DID YOU KNOW WALNUTS ARE ILLEGAL DRUGS?

 

Nature's pharmacy includes walnuts 

Walnut Health Benefits

Food Renegade

Written by KristenM

September 2, 2011

It seems absurd. Yet thanks to the regulations set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, any food that makes a non-FDA approved health claim is advertising itself as a drug, not a food. Of course, if the food is actually a drug, then it suddenly becomes subject to all the laws, testing, and requirements of regulated drugs. Translation: foods as benign as walnuts are regulated like illegal drugs.

For years, the FDA has been using this reasoning to target companies that market foods using health claims. In general, I’m of a mixed opinion about such targeting. On the one hand, it’s good to hold food makers responsible for the claims they make when marketing food. We wouldn’t want Cocoa Krispies to advertise itself as an effective way to keep your kids from contracting the Swine Flu, would we? 

(Oh, wait! You mean they did that already?)

But on the other hand, where’s the harm in a walnut distributor’s website linking to studies found in scientific journals that demonstrate that eating walnuts can lower LDL cholesterol?

I grow particularly upset when I see perfectly normal, healthy, whole foods targeted by these regulations. Recently, the FDA sent a warning letter to Diamond Foods, Inc. ~ a distributor of walnuts ~ warning them to remove the scientifically substantiated health claims about walnuts on their website. Here are a few choice excerpts from the FDA’s letter:

“Based on claims made on your firm’s website, we have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease.

“Because of these intended uses, your walnut products are drugs within the meaning of section 201 (g) (1) (B) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(g) (B)]. Your walnut products are also new drugs under section 201(p) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(p)] because they are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced conditions. Therefore, under section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)], they may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application.

“Additionally, your walnut products are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners; therefore, adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes. Thus, your walnut products are also misbranded under section 502(f)(1) of the Act, in that the labeling for these drugs fails to bear adequate directions for use [21 U.S.C. § 352(f)(1)].”

Rather than facing fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as the seizure and destruction of their entire inventory of walnuts, Diamond Foods did what any business would do. They removed the health claims from their website.

I grow even more upset when I see the FDA approving health claims for radically unhealthy, industrial foods. You know which foods I’m talking about. One walk down the snack food aisle of the grocery store is enough to do the trick.

How many times have I gagged when seeing a bag of “heart-healthy” Frito-Lay potato chips?

Frito-Lay’s own website reads like one giant health claim:

Frito-Lay snacks start with real farm-grown ingredients. You might be surprised at how much good stuff goes into your favorite snack. Good stuff like potatoes, which naturally contain vitamin C and essential minerals. Or corn, one of the world’s most popular grains, packed with Thiamin, vitamin B6, and Phosphorous ~ all necessary for healthy bones, teeth, nerves and muscles.

And it’s not just the obvious ingredients. Our all-natural sunflower, canola, corn and soybean oils are considered to be healthier oils by the FDA because they contain good polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, which help lower total and LDL “bad” cholesterol and maintain HDL “good” cholesterol levels. They also contain <20% of the bad saturated fat, which raises LDL, cholesterol and 0g of trans fat. Even salt, when eaten in moderation as part of a balanced diet, provides sodium which is essential for the body.

Why, after reading that spiel you’d think we should all be eating this heart-healthy food in huge quantities to stave off heart disease!

What kind of world do we live in where it’s okay for a junk food maker to market their so-called “foods” made from industrial waste products as “heart-healthy,” but it’s not okay for a walnut distributor to link to actual scientific studies demonstrating that walnuts are a healthy food?

I get the most upset, however, when I think about the implications this has for our food supply.

I like how William Faloon put it in his August 2011 Life Extension magazine article on this topic:

For the FDA to allow Frito-Lay® to pretend there are heart benefits to ingesting their unhealthy snack products, while censoring the ability of walnut companies to make scientifically substantiated claims, is tantamount to treason against the health of the American public.

The combined sales of the companies attacked by the FDA are only a fraction of those of food giant Frito-Lay®.

Yet some of these companies are fighting back against the FDA’s absurd position that it is illegal to disseminate scientific research showing the favorable effects these foods produce in the body.

The makers of pomegranate juice, for example, have sued the FTC for censoring their First Amendment right to communicate scientific information to the public.

As a consumer, you should be outraged that disease-promoting foods are protected by the federal government, while nutritious foods are censored.

There is no scientific rationale for the FDA to do this.

On the contrary, the dangerous foods ubiquitously advertised in the media are replacing cigarettes as the leading killers in modern society.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

Now for some relatively good news. Recently, the Free Speech About Science Act (H.R. 1364) was introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act concerning the distribution of information on legitimate scientific research in connection with foods and dietary supplements, and for other purposes.

Right now, the bill only has 3 co-sponsors and is languishing in committee, where it will probably be ignored unless you and I do something about it.

So, first things first, you need to call your representatives and urge them to co-sponsor the bill. Anytime you want to mount political action, a call is worth far more than a letter, a letter worth far more than an email, and an online petition is basically worthless. So, call.

Next, call or send letters to the members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Health, since that’s the committee where the bill is currently languishing.

If enough of us express interest in seeing this bill move forward, we may actually see it move forward!

(photo by gimmefood)

MONSANTO: ANIMALS REJECT GMOS: IT'S TIME FOR A FOOD FIGHT (VIDEO)

IT'S TIME FOR A FOOD FIGHT from NO GMO on Vimeo.

MONSANTO: A NATIONAL RESPONSE TO TWO FDA ARMED RAIDS ON RAWESOME

IntelHub

http://theintelhub.com/2011/08/09/a-national-response-to-two-fda-armed-raids-on-rawesome/

Food Freedom
By Victor Rawls

August 9, 2011

The two SWAT team raids ordered by the FDA on Rawesome, an organic food coop in LA, represent “food safety” come home to roost, in all its vulture reality.

First time, they used armed FBI; the second time, having faced such still resistance from non-resisting people, they multiplied their attack using armed LA police, Ventura County Sheriffs, the California Department of Ag and several other agencies.

People across the country are stunned and enraged, but most are not aware of the one small thing which has allowed this to occur.  To understand how key that little detail is, one must go back to how “food safety” got its power and how it works its magic.

“Food safety” was promoted by Bill Clinton during the 1990s in classic Monsanto language ~ it would be “science-based”!  Modern science could move beyond stopping contamination after the fact by being “preventive,” seeking out potential sources of contamination and eliminating them in advance.

Clinton urged implementing HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) ostensibly to deal with increasing contamination by the big meat packers.

But when one remembers Clinton was put in office by Tyson, one of the top meat packers, with some help from Monsanto and Walmart, something starts to smell.

It was sleight of hand.  

“Watch the paperwork, folks, keep your eye on the paperwork! Are you watching?” 

 HACCP relies on a morass of rules, regulations and paperwork around pipes, temperatures, flooring, water sources, bathrooms, counter materials that is so huge and imposing and so “science-based” one has trouble noticing the one thing not included ~ the food itself.

HACCP eliminated inspection of the meat and substituted paperwork. The paperwork was so onerous for small operators and the system so shot full of traps (despite their producing clean food), that it shut down small slaughter houses across the country, an essential piece of any localized food system.

HACCP is applied intensely to small plants, notes John Munsell of the Foundation for Accountability in Regulatory Enforcement (FARE):

“USDA blithely walks away from obvious contamination problems at the huge slaughter plants, and we must remember that the biggest four packers slaughter 88% of our feedlot steers and heifers. USDA statistics show that 93% of federally inspected plants are small, yet they produce only 10% of our meat.

This means that although the big plants represent only 7% of all Federal plants, they produce 90% of our meat. This agency policy now insulates 90% of our meat from adequate inspection, while the agency intensely monitors 10% of our meat production at the small plants, which are easier enforcement prey for USDA.”

HACCP really stands for “Have a Corporate Consolidation Party” and, thanks to Bill Clinton, that is just what the big meat packers did.  Contamination and deaths went up; the number of slaughter houses went down.

HERE IS WHERE RAWESOME COMES IN.

The Monsanto “science-based” jargon has one aim: to remove the requirement for evidence, the basis of the rule of law.

HACCP was a “science-based” injustice that worked.  “Science-based” returned in gargantuan form when Hillary Clinton, candidate for president, urged a giant centralized food safety agency to control all food in the US.

She didn’t win but Monsanto VP, Michael Taylor (to whom Bill Clinton had given free rein at the FDA to introduce Monsanto’s GMOs into the food chain), came in with Obama’s transition team when Obama appointed him (avoiding appointment hearings) Czar over food safety at the FDA.

Then corporate media treated the country to corporate contamination and malfeasance stories (muckraking corporations with a corporate aim in mind) and the Democrats rammed through “science-based” control over all food and all farms in the US.  Presto! Michael Taylor, Monsanto VP, was in charge of the entire US food supply, with DHS and DOD available as backup.  

This is the Monsanto that has hired Blackwater.

That agency is moving “science-based” to new heights.  Perhaps the FDA was not pleased with being slowed down in court by some judges looking askance at shutting down people, whose goods were not contaminated, letting those people return home and sell those products.

In any case, the FDA wrote itself a rule (candy store time for corporations when they run agencies!) that allows it to seize food with no evidence of contamination.

Perhaps by now it is becoming apparent that evidence is key.

Monsanto has always played dangerously fast and loose with science, but with food safety, it has moved to eliminate it entirely.  The FDA need only have “reason to believe” something might be contaminated, might harm people, to move forward.  

Sure, Monsanto has excellent reason to believe ~ their reason being profit, their belief being in their control of everything.

Monsanto designed “science-based” as a means to end any requirement for evidence (science) and to be rid of due process (law).  They are having a field day playing at protecting the country from raw milk.

Of course, it is the FDA and CDC which have kept from the public the connection between pasteurized commercial dairy products and Crohn’s disease for more than a decade, while they play out their dramatic, armed, multi-agency raid on decent people.

It is a raw milk farce since raw milk is allegedly responsible for one death in 62 years (and none in the past twelve).

But the law has been written to make evidence irrelevant.  Safe milk can be seized.  Its safety is not even at issue, all that matters is the FDA’s beliefs.  The law becomes a thug without rules of evidence.

Monsanto has now achieved turning the justice system itself into its own personal mafia.  Capone had to pay his men to rough up, terrorize, and shut down neighborhood places that competed with him.  Monsanto has the FBI, the LA police, the California Department of AG and the FDA to do that for them, and the media to promote it all.

Imagine if Capone could have had media saying the little guys being mowed down were a threat to Chicago’s health and that he was protecting the city.

It is both a little thing Monsanto removed, lost among the paper work, and a huge agency apparatus.  Evidence.  All that is needed to stop the FDA and local ag departments is to require just what the corporations removed ~ proof.  Scientific evidence.

To demand an evidence-based (that is “science-based”) law might not be something “science-based” Monsanto would get behind since its use of science is all PR while its actions are anti-science.  But for legislators to refuse to insert a requirement for evidence would be a bit awkward.

Besides which, legislators were likely taken in by the sleight of hand themselves, thinking a giant agency and millions of rules meant more safety, thinking they were helping their children.

FDA raids on natural food producers and distributors expose the iron fist in the gloved hand.

For those who appreciate the profound threat to access to safe food that the Rawesome raids expose, there is much that can be done to stop the monster grunting “food safety” as it destroys safe food.

1.  First and immediately, demand local and state legislators to insert into all health and food safety laws that nothing can be demanded of anyone, done to anyone, taken from anyone, or charged to anyone, without incontrovertible evidence of contamination.

2.  Demand a Congressional investigation into the travesty of food safety.  That would include Monsanto’s use of massive food safety powers Congress just gave the FDA to destroy safe food and terrorize people.  

Congress must add a section into the Food Safety Modernization Act requiring evidence of contamination before the FDA can do anything to, ask anything of, bill anyone for, take, hold or seize anything from anyone.

Congress must require prior evidence be acquired via due process (including warrants). The FDA must be stopped from declaring food contaminated without evidence indicating contamination.

The USDA, the same agency wantonly releasing GMOs into the food chain, has the audacity to use “food safety” to demand a “test and hold” period for meat, something that has no impact on the big packers but spells destruction for those selling fresh raw meat or fresh milk and leaves customers seeking raw food without any.  Here, too, there needs to be evidence of contamination before holding any food.  (Also see the GIPSA Rules discussion.)

In demanding evidence, people are demanding due process and the rule of law.

What the FDA did twice at Rawesome makes it clear that what is at stake goes far beyond defense of raw milk, to everyone’s basic rights around choosing food, around basic rights to contracting, around basic rights to health.  And the FDA (Monsanto) is arguing in court right now that the American people do not have any of those rights.

Mike Callicrate, cattleman and food activist, says,

“The People’s agencies (FDA, USDA, etc.) both nationally and locally are doing the work of big agribusiness in eliminating good food alternatives…. Perhaps [the Rawesome Raid] will be the spark we need for a real food revolution!”

African Americans should recognize the clear parallel to the civil rights movement and see the severe threat now.  The most essential rights of all people ~ to health, to food choice, to private contract – are threatened by their own government in collusion with corporations. These rights, in being about access to food, are about our right to live and thrive.

The country is looking at a civil rights battle of a dimension and seriousness never seen before in history.

The production of and everyone’s right to safe food is being unconstitutionally criminalized through Monsanto-FDA’s “science-based” removal of evidence.

Evidence is key.

VIDEOS: 4 BEST METHODS FOR OFF-THE-GRID FOOD PRODUCTION

A beautiful display of naturally grown produce

Activist Post

June 3, 2011

For most of us producing all of our own food is just a fantasy. It evokes visions of multiple acres of fertile land, long work days, and expensive machinery. However, none of these are necessary to achieve self-sufficient food production.

There are many gardening techniques that can produce an abundance of food for you and your family without requiring a lot of space, money or equipment. What each of these methods will require is your time, but not the dawn-to-dusk work hours associated with farming.

Rather, you will need time to study and practice these methods and other food preparation skills such as learning to mill your own wheat or corn flour to make breads, tortillas, pastas from scratch, or learning to can, pickle, or preserve food in all its forms.

Your diet should also be considered when planning for the best self-sufficient food production method.  Do you need meat and dairy products? How much grain do you require? Yes, in order fully produce all of your food off-the-grid you may have to make changes to your current diet if your resources are limited.  Some may view these as dietary sacrifices, yet the folks that can claim a high level of food self-reliance will all claim their diet is far healthier than the average American.

With dedication and proper planning, everyone has the ability to survive the looming food crisis by producing their own food.  None of the following methods should necessarily be considered by itself.  Each offers unique techniques that can be mixed and matched for the best results.  Their optimal application depends on calculations of your property size, climate zone, or your budget and time constraints.

Here are the 4 best food production methods for self-reliance:

1. Permaculture Gardening:

 

Permaculture is where you design an entire edible habitat based on the natural capital of your setting. Then, place plants to methodically balance the soil, water, and pests. For instance, a nitrogen fixing plant may be planted next to a nitrogen hungry plant, which may sit next to an ornamental that deters predators, and so on. Permaculture gardening re-creates nature by using a large variety of plants while incorporating as many different animals as feasible like chickens, goats, ducks, and bees. 

You may also see features like vertical gardening and aquaculture ponds in permaculture designs depending on the space available. Utilizing this method is not expensive, but requires a lot of know-how and trial and error. Permaculture gardening can produce massive abundance.  See the amazing video below for a real-world example of going off-the-grid in suburbia.

2. Aquaponics:

Aquaponics is a interdependent hybrid system of aquaculture and hydroponic gardening.  Vegetables and herbs grow in soil-less containers that are fed with waste water from the aquaculture pools.  The plants feast on the bacteria from fish waste and return the water to the fish in a purified state. These systems can be as big or as small as you wish and can potentially produce large amounts of fish and vegetables. 

When done properly, very little if any additional fertilizer or chemicals are needed, just fish food.  Aquaponics can also be applied indoors, either in a greenhouse setting or with grow lights. The video below is a good description of the benefits of Aquaponics.

3. Greenhouses:

If you live in a region of the world with harsh winters, then a greenhouse will be essential for food self-sufficiency.  Obviously, a greenhouse alone is not a strategy for full food production unless it is a large facility.  Typically it can be viewed as a compliment to other gardening methods.  In fact, the Dervaes family in the first video above uses a greenhouse to clone and start seedlings even though they live in Southern California. There are great designs and greenhouse starter kits.  
 
Below is a brief video on the benefits of greenhouse gardening.



4. Indoor Grow Rooms: 

Indoor growing is typically done with grow lights and hydroponics.  Some people have sun-rooms in their homes which can basically act as a fancier greenhouse.  However, for this section we’ll focus on indoor hydroponics.  This method of growing is certainly not the cheapest way to produce food, yet it is a steadfast method especially where weather and other elements can hinder food self-sufficiency.

Indoor hydroponics requires grow lights such as, as LEDs, CFLs, or HPs, along with tubing, drainage, fertilizer and ventilation. However, even a small space can produce fantastic yields for leafy vegetables, herbs, tomatoes, sprouts, and much more. To make this method fully off the grid, find the most energy efficient grow lights possible and think about getting a solar generator to offset the electric costs. Below is a video about indoor plant lighting.

Video: How to survive the coming Food Shortage and Hyperinflation

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UGH, UGH, UGH!:PRO-LIFE GROUPS CALL FOR PEPSI BOYCOTT OVER ABORTED FETAL CELL LINES

OR NOT!

 “Pepsi has been bringing fun and refreshment

to consumers for over 100 years.”

If you pick up a can of soup and find 

that the sodium levels are lower than you expected,

or that a food item advertises it has “less sugar” or “no MSG” … 

then there may be cause for alarm.

By Rebecca Millette

May 26, 2011

LifeSiteNews.com

Scores of prolife groups are calling for a public boycott of food giant, PepsiCo, due to its partnership with Senomyx, a biotech company that uses aborted fetal cells in the research and development of artificial flavor enhancers.

LifeSiteNews previously reported on Senomyx’s partnership with major food corporations, most notably PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, and Nestlé.  

Pro-life watchdog group, Children of God for Life (CGL), is now joined by major pro-life organizations calling upon the public to target PepsiCo in a boycott.

Pepsi is funding the research and development, and paying royalties to Senomyx, which uses HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney cells) to produce flavor enhancers for Pepsi beverages.

“Using isolated human taste receptors we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor,” says the Senomyx website.

Stated Debi Vinnedge, President for CGL, the watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years,

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 ~ human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors.”

The aborted fetal cells are not in the product itself. However, “there are many options PepsiCo could be using instead of aborted fetal cells,” noted Vinnedge.

The revelation about Senomyx’s research techniques motivated Campbell Soup to sever all relations with Senomyx.

However, PepsiCo continues their business relationship despite the abortion connection. They drew pubic ire earlier this year when they responded, saying, “our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers.”

When pressed further, PepsiCo sent out a form letter response saying they had been accused of conducting aborted fetal tissue research. 

Bradley Mattes, executive director of Life Issues Institute, said,

“While aborted fetal cells aren’t actually in the product itself, the close relationship is enough to repulse most consumers.  To our knowledge, this is the first time a food product has been publicly associated with abortion.”

The pro-life groups noted that additional companies collaborating with Senomyx will be targeted for boycott next. 

The pro-life organizations are asking the public to boycott all Pepsi drink products and encourage consumers to contact Pepsi management requesting that they sever all ties with Senomyx.

Email form

BIOTECH COMPANY USING CELL LINES

FROM ABORTED BABIES

IN FOOD ENHANCEMENT TESTING

By Rebecca Millette

March 29, 2011

LifeSiteNews.com

Pepsico, Kraft Foods, and Nestlé are among the corporations partnered with a biotech company found using aborted fetal cell lines to test food flavor enhancers, according to a pro-life watchdog group.  

The internationally recognized biotech company, Senomyx, boasts innovation and success in “flavour programs” designed to reduce MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products.  Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients. 

Pro-life watchdog group, Children of God for Life (CGL), has called upon the public to target the major corporations in a boycott, unless the company ceases to use aborted fetal cell lines in their product testing.

“Using isolated human taste receptors,” the Senomyx website claims, “we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors,” stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for CGL, the watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

“They could have easily chosen COS (monkey) cells, Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, insect cells or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors,” Vinnedge added.

Responses from major corporations to CGL’s letter campaign succeeded in warning the pro-life watchdog that these companies would need significant public pressure to admit involvement in and convince them of the need to change Senomyx’s unethical testing methods.

After three letters, Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific research”.

Pepsico wrote:

“We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.”

“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it can be highly effective in convincing Senomyx to change their methods”, Vinnedge noted.  “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products!”

Note: This article originally stated, based on information provided by CGL, that Solae and Campbell soup were also partnered with Senomyx. However, LSN has since learned that while both companies were in the past partnered with Senomyx, they no longer have a relationship with the company.

For a list of Pepsi Beverages included in the boycott:

http://pepsico.com/Brands/Pepsi_Cola-Brands.html

To contact the companies: 

Kent Snyder, CEO
Senomyx“
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121
email

Paul Bulcke, CEO
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203

email

Jamie Caulfield, Sr. VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 253-2000
Email form.

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO
Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
email

FOOD COMPANIES TEST FLAVORINGS THAT CAN MIMIC SUGAR, SALT OR MSG

Regarding the above, Campbell’s is no longer involved with Senomyx.

THE HIDDEN DANGER OF “ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS”!