Mirko Beljanski

Mirko Beljanski (27 March 1923 – 27 October 1998) was a French-Serbian molecular biologist, notable in the latter part of his career for devising and promoting a number of ineffective cancer treatments, and for treating French president François Mitterrand with them.[1]

Mirko Beljanski
Born(1923-03-27)March 27, 1923
Turija, Yugoslavia
DiedOctober 27, 1998(1998-10-27) (aged 75)
Paris, France
Alma materUniversity of Paris
Spouse(s)Monique Lucas
Children1
AwardsCharles-Léopold Mayer Prize (1960)
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular biology
InstitutionsPasteur Institute
Doctoral advisorMichel Macheboeuf

Beljanski was found guilty of medical malpractice in 1994. Both he and Mitterrand subsequently died of cancer.

Career

Beljanski was born in 1923 in Yugoslavia. After WWII, he came to France to study, and lived there for the rest of his life. He was married to Monique Lucas,[2] daughter of René Lucas and granddaughter of Pauline Ramart. He received a PhD in 1948 from the University of Paris. In 1948, he entered the CNRS and worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris as a researcher in molecular biology.[3]

In 1971, Beljanski discovered reverse transcriptase in bacteria.[4][5] This was part of a larger research on DNA and RNA that led him to oppose the central dogma of molecular biology promoted by Jacques Monod, head of the Pasteur Institute. After he pursued his work against the advice of the Institute, Beljanski was made to leave in 1978, but still continued to publish scientific papers.[6] He also obtained patents.[7] He was at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Châtenay-Malabry until his retirement in 1988.

Beljanski believed he had found antivirals effective against cancer and AIDS. A product made of flavopereirin, extracted from the Brazilian Pao pereira tree[8] and called PB100 was claimed to be superior to AZT, which Beljanski called "real poison".[2] Another molecule was rauvolfia vomitoria's alstonine.

There was never any evidence that any of the products Beljanski promoted were effective medicine; the French Department of Health accused him of illegally practicing medicine in 1991, and he was found guilty of malpractice in 1994.[6] However, for a time he found the powerful support of President François Mitterrand (via a homeopath called Philippe de Kuyper), who suffered from advanced prostate cancer.[9] In 1996, his laboratory was seized. The same year, Beljanski suffered from leukemia, and died in 1998. In 2002, the European court of human rights ruled that the length of a second criminal investigation had been excessive and made a financial award to his widow.[10][11]

Death and legacy

Beljanski died from cancer in Paris on 27 October 1998.[1]

A Beljanski Foundation was set up, with a branch in the United States that focuses on environmental toxins.[12]

The two compounds he believed were active against cancer were studied again by teams at the Columbia University,[13][14] the Kansas University Medical Center,[15] and the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. So far, all demonstrations were done in vitro or in vivo,[16][17] but not under double-blind clinical trials, a indispensable requirement.

Publications
  • Mirko Beljanski (1983). The Regulation of DNA Replication and Transcription (3 ed.). Demos Medical (2013). ISBN 9781620700198.

Full list

See also

References
  1. Abgrall, Jean-Marie (2007). Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age. Algora Publishing. pp. 137–138. ISBN 978-1-892941-28-2. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020.
  2. "Mirko Beljanski: Je préfère me mettre dans l'illégalité". L'Humanité (in French). 5 October 1993. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  3. Kouchner, Annie (20 January 1996). "14 ans d'intrigues à l'Élysée". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  4. Beljanski, Mirko (1972). "Synthèse in vitro de l'ADN sur une matrice d'ARN par une transcriptase d'Escherichia coli" (PDF). Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. D274: 2801–2804.
  5. Beljanski, Mirko (1973). "Séparation de la transcriptase inverse de l'ADN polymérase ADN dépendante. Analyse de l'ADN synthétisé sur le modèle de l'ARN transformant" (PDF). Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. D276: 1625–1628.
  6. "L'Etrange cas du professeur Beljanski". Le Point (in French). 26 January 2007. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
  7. "Mirko Beljanski Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  8. "Pao pereira | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  9. Eric Favereau (14 April 1995). "L'entourage d'un médecin de Mitterrand crée des remous". Libération (in French).
  10. "HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights". hudoc.echr.coe.int. Retrieved 2017-06-19.
  11. Scharf, Michael P.; Newton, Michael A.; Sterio, Milena (2015-05-28). Prosecuting Maritime Piracy: Domestic Solutions to International Crimes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316299852.
  12. Ellin, Abby (2009). "Flush Those Toxins! Eh, Not So Fast". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  13. "A Natural Approach To Cancer". royle.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  14. "Book Review:The Regulation of DNA Replication and Transcription. The Role of Trigger Molecules in Normal in Normal and Malignant Gene Expression. Mirko Beljanski, A. Wolsky". ResearchGate. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  15. "Boletín Armas para defender la salud". www.amcmh.org. Organización Mundial de la Salud. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  16. "Anti-prostate cancer activity of B-carboline alkaloid enriched extract for Rauwolfia vomitoria". International Journal of Oncology. 29: 1065–1073. 2006.
  17. "B-Carboline Alkaloid-Enriched Extract from the Amazonian Rain Forest Tree Pao Pereira suppresses Prostate Cancer Cells". Journal of Society Integrative Oncology. 7 (2): 59–65. 2009.
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