NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM NEW SCIENTIST 22 MARCH 1973

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00999A000300030029-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 26, 2003
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: March 22, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

Less than .^ months after i ,For`I ele' !20{ 9 AVb-6 ? 6ft9-8
co' ented all"W t e ~Alr`.i t'ub"
fhn hnnlc h:as achieved an um, 'co'
sale of more than 750 000 hard-cover
copies. But, along with the public ac-
claim, Dr Atkins has found himself
-reasingly a pariah in establishment
ies. Earlier this month, both the
American Medical Association and the
New York County Medical Society-
the former the equivalent of the BMA,
the latter a local body that in Uieory has
disciplinary authority over Dr' Atkins-
went on record with public statements
that denounced the diet as unrevolu-
tionary, unbalanced, and possibly unsafe.
The Atkins diet is a high-protein, low-
carbohydrate combination that for the
first week denies users all access to
carbohydrates-fruits, juices and vege-
tables as well as cake and ice cream-
and thereafter allows them to eat only
small amounts of favourite vegetables and
fruits. At the same time, patients are
encouraged to cat as much meat, eggs,
butter and similar fatty products as they
wish. The purpose of the diet is to put
the body in a state known as ketosis: in
this state, incompletely metabolised fats
leave the body via the breath and urine.
The effect, Atkins claims, is to allow the
dieter whose self-control leaves a lot
to be desired to consume many more
calories than he would under a normal
reducing diet without the penalty of put-
ting on extra pounds.
Atkins states that lie has tried out the
diet successfully on more than 10 000
patients in his private practice, but
medical authorities dispute both the
? idity and safety of the regimen. In an
...,usual intervention, the AMA's Council
on Foods and Nutrition issued a state-
ment describing the diet as "grossly un-
balanced" and "unlikely to produce a
practical basis for long-term weight re-
duction". One basic concern of the
Council was the unlimited consumption
of foods rich in saturated fats and
cholesterol allowed by the diet. Such
consumption, the Council declared, can
increase the dieter's risk of suffering circu-
latory disease or heart attacks. A week
after this attack, the other shoe dropped.
The New York County Medical Society
issued its own rebuttal of the diet with
the comment that "the adverse effects of
a ketogenic diet include weakness, lack
of stamina for prolonged exertion, loss
of appetite, hti pcrlipidem a and hyperuri-
eemia with their potentially harmful
effects on the body".
In reply Atkins pointed out that neither
body had reviewed the unpublished
records of his own clinical investigations
of obese patients he had put on the diet,
and added that the AMA and the Society
had not in fact studied any group of
patients that had faithfully followed the
diet. He also suggested that in many
cases the diet led to falls in the levels
of cholesterol in the dieter. Obviously
11r. two sides and, as in :'any See^ntific
.,.erences of inion, .e auii;:c is left in
a general state of confusion. What is all
':at certain, though, is that obese Amer:-'
ens are sitting ducks for the next diet to
subject-parapsychology-is one of great ~?~~~
interest in student circles. While the U OO"
paranormal still carries the aura of I T`aw, - , ~
charlatanry and stage niagiciansliip that d ;Di i ca-L - - aye-- i l l
it has borne for nearly a decade, it is
becoming more respectable as a topic of
study in scientific laboratories. In early
March two physicists from the Stanford
Research Institute presented a Columbia
University Physics Dapartancnt col-
loquium with a report on recent studies
involving two psychics.
The colloquium had all the trappings
of a grand scientific occasion. The hall
was crowded with physics professors, the
parapsychology establishment of New
York, journalists, and graduates and
undergraduates attracted either by
genuine interest or coltish cariosity.
Murmurings of excitement greeted the
appearance of the SRI nhysicists-Russel
Targ and Harold Putoff. Their presenta-
tion was certainly spectacular in a
scientific sense-a brief description of
experiments in which Now York artist
and psychic Igno Swann influenced the
readings of a shielded magnetometer
simply by thinking, followed by a film of
Israeli psychic (and stage magician) Uri
Geller in action. Geller's profession is
designed to raise the Hackles of critics of
parapsychology, who claim that scientists
are simply too naive to cope with adept
stage performers but, according to Targ,
he and his colleague took just about
every precaution imaginable-including
consulting with a professional magician-
to make the experiments cheat-proof. For
example, they monitored Geller with a
magnetometer before and after every
experiment, and conducted many of the
studies in double-blind fashion. Neverthe-
less, Geller recorded 100 per cent success
an a variety of studies that included
reading figures concealed in double
scaled envelopes, detecting hidden ob-
jects in aluminium film cans, and causing
a laboratory balance to respond as if a
force were being applied to it.
The audience was generally friendly,
and questions were concerned more with
improving the experimental procedures
than with attacking the concept of study-
ing psychics in the laboratory. Targ was
.equally subdued in his conclusion: "We
do not claim that either man has psychic
powers," he said. "We draw no sweeping
conclusions as to the nature of these
phenomena or the need to call them
Is France slowly becoming a British
colony and will French technology, in
some fields at least, play "Indian" to
British masters? The whole idea of Great
Britain taking France over in certain
fields may sound both ludicrous and
absurd, but the French are taking it very
s e r i o u s I y. An organisation called
CACEPA, which keeps a wary eye on
French food technolo, y, has drawn up a
report for French agricultural coopera-
tives mailing it clear that if the present
penetration of British capital continues
France will, eventually, just supply the
raw materials from the fields, and the
British will carry out its transformation
into supermarketable goods.
Britain is not the only country within
the Common 'Market which has sen_-d
possibilities for expansion in food tech-
nology. The Dutch, too, are well in
evidence in France. But Britain leads
with 63 per cent of commercial takeo\ rs'
against 26 per cent by the Dutch.
Foreigners are now running about 20 per
cent of the French food industry.
In 1972 foreigners invested no h.ss
than #52 million in -.he French food
industries against #11 million five ye=ors
ago; this could be because French in-
vestors are not prepared to take a chance
on their own food technology, which still
remains stooped in tradition and is cer-
tainly riddled with prc~uaice. Dominated
by the idea that French cuisine Land
gastronomy hold a preponderant position
the average Frcncliuita: finds it difficult
to reconcile himself to bottled sauces. For
example, tomato sauce is still almost
impossible to find in French res:..urauts.
Frenchmen do not tale inarm. ..de for
breakfast and have not yet becb een-
deared to pork pies. -tsut the super-
markets stock them and sell their- as
they do dried soups, the popularity of
which is ever increasing.
French epicures never go within )00
yards of a supermarket but even in this
country of connoisseur>, food habits are
psychical. We have observed certain
phenomena with the subjects for which
Ave have no scientific explanation. All we
can say at this point is that further
investigation is clearly warranted." With
a cautious approach of this nature, it
could be that parapsychology will finally
undergo a "cruinely disinterested study
-me along that offers thi ping with - IS
:a;n king, a Mpprovea i-or Rele so~ 2003/0
The other example of the scientific
Peter Gwynne i changing and packaes are reel ncing'the
"fonds do veau" %' which take hours to
-00999tf NDW003Q02> -grance, as in every
other country, although not particularly
,prep: re. Here, perhaps, is tra,, main
reason way French f( ,,,l trout-',o,;y is
and few will believe it, 'JUL the ev deuce
is clear.
The termination of the Vietnam war hi as