A further explanation on the marrow affair

Dear colleagues,

Several colleagues have responded to this - it turns out to be - nasty
affair. After I received the request from the department director IV.1
(general issues of policies for the disabled people) at our ministry to
urgently distribute the donation call, I did not hesitate to distribute this
call world wide, like any person with humanistic convictions would do, I
think. Hours later, we received the following communication from an expert
on these matters:

Martin Glier, Federal Ministry of Social Security and Generations, Vienna

Dear central office, what this call is concerned it is a dubious affair, a
fact which is already known for weeks. Until recently one landed by
selecting the Tatyana homepage on Pornosites. Allegedly this only serves to
get potential subscribers of this sex-site by illicit means. The whole
affair does not have to do anything with marrow. Also no such Tatyana is
known to the competent authorities. Thus forget it! The blood-group does not
much have to do by the way with marrow donations. 

Liebe Zentralstelle, bei diesem Aufruf handelt es sich um eine dubiose
Angelegenheit, die bereits seit Wochen bekannt ist. Bis vor Kurzem ist man
bei Anwahl der Tatyana Homepage noch auf Pornosites gelandet. Angeblich
dient dies nur dazu um potentielle Abonenten dieser Sexsite zu keilen. Mit
Knochenmark hat das Ganze nichts zu tun. Auch ist bei den zuständigen
Stellen keine Tatyana bekannt. Also Vergessen! Die Blutguppe hat übrigens
auch nicht viel mit Knochenmarkspenden zu tun.

I personally have drawn the conclusion not to distribute any of these calls
in the future. If people want to mobilize public opinion, let them do it via
the Red cross, Amnesty International, Radio and TV-stations, newspapers or
what have you. The misuse of the Internet for various purposes is
well-known, and not all of them are scientific or NGO-oriented. 

In defense of Dr. Max Rubisch, my old friend here at the Ministry, who was
also our student at the Department of Political Science at Innsbruck
University, and who passed me on the call in the first place, and who is on
record for his dedicated work for the desabled in Austria and the European
Union and for a humane and world-open Austrian Republic, I should also ask
you - how would you react if such a dramatically worded appeal lands at your
screen in the first place? One might argue in the end, that an investigative
call at our health sections to clarify the matter would have been the better
alternative in advance, before sending around the call around the globe, but
one is only intelligent after such catastrophies.

Possible criminal misuse creates distrust, and NGOs, I am afraid, in the end
will suffer from such practices. If you have further queries, please feel
free to direct them to us. Please send the cc. to Max's address: 

max.rubisch@bmsg.gv.at

Kindest regards


Arno Tausch