Extracts
Extract One: Quackery everywhere
In this extract, Geffen conveys the ubiquity of untested medicines. While the advertising methods and hyperbolic claims of the sellers of these goods are often entertaining, the extract ends with a gruesome story showing the serious consequences of quackery.
Extract Two: TAC’s civil disobedience campaign
The TAC’s tactics have been widely acclaimed. In this extract Geffen describes the thinking and events behind TAC’s most controversial actions: its civil disobedience campaign in 2003.
Extract Three: The case against Matthias Rath
The TAC’s successful court case against the vitamin salesman Matthias Rath and the Minister of Health was widely publicised. Rath had claimed in adverts that vitamins alone could treat AIDS and that antiretrovirals (ARVs) were toxic. He was also testing his vitamins in unauthorised experiment in Khayelitsha on people with AIDS. TAC had tried in vain to persuade the state to take action against Rath and so the organisation went to court. This extract from Geffen’s book conveys the hard work that went into the case as well as some of the amusing shenanigans that took place.
