallmark of a credible, reliable laboratory.

And their Disclaimer should be another huge, red flag to anyone thinking about utilizing this “service”. The disclaimer proves the hypocrisy and outright bullshit of this joke-of-a-service. At the disclaimer you will find that they bend over backwards to protect themselves from the obvious lies they state as fact on the rest of their website. Their disclaimer is truly a melange of contradictions to behold as well as lifting directly from B&P Code Section 1241(b):

“The medical information on this site and linked websites are provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.

Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.  Viral Forensics LLC expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site. Viral Forensics LLC does not endorse specifically any test, treatment, or procedure mentioned on the site.

By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions, which may from time to time be changed or supplemented by Viral Forensics LLC.  If you do not agree to the foregoing terms and conditions, you should not enter this site.”

There are way too many lies and blatant bullshit to devote to one post. My next posts will deal with:

Part II: Viral Forensics’ “white paper”. A white paper is written in the style of a peer reviewed science paper. In actuality, it is nothing more than a marketing ploy. This will be quite delicious to deconstruct.

Part III: Why EM is not an appropriate application for HIV. And don’t be fooled, HIV is really the only virus that Viral Forensics is concerned with.

Part IV: The criminal cases using Electron Microscopy in the defense of HIV+ persons charged with reckless endangerment. These were cases supported by the HIV Innocence Group that has been defunct for 18 months thanks to my meticulous documentation of the lies of said group on this very website. (And why I was sued by Clark Baker in a Texas Federal Court. BTW, I won the case. Oh, yeah, and I won the appeal. And it cost Mr. Baker at least $150K.)

Celia Farber recently wrote an incredibly moving and poignant essay about the traumas of her childhood that manifested in decades-long deep depression and sleepless nights. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. Ms. Farber courageously details just how depression and sleeplessness ruined her life for years.

I am not writing this post to discuss the specifics of Ms. Farber’s ordeal, but rather to discuss the vehicles of her salvation: Dr. Brooks and ketamine. Ms. Farber does not specifically say so, but Dr. Brooks must be a sleep specialist. This is ironic because Dr. James Murtagh is also a sleep specialist (as well as Pulmonary Specialist) who sometimes uses ketamine in his sleep practice. Back in 2011 Dr. Murtagh was the director of three sleep labs in Cincinnati until Clark Baker reignited his harassment.

Ms. Farber and Dr. Murtagh have a somewhat confrontational past, to say the least. However, after reading this essay and the horrible ordeal she went through, I wonder how she would feel about Clark Baker’s incessant harassment of Dr. Murtagh’s employment over the past ten years if she knew that Dr. Murtagh could be the vehicle to others’ salvation. I wonder how many people have suffered much the same horrible ordeal as Ms. Farber and have been denied the salvation she received as a direct result of Clark Baker’s harassment. And if Ms. Farber were made aware of this, would she appeal to her friend Clark Baker to finally end his childish behavior and let Dr. Murtagh treat other people like Ms. Farber?

I have often said that those of us engaged in the “debate” regarding the validity of the science of HIV probably have more in common than we would like to acknowledge. This truth was never more evident than by the fact that Jonathan Barnett and I, once long-time bitter rivals, acknowledged our similarities and buried the proverbial hatchet. We have since engaged in many civil discussions about our differences and have even met in person and had a nice lunch.

Now through Ms. Farber’s candid essay we can see that a person she considers to be a bitter rival could have actually helped her many years ago. And now that this truth is being acknowledged publicly on this blog, it would be a nice, humane gesture if Ms. Farber would contact Mr. Baker and ask him to let bygones be bygones and stop his harassment of a man who has the potential to help many people just like her.

Perhaps we can all take a minute to think about the humanity of our rivals before lashing out. Perhaps we can start a new social medium to engage with one another in a thoughtful, rational manner instead of name-calling in a vacuum.

On August 6th David Crowe started a thread at the ReThinking AIDS facebook page to survey his readers. Mr. Crowe was on a fishing expedition to find out how much money people would pay to have their blood scanned by an Electron Microscope:

David Crowe

August 6 at 11:46pm

The question by itself is interesting for several reasons:

First, I wonder why Crowe is being so cagey and not coming right out and telling his readers this is for the new Baker/Rasnick joint, Viral Forensics. And why is Crowe limiting his discussion to HIV when Viral Forensics claims to be able to find ANY and ALL virus in blood.

The second thing that comes to mind is why are Baker and Rasnick using Crowe to find out how much to charge for their service? I would think that before they launched their slick website they would have a fully completed and comprehensive business plan. They should have performed their due diligence and should know precisely what their goods and services are worth in the marketplace. The truth is, what they are selling is just another one of Baker’s grifts or scams. Their service is completely useless in the marketplace. I will write more about that later.

Lastly, and most tellingly, Crowe admits this service is rubbish. He writes: “…probably showing you had no virus in your blood…”  Those 9 words prove there is no objectivity in the tests performed at Viral Forensics. Well, those words and the “white paper” found on their website as well as every other tab at the Viral Forensics website, but I will discuss all this in detail in the next week or so.

The responses by the readers of RA are the most interesting. (I will copy/paste the full thread at the bottom.) Most of them are dead set against any testing, EM or otherwise, because for so many years they have been fed the notion that HIV is not real because it has never been properly isolated or purified. And because of this lack of proper isolation, there is no test adequate. And this falsity has been fed to them for 30 years by the very people who are now telling them: “Forget all that; we’ve changed our minds; follow us off this new cliff, but first give us $1,500! I swear this is for real! This is the Gold Standard!”

But David Crowe, being the Persistent Pimp that he is, digs in and tries to sway the minions:

David Crowe This has been used in court before and is compelling evidence that a high viral load does not mean a lot of virus. I’d like people to think about this seriously. And, for people who think that finding nothing means nothing, it is possible to have a control sample using laboratory particles of the right size. If those can be detected it proves that HIV would also be detected if present.

David Crowe If there is a control sample showing particles, and a real sample not showing particles, why would you need multiple samples taken over a period of time?

David Crowe Peter Capainolo, the experience so far is that particles of the HIV size and shape cannot be detected in fresh blood, but can be detected when blood is spiked with particles of the expected size and shape, meaning that the techniques are not missing them.

David Crowe Richard Jannaccio the spiked particles are spiked in particles per unit volume. And viral load is also an estimate of particles per ml.

David Crowe Ted Stearn, proving that the particles are HIV is not important … if no such particles are found. If particles were found (which we don’t believe is ever the case in fresh blood, as opposed to cell culture) then the question is … what are they?

What is truly hilarious to me is seeing just how wildly off topic the comments became. They were discussing anal sex and lubes versus vaginal sex; Darwin and evolution; the words pee-pee, poo-poo and vomit are included…why? I can’t answer that; and of course, Cal Crilly Silly Willy showed up to include the “fact” that no one knows what is in human blood. And all the while our Persistent Pimp was futilely trying to keep the discussion on topic.

BTW, only one person said they would pay for this “service”.

As I wrote above, I will be writing a comprehensive post about why Viral Forensics is a scam and a fraud in the next week or so. But for now, enjoy the entertaining thread on the subject courtesy of ReThinking AIDS facebook.

David Crowe

August 6 at 11:46pm

Serious question. If you could get a series of electron microscope photos of your blood, with appropriate controls, probably showing you had no virus in your blood, would you pay $1000 plus or minus $500 for the set plus a report? Reply here or privately.

We have all heard the old sayings:

• What goes around, comes around.
• You reap what you sow.
• Karma is a bitch.

No matter how it is stated, all these sayings amount to the same lesson: A person will eventually face the consequences of their own actions. 

This is now happening to Clark Baker in spades thanks to his fakeruptcy filing.

Remember 6 years ago, in 2009, when Clark Baker tried to bully and intimidate me by calling my elderly mother on the telephone? Mr. Baker told my mother some some crazy, bullshit story that he was going to sue me and would take away her house because she was partially responsible for my actions since I lived with her at the time.

When Clark Baker threatened my elderly mother his story was complete bullshit. But now that exact scenario could very well lead to Baker’s wife, Carol Dunn, being evicted from her home.

Now that Clark Baker has filed for bankruptcy, he has literally opened a Pandora’s Box that will have far reaching and severely detrimental consequences not only for Clark Baker, but also for many people who have ever associated with him. Dr. Murtagh has an amazing legal team that has refused to acquiesce to Baker’s legal circus. They are preparing to launch a legal shit-storm that will encompass many different players. I have no doubt that the reality with-whom these players have climbed into bed with will smack them upside the head and many people will have no option but to save themselves.

One of the first steps in a bankruptcy proceeding is a 341 Hearing. That hearing has many components. One of the major components allows all of Baker’s creditors to begin a fact finding mission. That meeting took place on August 5th. Dr. Murtagh’s attorneys chose not to attend the meeting, but they did not release their rights. They have prepared a plethora of questions that Baker must answer and supply documents to prove his answers. Dr. Murtagh’s legal team is also preparing a multi-pronged document that will include OMSJ, Viral Forensics and anyone who has ever been associated with Clark Baker. This legal team is doubling down on their already aggressive strategy to make Mr. Baker legally face up to his illegal behavior over the past decade.

Clark Baker thought he was being clever by filing bankruptcy to halt all proceedings and buy him some time. But what Baker actually did was provide a legal avenue that could very well lead to indictments, divorce and could land Clark Baker and some of his cohorts in adjoining jail cells.