Adventure on Saltspring Island
Part 7: AIDS and selenium,
Thai Gold
By Warner M. Montgomery

Dr. Harry Foster is convinced that selenium can conquer AIDS.

Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

Not all participants at the Saltspring Island conference were climbing--and-diving explorer types. Dr. Harry Foster gave an inspiring talk on the relationship between selenium and HIV/AIDS, and Jason Schoonover tolerated my quizzing him about Thai Gold , his bestselling adventure thriller soon to be a movie.

Foster, a native Brit living in Victoria, British Columbia, has authored or edited over 235 publications, mostly on chronic disease. He spoke about his latest book, What Really Causes AIDS (http://www.hdfoster.com/WhatReallyCausesAIDS.pdf).

Foster said a gene in the AIDS virus robs the human host of selenium thereby depressing the immune systems. His research in Africa found a selenium deficiency in the soil caused by pollution from burning fossil fuels and forests and the overuse of commercial fertilizers. This, along with annual monsoons, has led to less selenium takeup by crops.

The Morningside Bakery on Saltspring Island is a major hangout for those getting off the ferry from Vancouver at Fulford Harbour.

AIDS is considered by Foster and his colleagues to be a nutritional deficiency illness. When the AIDS patient is given selenium, his immune system recovers, and the virus is held at bay. When selenium and certain amino acids are added to the food of high-risk people with low selenium levels, they resist the virus. A diet of cheese burgers sprinkled with Brazil nut flour, yogurt, Brewers yeast, and turkey will likely head off the AIDS pandemic, claims Foster.

Jason Schoonover does not claim to have conquered AIDS or Mt. Everest. He and his lovely wife, Su Hattori, live in Saskatoon during the summer and Bangkok in the winter. While in Saskatoon, he leads canoe trips into the lakes and rivers of northern Saskatchewan.

Bangkok serves as his base for collecting ethnographic artifacts and stories for his adventure novels - Thai Gold, Opium Dream , and The Manila Galleon . His art collections are in the Smithsonian and other major museums.

Thai Gold was written by Jason Schoonover was an international Bantam bestseller in the late 1980s and is now in development for a movie.

Thai Gold is set in the Golden Triangle. The main character, Lee Rivers, is Jason's alter ego. The story revolves around Lee's search for a legendary gold and bejeweled Buddha's head. Along the way, he encounters exotic women, dangerous drug dealers, Muslim extremists, and ruthless secret agents.

Jason's tale of suspense held me spellbound because I, too, have spent time in a Thai jail and dodged secret agents along the Lao border. And the exotic women...

(Next week: Paddling the Big Sky, Salt Mines of the Sahara)

Jason Schoonover lives what he writes and writes what he lives.