Dr. Mae Won Ho is a brilliant and fearless truth teller. Her science is impeccable and her voice is loud and strong when it comes to telling the truth about dangerous make believe science. Nowhere is she more vigorous in alerting us to the absurdities and deadly consequences of corporate junk science and junk policies than in the area of Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs.
The following article is a must read, must share one which I urge you to forward to as many people as possible so that they can join forces to make sure that all legislators understand that the FDA and USDA are not protecting our interests and Congress must take the reins from them before their criminal negligence kills us all.
The reallity is that stark.
Click here (http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25920) to urge your legislators to become supporters of the suite of bills introduced by Rep. Denis Kucinich to require safety assessments of GMOs and require clear labeling of all GMO ingredients and components of food.
And then click here (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to make a tax deductible, recurring donation so that the Natural Solutions Foundation can continue to bring you the facts you need about your health freedom.
Thanks.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.Organics4U.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMarketPlace.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMedia.tv
GM is Dangerous and Futile
We Need Organic Sustainable Food and Energy Systems Now
New genetics research invalidates the science underpinning the $73.5 billon global biotech industry and confirms why genetic modification is futile and dangerous; we must implement organic sustainable food and energy systems now Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Invited Lecture at Conference on Future of Food: Climate Change, GMOs and Food Security, 1-2 October 2008, India International Centre, New Delhi
A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here
An electronic version of this report with full references can be downloaded from the ISIS online store. Download Now
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I am deeply and doubly honoured to be part of this important conference on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, because it was Vandana Shiva and Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher who inspired me and turned me from an ivory tower academic into a science activist. Consequently, I was thrown out of my university and liberated to join civil society in fighting corrupt science and protecting good independent science.
Food Futures Now , *Organic *Sustainable *Fossil Fuel Free, How organic agriculture and localised food, and energy systems can potentially compensate for all greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities and free us from fossil fuels “Change to gene theory raises new challenges for biotechâ€
The headline appeared in the business section of the International Herald Tribune 3 July 2007 [1]. The article went on to say: “The $73.5 billion global biotech business may soon have to grapple with a discovery that calls into question the scientific principles on which it was founded.â€
It was referring to the findings of project ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA elements), organised by the US National Human Genome Research Institute. A consortium of 35 research groups went through 1 percent of the human genome with a fine-tooth comb to find out exactly how genes work.
To their surprise, researchers found that the human genome might not be a “tidy collection of independent genes†after all…Instead, genes appear to operate in a complex network, and interact and overlap with one another and with other components in ways not yet fully understood.â€
The Human Genome Research Institute said that these findings will challenge scientists “to rethink some long-held views about what genes are and what they do.â€
The author of the article Denis Caruso commented that, “the report is likely to have repercussions far beyond the laboratory. The presumption that genes operate independently has been institutionalized since 1976, when the first biotech company was founded. In fact, it is the economic and regulatory foundation on which the entire biotechnology industry is built.†She went on to point out that gene patents and safety assessment based on the same paradigm are also in trouble.
She is right on all counts. I pointed that out 10 years previously when a plethora of findings in molecular genetics had already invalidated the genetic determinist paradigm underpinning the biotech industry. In fact, the paradigm had begun to unravel almost as the industry was starting up twenty years earlier.
The Brave New World of GM Science
In Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare, the Brave New World of Bad Science and Big Business [2] first published in 1997/1998 I explained why the science behind GM is wrong and obsolete, and hence dangerous; a story elaborated further in Living with the Fluid Genome [3] published in 2003.
Genetic engineering of plants and animals began in the mid 1970s in the belief that the genome (the totality of all the genetic material of a species) is constant and static, and that the characteristics of organism are simply hardwired in their genome. This was encapsulated in the Central Dogma of molecular biology. The genetic information goes from DNA, the genetic material, to RNA, a kind of intermediate, to protein which determines the characteristic involved, such as tolerance to herbicide, for example. One gene determines one trait, so you can transfer one gene and get exactly the trait you want, be it herbicide tolerance, or resistance to insect pest.
But geneticists soon discovered that the genome is remarkably dynamic and ‘fluid’. It is constantly in conversation with the environment, and that determines which genes are turned on, when, where, by how much and for how long. Moreover, the genetic material itself could also be marked or changed according to experience, and the influence passed on to the next generation. Most of that was known by 1980, long before the Human Genome Project was conceived.
The best thing about the Human Genome Project is to finally explode the myth of genetic determinism [4] (The Myth that Launched a Thousand Companies, SiS 18), revealing the layers of molecular complexity that transmit, interpret and rewrite the genetic texts [5] (Life Beyond the Central Dogma series, SiS 24). The ENCODE project has confirmed and extended the complexities especially with regard to what constitutes a gene. Traditionally, a gene is a sequence of DNA that codes for a protein with a well-defined function. This idea has been well and truly shattered [6]; as Barry Patrick wrote in the Science News [7] “genes are proving to be fragmented, intertwined with other genes, and scattered across the whole genome.â€
The genetic engineer’s idea of a gene is presented in Figure 1. It has a regulatory signal, a promoter that says to the cell, go and make lots of copies of the coding sequence that would be translated into a protein, and a terminator that says stop, end of message. This is what genetic engineers put into cells to make a genetically modified organism (GMO).
A gene expression cassette, the genetic engineer’s idea of a gene
Figure 1. A gene expression cassette, the genetic engineer’s idea of a gene
Instead, within the human genome, and indeed other mammalian genomes, coding sequences are in bits (exons) separated by non-coding introns, and exons contributing to a single protein could be in different parts of the genome. Coding sequences of different proteins frequently overlap. Regulatory signals are similarly scattered upstream, downstream, within the coding sequence or in some other distant part of the genome. Coding sequences occupy just 1.5 percent of the human genome, but between 74 and 93 percent of the genome produce RNA transcripts [7], many now known to have regulatory functions. So much so that the project of mapping genetic predisposition to diseases, the original rationale for the Human Genome Project, has now run into serious trouble.
David M. Altshuler, associate professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School and his research team showed that the risk for type 2 diabetes involves more than a mutated gene. Instead, diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, and other deadly ailments involve non-coding DNA as well as in genes [8]. “We’re realizing that things happening ‘somewhere else’ in the genome, not in genes, are playing critical roles†in sickness and in health, Altshuler said.
David B. Goldstein at Duke University is very pessimistic. He said the effort to nail down the genetics of most common diseases is not working [9]: “There is absolutely no question that for the whole hope of personalized medicine, the news has been just as bleak as it could be. After doing comprehensive studies for common diseases, we can explain only a few percent of the genetic components of most of these traits.†For schizophrenia and biopolar disorder, there is almost nothing, for type 2 diabetes, 20 variants, but they explain only up to 3 percent of familial clustering, and so on.
Goldstein added: “we have cracked open the human genome and can look at the entire complement of common genetic variants, and what do we find? Almost nothing. That is absolutely beyond belief.â€
That is just what I predicted soon after the human genome sequence was announced [10, 11] (Human DNA ‘BioBank’ Worthless, SiS 13/14; Why Genomics Won’t Deliver, SiS 26)
Fresh attempts are now made to redefine a gene either in terms of a protein product [12] or a transcript [13], neither of which are satisfactory or would save the industry. All patents on genes based on the old concept are no longer valid; ultimately because the patent is awarded on a supposed function attached to a DNA sequence. But as genes exist in bits interweaving with other genes, so are functions. Multiple DNA sequences may serve the same function, and conversely the same DNA sequence can have different functions. Again, I have explained Why Biotech Patents Are Patently Absurd [14].
Despite the bewildering complexities of how the genome works, individual processes are precisely orchestrated and finely tuned by the organism as a whole, in a highly coordinated molecular ‘dance of life’ that’s necessary for survival.
In contrast, genetic engineering in the laboratory is crude, imprecise and invasive. The rogue genes inserted into a genome to make a GMO could land anywhere; typically in a rearranged or defective form, scrambling and mutating the host genome, and tend to move or rearrange further once inserted. Transgene instability is a big problem, and has been so right from the beginning. There is fresh evidence that GM crops grown commercially for years have rearranged [15, 16] (MON810 Genome Rearranged Again. Transgenic Lines Unstable hence Illegal and Ineligible for Protection, SiS 38). This is a real opportunity to challenge the validity of all biotech patents. Another key issue is safety. Transgene instability means that the original transgenic line has turned into something else, and even if it had been assessed as ‘safe’, this is no longer the case.
The genetically modified genes are a big hazard because they do not know the intricate dance of life that has been perfected in billions of years of evolution. That’s ultimately why genetic modification is both dangerous and futile.
Thirty years of GM are more than enough
We’d had 30 years of GM and more than enough damage done, as detailed in the ISP Report The Case for A GM-Free Sustainable World [17] and the dossier GM Science Expose : Hazards Ignored, Fraud, Regulatory Sham, Violation of Farmers Rights [18] we compiled for the European Parliament in June 2007. And more evidence has been piling up since. Why has this been allowed to go on? W documented how national and international regulators and advisory bodies such as the European Food Safety Authority not only routinely ignore the precautionary principle, but also actively abuse science, sidestep the law, and helping to promote GM technology in the face of evidence piling up against the safety of GM food and feed [19] (GM Food Nightmare Unfolding in the Regulatory Sham, ISIS scientific publication).
Let me summarize the evidence stacked up against GMOs.
* No increase in yields
Successive reports [17, 18, 20] confirm that the yields of all major GM crops varieties cultivated are lower than, or at best, equal to yields from non-GM varieties. Studies from 1999 to 2007 consistently show that GM soya decreased yields by 4 to 12 percent compared to non-GM soya, while Bt maize yields from 0 to 12 percent less than conventional isolines. Up to 100 percent failures of Bt cotton crops have been recorded in India [18] (and amply confirmed by the farmer witnesses who are here today). New research from the University of Kansas found a 10 percent average yield drag for Roundup Ready soya [21], and extra manganese is needed for the soil Scientists from the USDA and the University of Georgia found growing GM cotton in the US could result in a drop in income by up to 40 percent [22, 23] (Transgenic Cotton Offers No Advantage, SiS 38)
* No reduction in pesticides use
USDA data showed that GM crops increase pesticide use by 50 million pounds from 1996 to 2003 in the United States [17]. New data paint an even grimmer picture: the use of glyphosate on major crops went up more than 15-fold between 1994 and 2005, along with increases in other herbicides [24] in order to cope with rising glyphosate resistant superweeds [6]. Palmer 3pigweed is a major concern in Georgia, with farmer there having to mow cotton down in fields with glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth [25]. And following close on the health of that is glyphosate resistant giant ragweed [26]. Roundup tolerant canola volunteers are top among the worries of Canadian farmers [27, 28] (Study Based on Farmers’ Experience Exposes Risks of GM Crops, SiS 38)
* Roundup lethal to frogs and toxic to human placental and embryonic cells [18].
Roundup is more toxic than glyphosate, and it is used in more than 80 percent of all GM crops planted in the world.
* GM crops harm wildlife
UK’s farm scale evaluations have found that GM crops harm wildlife [18]; more recently a study led by Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois in the United Stated, found that wastes from Bt corn impaired the growth of a common aquatic insect [29, 30] (Bt Crops Threaten Aquatic Ecosystems, SiS 36). This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is evidence that GM crops, especially Bt crops contribute to the demise of the honeybee worldwide because it compromises their immune system and make them exra-susceptible to attacks by parasitic fungus (31) (Parasitic Fungi and Pesticides Act Synergistically to Kill Honeybees? SiS 35).
* Bt resistance pests and Roundup tolerant superweeds render the two major GM crop traits practically useless [18].
A recent review concluded that [32] “evolved glyphosate-resistant weeds are a major risk for the continued success of glyphosate and transgenic glyphosate-resistant crops.†And the evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented in more than a dozen fields in Mississippi and Arkansas between 2003 and 2006 [33]. Worse yet, secondary pests now plague the fields and spread to other crops in India [34] (Deadly gift from Monsanto to India, SiS 38).
* Vast areas of forests, pampas and cerrados lost to GM soya in Latin America
Argentina alone has lot 15 m hectares [18]; and this has worsened considerably with the demand for biofuels (see later)
* Epidemic of suicides in the cotton belt of India
An estimated 100 000 farmers have killed themselves between 1993-2003, and a further 16 000 farmers a year have died since Bt cotton was introduced [18]
* GM food and feed linked to deaths and sicknesses
Evidence of serious health impacts in lab tests and from farmers’ fields around the world (more below)
GM food and feed inherently hazardous to health [19]
Here are some highlights from our GM Science dossier [18] on the hazards of GM food and feed. Dr. Irina Ermakova of the Russian Academy of Sciences showed how GM soya made female rats give birth to severely stunted and abnormal litters, with more than half dying in three weeks, and those remaining are sterile. Hundreds of villagers and cotton handlers in India suffer allergy-like symptoms, thousands of sheep died after grazing on the Bt cotton residues, goat and cows as well were reported in 2007 and 2008 [35] (Mass Protests against GM Crops in India , SiS 38). (As reported by farmer witnesses as this conference, the problem is continuing and sterility in offspring of exposed animals has also been observed.) A harmless bean protein transferred to pea when tested on mice cause severe inflammation in the lungs and provoked generalised food sensitivities. Dozens of villagers in the south of the Philippines fell ill when neighbouring GM maize fields came into flower in 2003, at least five have died and some remain ill to this day. A dozen cows died having eaten GM maize in Hesse Germany and more in the herd had to be slaughtered from mysterious illnesses. Arpad Pusztai and his colleagues in the UK found GM potatoes with snowdrop lectin damaged every organ system of young rats; the stomach lining grew twice as thick as controls. Chickens fed GM maize Chardon LL were twice as likely to die as controls. And finally, GM maize Mon 863 was claimed to be as safe as non-GM maize by the company, and accepted as such by European Food Safety Authority. But independent scientists of CriiGen in France re-analysed the data and found signs of liver and kidney toxicity.
Different animals and human beings exposed to a variety of transgenic crops with different traits either fall ill or die. The evidence compels us to consider the possibility that the hazards of GMOs may be inherent to the technology, as I suggested more than ten years ago [2].
Table 1. Summary of Exposure of Animals and Human Beings to GMOs
Species GM species Transgene trait Effect
Rat Soya Roundup Ready Stunting, death, sterility
Humans Cotton Cry1Ac/Cry1Ab Allergy symptoms
Sheep “ “ Death, liver toxicity
Cows “ “ “
Goats “ “ “
Mice Pea Alpha-amylase Inhibitor Lung Inflammation, General food sensitivity
Mice Soya Roundup Ready Liver, pancreas and testis Affected
Humans Maize Cry1Ab Illnesses and death
Rats Maize Cry3Bb liver and kidney toxicity
Cows Maize Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac Death and illnesses
Rats Potato Snowdrop lectin Damage in every organ system. Stomach lining twice as thick as controls
Mice Potato Cry1A Gut lining thickened
Rats Tomato Delay ripening Holes in the stomach
Chickens Maize Glufosinate tolerance Deaths
An epidemic of Morgellons Disease has hit the US and other countries that had been involved in genetic modification technology [36] (Agrobacterium & Morgellons Disease, A GM Connection?. SiS 38). The pathogen is suspected to be Agrobacterium, which has been widely used in smuggling genes into cells to make GMOs. Is this a disease created by GM? There have been close calls before.
US courts rule GM crop field-tests and releases illegal
The message that GM crops are unsafe appears to have got through to the judiciary system in the United States. There have been three court rulings against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for failing to carry out proper environmental impact assessment, making the original releases illegal [37] (Approval of GM Crops Illegal, US Federal Courts Rule, SiS 34). These are the first rulings against GMOs in the top producing country in the world, which has been also promoting GMOs aggressively.
The first case was on drug-producing GM crops in Hawaii. The court said that the USDA violated the Endangered Species Act as well as the National Environmental Policy Act.
The second court case not only ruled GM herbicide-tolerant creeping bentgrass illegal, but also that the USDA must halt approval of all new field trials until more rigorous environmental reviews are conducted.
The third decision was passed on Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa for having been commercial released illegally without an Environment Impact Statement.
An avalanche of bans and rulings strikes GM crops worldwide
There have been numerous bans and restrictions imposed on GM crops in recent years, which say a lot about the inadequacies of regulatory regimes worldwide (see Box 1).
Box 1
Rulings and bans on GMOs between May 2007 and May 2008
* US GM alfalfa ban made permanent [38]
* US Federal Court of Appeals ruled against GM bentgrass again [39]
* Four counties in California have bans or moratorium on GM crops and the first state bill to protect Californian farmers against lawsuits that intimate and harass them when their field are contaminated passed through the Agriculture committee in January 2008 [40]
* Montville USA became the first town outside California to ban GM crops [41]
* South Australia extended its GM ban [42]
* Romania joined EU members in banning GM crop Mon 810 [43], the others are France, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Greece, and Poland
* 13 out of 20 counties in Croatia have declared themselves GM-Free [44]
* Greece renewed its ban on GM maize seeds [44]
* Germany imposed much stricter regulations on GM maize [46]
* Scotland backs GM ban in Europe [47]
* France banned GM maize Mon 810 in February 2008 and passed GMO law in April to guard against contamination by GMO, making it compulsory for farmers to “respect agricultural structures, local ecosystems and non-GMO commercial and production industries†[48, 49]
* Wales is set to ban GM crops [50]
* Switzerland bans crops until 2012 [51]
* More than 230 regions, over 4 000 municipalities and other local entities and tens of thousands of farmers and food producers in Europe have declared themselves GMO-free so far [52]
EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas has expressed serious reservations concerning GMOs [53] (GM-Free Europe Beginning?, SiS 36), which is unprecedented in the history of the European Commission. On 7 May 2008, the European Commission delayed a decision on allowing farmers to grow more GM crops, and asked European Food Safety Authority to reconsider its previous review, which it had admitted was inadequate, as it was unable to take indirect and long term impacts into account [54].
No case for GM crops, small scale organic farming is the way ahead
Meanwhile, on 15 April 2008, 400 scientists of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) released its 2 500-page report [55, 56] (GM-Free Organic Agriculture to Feed the Worldâ€, SiS 38) that took 4 years to complete. It is a thorough examination of global agriculture on a scale comparable to the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change.
The IAASTD calls for a fundamental change in farming practice to counteract soaring food prices, hunger, poverty and environmental disasters, it says GM crops are controversial with respect to safety for health and the environment, and will not play a substantial role in addressing climate change, loss of biodiversity, hunger and poverty. Small scale farmers and agro-ecological methods are the way forward, and indigenous and local knowledge are as important as formal scientific knowledge. It warns that growing crops for biofuels could worsen food shortages and price rises.
The conclusions of the IAASTD are remarkably similar to our own report Food Futures Now *Organic *Sustainable *Fossil Fuel Free [57] launched in UK Parliament a week later.
Our Food Futures Now report goes a step further. We argue that only organic agriculture can truly feed the world. More than that, organic agriculture and localised food and energy systems can potentially compensate for all greenhouse emissions due to human activities and free us from fossil fuels, and we need to implement this urgently.
The UN has declared 2008 the year of the Global Food Crisis, and it has been the top news story everyday for months now as the crisis deepens. Food prices increased by an average of 40 percent last year; a string of food riots and protests spread around the world including the UK, and more than 25 000 farmers killed themselves in India.
Most commentators agree that the immediate cause of the food crisis is the divestment of food grains into producing biofuels. BusinessWeek identified Monsanto as a “prime beneficiaryâ€. Its stock correlated closely with the price of oil (better than ExxonMobile), and hardly correlated with the price of corn, basically because no one will eat its GM corn. Nevertheless the pro-GM lobby are out in force, using the food crisis to promote GM crops.
GM crops are one big failed experiment based on an obsolete scientific theory, and this failure has been evident since 2004 if not before [58] (Puncturing the GM Myths, SiS 22). Apart from yielding less and requiring more pesticides, anecdotal evidence since 2005 from farmers around the world indicates that GM crops also require more water [59]. Industrial Green Revolution agriculture is now generally acknowledged to be a major driver of climate change as well as being vulnerable to climate change because of its heavy dependence on fossil energies and water, and its susceptibility to pests, diseases and climate extremes [56, 60, 61] (Beware the New “Doubly Green Revolution”, SiS 37)..GM crops have all the worst features of industrial Green Revolution varieties exaggerated, and not least, there are outstanding safety concerns as I mentioned. Growing GM crops for biofuels does not make them safe, as they will contaminate our food crops all the same.
Any further indulgence in GMOs will surely damage our chances of surviving global warming. We must get on with the urgent business of building organic, sustainable food and energy systems right now.
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There are two articles which follow this introduction which have great bearing on your health and, eventually, your ability survive.
Agricultural chemicals have been known since their inception to pose significant threats to human, animal and environmental health. They are, in fact, only approved for use on the food supply of people and animals because, in my opinion, of the enormous wealth which chemical companies, which are, in essence, a branch of the pharmaceutical industry, have have available to throw at compliant regulators and legislators, plus deceptive and misleading advertising bulwarked by corporate junk science.
Agricultural chemicals are not, however, limited to herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and fertilizers. Other chemicals quality for that designation, too. For many years, the US has permitted the spraying of fluoride and mercury on crops after harvest to prevent mold growth during storage despite the well characterized dangers of those substances.
Now, another toxin, also well known for its adverse effect on the brain, the nervous system, the endocrine system, perception, mood and vascular integrety has been approved by the supposed guardians of our health, the FDA, EPA and USDA for direct application, without any upper limit, on our foods.
Read this article and ask yourself whether you ever want to eat non organic food again. Then ask yourself why regulators are permitting known toxins in our food.
And then click on this link (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to make a donation to the Natural Solutions Foundation, a totally donation-supported Non governmental organization (NGO) devoted to your right to make your own choices in your health. Among the freedoms that we believe belong to you and that we are fighting for on your behalf, and ours, is the right to know what your food has been sprayed with, genetically modified with, contaminated with or irradiated with. In short, if food is contaminated you have a right to know it.
And you have another right, too, as I see it.
You have a right to be protected by the regulators from the self-interested companies that do not care at all about the damage their chemicals and processes bring to you and yours. That is, after all, what we believe regulatory agencies are supposed to do. But the sad truth is that we need to be protected FROM the regulatory agencies.
That’s one of the things that Natural Solutions Foundation does, in fact. And, of course, we need your help. Click here (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to become a supporting sponsor with a tax deductible recurring donation. And visit the Natural Solutions Foundation home page, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, to sign up for our free, secure Health Freedom eAlerts.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.Organics4U.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMarketPlace.org
MSG is being sprayed right on fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, and vegetables as they grow —
even those used in baby food
In the 1970s, reluctant food processors “voluntarily” took processed free glutamic acid (MSG) out of baby food. Today it’s back, in fertilizers called “Omega Protein Refined/Hydrolyzed Fish Emulsion” and “Steam Hydrolyzed Feather Meal,” both of which contain hydrolyzed proteins; and in a product called AuxiGro WP Plant Metabolic Primer (AuxiGro) produced by Emerald BioAgriculture (formerly Auxein Corporation), which contains both hydrolyzed protein(s) and “monosodium glutamate.” AuxiGro is being sprayed on some of the vegetables we and our children will eat, into the air we and our children must breath, and onto the ground from which it can move into drinking water. Head lettuce, leaf lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, and peanuts were among the first crops targeted. On September 12, 2000, the Auxein Corporation Web site gave the following information:
Crops registered include: Celery; Fresh Market Cucumbers; Edible Navy and Pinto Beans; Grapes; Bulb Onions; Bell, Green and Jalapeno Peppers; Iceberg Head Lettuce; Romaine and Butter Leaf Lettuce; Peanuts; Potatoes; Snap Beans; Strawberries; Processing Tomatoes; Fresh Tomatoes; and Watermelons.
Today, there is no crop that we know of that has not been approved for treatment with MSG by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Even in California — the only state where there are any restrictions on the use of AuxiGro — AuxiGro has been approved for use on a number of crops, and Emerald BioAgriculture continues to push for more. Field tests in California have been — and may continue to be — conducted on a variety of crops, and those AuxiGro treated crops may be sold in the open market without revealing that they have been treated. We can’t tell you which crops those are because the CDPR has refused to send records of test trials (which are public information) to the Truth in Labeling Campaign.
As of June 13, 2002, AuxiGro was registered for use in California on tomatoes, almonds, apricots, cherries, plums, nectarines, peaches, prunes, grapes (including grapes to be used in wine), and onions. At that time, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said they were not aware of any testing of AuxiGro for use on other crops. They also said that they did not have any proposals presently in house to register additional crops for AuxiGro. It would appear, however, that what the CDPR said was not true, for the CDPR subsequently announced that Emerald BioAgriculture had applied for permission to use AuxiGro on tomatoes (new use), and on melons (new crop) — and, to the best of our knowledge, approval is always preceded by field testing.
On July 7, 2004, Emerald BioAgriculture requested approval of use of AuxiGro as a desiccant, disinfectant, fertilizer, fungicide, growth regulator – for increased yield and prevention of powdery mildew in various crops such as almonds, grapes, and melons. They also asked to add cole crops (including broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards, turnips, rutabaga, mustard, watercress, and kohlrabi) to the list of crops approved for AuxiGro use.
Approval for use on organic crops–in all states–has been requested.
What’s wrong with using glutamic acid, an amino acid found in protein, as a spray on crops?
– In protein, amino acids are found in balanced combinations. Use of free glutamic acid as a spray on crops throws the amino acid balance out of kilter.
– It’s not the glutamic acid found in protein that is being sprayed on crops, it’s a synthetic product. The spray being used most widely is called AuxiGro. The “free glutamic acid” or so called “L-glutamic acid” component being used by its manufacturer, Emerald BioAgriculture, contains L-glutamic acid, an amino acid found in protein; but it also contains D-glutamic acid, pyroglutamic acid, and other chemicals referred to in the industry as “contaminants.” The free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro is processed free glutamic acid. It is manufactured — in chemical plants — where certain selected genetically engineered bacteria — feeding on a liquid nutrient medium — excrete the free glutamic acid they synthesize outside of their cell membrane into the liquid medium in which they are grown. In contrast, the free glutamic acid found in protein, and the free glutamic acid involved in normal human body function, are unprocessed. free glutamic acid, and contain no contaminants.
– No one knows what the long term effects of spraying processed free glutamic acid on crops will be.
– That the processed free glutamic acid (MSG) will be absorbed into the body of the plant and into the fruit, nuts, seeds, or vegetable it produces seems undeniable. If it were not, the plant would not be stimulated to grow. Neither Emerald BioAgriculture or the EPA will address this issue.
– That there will be residue left on crops has not been disputed by Emerald BioAgriculture. But no study of either the amount of that residue, or the least amount of processed free glutamic acid needed to cause a reaction in an MSG-sensitive person, has ever been done. “It should wash off” doesn’t mean it will wash off. “It seems unlikely that such a small amount would cause a reactions” doesn’t mean that a small amount will not cause a reaction or have long term health effects.
– Free glutamic acid is known to be toxic to the nervous system. But the neurotoxic effects that processed free glutamic acid will have on animals that consume the plants on which it is sprayed – effects over and above any effects caused by external glutamic acid residue – have never been evaluated. Neither are there data on the effects that spraying processed free glutamic acid will have on drinking water.
– Consider, also, that children are most at risk from the effects of processed free glutamic acid. Their undeveloped blood-brain barriers leave them most at risk from exposure to processed free glutamic acid. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that infant animals fed processed free glutamic acid when young develop neuroendocrine problems such as gross obesity, stunted growth, and reproductive disorders later in life, and that they also develop learning disabilities. Emerald BioAgriculture did not address that particular safety issue in its application to the EPA.
– No one knows how little glutamic acid is needed to kill a single brain cell or to trigger an adverse reaction.
– Free glutamic acid is a neurotransmitter. It causes nerves to fire, carrying nerve impulses throughout the nervous system.
– Free glutamic acid is a neurotoxin. Under certain circumstances, free glutamic acid will cause nerves to fire repeatedly, until they die.
– Processed free glutamic acid kills brain cells. The free glutamic acid ingested by laboratory animals that caused brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders was very often given in the form of the food ingredient “monosodium glutamate.” “Monosodium glutamate” is the name of a particular food additive. Processed free glutamic acid is the reactive component in “monosodium glutamate,” just as processed free glutamic acid is a reactive component in AuxiGro.
The glutamate industry research done in the 1970s that was submitted to the EPA by the Auxein Corporation, that pretended to find that processed free glutamic acid is “safe,” has been long refuted by independent scientists. Indeed, at the present time, neuroscientists attempting to develop drugs to block the toxic effects of free glutamic acid are using processed free glutamic acid to selectively kill certain kinds of brain cells.
– Processed free glutamic acid causes neuroendocrine disorders in maturing animals that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life.
– Processed free glutamic acid causes learning disorders in maturing animals that ingest processed free glutamic acid early in life.
– Processed free glutamic acid crosses the placental barrier and causes learning disabilities in animal offspring of dams that ingest it.
– Processed free glutamic acid has access to the brain through the blood-brain barrier, which is not impervious to the unregulated flow of processed free glutamic acid. The blood-brain barrier is immature at birth and may continue to develop up to puberty. In certain areas called the circumventricular organs, the blood barrier is never impervious to the unregulated flow of free glutamic acid. In addition, the blood-brain barrier is easily damaged by such events as high fever, a blow to the head, drug use, stroke, ingestion of processed free glutamic acid, and the normal process of aging.
– The National Institutes of Health recognize glutamic acid as being associated with addiction, stroke, epilepsy, degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS, brain trauma, neuropathic pain, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression.
– For years, free glutamic acid has been produced and used in food additives with names such as monosodium glutamate, sodium caseinate, and hydrolyzed soy protein. In some people, the processed free glutamic acid in food additives causes adverse reactions that include migraine headache, asthma, arrhythmia, tachycardia, nausea and vomiting, depression, and disorientation. The processed free glutamic acid in prescription and non-prescription drugs, food supplements, and cosmetics can also cause adverse reactions.
There are badly flawed industry-sponsored studies that have pretended to find that processed free glutamic acid does not cause adverse reactions. Inappropriate procedures used by the glutamate industry have included limiting subjects to people virtually guaranteed not to be sensitive to processed free glutamic acid, and/or using processed free glutamic acid or other similarly reactive substances in placebos as well as in test material. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has based its claim that processed free glutamic acid causes only mild and transitory reactions on those badly flawed industry-sponsored studies.
– Even the EPA admits that the food additive called “monosodium glutamate” causes adverse reactions.
– Even the FDA admits that the food additive “monosodium glutamate” contains processed free glutamic acid.
<>– Even the FDA admits that many consumers refer to all free glutamic acid as “MSG.”
The EPA’s approvals of use of MSG in agriculture are simple, straightforward, and in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
In reviewing the application of Auxein Corporation (now Emerald BioAgriculture) for use of processed free glutamic acid in a spray to be applied to crops as they grow, the EPA failed to conform to the requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which require, in part, that the EPA review any proposed action for validity, completeness, reliability, and relationship to human risk. The EPA also ignored Executive Order 13045 which requires government agencies to consider available information concerning the variability of the sensitivities of major identifiable subgroups of consumers, including infants and children. For example, Auxein Corporation sent the EPA 14 industry-sponsored toxicological studies from the literature, all done in the 1970’s, but failed to mention hundreds of studies in the literature that refuted those 14 studies. Auxein Corporation even failed to send the EPA independent studies that appeared in the same book(s) as the industry-sponsored studies sent to the EPA. For example, although processed free glutamic acid causes brain lesions and neuroendocrine disorders in infant animals, this special hazard faced by infants was ignored by Auxein Corporation. It would appear that Auxein Corporation restricted its consideration of “available information” to information made available by the glutamate industry; and the EPA, even after having been sent abstracts from other “available information,” has not challenged the Auxein Corporation applications. A more complete discussion of the shortcomings of the EPA approvals granted to Auxein Corporation has been submitted to the EPA.
Questions about the safety of spraying processed free glutamic acid on plants and into the environment have been raised by the Truth in Labeling Campaign and by individual consumers. The EPA has refused to address those concerns. The EPA, and, in particular, EPA spokesperson Dr. Janet Andersen, has failed to respond to allegations that in approving the spraying of processed free glutamic acid, the EPA failed to consider the reliability, validity, and completeness of the Auxein Corporation application or comply with Executive Order 13045 entitled Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks, except to say that the EPA had complied with executive order 13045. Moreover, while responding to letters that asked direct questions of the EPA, Andersen failed to respond to most, if not all, of the direct questions contained in those letters.
AuxiGro, the first MSG-laced plant “growth enhancer” to hit the market, has been approved for spraying on every crop we know of, with no restrictions on the amount of processed free glutamic acid (MSG) that may remain in and/or on crops when brought to market. Even before consumers had an inkling that crops were being sprayed, the Truth in Labeling Campaign received reports that MSG-sensitive consumers had gotten sick from head lettuce and potatoes.
Federal Register notices chronicling the application and approval of processed free glutamic acid are available on the Web via GPO Access, the Federal Register, through: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. Application for approval of use of AuxiGro was made to the EPA in 1997. Testing of the product was also approved in that year, and many of the test crops sprayed with AuxiGro were brought to market without notifying consumers. Glutamic acid was granted an exemption from establishment of a tolerance limit in January, 1998. AuxiGro was also approved for use on a number of crops in January, 1998, and approved for use on other crops later. No announcement of these approvals was made in the Federal Register.
Due to a technical glitch in the system, the glutes came to need one more approval to make their California registrations work. The glutes were asking for AuxiGro to be approved for use as a fungicide in California, but the EPA had only approved AuxiGro for use as a pesticide produce or plant growth enhancer. And when application was made for this addition to their approvals, the application was brought to our attention; and the Truth in Labeling Campaign filed a formal protest to this approval of AuxiGro. The Formal Objection of the Truth in Labeling Campaign was filed on August 16, 2001 with the EPA.
By law, formal objections filed in a timely manner must be responded to within six months. Also, by law (we were told) even though the Final Rule had not been promulgated, this additional use of AuxiGro would be considered approved unless and until the EPA determined that it should be otherwise. In July, 2004, we received a conference call from Dr. Andersen and a number of other EPA players, including an EPA lawyer — a “courtesy call” telling us that our objections had been discounted and that the Final Rule allowing use of AuxiGro as a fungicide would be published shortly in the Federal Register.
What’s wrong at the EPA?
Neither the EPA nor Janet Andersen, Ph.D., director of the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division (BPPD), are stupid. Rather, all evidence would appear to suggest that the EPA, which is charged with protecting the health of Americans, says it is protecting the health of Americans, when in fact the EPA acts to protect the bottom line of big business. Don’t think for a moment that MSG is the only toxin unleashed on the American public by the EPA. Let the words “methyl parathion” and “DDT” jog your memory.
The EPA, in granting the chemical referred to as “L-glutamic acid” an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of “L-glutamic acid” on all food commodities when applied/used in accordance with good agricultural practices (thereby allowing unrestricted amounts of processed free glutamic acid (MSG) residue to remain in and on any and all food crops that come under the EPA’s jurisdiction) violated Section 408(c)(2)(A)(i), Section 408(c)(2)(ii), Section 408(c)(2)(B), and Section 408(b)(2)(D) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Neither “L-Glutamic Acid and Gamma Aminobutyric Acid; Exemptions from the Requirement of a Tolerance; Final Rule” (Federal Register June 21, 2001) nor “Glutamic Acid; Pesticide Tolerance Exemption; Final Rule” (Federal Register January 7, 1998), which preceded it, met the criteria established by law for granting exemptions from the restriction of a tolerance.
How did spokesperson Andersen excuse the fact that the EPA approved processed free glutamic acid for use in an EPA approved spray? First, said Andersen, the free glutamic acid used in the spray is naturally occurring, and it’s 99.3 per cent pure pharmaceutical grade L-glutamic acid. Yet, in admitting that the free glutamic acid in AuxiGro is not 100 per cent pure L-glutamic acid, and that it is pharmaceutical grade, Andersen contradicted herself, and actually made the point that 1) if the free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro were truly natural, it wouldn’t be “pharmaceutical grade;” and 2) if the free glutamic acid used in AuxiGro were truly natural it would be 100 per cent, not 99.3 per cent pure L-glutamic acid.
Andersen said something else very interesting. She said that the EPA is well aware of the fact that MSG causes adverse reactions. However, when Andersen used the term “MSG” she was referring to the one food ingredient called “monosodium glutamate,” and not to the free glutamic acid in “monosodium glutamate” that causes adverse reactions. Failure to define terms, as Anderson did (and does) so handily, is both deceptive and misleading.
What Andersen did is very clever. What she said makes no sense at all. No one has ever claimed that the processed free glutamic acid in AuxiGro comes out of a box labeled “monosodium glutamate.” So for her to say it doesn’t, is meaningless. On the other hand, the claim has been made that the free glutamic acid in AuxiGro will cause the same brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders, adverse reactions and other diverse disease conditions that are caused by the free glutamic acid in “monosodium glutamate” and the other food additives that contain processed free glutamic acid. That claim is true, but Andersen does not address it. How do you refute someone who ignores legitimate questions and spews out irrelevant statements as though they pertained to your legitimate questions? You don’t. The EPA defense of its approval of use of processed free glutamic acid in plant “growth enhancers” and its registration of AuxiGro has two parts to it: 1) ignoring those who question EPA actions, and 2) making the irrelevant statement that AuxiGro does not contain MSG (monosodium glutamate).
Neither Andersen nor anyone else at the EPA ever addressed the criticism that approvals given by the EPA to allow the use of free glutamic acid and the product AuxiGro were inappropriate.
The EPA, which approved the used of processed free glutamic acid in plant “growth enhancers,” made a grievous error. But instead of recognizing and remedying that error once it was pointed out to them, the EPA began a cover-up. That cover-up included use of ambiguous words and phrases, half-truths, and downright lies told to consumers. The cover-up continued (and continues still) with a variation of those ambiguous words and phrases, half-truths, and downright lies told to legislators who inquire about spraying MSG into the environment.
You might find the Emerald BioAgriculture sales literature interesting
Sales literature promoting AuxiGro was once found on their Web site, but is now long gone. While Federal Register notices included the fact that there is processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in AuxiGro, the sales literature from Auxein Corporation did not mention the fact that their product contains free glutamic acid until the Truth in Labeling Campaign began to broadcast that information. In November, 1999, Auxein added deceptive, misleading, and untrue statements in an elaboration of its Product Page, wherein they essentially make the untrue assertion that the glutamic acid used in AuxiGro is chemically and biologically identical to that found in plants and animals.
Sales literature did (on September 12, 2000), however, contain the following:
“PRECAUTIONARY STATEMENTS
HAZARDS TO HUMAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS – CAUTION”
If you think you might be reacting to AuxiGro sprayed on crops, you might want to try to (contact Emerald BioAgriculture (formerly Auxein Corporation) at the addresses that follow. (A friend recently told us that he tried to contact them by e-mail, but his e-mail was returned unopened.) By law, the company is required to forward reports of adverse reactions to the EPA. You might want to ask the EPA if Emerald BioAgriculture did so.
John L. Mclntyre, Ph.D.
President & CEO
Emerald BioAgriculture (formerly Auxein Corporation)
3125 Sovereign Drive, Ste. B
Lansing, MI 48911-4240
Phone: (888) 828-9346
Fax: (517) 882-7521
E-Mail: mailto:%20sales@auxein.com
(From time to time, their web page, http://www.auxein.com , can be accessed by password only.)
www.Truthout.org
Evidence of poison
Fiona Macleod
08 March 2007 11:59
A Limpopo medical doctor has documented a string of physical abnormalities — including
breasts on a five-year-old girl — that he believes are directly linked to the unregulated
use of agricultural chemicals.
Dr Johan Minnaar (44) has produced evidence of serious illnesses and disorders among his
patients in Groblersdal, where commercial farmers are spraying large amounts of
pesticides on crops.
Horrific cases include teenage boys temporarily “growing breasts” during spraying
seasons, miscarriages, partial facial paralysis, cancers and ear malfunctions. Many of his
patients suffer from milder poisoning symptoms, such as asthma, sinusitis, headaches,
dizziness and depression.
Minnaar, who has been practising as a doctor in Groblersdal since 1997, took the unusual
step of coming forward with his evidence after unsuccessful attempts to get government
and regulatory authorities to intervene.
He said: “Groblersdal is surrounded by farms growing mostly citrus and grapes, but also
cotton, vegetables and maize. Throughout the year there is constant crop spraying with
pesticides containing organophosphates and carbamates. No one has informed the
community what pesticides are being used, even though the law states people must be
notified before spraying.”
Minnaar started investigating after realising that symptoms he had experienced over six
years followed a pattern.
“I experienced chronic fatigue, nausea, muscle aches and pains, skin rashes and arthritis,
particularly from August till November, when there is a noticeable increase in the spraying.
On investigation, it became clear that other people had these symptoms at the same time.”
Last August, he became so ill that he had to stay at home for two weeks. His wife and
three children also showed symptoms. He began regularly testing his and his spouse’s
blood and the tests showed they were exposed to organophosphates and carbamate
pesticides.
Minnaar laid complaints with the registrar of the national agriculture department, the
water affairs department and the labour and health departments of the Limpopo
government. He also tackled the farmers, chemical companies and crop sprayers.
The spraying continued and, on two days in February this year, large amounts of
carbamate were released during the aerial spraying of citrus orchards. Residents were not
warned beforehand. Among those who later showed signs of poisoning were pupils of two
schools located in the orchards.
Minnaar said pupils regularly played on the sports fields during spraying. The teenage
boys who had consulted him about “growing breasts” in the spraying seasons attended the
schools.
In late January, a woman brought a five-year-old girl who had developed breasts to his
consulting rooms. Minnaar suspected it could be linked to poisoning and referred her case
to Limpopo government officials, who he met two days later.
“As with many patients, she had no access to medical facilities or funds. The authorities
undertook to get her medical testing and treatment, but we’ve heard nothing,” he said.
According to Professor Leslie London of the University of Cape Town’s health sciences
faculty, premature puberty and other hormonal abnormalities are symptoms of
contamination by pesticides containing “endocrine disruptors”.
A 2005 study of girls in Mexican farming areas, titled Altered Breast Development in Girls,
indicated that pesticides could affect breast development and lead to early puberty.
Said London: “It has been shown that endocrine disruptors can also affect sexual
maturation and differentiation. A study in Sri Lanka of a pesticide called endosulfan found
that boys living in villages below cashew nut plantations sprayed with endosulfan had
impaired sexual maturity and other reproductive impairments.”
London researched aerial crop spraying around Groblersdal in 2005, with a focus on risks
to small farmers rather than health impacts. Last year, he published research on possible
links between aerial organophosphate spraying in the Northern Cape and Guillain-Barré
Syndrome, a neurological disorder.
“The problem of rural towns affected by agricultural application of pesticides is
ubiquitous,” he said. “Present regulatory and safety management methods really don’t
address this problem sufficiently.
“I think there is a view that if you choose to live in the country, you should accept this as a
way of life. That is a societal value decision, not a matter of science.”
The health department’s directorate of environmental health has announced plans to
launch a chemical safety programme in Groblersdal at the end of March. According to its
draft concept document, “the aim is to launch the programme to inform provinces that
national [government] is willing to assist them in the management of chemicals”.
The draft programme identifies schoolchildren, women, farmers and farmworkers, shack
dwellers, informal traders and manufacturers as the “most vulnerable communities in
municipalities that lack capacity to properly and satisfactorily deal with chemical safety
issues”.
South Africa is a signatory to international conventions aimed at promoting chemical
safety, and the labour ministry said in October that chemical safety was “high on the
minister’s agenda”. But crop spraying is a highly technical industry, and pinpointing
contamination is difficult.
London said it was almost impossible for applicators in planes to control the drift of
chemical sprays. “Aerial application has been shown in some studies to drift more than
2km, even in the absence of strong winds.”
European countries strictly regulate the industry through buffer zones around residential
areas and warning systems, he added.
Gerrit van Vuuren, an aerial application consultant at Croplife South Africa, blamed mist-
spraying of crops on the ground. “It is absolutely wrong to conclude that because there is
a yellow aircraft spraying agrichemicals in an area, it must the reason for ill health effects,”
he said.
Van Vuuren said mist-blowers apply more than 1 000 litres of spray mixture a hectare,
compared to 30 to 40 litres in the case of aerial spraying. They also blow a significant
volume of the spray higher than 6m into the air.
“A couple of mist-blowers spraying thousands of litres of spray mixtures at night are less
visible than an aircraft spraying a couple of hundred litres in the morning.”
He said it was up to farmers to notify inhabitants and issue warnings. They were also
supposed to ensure no one entered their fields during spraying.
The environmental health unit at the Elias Motsoaledi municipality, under which
Groblersdal falls, said it was “busy investigating the usage of pesticides being sprayed
from aeroplanes, as nuisances do occur from these activities”.
But Minnaar is frustrated by government promises to investigate. “For all practical
purposes, the supposed controls are not working. While they keep promising to sort it out,
we are getting poisoned,” he said.
The Natural Solutions Foundation keeps a close eye on the continuing disinformation of Big Pharma to try to convince you that there is no reason to, or good reason not to, take dietary supplements. It is like Honda telling you that there is no reason to buy, or good reason not to buy, a Toyota.
You see, dietary supplements are the direct economic competitor of drugs. Dietary supplements, like clean, unadulterated food, keep you healthy and get you back to health if you have become ill.
Compared to drugs, they are cheap, safe, easy to use and controllable by you or a helpful nutritionally knowledgeable person. And, at least in the US, they are classified as foods so they cannot be regulated the way drugs would be.
Of course, the FDA is always on the look out to undermine that freedom, recognized by the 1994 Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) — unanimously adopted by Congress — which this Agency publicly calls “the worst act ever passed by the US Congress”. Why? Because the FDA is run by and for industry and the drug industry is a leading source of FDA funds through User Fees. The big players in the food industry, who pay no user fees to the FDA are, none the less, very important buddies of the organization, so food is regulated for the interests of big industry and drugs are regulated to promote the drug industry, at the expense of anything that might get in the way, like, for example, dietary supplements, or the public good.
Recently pro-industry legislators created an Adverse Event Reporting system for dietary supplements that tries to ignore the role of the many drugs many people use in distorting their metabolism and leading to . Naturally, this created a great PR opportunity to bash and diminish the importance and safety of dietary supplements which do not kill people. Drugs kill people. Foods which are not contaminated do not and dietary supplements are foods!
Dr. Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas, last year called one FDA maneuver an “abuse of power…” and Congress passed dangerous bill under the guidance and force of Senator Ed. Kennedy that further enhanced the power of the FDA. In this case, though, the Health Freedom movement had a partial victory in that we insisted that Congress add a clause to the bill, protecting Dietary Supplements… and Congress, responding to the hundreds of thousands of messages that advocates of health freedom, generated, through our Action Items and otherwise, adopted the protective language.
Yet we recall that genetically modified yeast which produced contaminated Tyrptophane did kill people, giving the FDA the excuse it was seeing to remove this safe and effective sleep and calming amino acid from the market. It was, after all, cutting into the drug market heavily. The FDA did not take genetically modified products off the market. And the company which produced the contaminated shipment in Japan had a sudden and very mysterious fire which destroyed the factory – and any evidence of contamination – almost immediately after the incident was revealed.
Such is the corruption of an agency which regulates both food and drugs. Clearly, those functions must be separated and a new agency which is consumer controlled must be created. Click here () to make sure that happens!
In the meantime, read the important analysis of the latest “Dietary Supplements are Poisonous” disinformation and make a recurring 100% tax deductible donation (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=189) to the Natural Solutions Foundation so that we can continue to provide information and strategic input to keep your health freedom free.
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.Organics4U.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMarketPlace.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMedia.tv
1:12 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 9, 2008
(OMNS, October 9, 2008) “Dietary supplements cause 600 ‘adverse events'”, reported USA Today on 22 Sept, 2008. In an article that looks much like an official US Food and Drug Administration press release, it said that “Serious side effects from the use of food supplements resulted in 604 “adverse-event” reports – a list that includes at least five deaths – through the first six months that such accounts have been required by law.” (1)
Good grief! Looks like all those supplement-popping health nuts really are nuts after all. Food supplements simply must be dangerous!
Or are they?
Later on in the article, far from the headline, USA Today conceded that “An adverse event can be anything from a concern that a supplement isn’t working to a serious illness that follows consumption.” And, FDA spokesman Michael Herndon admitted that of the five deaths and 85 hospitalizations reported, “Some of these deaths were likely due to underlying medical conditions.”
FDA’s method of gaining data is suspect at best and biased at worst. Their “Dietary Supplement Adverse Event Reporting” webpage,
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~DMS/ds-rept.html, states: “FDA would like to know when a product causes a problem even if you are unsure the product caused the problem or even if you do not visit a doctor or clinic.” The measure of uncertainty involved in publicly soliciting adverse reports “even if you are unsure that the product caused the problem” is noteworthy.
But most significant of all is that FDA refused to disclose exactly which supplements allegedly were causing problems. Doesn’t the public have a right to know? In the absence of FDA disclosure to the contrary, it is likely that the five or fewer deaths attributed to “food supplements” were in fact due to medicinal substances marketed as dietary supplements. FDA acknowledges this in a round-about way at their website
(http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/mwgblghb.html).
There you will find an “Important Message” which asks health professionals to “Report Serious Adverse Events Associated with Dietary Supplements Containing GBL, GHB, or BD . . . a group of products sold as dietary supplements for bodybuilding, weight loss and sleep inducement which have been determined to pose a significant public health hazard. These products are chemically related ! to gamma butyrolactone (GBL), gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and 1,4 butanediol (BD), and can cause dangerously low respiratory rates (intubation may be required), unconciousness/coma, vomiting, seizures, bradycardia and death. GBL, GHB and BD have been linked to at least 122 serious illnesses reported to FDA, including three deaths.”
But these substances are not foods. They are not vitamins, and they are not minerals, and they are not amino acids. They should not be considered with or as food supplements. Over half of all Americans safely take nutritional supplements every day. If each of those persons took only one tablet per day, that would be some 145,000,000 individual doses daily, for a total of over 53 billion doses annually. Many healthy people take more. And yet, according to national statistics compiled by the authoritative American Association of Poison Control Centers, there is not even one death per year from vitamins. (2) Look at the reports, which detail each individual vitamin, mineral, amino acid and herb, and see for yourself at
http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
By comparison, FDA acknowledges that prescription drugs resulted in 482,154 adverse-event reports in the year 2007. That is nearly 400 times as many adverse events from prescription drugs per six-month period. And this much higher number does not include over-the-counter drugs, a striking omission. Many non-prescription drugs, such as Tylenol (acetaminophen), are a long way from safe. Liver toxicity from acetaminophen poisoning is by far the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States. Acetaminophen accounted for 51% of all acute liver failure cases in 2003. (3) Indeed, the Associated Press previously reported that common drug dangers are so bad that “Harmful reactions to some of the most widely used medicines – from insulin to a common antibiotic – sent more than 700,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year.” (4)
Vitamin supplements compete with FDA-sponsored drugs. FDA has been trying to eliminate availability of vitamin supplements for over 45 years. As early as 1962, writes constitutional attorney Jonathan W. Emord, “FDA perceived a competitive threat emerging to drug regulation from the sale of dietary ingredients at above RDA doses.” In 1966, “FDA published a rule that any dietary supplement exceeding 150% of the RDA for a vitamin or mineral would automatically be regulated as a drug.” In 1976, after a “public outcry,” the Proxmire Amendment prohibited FDA from deeming a vitamin or mineral a drug solely because of potency. “Undaunted,” continues Emord, “FDA tried yet again to rid the market of vitamins in the 1970s by claiming on a case by case basis that they were adulterated based on their potency.” FDA also tried to have supplements declared to be unapproved food additives. “FDA’s position was a logical absurdity: Single ingredient dietary supplements were food additives b! ecause the ingredients were added to a gelatin capsule which was, FDA said with a wink and a smirk, a food. . . The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit described FDA’s position as an “Alice in Wonderland” approach.” In 1980, FDA tried to get vitamins classified as over-the-counter drugs. . . FDA has repeatedly exceeded the limits of its statutory authority to bring about changes designed to protect drug companies from competition.” (5)
Additional evidence comes directly from FDA, whose own Dietary Task Force Report, released June 15, 1993, said: “The task force considered many issues in its deliberations including to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development.” There is also this statement was made by FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy David Adams, at the Drug Information Association Annual Meeting, July 12, 1993: “Pay careful attention to what is happening with dietary supplements in the legislative arena . . . If these efforts are successful, there could be created a class of products to compete with approved drugs. The establishment of a separate regulatory category for supplements could undercut exclusivity rights enjoyed by the holders of approved drug applications.”
FDA wants control of vitamins. Their latest ploy is to frighten the public into thinking vitamin supplements are dangerous, without proof, and without even naming the supplements they accuse. Don’t fall for what Abram Hoffer, M.D., calls “the FDA’s grand lie that, if told over and over again, is accepted as somehow true.”
Vitamin supplements are not the problem. Poor eating habits, and too many medicines, are the problem. Food supplements are a solution. They are effective, and vastly safer than drugs. The US Food and Drug Administration knows this full well.
References:
(1) Perez AJ. Dietary supplements cause 600 ‘adverse events’. USA Today, Sept 22, 2008:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-22-supplements-adverse-events_N.htm
or http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-22-supplements-adverse-events_N.htm?POE=click-refer
(2) Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poisoning and Exposure Database, 3201 New Mexico Avenue, Ste. 330, Washington, DC 20016. Download any report from 1983-2006 at
http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
free of charge. The “Vitamin” category is usually near the end of the report. Summary and commentary at:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitsafety.html
(3) Larson AM et al Acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure: results from a United States multicenter, prospective study. Hepatology 2005;42:1364-1372. See also:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Depression/tb/2233
(4) Associated Press, Oct 17, 2006.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305033/
(5) Emord JW. FDA violation of the rule of law. Speech from the Health Freedom Exposition in Richmond, Virginia September 23, 2006.
http://www.emord.com/events/speeches/fda_violation.htm
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information:
http://www.orthomolecular.org
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.
Editorial Review Board:
Damien Downing, M.D.
Harold D. Foster, Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
James A. Jackson, PhD
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person.
Email: omns@orthomolecular.org
http://alobar.livejournal.com/3062139.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 9, 2008
(OMNS, October 9, 2008) “Dietary supplements cause 600 ‘adverse events'”, reported USA Today on 22 Sept, 2008. In an article that looks much like an official US Food and Drug Administration press release, it said that “Serious side effects from the use of food supplements resulted in 604 “adverse-event” reports – a list that includes at least five deaths – through the first six months that such accounts have been required by law.” (1)
Good grief! Looks like all those supplement-popping health nuts really are nuts after all. Food supplements simply must be dangerous!
Or are they?
Later on in the article, far from the headline, USA Today conceded that “An adverse event can be anything from a concern that a supplement isn’t working to a serious illness that follows consumption.” And, FDA spokesman Michael Herndon admitted that of the five deaths and 85 hospitalizations reported, “Some of these deaths were likely due to underlying medical conditions.”
FDA’s method of gaining data is suspect at best and biased at worst. Their “Dietary Supplement Adverse Event Reporting” webpage,
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~DMS/ds-rept.html,
states: “FDA would like to know when a product causes a problem even if you are unsure the product caused the problem or even if you do not visit a doctor or clinic.” The measure of uncertainty involved in publicly soliciting adverse reports “even if you are unsure that the product caused the problem” is noteworthy.
But most significant of all is that FDA refused to disclose exactly which supplements allegedly were causing problems. Doesn’t the public have a right to know? In the absence of FDA disclosure to the contrary, it is likely that the five or fewer deaths attributed to “food supplements” were in fact due to medicinal substances marketed as dietary supplements. FDA acknowledges this in a round-about way at their website
(http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/mwgblghb.html).
There you will find an “Important Message” which asks health professionals to “Report Serious Adverse Events Associated with Dietary Supplements Containing GBL, GHB, or BD . . . a group of products sold as dietary supplements for bodybuilding, weight loss and sleep inducement which have been determined to pose a significant public health hazard. These products are chemically related ! to gamma butyrolactone (GBL), gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and 1,4 butanediol (BD), and can cause dangerously low respiratory rates (intubation may be required), unconciousness/coma, vomiting, seizures, bradycardia and death. GBL, GHB and BD have been linked to at least 122 serious illnesses reported to FDA, including three deaths.”
But these substances are not foods. They are not vitamins, and they are not minerals, and they are not amino acids. They should not be considered with or as food supplements. Over half of all Americans safely take nutritional supplements every day. If each of those persons took only one tablet per day, that would be some 145,000,000 individual doses daily, for a total of over 53 billion doses annually. Many healthy people take more. And yet, according to national statistics compiled by the authoritative American Association of Poison Control Centers, there is not even one death per year from vitamins. (2) Look at the reports, which detail each individual vitamin, mineral, amino acid and herb, and see for yourself at
http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
By comparison, FDA acknowledges that prescription drugs resulted in 482,154 adverse-event reports in the year 2007. That is nearly 400 times as many adverse events from prescription drugs per six-month period. And this much higher number does not include over-the-counter drugs, a striking omission. Many non-prescription drugs, such as Tylenol (acetaminophen), are a long way from safe. Liver toxicity from acetaminophen poisoning is by far the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States. Acetaminophen accounted for 51% of all acute liver failure cases in 2003. (3) Indeed, the Associated Press previously reported that common drug dangers are so bad that “Harmful reactions to some of the most widely used medicines – from insulin to a common antibiotic – sent more than 700,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year.” (4)
Vitamin supplements compete with FDA-sponsored drugs. FDA has been trying to eliminate availability of vitamin supplements for over 45 years. As early as 1962, writes constitutional attorney Jonathan W. Emord, “FDA perceived a competitive threat emerging to drug regulation from the sale of dietary ingredients at above RDA doses.” In 1966, “FDA published a rule that any dietary supplement exceeding 150% of the RDA for a vitamin or mineral would automatically be regulated as a drug.” In 1976, after a “public outcry,” the Proxmire Amendment prohibited FDA from deeming a vitamin or mineral a drug solely because of potency. “Undaunted,” continues Emord, “FDA tried yet again to rid the market of vitamins in the 1970s by claiming on a case by case basis that they were adulterated based on their potency.” FDA also tried to have supplements declared to be unapproved food additives. “FDA’s position was a logical absurdity: Single ingredient dietary supplements were food additives b! ecause the ingredients were added to a gelatin capsule which was, FDA said with a wink and a smirk, a food. . . The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit described FDA’s position as an “Alice in Wonderland” approach.” In 1980, FDA tried to get vitamins classified as over-the-counter drugs. . . FDA has repeatedly exceeded the limits of its statutory authority to bring about changes designed to protect drug companies from competition.” (5)
Additional evidence comes directly from FDA, whose own Dietary Task Force Report, released June 15, 1993, said: “The task force considered many issues in its deliberations including to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development.” There is also this statement was made by FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy David Adams, at the Drug Information Association Annual Meeting, July 12, 1993: “Pay careful attention to what is happening with dietary supplements in the legislative arena . . . If these efforts are successful, there could be created a class of products to compete with approved drugs. The establishment of a separate regulatory category for supplements could undercut exclusivity rights enjoyed by the holders of approved drug applications.”
FDA wants control of vitamins. Their latest ploy is to frighten the public into thinking vitamin supplements are dangerous, without proof, and without even naming the supplements they accuse. Don’t fall for what Abram Hoffer, M.D., calls “the FDA’s grand lie that, if told over and over again, is accepted as somehow true.”
Vitamin supplements are not the problem. Poor eating habits, and too many medicines, are the problem. Food supplements are a solution. They are effective, and vastly safer than drugs. The US Food and Drug Administration knows this full well.
References:
(1) Perez AJ. Dietary supplements cause 600 ‘adverse events’. USA Today, Sept 22, 2008:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-22-supplements-adverse-events_N.htm
or http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-22-supplements-adverse-events_N.htm?POE=click-refer
(2) Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poisoning and Exposure Database, 3201 New Mexico Avenue, Ste. 330, Washington, DC 20016. Download any report from 1983-2006 at
http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDS/AnnualReports/tabid/125/Default.aspx
free of charge. The “Vitamin” category is usually near the end of the report. Summary and commentary at:
http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitsafety.html
(3) Larson AM et al Acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure: results from a United States multicenter, prospective study. Hepatology 2005;42:1364-1372. See also:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/Depression/tb/2233
(4) Associated Press, Oct 17, 2006.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305033/
(5) Emord JW. FDA violation of the rule of law. Speech from the Health Freedom Exposition in Richmond, Virginia September 23, 2006.
http://www.emord.com/events/speeches/fda_violation.htm
Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information:
http://www.orthomolecular.org
The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.
Editorial Review Board:
Damien Downing, M.D.
Harold D. Foster, Ph.D.
Steve Hickey, Ph.D.
Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.
James A. Jackson, PhD
Bo H. Jonsson, MD, Ph.D
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D.
Erik Paterson, M.D.
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D., Editor and contact person.
Email: omns@orthomolecular.org
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From: http://alobar.livejournal.com/3062139.html
Here’s the wonderful letter Nick Molorisi wrote to us yesterday. Take a moment to read it, realize that YOU are Mighty Mouse and then take the actions listed at the end of this email!
Thanks!
Yours in health and freedom,
Dr. Rima
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions Foundation
www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.Organics4U.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMarketPlace.org
www.NaturalSolutionsMedia.tv
Hi Everybody Mighty Mouse Is Back!
How many of you remember the days when Mighty Mouse cartoons produced an unusual hero. If you do, you are admitting to getting old!
Mighty mouse is back to champion the quest for our freedoms! Dr. Laibow had brought attention back to this mighty warrior for American Freedom like no other, and brought Mighty Mouse back into play. The Mighty Mouse is in right in your hand when you are sitting at your computer!
The opposition starts their agenda of toxic cocktails in our food and medications in one state, mostly among the poor and out of work people.Then they go for the kill by making it the law of the land through our congressmen and senators, and our local law enforcement officials being brain washed
to think of the people they are supposed to, by their oath to protect and defend, are the enemy.
Yet there is a double standard here. These officials of the law don’t realize they are not above the law and that they are being duped, because eventually the fires of this hell on Earth will engulf their own children [and them – REL]. By then it will be too late for even them to say “no” to the demise of their own children.
If our ELECTED OFFICIALS are allowed to continue to force these vaccination agendas, (the attack of the week), on New Jersey, We the People, will all suffer greatly. Then to complete the job, they follow up with the forced psychiatric drugging of our children [and of us -REL] to produce a nation of prescription drug junkies.
It’s up to every one of us to keep at it [defending our freedoms -REL], just like the opposition does at bringing this country down.
We are Mighty Mouse
All of us must use our computer mouses and keep vigil every day by clicking away at all the petitions, faxes, phone calls and letters to these hypnotized and brain-washed so called representatives of the people. Our Foundation’s mission is to educate decision makers… with your help!
Help New Jersey right now…
[By going to the October 16 No Forced Vaccination Rally in Trenton, NJ (http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?p=1166) and letting everyone you know in the tri-state metro area know about this opportunity – REL] by clicking away on your mouse no matter what state you are from. Sign these very important petitions. The Internet is our greatest tool right now to bring about the freedoms so badly needed in our nation.
Everybody, please — hand on your mouse right now and sign all of the petitions in this forwarded message, and get them to all your contacts. [Free Speech is a good place to start. Click here, http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929, to tell your State and Federal Legislators that allowing Registered Dietitians a monopoly over ALL speech relating to food, food components, including dietary supplements, and health is unconstitutional and must stop. Right now, 46 States have such laws with New Jersey hard on their heels. -REL]
Yesterday (Nov, 17, 2007) it was Maryland, where they forced the toxic vaccination program on poor
unsuspecting people [2300 children were vaccinated, 1100 of them RE-vaccinated with an extra dose of toxins because the school district admitted it had lost their vaccination records -REL] at the point of a gun with police dogs and judge in attendance, with police toting guns and attack dogs, to vaccinate their children under severe, cruel and unusual punishment if they did not. [And this in a State with statutory exemptions of medical conditions, conscience and religion, none of which were identified to parents who were threatened with jail time and fines if they did not allow their children to be vaccinated. -REL]
Make no mistake, this is an attack
The CDC’s own website on adverse vaccine incidents [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, VAERS, http://vaers.hhs.gov/ -REL] reported many adverse events related to these toxic medicines on [our -REL] children, but none of this toxic genocide of our children got reported through the media. They bury it with our children who don’t survive this attack, and we get the bill for the whole thing. Your children will be next if we do not act now and help our neighbors. Make no mistake about this. The people of New York State kicked them in the ass by screaming so loud they sent the reps running with their tails between their legs, and got the forced vaccine program squashed in that state.
The opposition is on the attack again.
Today it’s New Jersey. They are escalating the attack on our children of all citizens of this state.
Tomorrow it’s the rest of the country, then in a domino effect, the rest of the world.
Go to your mouse now, and make it Mighty Mouse.
We are talking about maiming and killing your children here. Let’s continue to flood the government offices with our demands that they begin to represent the people or we kick them out this November.
Is it already too late…
These very reps defied the 96% of the people who did not want it in the latest fiasco on the Bail Out, and voted it into law. Where is the serve and protect the people. When you are
broke, who will bail you out? Hmmmmmmm.
They just took your money and will continue to do it if we don’t stop them. It is only the beginning.
This is how we can stop this horror cold.
Remember the kick in the ass will be when, We the People, kick them out of their jobs this November.
Might Mouse is right here, It’s YOU, and we are all a part of this brave warrior for freedom.
Sign the petitions here Natural Solutions Foundation message. [links which follow this message. Then forward it to everyone you know with your own cover message asking people to do the same. Tell them it’s important to you and you believe it will be important to them, too- REL].
Join in and sign up for the free Health Freedom eAlert e-mail messages here: http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?page_id=187
It only takes a few minutes of your time. And above all, sign or not, get this to all your contacts.
Remember, third party all the way will save the day. No one is going to do this for you, you must get involved. You have to be in it to win it. Do your part and feel proud. Use your mouse to find who your state and national third party reps are, and make it a mighty mouse. Vote for them in November.
Don’t believe for a New York minute that we can’t win. We can!
The only thing you have to fear is what will happen to you and your family if you do nothing.
If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Thanks,
Nick Merolesi
Now it’s up to you, Mighty Mouse! Here are the steps to take right now! There isn’t a New York Minute to waste!
* Urge your legislator to become a co-sponsor of Denis Kucinich’s 3 bill suite to demand safety evaluation and labeling of all GMO foods, including the newly approved Franken Meats.
o Click here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25920
* Sign the Tiburon Declaration to let the entire nation know that you are in the majority opposing forced drugging or vaccination. Click here: http://drrimatruthreports.com/index.php?p=460
* Keep Codex tyranny over truthful speech about the relationship about the relationship between food and health out of the US.
o Click here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25929
o and Here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26028
o and Here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1134/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1035
* Let your State and Federal Legislators know that you want mercury out of our mouths and out of all health care – NOW!
o Click here: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26052