Excellent points Christoph! According to standard immunology, our own immune system makes a myriad of genetic copies of viral and bacterial proteins in its antibody response and "memory T cell" response. When our immune system is activated it can make millions of these genetic-copy defenses very quickly. While making these genetic copies it generates RNA that matches the viral and bacterial proteins it is targeting. Thus, our own immune system, according to standard immunology, could easily make RNA that triggers PCR tests to be positive even when there is either no viral/bacterial presence or when the presence has returned to normal biome balance and is not causing any issues - food for thought :-).
I'm listing to this right now, so far very interesting. I remember seeing his name a number of years ago when I was first learning about this whole subject. It's fun to actually hear people discuss the subject. Right now you're talking about how PCR may actually be just picking up endogenous retroviruses that get expressed. I think that's a definite possibility. But I also wonder if there could also just be an expression of novel genetic material from our own genome. Barbara McClintock won a nobel prize for the discovery that under states of stress genomes could spontaneously reshuffle and produce novel genetic material. I think the Perth Group pointed out that this was something seen in Gulf War Syndrome.
My thought is that Gallo and Montagnier picked up on this novel, stress produced genetic material and wrongly attributed it to a new virus. Of course, I don't think this is mutually exclusive with the HERV theory, meaning we could be seeing multiple things going on.
As far as HERVs go, is it possible that the ARVs are acting to inhibit these HERVS? I think ARVs are just biological parlor tricks in essence.
Excellent conversation--thank you Rebecca! So refreshing to hear your and Dr. Irwin's sane and life-affirming perspectives! What made me first question the covid hype 5 years ago was when they didn't allow family members to be with their elderly loved ones in assisted living places or hospitals. I was horrified by that and glad my own aged parents had already passed on well before this mass hysteria broke out.
Great interview. I was very touched at hearing Rebecca talk about her father. It was a very difficult time for the whole family, but especially for Nick whose health declined during lockdown. So hard to live with that isolation. Fortunately, he was able to stay home for most of his illness and we were all with him as he was in palliative care. Thank you for your kindness, Dr Irwin. Kudos to you Rebecca, love mom
I just got to the section of the conversation about you talking about the Covid antibody study. That was fascinating, I didn't know about that, especially the 4th draw and you had no antibody response. One book I'm hoping to read soon is Can You Catch A Cold that talks specifically about this situation.
I'm getting back to listening to this. Much like beriberi and pallegra, there was also the SMON fiasco in Japan that was for a long time blamed on a virus. Turns out it was toxicology of the drug clioquinol.
“Can You Catch a Cold” is a great book. And at least argues that if illnesses are “infectious“ it is much more complex than shaking hands were giving a hug to the wrong person at the wrong time :-).
In August 2024 I reviewed the book in my newsletter. The discussion is way down at the bottom of the newsletter after lots of other topics. Here is a quote.
“Research of the Month: Can you catch a cold?
What would you say if I told you I wanted to inject the mucus from someone diagnosed with “the flu” up your nose as part of a clinical trial? You’d say I was crazy and might also want to lock me up! However, this kind of study was done over and over again including in 1918, 1919, and 1920 with people diagnosed with the scariest form of influenza ever, the so-called “Spanish flu”.
Over 200 research studies have looked at this, and what they found will definitely surprise you. They have been described eloquently by Daniel Roytas, along with the history of fears of contagion and other explanations for illness, in a new book published in 2024, called “Can You Catch a Cold?”.
In a typical study researchers took mucous from people who have “the Spanish flu” and injected it into the noses and eyes of healthy volunteers. What happens when you do this? The large majority do not get sick, and when they do get sick only a very small percentage get flu-like symptoms. In 36% of the studies, with over 700 participants total, zero of them got sick and “all subjects remained well”. In the minority of subjects that did develop symptoms, they usually had a mild illness such as a sore throat or runny nose that lasted a few days and did not resemble the flu, even in 1918 and 1919 with the “deadly Spanish flu”. “
Excellent points Christoph! According to standard immunology, our own immune system makes a myriad of genetic copies of viral and bacterial proteins in its antibody response and "memory T cell" response. When our immune system is activated it can make millions of these genetic-copy defenses very quickly. While making these genetic copies it generates RNA that matches the viral and bacterial proteins it is targeting. Thus, our own immune system, according to standard immunology, could easily make RNA that triggers PCR tests to be positive even when there is either no viral/bacterial presence or when the presence has returned to normal biome balance and is not causing any issues - food for thought :-).
Thanks Dr. Matt!
I'm listing to this right now, so far very interesting. I remember seeing his name a number of years ago when I was first learning about this whole subject. It's fun to actually hear people discuss the subject. Right now you're talking about how PCR may actually be just picking up endogenous retroviruses that get expressed. I think that's a definite possibility. But I also wonder if there could also just be an expression of novel genetic material from our own genome. Barbara McClintock won a nobel prize for the discovery that under states of stress genomes could spontaneously reshuffle and produce novel genetic material. I think the Perth Group pointed out that this was something seen in Gulf War Syndrome.
My thought is that Gallo and Montagnier picked up on this novel, stress produced genetic material and wrongly attributed it to a new virus. Of course, I don't think this is mutually exclusive with the HERV theory, meaning we could be seeing multiple things going on.
As far as HERVs go, is it possible that the ARVs are acting to inhibit these HERVS? I think ARVs are just biological parlor tricks in essence.
Excellent conversation--thank you Rebecca! So refreshing to hear your and Dr. Irwin's sane and life-affirming perspectives! What made me first question the covid hype 5 years ago was when they didn't allow family members to be with their elderly loved ones in assisted living places or hospitals. I was horrified by that and glad my own aged parents had already passed on well before this mass hysteria broke out.
Great interview. I was very touched at hearing Rebecca talk about her father. It was a very difficult time for the whole family, but especially for Nick whose health declined during lockdown. So hard to live with that isolation. Fortunately, he was able to stay home for most of his illness and we were all with him as he was in palliative care. Thank you for your kindness, Dr Irwin. Kudos to you Rebecca, love mom
Thanks mom. 💚 It means the world to me that you & E & M support me.
I just got to the section of the conversation about you talking about the Covid antibody study. That was fascinating, I didn't know about that, especially the 4th draw and you had no antibody response. One book I'm hoping to read soon is Can You Catch A Cold that talks specifically about this situation.
I'm getting back to listening to this. Much like beriberi and pallegra, there was also the SMON fiasco in Japan that was for a long time blamed on a virus. Turns out it was toxicology of the drug clioquinol.
“Can You Catch a Cold” is a great book. And at least argues that if illnesses are “infectious“ it is much more complex than shaking hands were giving a hug to the wrong person at the wrong time :-).
In August 2024 I reviewed the book in my newsletter. The discussion is way down at the bottom of the newsletter after lots of other topics. Here is a quote.
“Research of the Month: Can you catch a cold?
What would you say if I told you I wanted to inject the mucus from someone diagnosed with “the flu” up your nose as part of a clinical trial? You’d say I was crazy and might also want to lock me up! However, this kind of study was done over and over again including in 1918, 1919, and 1920 with people diagnosed with the scariest form of influenza ever, the so-called “Spanish flu”.
Over 200 research studies have looked at this, and what they found will definitely surprise you. They have been described eloquently by Daniel Roytas, along with the history of fears of contagion and other explanations for illness, in a new book published in 2024, called “Can You Catch a Cold?”.
In a typical study researchers took mucous from people who have “the Spanish flu” and injected it into the noses and eyes of healthy volunteers. What happens when you do this? The large majority do not get sick, and when they do get sick only a very small percentage get flu-like symptoms. In 36% of the studies, with over 700 participants total, zero of them got sick and “all subjects remained well”. In the minority of subjects that did develop symptoms, they usually had a mild illness such as a sore throat or runny nose that lasted a few days and did not resemble the flu, even in 1918 and 1919 with the “deadly Spanish flu”. “