Mirko Beljanski
Mirko Beljanski (27 March 1923 – 28 October 1998) was a French-Serbian molecular biologist, notable in the latter part of his career for devising and promoting a number of questionable cancer treatments, and for treating French president François Mitterrand with them.[1] He was tried and convicted for illegally practicing medicine in France.
Career
Beljanski was born in 1923 in Yugoslavia. He came to France to study, and lived there for the rest of his life.[2] He was married to Monique.[3] He received a PhD in 1948 from the University of Paris.[2] In 1948, he entered the CNRS and worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris as a researcher in molecular biology.[4] He made several discoveries while studying RNA and DNA. Beljanski was made to leave the Pasteur Institute in 1978, after pursuing research against the advice of the institute, but still continued to publish scientific papers.[2] He was at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Châtenay-Malabry until his retirement in 1988.[2]
In his lifetime, Beljanski published a total of 133 scientific papers,[5] mostly written in French.[6]
Beljanski believed he had found antivirals effective against cancer and AIDS.[4] A product made from extracts of the Brazilian paopereira tree[2] and called PB100 was claimed to be superior to AZT, which Beljanksi called "real poison".[3] Customers included François Mitterrand (via a homeopath called Philippe de Kuyper).[2][3] There was never any evidence that any of the products Beljanski promoted were effective medicine;[1] the French Department of Health accused him of illegally practising medicine in 1991, and he was sentenced in March 1994.[4]
Beljanski died from cancer in Paris on 27 October 1998.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Jean-Marie Abgrall (1 January 2000). Healing Or Stealing?: Medical Charlatans in the New Age. Algora Publishing. pp. 136–. ISBN 978-1-892941-28-2.
- ^ a b c d e f "L'Etrange cas du professeur Beljanski". Le Point (in French). 26 January 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ a b c "Mirko Beljanski: Je préfère me mettre dans l'illégalité". L'Humanité (in French). 5 October 1993. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ a b c Kouchner, Annie (20 January 1996). "14 ans d'intrigues à l'Élysée". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ http://www.beljanski.com/eng/beljanski/133%20publications.html
- ^ "Mirko Beljanski". Mbschachter.com. Retrieved 2013-11-27.