Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos
The Perth Group and the search for truth using the scientific method
A year ago, science lost a big fighter for truth. In times like this, we need to remember people like Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos. Not only because she spent most of her life questioning and searching for the truth, but also because she was an example of how one can transform suffering into strength, pain into light for humanity, and most importantly, how to keep the focus on what you meant to do in your life no matter how many forces come to pull you away from that path.
On January 10, 2022, I emailed Val Turner from The Perth Group in order to conduct a short online interview with Eleni regarding the points in common I found between the AIDS scam and CONVID. That´s when he told me she was not well enough to make it, but he offered to send her my questions and that she would answer them. I thought I could wait until she got well in order to make the video interview. I lost that chance.
March 30, 2022
Thank you very much Misha.
[…]
It is such a pity she did not live to see what happens following the revival in the interest of her work that has arisen because of COVID-19 and the internet. She did notice hints and was glad that the younger generation seemed to be taking up the task.
At some stage I am going to write something about Eleni. Not now. Maybe in a few weeks.
Best wishes,
Val
March 9, 2023
[…] and I wanted to ask you if there is any chance you can send me some lines about your thoughts about her as you were fighting close together the nonsense of the harmless non-existent phantom back in the 80s and 90s. Those lines will be printed as "Some words from Val Turner from the Perth Group in memory of Eleni."
[…]
Best wishes,
Misha
Some words from Val Turner from the Perth Group in memory of Eleni
Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos
Eleni Papadopulos (1938-2022) was born at home in the village of Makrochory, Kastoria in Greek Macedonia. As a primary school student, she and her brother Dmitris joined the Greek kinder diaspora, two of ten thousand children sent to Soviet dominated countries of Eastern Europe to escape the nationalist- communist Greek civil war (1946-49). Most went to Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Eleni completed virtually all her education in Romania, graduating with a Masters degree in nuclear physics at the University of Bucharest. Twenty seven years would pass before Eleni would see both parents again, and her new, 13 year old, Australian born brother. In 1965 she was reunited with her family in Perth, Western Australia. At her funeral her younger brother described her homecoming: "She arrived in little back water Perth of the 1960s from Bucharest, an elegant, cultured lady calling people like Mikis Theodorakis of Zorba the Greek fame among her friends, and an educated woman, a nuclear physicist. Then there was Mum and Dad, still with a village mentality, trying to marry her off even before she had stepped off the plane. After all, she was 29 and unmarried. She was bringing shame to the family. Well don’t you think there was a clash of personalities in the Papadopulos household! The mentality at the time was a bit like the Taliban of present – girls didn’t need an education".
She learnt English and eventually got a job with a motor rewiring firm. Then she taught high school science. She was offered a position at the newly minted Australian Atomic Energy Commission in Sydney, New South Wales. She had to decline, as it would have meant further separation from family. In June 1968 she was appointed a staff physicist at the Royal Perth Hospital, Department of Medical Physics. Ultimately, she would spend 54 years working at this major teaching hospital. She was still on the books when she died.
The Department of Medical Physics played an important role in radiation treatment services for cancer in Western Australia. This necessitated Eleni spending several years in self-learning cellular physiology. In her words, "To understand the interaction between the agents used to treat cancer and cancer tissue, I first needed to determine what makes a cell cancerous. I decided the best way to approach this was to attempt to fully understand the normal cell". From 1977 onwards, she published several papers on carcinogenesis. Her redox theory of normal and neoplastic cell functioning was published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in 1982. Experimental research published subsequently confirmed predictions of her theory. One of her confirmed predictions is a good candidate for a biological law. These papers are at The Perth Group Website.
In September 1976 Eleni married Kosta Eleopulos. Coincidentally, he was also a child sent to Romania who eventually found his way to Australia. Their marriage was very happy for five years. They had just built their forever home when Kosta was diagnosed with gastric cancer. He died in September 1982. His death broke Eleni. Not only did she lose her soul mate, she blamed herself. She believed she should have been able to save him with the knowledge she had acquired during her decade of study. Eleni carried this burden for the rest of her life.
When GenXers and what’s left of the Boomers depart this mortal coil, there’ll be no one with lived experience of an AIDS-free world. Likewise, no one will know there was a three year (1981-84) interregnum between the advent of AIDS and HIV declared "the probable cause of AIDS" at a Washington D.C. press conference held on April 23rd 1984. During the 1970s Eleni’s extensive studies included contemporary and historical evidence on viruses and cancers in animals. Her rule was, wherever possible, study the original publications. Her ability to read several languages, including Russian, proved a boon. By the end of the interregnum she realized there was enough evidence to apply her redox theory to the specific problem of AIDS. The theory is based on the fact that individuals in all AIDS risk groups have repeated exposures to a heterogeneous group of substances that share a common property. All are cellular oxidants. Cellular oxidation affects all cells in the body, not just immune system cells. Cellular oxidation injures cells to the point of their acquiring susceptibility to the microbes and development of cancers that underlie the AIDS diseases. It also produces biochemical "signals" that, in her view, virologists had mistakenly interpreted as evidence of a new retrovirus.
As most of us know, when a physician is faced with a puzzling illness, the word "virus" will not be far away. Since her theory had no need for viruses, Eleni put herself at odds with the contemporary wisdom. Twice her theory was submitted to Nature but rejected. Eventually it was published in 1988 in Medical Hypotheses. Subsequently, the rapid ascendancy of the HIV theory portended difficulty publishing alternative theories or critiques of the HIV theory. Leading science journals rejected heterodox submissions. The inevitable appeals and responses to editors delayed publication in other places. Unfortunately, the virology community mostly eschewed the time-honored practice of defending their theory via correspondence with journal editors. Their stated reason being that responding would dignify non-HIV theories. Nonetheless and despite her theory being disregarded and sometimes ridiculed, Papadopulos persisted.
In 1989 several scientists published experiments confirming a prediction of Eleni’s theory. The tissues of AIDS patients and those at risk of AIDS are oxidized. A decade later, other scientists demonstrated that reducing substances, that is, compounds that counteract oxidation, improve immune function and benefit AIDS patients. These non-toxic and relatively cheap compounds were not further investigated.
In total Eleni’s published peer-reviewed and unreviewed papers, and those solely online, argue there was no evidence that: (1) HIV causes AIDS; (2) "HIV" antibodies are caused by HIV; (3) HIV causes Kaposi’s sarcoma, one of the two diseases for which the HIV theory was proposed. Without any mention of Papadopulos, in 1992 the AIDS establishment quietly accepted this as fact (but still classify Kaposi’s sarcoma as an AIDS disease). (4) HIV causes "destruction of the immune system"; (5) AZT is an "anti-HIV" drug; (6) HIV is sexually transmitted. As a finale and as she had done many times previously, Eleni repeated her challenge to HIV itself. On this occasion she wrote a serially rejected manuscript, concluding that the 1983/84 Science papers of Montagnier and Gallo do not prove the existence of HIV.
Reflecting on her theory in Looking back on the oxidative stress theory of AIDS in 1998, Eleni Papadopulos wrote, "The whole purpose of a scientific theory is to explain the mechanism behind observations and make predictions. If a theory cannot explain the observations for which it was put forward, or if its predictions are not fulfilled, then it should be abandoned. In this regard, despite the lapse of 18 years, there is still no proof as to the cause(s) of AIDS. Of course, there are theories but the biggest obstacle in overcoming the problem of AIDS, and proving its cause, is that one of these theories, the HIV theory, has been uncritically accepted since 1984. However, of all the theories, the HIV is the least likely". Anyone interested in Eleni’s work will find this paper a relatively easy introduction to her ideas.
In 2020 Eleni developed atrial fibrillation and heart failure. She was hospitalized several times with exacerbations of her disease. Towards the end I spent many evenings at her bedside. We often talked about her life in Romania. She loved buying the flowers the gypsies brought to the market place. Eleni said during the time she and her brother spent in Romania they were made welcome, well looked after, and well educated. Once, over three nights, Eleni gave me a scholarly soliloquy on the very complicated history of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Inexorably heart failure took over Eleni’s life, and she suffered. On this day in 2022 it took her life. Many came to mourn our loss at the Macedonian Church in North Perth. Her younger brother gave the eulogy. He ended by expressing his hope that one day somebody will rediscover and champion her ideas. She was returned to the earth on a sunny afternoon at Karakatta Cemetery. In the Greek style we celebrated with morsels of bread the priest had anointed with red wine and blessed. We complemented these with one or two mouthfuls of the best whiskey. Ravens tapped respectfully at tidbits in the grass between the gravestones.
Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos’ life and death is redolent of Hypatia of Alexandria. Two Greek women, separated by fifteen centuries, seeped in knowledge and intensely curious about the world they inhabited.
Requiescat in pace
Valendar F. Turner
Perth Western Australia
March 19th 2023
About The Perth Group
The Perth Group was formed in 1981 in Perth, Western Australia. The three original members are the leader, biophysicist Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, emergency physician Valendar F Turner, and Professor of Pathology John Papadimitriou. Over the years, several other scientists have contributed to or joined the Group. These are physicists Bruce Hedland-Thomas, David Causer, and Barry Page, Florida USA biochemist Todd Miller and Colombian physician/medical researcher Helman Alfonso. The Perth Group has published scientific papers and letters in peer-reviewed medical journals as well as in the popular press. Two of the group are invited members of the Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel and have presented their material in various forums, including the Presidential Panel and via satellite at the Geneva International AIDS Conference.
Thank you for this wonderful information about a stellar researcher and lady. I will be reading further💜. MHDSRIP
My heart is full. Thank you!