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Karl Loren Background

May 13, 1999

Karl Loren
International Academy of Anabiology
1831 North Bel Aire Drive
Burbank, California 91504

CERTIFIED Mail   
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED    

Re: Unauthorized Use of Registered Trademark - Heart-and-Torch Logo

Dear Mr. Loren:

It has come to our attention that you have been using the American Heart Association's heart-and-torch logo on your Web site as a link to the ABA's Web site.

The American Heart Association ("AHA") name and heart-and-torch logo are servicemarks registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The American Heart Association has a legal obligation to prevent infringement or unauthorized use of its servicemarks. Its failure to do so could cause the AHA to risk diluting the public good will and recognition associated with its servicemarks, and loss of protection for the servicemarks granted by registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The use of this servicemark by you is unauthorized and, therefore, is in violation of federal law.

Accordingly, the American Heart Association hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any and all further unauthorized use of its heart-and-torch servicemark, or its name or any other identifying marks, including as a link to the AHA's Web site. The American Heart Association further demands that you immediately destroy all unauthorized materials in your possession that may bear its servicemark upon receipt of this letter.

The AHA will vigorously defend its servicemark from any infringement, and the use of any and all of the names, logos and other identifying marks legally owned by it from any and all unauthorized and/or misleading applications by others. Should you fail or refuse to comply with this demand to immediately cease the unauthorized use and display of its servicemarks, we will have no recourse but to file suit against you for violation of federal law. If forced to file suit against you, we will request that an immediate injunction be issued to prevent your continued unauthorized use and display of the AHA's registered servicemarks.

In addition, your Web site entitled "Medical Liars Do It for Money!" completely misuses AHA information and statistics by taking out-dated statistical information and out of context statements to defame the American Heart Association and bolster your own opinions. Here are a few examples:

You use the statistic from the AHA's webpage, "1982-1992 death rates from CVD declined 24.5%" and claim that this is a lie. This information is from the 1995 Heart and Stroke Statistical Update published by the AHA. At that time, there was growing concern about misinterpretation as these death rates were calculated using the 1940 population.

The 1999 Heart and Stroke Statistical Update provides this explanation for changes in age-adjusted death rates for cardiovascular disease:

1949-1998. 50 years of funding research and finding answers.
Please remember the American Heart Association in your will.

Karl Loren
05/13/99
Page 2

For almost 60 years, the federal government has used the 1940 population as the basis of the calculation. But, as most people know, the populations of 1940 and today differ in two important aspects: size and the percentage of people over 65.

In 1940 there were 132 million Americans. By 1997 the population had doubled to almost 268 million. In 1940 the percentage of Americans over 65 was only 6.8 percent. By 1997 the percentage had increased to 12.7. The average life expectancy of an American male has increased from 60.8 to 73.6 years, and for females from 65.2 to 79.2 years"

Since 1940, the number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases has increased, due in part to the fact that the populations was expanding and 'aging.' That is, the elderly populations was expanding as a percent of the total population.

To compensate for this aging of the population, scientists have age-adjusted the total death rate so that any decreases or increases in a disease rate can be more accurately monitored over time. An age-adjusted death rate is an average of death rates (deaths divided by the population) calculated for each age group (e.g. 35-44, 45-54, etc.). This calculation provides an annual death rate for cardiovascular disease for which the increase or decline over time is due to factors that affect this group of diseases, not to growth and aging of the population.

Similarly, the quotes from Dr. Breslow's speech at the 1996 Scientific Sessions relate to this same issue and not some sinister plot by the AHA to manipulate the statistics.

In addition, there is an explanation on calculating death rates that appears on the AHA Web site under How to Use AHA Statistics and reads as follows:

A death rate is a ratio between mortality and population. This is the most widely used measure for determining the overall health of a community. Unless mortality for a given disease is compared to the affected population, no conclusions can be reached.

National death rates are usually computed per 100,000 population. For example, in 1989 the total deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) was 498,021 and total U.S. population (based on Current Population Report - Series P-25, #1057, Table 2) was 248,239,000. This resulted in a crude death rate of 200.6 per 100,000 population. Crude rates are simply the ratio of mortality to population for any given year.

When doing any sort of trend analysis in death rates over time, it is necessary to use age-adjusted death rates. Age-adjusting eliminates fluctuations in the data due to age distribution differences in the composition of the population. The base year that has been used by health organizations for some time is 1940. Similarly, it is used when comparing populations having very different age distributions, such as Florida and Alaska (a relatively old vs. relatively young population).

Age-adjusted death rates for coronary heart disease have been declining since the mid- 1960s and since 1940 for stroke, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease and hypertension. Cardiovascular diseases, however, still account for about 950,000 deaths annually (about 42 percent of total mortality from all causes). These diseases

Karl Loren
05/13/99
Page 3

as a whole represent the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Coronary heart disease by itself accounts for about 480,000 deaths annually.

Since a death rate is a ratio between mortality and population, as the population number increases, the ratio will decline (even if the actual number of deaths remains constant).

Because cardiovascular diseases account for a significant portion of all deaths, declines in death rates from these diseases are largely responsible for the recent major improvement in life expectancy (Based on provisional data, the average life expectancy of people born in the United States is now 75.8 years.).

The decline is attributable to many possible factors: more effective antibiotic and antihypertensive treatment; more emphasis on reducing the other major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors - smoking, cholesterol, physical inactivity, etc.; better treatment for heart attack and stroke patients; and much more emphasis on prevention.

2. Your claim that cholesterol is an "invention" of the AHA is completely false. Here are some statistics from the AHA's A - Z Guide:

Estimates are that 98.1 million American adults (51.9 percent) have total blood cholesterol values of 200 mg/dL and higher, and about 39.4 million American adults (about 20 percent) have levels of 240 or above. In adults, total cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher are considered high, and levels from 200 to 239 mg/dL are considered borderline-high.

• Studies done on people aged 20 and over show that more women than men have total
  blood cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or higher beginning at age 50.

•  

• An average 19-year-old American has a mean cholesterol level of 165, much higher than
  in most countries except Finland and the Netherlands.
  

• Among non-Hispanic whites age 20 and older, 52 percent of men and 53 percent of
  women have total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL. 17.3 percent of men and 20.2
  percent of women ages 20-74 have blood cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher.*
  

• Among non-Hispanic blacks age 20 and older, 46 percent of men and 47 percent of
  women have total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL 15.7 percent of men and 19.8
  percent of women ages 20-74 have blood cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher.*
  

• Among Mexican Americans age 20 and older, 47 percent of men and 43 percent of
  women have total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL. 17.8 percent of men and 17.5
  percent of women ages 20-74 have blood cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or higher.*
  

• Among elderly Japanese-American men in the NHLBI's Honolulu Heart Program Fourth
  Examination (1991-93), 42 percent had total cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL or higher or
  were taking cholesterol-lowering medication.
  

• Other studies show that among Asian/Pacific Islanders age 18 and over, 27.4 percent of
  men and 25.8 percent of women have high blood cholesterol.
  

• According to the NHLBI's Strong Heart Study (1989-92), for American Indians ages 45- 74, 37.7
  percent of men and 37.6 percent of women have total blood cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL or higher. 8.6 percent of men and 12.7 percent of women have levels of 240 mg/dL or higher.

Karl Loren
05/13/99
Page 4

* Unpublished data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES 111), 1988-94, Centers for Disease Control/National Center for Health Statistics and the American Heart Association.

3. Also, there have been clinical trials that have shown that lowering cholesterol levels has an impact on cardiovascular risk. This is from the AHA Web site:

CORONARY PRIMARY PREVENTION TRIAL

This landmark study gave the first conclusive evidence that reducing LDL cholesterol and total blood cholesterol can reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease and heart attacks in men at high risk because of significant amounts of plasma cholesterol.

The Coronary Primary Prevention Trial (CPPT) was conducted for 10 years among 3,800 middle-aged men with high cholesterol levels. Half the men were treated with a cholesterol lowering diet and a drug called cholestyramine . The rest were given the same diet and a placebo in place of the drug. The diet for both groups was more liberal than the low cholesterol diet that the AHA recommends for the general public.

When the drug group was compared with the placebo group, the drug group had an 8.5 percent greater reduction in total cholesterol. They also had a 12.6 percent greater reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the type that is linked with heart disease.

The drug group also had a 19 percent reduction in the risk of death from coronary artery disease and/or definite heart attack.

Several other studies have shown that treating abnormal lipid levels will reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality: These studies include:

• Oslo Study Diet and Antismoking Trial - A study of 1200 middle-aged, hypercholesterolemic men that showed a 10 percent drop in cholesterol levels and a 47 percent drop in mortality over five years. This lower mortality continued even after the trial.

• Helsinki Heart Study - A study of 4081 middle-aged, hypercholesterolemic men showed treatment with gernfibrozil lowered total cholesterol 10 percent, LDL by I I percent, and triglycerides by 35 percent, while raising HDL by 11 percent. Mortality was reduced more than was expected.

• Coronary Drug Project - 1119 men who had survived a heart attack were given nicotinic acid (niacin) and compared with a larger control group. After six years, total cholesterol was 10 percent lower. Nine years after the study, total mortality in the group that had received the drug was still 11 percent lower than that of the control group.

• Stockholm Ischemic Heart Study - In this five-year study, heart attack survivors were divided into treatment and control groups. The treatment group experienced 26 percent fewer deaths and 36 percent fewer deaths from ischemic heart disease when compared with the control group.

• Scandinavian Sinivastatin Survival Study (4S) - After a median of 5.4 years of treatment, total mortality decreased 30 percent in the simvastatin group and cardiovascular mortality decreased 42 percent.

• West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOS) - This study of 6,595 men between the ages of 45 and 64 who had high LDL cholesterol levels and no previous heart

---

Karl Loren
05/13/99
Page 5

attack, showed that the risk of having a first heart attack decreased by 31 percent and the risk of death decreased by 22 percent by taking pravastatin sodium, a widely prescribed drug.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Pravachol Study - This five-year study of 6,595 men who had high cholesterol showed that people taking Pravachol reduced by about a third their risk of having a first heart attack or dying from heart disease.

The AHA is dedicated to reducing death and disability from cardiovascular disease and stroke. As such it takes allegations such as the ones you make on your Web site very seriously. Please advise me in writing within ten (10) days of your compliance with this demand to remove the AHA's servicemark from your materials.

Sincerely,

Loren A. Sobel
Staff Attorney

cc: David Wm. Livingston
Robin Landry

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Dear Karl,