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Book Review
By Scott Tips
January 08, 2009

The Treason Within - The Threat To Your Health and How To Combat It by Dr. John Millward, B.M., B.Ch. (ISBN 09542968-6-9; Health Issues Ltd. Buckingham, England MK18 4JB; enquiries@iconmag.co.uk; paperback, 199 pages; no price listed)

After giving a speech in Bristol, England earlier this year, Dr. Millward handed me a copy of this book, autographed it, and suggested that I read it while traveling home. I’m glad that I did. But what can you say about a book that has everything? Speaking from the perspective of a British-licensed medical doctor with decades of medical experience, Dr. Millward takes on all of the sacred cows of medicine and health. No stones are left unturned, nor the filth underneath them.

The author asks the hard questions as he economically scans a witches’ brew of various health hazards and diseases, from doctors overly influenced by drug companies, the tobacco and cancer industries, the poisoning of our waters with toxic chemicals that we then ingest, electromagnetic pollution, parasites as a hidden disease, to governmental indifference and even malevolence towards our health. These are vast subjects, covered in only 199 pages. Through it all, though, he manages to slaughter these sacred cows and moreover with a politeness and finesse that is the near-monopoly talent of the British.

One particularly revealing example that the author gives from his own personal experience is the sudden and mysterious withdrawal of an antiviral drug that was to be launched in the United Kingdom in 1962. There was great anticipation of this drug, a wide-spectrum antiviral, since no antiviral drugs existed (only antibiotics that work against bacteria). The market was wide open to receiving and accepting this void-filling product. But, then, without any explanation, the antiviral was suppressed, leaving the population vulnerable to proliferating viral illnesses and with only vaccines and antibiotics to turn to for “protection.” “Could it be,” the author asks, “that the company realized that the reduction in viral illness could drastically reduce the demands for the company’s other products?” Forty years on, he (and presumably many readers as well) find it unbelievable that there are still no plausible allopathic treatments for viral illnesses.

In another chapter, Dr. Millward berates charities and their close association with organized, conventional medicine. The charities seem more interested in resisting the discovery of a cure for their “reason to exist” disease since otherwise they would be put out of business. They spend unconscionably-low percentages of their received donations on actually finding a cure, and instead work hand-in-glove with commercial interests to promote non-cures and dead-end approaches.

But there is so much more. Besides dealing with these and other problems, Dr. Millward offers solutions. Mineral deficiencies, he writes, abound; and they must be corrected for good health to take hold. For example, women’s greater need for selenium can lead them to infertility, polycystic ovaries, premenstrual tension, endometriosis, irregular periods, and migraines. Many hysterectomies, he thinks, could have been avoided with the simple addition of selenium to the diet.

In a chapter entitled “My Personal Choice of Tools and Treatments,” the author details his preference for the German diagnostic device called Vega as well as classical homeopathic and herbal remedies, Bach flower essences, aromatherapy oils, and dietary supplements. For an orthodox-trained medical doctor to embrace such alternative healthcare remedies is not unheard of, but neither is it a common occurrence, especially in a country such as Britain where public money is poured into a socialized healthcare system that enshrines the orthodox-medicine monopoly.

The book’s flaws? One wishes that some of the health dangers were covered in more depth and that names were named. Also, there is no index, which would have been helpful; but in its place there are a number of useful appendices that speak volumes about health practices and dangers in just a few short lists that the eye can readily grasp.

Yet, this is still a very useful book, with more than half of it devoted to solutions and not just criticisms. But, in the final analysis, Dr. Millward’s quote of an ancient Ayurvedic proverb sums up the essence of his worthwhile book far better than I ever could: “When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” Wise words, repeated to us by a doctor who thinks beyond conventional boundaries.