Daily News from New York, New York • 37

NEW YORK 7 I I I CONTROVERSY nn ir IK 00 LAJ Some ca Gary iVwZ ffo prophet of the alternative health movement. Others say he's just a profiteer. By KAREN AVENOSODaily News Staff Writer ary Null is getting angry again- Under the glow of tacky hotel chandeliers, 1 "I Lor he takes on the usual tar-V V- I gets: the FDA, The New ialJ York Times, plastic surgeons, Donald Trump and even his own loyal fans. People say, 'I did my health thing, ate my bran muffin. What do you want, for me to give up my bacon, smoking, The sinewy natural health guru pauses for effect "If you are what you eat, why would you want to be a Twinkie?" It's just the kind of combative inquiry that has made Null a local health movement celeb (alongside his enemy, diet entrepreneur Robert Atkins).

In 18 years of hosting WBAI Radio's "Natural Living" (weekdays at noon), Null has built a career on confrontation, practicing a maverick style of health advocacy that attacks doctors, the FDA and even other holistic practitioners. Call him the Billy Graham of good living, preaching herbs and vitamins with missionary zeal and attracting ardent supporters who follow wherever he leads. Until recently, the heretics were easy to spot, too. Detractors came from predictable places, such as the FDA Then, five years ago, Null started pitching his own products and some erstwhile followers began to cry foul. As with most controversies, this one comes down, mostly, to dollars and cents.

Though Null won't reveal his income, saying his profits are "insignificant," he clearly does well telling others how to get healthy. The West Virginia native earns top ratings for his WBAI show. Null also broadcasts Sunday evenings on WEVD. His 1990 book, Clearer, Cleaner, Safer, Greener (Villard. $12), sold more than 60,000 copies, and 17 of his other 50 books remain in print Last month, Null's two-hour Learning Annex lecture drew 132 people, at $30 to $40 each.

Null earns no salary at WBAI, but he does have business ventures. During the last decade, he has run a natural gourmet restaurant in Chelsea and an organic farm upstate. These days, he also hawks about 60 products, from vitamin powders to fiber and fruit bars to First Aid spray. At area natural-food stores, the items are best sellers. Null also enlists fans to sell them through home-based businesses.

-nfin-Mi tuff, tSI imr-r V'At" SUSAN STAVA AUDIENCE APPEAL: Gary Null preaches to fans at a recent Learning Annex seminar. tween this and junk science." Former fans, too, fault Null for inflated promises. Manhattan's Minerva Warwin, a severe asthmatic, was look- 2 ing to ease her dependence on drugs when she heard Null mention his Well- ness Rejuvenation Retreat on WBAI. In the fall of 1992, Warwin paid several thousand dollars for the chance to make lifestyle changes, but now says 2 she was swindled. At the ranch, she jj complains, nutritional counseling came too late and was inadequate; "organic" jo meals were not, in fart, organic; facili- ties were overbooked and overcrowded.

"When I went to complain, Gary got so angry at me," she says. "He told me 0 that I'm negative, that I was hurt in my past, that I should be more positive, go out and kiss the animals." Doris Aldini, an Orange County rn masseuse, went on the same retreat. 5 She says organizers asked her to leave continued on page 38 front. Some say he practices the same bad medicine he complains of in others, that he reneged on his commitment to accuracy and openness as soon as he had something to sell. "He tends to portray his therapies in glowing terms that results don't justify and that minimize negative effects," says Dr.

Andrew Weil, a professor at the University of Arizona's medical school, who practices natural and preventive medicine. Cooper is skeptical about Null's success with AIDS treatments. "He's not a doctor and he has no patients. I resent the I-have-the-answer approach from someone who has no followup records." Richard Schrader, acting commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, says Null's nutritional supplements make vague, potentially misleading, claims. "The language on his products doesn't trigger enforcement against him, but it's a fine line be A holistic hustler? The "Nullheads" deny it Gary's a guru with the power to save lives, they say.

The acupuncture (or chelation therapy or intravenous Vitamin C) he recommended is credited with curing them when traditional medicine could not "He's absolutely incredible. He speaks the truth and isn't afraid," says Kathy Malatesta, a Manhattan antiques dealer, 5 inches trimmer around the middle, thanks to Null wisdom. Even Null's adversaries praise some of his critical thinking. "He gained a certain legitimacy for alternative therapies," says Sally Cooper of the PWA Health Group, the nation's largest distributor of unapproved AIDS treatments. There's also support for the Naderesque quality of Null's message: Doubt the mass media, question authority, never accept tradition blindly.

But recently, other, less positive rumblings have been heard on the Null.