Canadian prof to testify for Noakes

Published Nov 24, 2015

Share

Cape Town - A Canadian professor will give testimony, via Skype, during the Health Professions Council of South Africa’s (HPCSA) hearing into the professional conduct of Professor Tim Noakes.

Noakes’s lawyer, advocate Michael van der Nest, made an application to the hearing to allow Stephen Cunnane to testify. Cunnane is a specialist in brain metabolism and ageing at the Université de Sherbrooke, and author of Survival Of The Fattest.

Noakes is facing allegations of unprofessional conduct on social media after he allegedly advised a woman on Twitter on February 5, 2014 to wean her baby on to a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet. The tweet reads: “Baby doesn’t eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high-fat breast milk. Key is to ween baby onto LCHF.”

If found guilty, he could lose his licence as a medical doctor.

Noakes, a sports scientist, is an advocate of the LCHF Banting diet.

 

Association for Dietetics in South Africa’s (ADSA) former president, Claire Strydom, laid a complaint on February 6 last year with the HPCSA’s legal office as a matter of public interest. She said Noakes had given incorrect medical advice and his tweet was not evidence-based, and the advice could be life-threatening.

The hearing, which was first scheduled for June but was postponed, is taking place at the Belmont Square Conference Centre in Rondebosch. At the first day of the hearing on Monday, a large media contingent was joined by Noakes supporters clad in red.

During the hearing, Van der Nest argued that Cunnane be allowed to testify via video link as national experts had shown reluctance to testify for Noakes.

But HPCSA’s pro-forma complainant Meshak Mapolisa argued that Cunnane should not be allowed to testify via video link due to reasons that included the possibility of load shedding during testimony or poor connection problems. Chairwoman of the six-member committee Advocate Joane Adams later ruled in favour of the defence.

Strydom was called by the HPCSA as a factual witness. She said Noakes had given advice on Twitter without knowing the medical history or the age of the baby.

But Van der Nest said Strydom was giving expert advice as she was talking about doctors and their social media conduct.

 

“We have not prepared to examine this witness as an expert, we have prepared to examine this witness as a factual witness.

“They cannot disrupt the process by, at the last minute, calling a factual witness as an expert,” Van der Nest told the committee.

 

The case was adjourned to give the HPCSA time to prepare Strydom accordingly.

The hearing continues on Tuesday, and is set to continue for the next six days.

*

Noakes said the hearing was an opportunity to present his crucial evidence to support his belief in the LCHF diet as he had not been afforded the chance to do so by the scientific community.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the hearing, a confident Noakes said obesity and diabetes were preventable, “but you have to address the causes”.

“Finally I get a chance to present the evidence because I’m not invited to present this evidence to the scientific community. I don’t get invited to talk at conferences on this topic and you have to ask, why is that? Why are we not acknowledging the totality of the evidence… Why do we look at the small section and then say diabetes is a complex disease?”

Noakes said while he could have avoided the “misconduct inquiry” as he was no longer a practising medical doctor, he decided to go ahead as he felt strongly that people needed to “hear the truth”.

“I’ve incurred enormous costs to my person… financial costs and other costs because I believe so strongly that this message has to get out. That’s why I’m here,” he said.

Cape Times, Cape Argus

 

Related Topics: