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All seemed to be going well when in August 2006, Vithoulkas received a signed agreement from Randi in which he stated that he was satisfied with the suggested protocol. He also waived the need for a preliminary test - the part of the process that had foiled every applicant up to that point. However Randi then delayed the start of the experiment owing to health problems and lack of sufficient funding. Apparently Randi was asked by Vithoulkas to assign a representative in his absence while funding was being sought but Randi refused to do so. He also told the homeopaths that he needed 6 months to recuperate from his unspecified health problems.
This 6 month period, according to Vithoulkas, was critical. It coincided with the appointment of a new Mayor of Athens who installed a new chairman of the scientific committee and a new president of the hospital that was to be used for the experiment. Vithoulkas claims that Randi knew of theses impending changes and was looking for a way of getting out of the challenge. It certainly was the most rigorous and well organized attempt to win the one million dollars that had ever been attempted. The Homeopaths believe that Randi got cold feet for this reason.
After a further 2 years of negotiating with the new authorities, the Homeopaths finally got the go ahead in Athens and started putting the final touches to the arrangements. In September 2008, a two day meeting was held in Greece between two of Randi`s representatives, plus Dr. Menachem Oberbaum, principal investigator of the experiment, and George Vithoulkas.
After this meeting the homeopaths thought everything was ready to go ahead but they were in for a rude surprise. In October 2008, one month after the meeting, they received the following communication from Randi:
"Forget all previous correspondence exchanged on the subject. What appears here is the current status. First, we require that George Vithoulkas submit a regular, properly-filled-out application and submit it just as we require everyone to do. After that has been received, we`ll go ahead as with any regular applicant - with the arrangements, including the requirement for the preliminary stage".
This new turn of events understandably infuriated Vithoulkas after his 5 years of toil. To make matters worse, Randi, according to Vithoulkas, claimed on his website (www.randi.org) that the homeopaths had withdrawn from the experiment. This accusation is strenuously denied by Vithoulkas.