There has lately been circulating a rumour in the raw community that the
book "Nature's First Law" by Stephen Arlin, Fouad Dini & David Wolfe is
nothing but a plagiarized version of "Raw Food Eating" an out of print book
by the Iranian author Arshavir Ter Hovannessian written almost 40 years
ago. With a little help from my friends I got the chance to compare the two
books, and I can now conclude that the rumour is true.  From glancing
through "Raw Eating" it seems that virtually each chapter has been lifted
with some re-wordings or added paragraphs dispersed in between and
transcribed into what is now "Nature's First Law."

"Raw Eating", chapter one, page 7, first paragraph:

"Raw vegetable food should be the only nourishment taken by man.  The habit
of eating cooked food should be abandoned in this world once and for all.
This is the unerring demand of nature.  The consumption of cooked food is
the most terrible barbarism in the history of mankind, a barbarism that no
one seems to be aware of and to which everybody falls an unconscious
victim.  No matter how strange the idea may seem to some, it is the
absolute truth with which we cannot but acquiesce."

"Nature's First Law", chapter one, page 1, first paragraph:

"Raw plant food should be the only food eaten by human beings.  Humanity's
habit of eating cooked food must be abandoned in this world once and for
all.  This is the absolute command of Nature.  The consumption of cooked
food is the most unnatural savagery in the history of humankind.  It is an
atrocity that no one seems to be aware of and to which everybody falls an
unconscious victim.  What people eat deeply and radically affects the way
they think, feel, and behave.  It drastically affects the entire life
process of planet Earth.  No matter how strange the idea may seem to some,
it is the absolute truth that humanity must accept.  To most, the truth is
stranger than fiction."

"Raw Eating", chapter one, page 7, second paragraph:

"This truth became evident to me when, after eighteen years of careful
study and investigation, I became convinced that the deaths of my ten-year
old son and fourteen-year old daughter were caused by unnatural nutrition.
The great number of medical examinations carried out in Iran, France, and
Germany and Switzerland in various attempts made to discover some specific
disease in their organisms and the subsequent administration of numerous
remedies had a considerable share, too, in bringing the tragedy to a head.
My children died by the gradual emaciation and wasting away of all their
organs caused by innatural feeding and poisonous medicines."

"Nature's First Law", chapter one, page 1, second paragraph:

"This truth became evident to these three authors when, after years of
careful study and investigations, we became convinced that the deaths of
our family members, friends, and pets were caused by unnatural nutrition.
In turn, improper nourishment caused the premature degeneration of their
cellular structures.  All the medical examinations carried out to diagnose
their specific diseases and all the drugs and medicines they were coerced
to ingest also had a considerable share in bringing the tragedy to a head.
Our family members, friends, and pets died of the gradual emaciation and
wasting away of their internal organs caused by unnatural feeding and
poisonous medicines."

"Raw Eating", chapter one, page 7, third paragraph:

"I have been able to penetrate into the secrets of medical science and to
observe its good and bad aspects all the more clearly, because I have not
been inspired by the prospects of becoming a doctor or of making any
financial gains.  My incentive has been in the first place to wish to do my
best for the recovery of the health of my beloved children, and later the
ardent desire to perpetuate their memory by being useful to humanity."

"Nature's First Law", chapter one, page 1, third paragraph:

We have been able to penetrate into the secrets of medical science and to
observe its good and bad aspects.  We have not been driven by the prospect
of becoming doctors or by making any financial gains by lying.  First, our
incentive has been to do our best to help our families and friends achieve
greater levels of health.  And later, it has been the ardent desire to
perpetuate the memory of those family members and friends who have passed
away by being useful to humanity.

"Raw Eating", chapter one, page 8, last paragraph:

"The results of eighteen years of painstaking study and labour have been
embodied in a work of two large volumes the first of which, a book of 568
pages, was published in Armenian in 1960."

"Nature's First Law", chapter one, page 3, last paragraph:

"The results of years of painstaking study and labor have been embodied in
this work.  As far as possible, we have devoted our time to the study of a
great many branches of science and to the sources of these multifarious
categories of knowledge."

"Raw Eating", last chapter, page 117, 4th paragraph from the end:

"The man of today is very proud of his civilization, but he is far from
being really civilized.  Real civilization should be measured not by mere
technical progress, but BY THE ENNOBLEMENT OF THE MIND AND SOUL OF THE
INDIVIDUAL, THE CONQUEST OF VICES AND ADDICTIONS, AND THE
EMANCIPATIONS OF
THE HUMAN INTELLECT FROM SUPERSTITIONS."

"Nature's First Law", last chapter, page 189, 4th paragraph from the end:

"People of today are proud of their civilization, but they are far from
being really civilized.  Real civilization should be measured not by mere
technological progress, but by the ennoblement of the individual, the
conquest of vices and addictions, the emancipation of the human intellect
from superstitions, and the forwarding of a genetically pure population."

I have no intention of comparing all the chapters but at this point I would
be very surprised if much original thought can be found in "Nature's First
Law".

Best, Peter
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