PROFESSOR GIULIO TARRO: SCIENCE AND FAITH
STEFANIA BORRELLI INTERVIEWS THE
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED VIROLOGIST GIULIO TARRO
Intervista per Stefania Borrelli
Professor Tarro, an internationally renowned virologist, disciple of Albert Sabin - father of the polio vaccine - of which he directed the laboratory after his disappearance, explains to Stefania Borrelli his position about the establishment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the management of the Coronavirus Emergency. He also affirms that Religion and Science not only "can" but "must" work together.
IN ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION
MAY 29, 2020
1. Professor Tarro, Lei ha recentemente comunicato che il magistrato Angelo Giorgianni, insieme alla consulenza scientifica del professore di medicina legale Pasquale Bacco, chiede che venga istituita una Commissione parlamentare d’inchiesta per far luce su questi mesi di chiusura forzata e soprattutto: “Sulle verità intoccabili di alcuni scienziati ‘accreditati’ che hanno prospettato tesi catastrofiche sull’evoluzione e sui rischi della pandemia. In un’intervista Lei stesso afferma che il fine ultimo dei medici e degli scienziati è quello di porsi al servizio dell’umanità: se ciò non sta avvenendo, qual è o chi ne è la causa?
«Mi rifaccio a quando dichiaravo in un mio libro, Una medicina per la gente, qualche anno fa. In quell’opera dicevo “Sono un medico”. Non immagina quanto nella mia vita sia stato importante essere un medico. “Quando ho cominciato ad esserlo, più o meno cinquanta anni fa” - scrivevo – “questo termine indicava uno schivo professionista che, in un riservato silenzio, si limitava a mettere la sua conoscenza e il suo acume al servizio del malato. Non gli si chiedeva nient’altro. La malattia era una faccenda squisitamente privata, la discrezione il marchio della Medicina. Oggi, invece, sempre più medici dilagano sugli schermi televisivi; in alcuni casi tirati per la giacca a discettare su psicosi, in altri, ad alimentare o lenire quella ansia da salutismo forse inevitabile in una popolazione, come quella italiana, che non fa più figli e che è sempre più vecchia”. Lo scrivevo anni fa e mi creda, avrei potuto supporre, ma sicuramente non avrei mai immaginato che potessimo arrivare a tanto.
Ciò premesso, condivido pienamente e faccio mia la petizione di Angelo Giorgianni per la istituzione di una Commissione Parlamentare d’inchiesta sulla gestione dell’Emergenza Coronavirus. Io ed altre persone abbiamo umilmente messo a disposizione della Comunità il nostro sapere, ma le nostre teorie, dimostratesi successivamente scientificamente fondate, non solo non sono state neppure valutate, ma altre volte liquidate come “sciocchezze” e noi trattati come eretici da esperti “accreditati” presso le Istituzioni deputate alla gestione. Le drammatiche conseguenze di questa epidemia, con conseguente sofferenza sociale reclamano una risposta ai gravi interrogativi di Angelo Giorgianni, comuni a tante persone addetti ai lavori e non. Queste risposte servono anche a restituire credibilità della Comunità scientifica, messa a dura prova da affermazioni oscillanti e contrastanti riconducibili spesso alle stesse persone, con grave disorientamento per l’opinione pubblica. Rinnovo la mia disponibilità a collaborare con la Commissione predetta».
1. Professor Tarro, you recently said that the magistrate Angelo Giorgianni, together with the scientific advisory group of Pasquale Bacco, Professor of forensic medicine, asks for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to be set up to shed light on these months of forced lock-down and above all: "On the untouchables truths of some 'accredited' scientists who have predicted catastrophic theses on the evolution and risks of the pandemic.
In an interview, you yourself say that the ultimate goal of doctors and scientists is to put themselves at the service of humanity: if this is not happening, what is the cause or who is causing it?
«I refer to when I declared in one of my books , A medicine for people, a few years ago. In that work I said "I'm a doctor". You cannot imagine how important it has been to be a doctor in my life. "When I started , more or less fifty years ago" - I wrote - "the meaning of this term referred to a shy professional who, in a reserved silence, limited himself to putting his knowledge and his acumen at the service of the patient. Nothing else was asked of him. Illness was a purely private matter, discretion the hallmark of Medicine. Today, however, more and more doctors are rampant on television screens; in some cases, pulled by the jacket to talk about psychosis, in others, to feed or soothe that anxiety that is perhaps inevitable in a population, like the Italian one, that no longer has children and that is getting older ".
I wrote it years ago and believe me, I could have guessed, but surely I never imagined that we could go that far.
That said, I fully agree with Angelo Giorgianni's petition for the establishment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the management of the Coronavirus Emergency. Other people and I humbly made our knowledge available to the Community, but our theories, which subsequently proved scientifically based, were not only not even evaluated, but other times dismissed as "nonsense" and we treated as heretics by "accredited" experts in the Institutions responsible for management. The dramatic consequences of this epidemic, with consequent social suffering, call for an answer to Angelo Giorgianni's serious questions, common to many people working in the field and not. These responses also serve to restore the credibility of the scientific community, severely tested by oscillating and conflicting statements often attributable to the same people, with serious disorientation for public opinion. I renew my willingness to collaborate with the aforementioned Commission ".
2. Professor Tarro, Il filosofo Friedrich Nietzsche, con la sua frase “Dio è morto”, annunciava la decadenza del mondo occidentale, aprendo la strada al nichilismo. Dio ovviamente non solo è morto ma non è mai esistito per la maggior parte degli scienziati, gli stessi scienziati che si ritengono spesso entusiasti del proprio lavoro... ignari che la parola “Entusiasta”, dal greco, vuol dire “avere Dio dentro, essere ispirati da Dio”. Facendo quindi riferimento ad uno dei suoi libri “Una Medicina per la Gente” , Lei afferma che una scienza che si ponesse come fine quello di una assoluta conoscenza, illudendosi di sostituirsi alla religione sarebbe quanto di più arido si possa immaginare. Religione e Scienza non solo "possono" ma "devono" lavorare insieme.
Professor Tarro, dove potrà arrivare secondo Lei “certa” Scienza oggi? O meglio, fino a che punto potranno alcuni scienziati nuocere l’umanità, negando verità, imbavagliando il pensiero con tecniche di persuasione ... non riconoscendo la necessaria collaborazione tra Scienza e Fede?
«A breve termine questi scienziati saranno e continueranno a stare ovunque, sicuramente in televisione e sui giornali. A lungo termine la storia narrerà di anni bui e densi di contraddizioni scientifiche e oscurantismo, dove le fake news hanno regnato sovrane. Dove si è fatto del semplicismo il sinonimo della semplificazione. Mi sono trovato al centro di polemiche strumentali perché non si sono lette o ascoltate le mie parole. Il semplicismo ha stravolto quello di cui mi sono fatto convintamente portavoce. Sempre rifacendomi alla mia opera, Una medicina per la gente, riporto parte di una mia “felice” affermazione, oggi più attuale che mai: “Non esiste una divinità chiamata ‘Scienza’ o ‘Medicina’. Esistono scienziati e medici. Non pochi, aggrappati alle loro ‘certezze’ o ai loro sponsor, capaci di additare come un eretico da eliminare chi, come me, ha sollevato dubbi. Quarant’anni di battaglie contro questa casta, per una medicina al servizio della gente.” E a proposito di “eretici”, cosa che per alcuni sono diventato, ricordo: dal rogo di Giordano Bruno alla fine poco dignitosa di Galilei sono passati secoli sempre più illuminati dalla ragione e l’uomo è tornato al centro dell’universo. Grazie alla Fisica quantistica ci rendiamo conto della sovrapposizione di fede e fiducia nella interpretazione perfino dei miracoli con l’obiettivo finale della salute come bene indispensabile. Salute, bene indispensabile, in balia del qualunquismo e semplicismo, anche in ambito medico».
Photo: Giordano Bruno statue’s in Rome
2. Professor Tarro, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, with his quote "God is dead", announced the decadence of the western world, opening the way to nihilism. Obviously God not only is dead but never existed for most scientists, the same scientists who often consider themselves enthusiastic about their work ... unaware that the word "Enthusiastic", from Greek, means "to have God inside", “to be inspired by God” . We could therefore refer to one of your books "A Medicine for the People" in which you affirm that “a science whose goal is that of an absolute knowledge, deluding to be able to replace itself with religion would be as arid as one can imagine. Religion and Science not only "can" but "must" work together.” Professor Tarro, where do you think "certain" Science will go today? Or rather, to what extent can some scientists harm humanity, denying truth, gagging the thought with persuasive techniques ... not recognizing the necessary collaboration between Science and Faith?
«In the short term, these scientists will be and will continue to be everywhere, certainly on television and in the newspapers. In the long run, the story will tell of dark years full of scientific contradictions and obscurantism, where fake news reigned supreme. Where simplism has become the synonym of simplification. I found myself at the center of instrumental controversy because my words were not read or listened to. The simplism has overturned what I have convinced myself as a spokesperson. Always referring to my work, A medicine for the people, I report part of my "happy" statement, today more current than ever: "There is no divinity called 'Science' or 'Medicine'. There are scientists and doctors. Not a few, clinging to their 'certainties' or their sponsors, capable of pointing out like a heretic to be eliminated who, like me, has raised doubts. Forty years of battles against this caste, for a medicine to serve the people. And speaking of "heretics", which I have become for some, I remember: from Giordano Bruno's stake to Galilei's undignified end, centuries have passed, more and more enlightened by reason and man has returned to the center of the universe. Thanks to quantum physics, we realize the overlap of faith and trust in the interpretation of even miracles with the ultimate goal of health as an indispensable asset. Health, an indispensable asset, at the mercy of qualunquismo and simplism, even in the medical field ".
3. Vede una via d'uscita in tutto questo? Pensa che alla fine - e in realtà - si stia investendo molto di più per tenere sotto controllo la gente (causando crisi economica e sociale)?
Mi permetta una battuta: a questo punto, non era meglio essere "controllati" da un Dio (senza un vero controllo ma dalla semplice fede) che non richiede investimenti monetari?
Professor Tarro, do you see a way out of all this? Do you think that in the end - and in reality - much more investment is being made to keep people under control (causing an economic and social crisis)?
Allow me to tell a joke: at this point, was it not better to be "controlled" by a God (without real control but by simple faith) who does not require monetary investments?
«La fede non è per tutti e per nessuno ha lo stesso significato. La scienza e’ figlia di Dio, che è padre di tutto. Dio non ci controlla, ci lascia liberi, di credere o non credere. Liberi di crescere o non crescere. Liberi di studiare o non studiare. Liberi di essere o di sembrare. Io sono un medico libero che crede in Dio e nella Scienza».
«Faith is not for everyone and for nobody it has the same meaning. Science is the daughter of God, who is the father of everything. God does not control us, he leaves us free, to believe or not to believe. Free to grow or not to grow. Free to study or not to study. Free to be or to appear. I am a free doctor who believes in God and in Science.
GRAZIE PROFESSOR TARRO!
Below, the English translation of the request for a parliamentary commission of inquiry presented by the scientific advisory group of Pasquale Bacco, Professor of forensic medicine.
The article is translated for information purpose only -
May 29, 2020 -
SOURCE: https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/cronaca/covid-un-gruppo-di-medici-al-governo-revocare-i-provvedimenti-prudenziali-mancano-i-presupposti-di-fatto_18845601-202002a.shtml
Covid, a group of doctors have sent a request to the Government asking them to be aware of the resolutions in light of the evidence on the epidemic which has proved to be "a flu form no more serious than other coronaviruses".
"The government must lift the containment measures issued on the basis of a state of emergency of which today there are no factual conditions that justify their application". The document dismantles the "points of the alarmist narrative on the coronavirus" through documentary evidence and field experience, and the government is asked to justify the choices made on the basis of the observations of "experts" of which, according to the authors of the instance , neither authority nor experience are known ("there may be conflicts of interest"). Doctors also criticize the measure that requires the use of masks: "Wearing them for hours hurts, with risks of hypercapnia and micro-organisms superinfections".
A number of bans persist that does not find scientific legitimation The request was signed by Pasquale Mario Bacco, Antonietta Gatti, Mariano Amici, Carmela Rescigno, Fabio Milani, Maria Grazia Dondini. In the dcoument, doctors show how it is paradoxical that "even today, despite a clearly positive health picture, an impressive number of obligations and prohibitions persist which do not find any scientific and even less legal legitimacy". On the other hand, they explain, there remains "a confused, contradictory and unjustified regulation for those who have a daily and direct verification with the situation of the patients".
Stop with alarming news. Doctors are convinced that "in the first place it is necessary to clarify in a unique, clear and scientifically credible way that Covid-19 has proven to be a flu form no more serious than other seasonal coronaviruses: despite the WHO has declared the pandemic emergency on March 11, the official numbers of the deceased, the infected and the recovered contradict the very definition of 'pandemic' - they write - It is necessary to give correct information and provide criteria for understanding the real data, preventing the media from spreading alarming news, in our opinion absolutely unjustified. The statistical trivialization of deaths is the synthesis of an institutional communication that has prevented, for the whole emergency and still today, from having a clear summary of the situation, leading to a vicious circle in terms of sanitary measures and social impact ".
The truth about the victims. The experts wonder why continuing with the daily "war bulletins" without analyzing the data, which in this way only create an alarmism "unfounded from a clinical and epidemiological point of view". As stated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the identikit of the victims continues to be that of the beginning of the epidemic: the average age is 80 years, mainly men and with serious previous pathologies. If in the daily press releases only "the deaths for Covid, and only Covid, were given, what would be the variance from the official averages in previous years for similar pathologies?", They observe.
Swabs are not reliable instruments. Doctors also ask, "what are the real reasons why in some areas of Northern Italy there has been such an abnormal spread and a lethality so much higher than in other areas of the country, even neighboring" . The request also talks about swabs, which are not a reliable tool since there have been "false positives" and "false negatives" and "consequently, the percentages obtained from the number of swabs must be interpreted and explained to both health professionals and media and the population, avoiding unnecessary alarmism ". It was Professor Ricciardi, an advisor to the Ministry of Health, who said that "today all over the world we have tests that are not perfect from the point of view of sensitivity because they are developed in a short time and need to be perfected. So there is a ample likelihood to overestimate positivity. "
Why the findings of doctors on the field were not taken into account It is therefore necessary to clarify "what is the reason why it was decided not to take into consideration the studies and findings of doctors and specialists engaged in the field, favoring the questionable approach by the 'experts' even where contradicted by documented cases; the use of pulmonary ventilators also seems at least controversial ", given that in the majority of cases it was pulmonary thromboembolism and not pneumonia.
Why preventing autopsies? Another question that is not answered, they argue, is "why the autopsy tests were prevented, which instead proved, when performed, an irreplaceable source of very valuable information and which allowed to discover that the main cause of deaths it was not the virulence of the pathology, but its wrong treatment ".
Why the sick in the RSA and why still keep the distances where not necessary And then "for what reason, on WHO's recommendation, arrangements have been made to transfer elderly patients to RSA (Residenza Sanitaria Assistenziale /sanitary residence care = Nursing Homes ), with well-known consequences" and "for what reason stubbornly continue to 'threaten' future, possible scenarios of tightening containment measures, as if the epidemiology depended only on the failure to comply with health provisions whose effectiveness is at least doubtful: no scientific evidence allows us to affirm that at this stage of the epidemic it is still necessary to maintain safety distances, using masks, wearing gloves as well as taking care of hand hygiene ". The use of mask which is strongly criticized for the collateral damage it entails.
The complaint is ready in the event of a failure to respond Finally, the experts conclude, "we trust, in a spirit of sincere collaboration, to receive an answer to these observations of ours, which will allow us to put an end to the dangerous speculations of those who, before amateurism, raises the doubt that the Covid-19 is used for ulterior motives ". In the event that the government and the other authorities requested do not respond within the terms established by law, the doctors will proceed with a complaint.