Leading scientists called on President Mbeki yesterday to dismiss Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African Health Minister, who advocates a healthy diet to combat HIV/Aids.
They accuse her of endangering lives by peddling “disastrous, pseudoscientific” views. In a scathing letter, 81 signatories, including a Nobel prize-winner, said that Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, widely known as Dr Garlic or Dr Beetroot for her eccentric views, had no international respect. They labelled her a national embarrassment in a country where about 1,000 people die each day of Aids.
The letter stated: “We . . . call for the immediate removal of Dr Tshabalala-Msimang as Minister of Health, and for an end to the disastrous, pseudo-scientific policies which have characterised the South African Government’s response to HIV/Aids.” Signatories included David Baltimore, the American microbiologist and Nobel laureate, and Robert Gallo, who developed the first HIV blood test and co-discovered HIV as the cause of Aids, and leading medical academics.