Freedom to Take Cod Liver Oil

September 1st, 2005

I had a really interesting conversation today. I called one of the many companies whose products I use because this one makes superb quality cod liver oil that I often recommend to help my patients (and me) get and stay well. I really like their oil (I have no financial relationship with them at all) and today when I saw a press release saying that they were going to resist Codex pressure to use artificial vitamins in their products I thought that was pretty terrific. I picked up the phone and called to congratulate them and discuss Codex at the same time.

I got a nice young woman on the phone who did not believe that the American people would allow our freedoms and our health to be taken away from us and could not believe that we would ever let it happen. She was adamant and insistant that there is no way that this country, founded on the ideals of freedom, and populated by people who came here for a free life, would ever allow Codex in under any circumstance. She believes in America as a land of freedom. So do I.

She’s right, you know. Now we just have to inform the American people that someone wants to take away those freedoms and their right to choose natural health options and the good people of America will say, “Not only no, but Hell no!” so loud that it will reverberate through the halls of Congress. That’s our task.

How do we do that? You are the key. You are a constituent. You are a communicator. You are a trusted person in your circle of influence. You make a difference.

1. Get a group of people together in your home to talk about taking your rights back under your own control and set up a speaker phone. I’ll join your group (we need to schedule it in advance, of course). Get a bunch of folks together to visit your Congressional member’s local offices and brief them on what they need to do (and not do) to protect your health freedom. It’s likely that if you are the first group in, your Congressman or woman will never have heard of Codex!

2. Email Congress to let them know that you want them to attend our Congressional Briefing on Codex. Let them know when and where: Congressional Briefing on Codex, 12 noon, Room 2220 Rayburn on September 20, 2005!

3. Join the Health Freedom 400: Please donate a minimum of $25 to help us reach our goal of $10,000 in the next 22 days! (More is perfectly fine, you understand.) We’re 23% of the way there. Donate now to make it possible for us to keep fighting for you! Take a look at what we’ve accomplished so far and how your donations are used. I personally promise you that every penny donated is spent directly on the Health Freedom battle! You have my word.

4. Spread the word! Tell your friends and every one in your circle of influence about Codex and send them to HealthFreedomUSA.org so they can come on board, too. Write a letter to the editor.

If you have other ideas or want to do something else, contact us. Let us know how we can support you and work together!

Yours in dynamic, forward moving health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in Activism, Inspirational | 2 Comments »

A Big One for Our Side!

August 31st, 2005

We get to tell our story to Congress on September 20, 2005 and you are invited! The Natural Solutions Foundation will participate in a Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius in room 2220 in the Rayburn Building. We would love to see you there. We would also love to see Congress there! They will come if you tell them that you, their constituent, urge them to go. That’s how it works. This is a critical opportunity to make the pro-health side of the Codex story clear to Congress since it is Congress that can protect or overturn DSHEA and it is Congress that can allow or prevent harmonization with other Codex standards here in the US.

Congress is our bulwark and Congress knows almost nothing about Codex. The Natural Solutions Foundation has called and written to every member of Congress and spoken to their health aides (or tried to). There are a few Congressmen who “get” Codex like Representatives Ron Paul, Peter DeFazio, Dan Burton, Dana Rohrabacher and others.

The vast majority of Congress, however, has either never heard of Codex or only has the “Consumer Protection” line to hold on to. We know, of course, that consumer protection has nothing to do with Codex. We know that you cannot trust Codex with either your health or your wallet. Congress, by and large, has no idea about the real nature of Codex. So we will tell them.

Here’s your part: there are lots of Congressional briefings. Congressmen and their staff members only go when they have a reason to go. The most compelling reason to go is because you tell them to!

Here’s what you need to send them (you can cut and paste this letter or write your own):

It is urgently important that you and your staff attend the Congressional Briefing on Codex Alimentarius on September 20, 2005 in room 2220 in the Rayburn Building. Codex Alimentarius has the potential to eliminate access to high potency vitamins currently protected by DSHEA, lower the quality of food due to significant adulteration and, as a consequence, increase preventable disease and deaths in this country.

Despite inaccurate information to the contrary, Codex Alimentarius is not protective of consumer needs, rights or interests. Instead, it is a form of global corporate welfare with dire consequences to the health and well being of America’s people and environment.

I do not trust Codex with my health or my wallet and I look to you to protect my them for me since you are in a position to do so.

Thank you in advance for your attendance at this vitally important briefing. I particularly want you to hear what Rima E. Laibow, MD, Medical Director of the Natural Solutions Foundation, has to share during this briefing.

Thank you,
your name
your address

Cut and paste that into the form that you will reach by following this link: Contact Congress , enter your zip code and click on “Elected Officials”. Your Congressional Delegation and the President of the US will get the email you send.

Please ask everyone on your email list join you in urging Congress to attend this briefing. Give them the link and the instructions above and suggest that they send a letter like the one above to Congress, too. Only grass roots will win this battle. But grass roots CAN win it!

Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in Activism, Events, Promising Developments | 5 Comments »

Biotech Bullies I

August 30th, 2005

Freedom. It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it?

How about Monsanto? Is that a beautiful word?

And what happens when you bump Monsanto up against Freedom? Well, if you are in North Carolina, Monsanto flattens Freedom just about like the Road Runner got flattened by a steam roller in the old cartoons. Only the Road Runner popped back up again, because it was only make believe. This is all too real.

“Monsanto Laws” have been passed in 15 states which make it illegal for counties to ban the use of genetically modified foods . That’s right. Freedom just got squashed flat as a pancake. Farmers who want to protect their crops from degradation and contamination may not do so in 15 states.

Why do they want to? Well, for one reason, because if you are a farmer growing non GMO crops and Monsanto detects GOM pollinated plants on your farm, they will sue you and, if 500 cases are any indication, they will win. Your crime? Infringing on Monsanto’s “intellectual property” which blew onto your farm without your knowledge or consent.

Of course, if you are an organic farmer, you have additional problems. You can’t protect yourself by concerted community action and according to Laurel Hopwood of the Sierra Club,
“What’s unfortunate for farmers, especially organic farmers, is that pollen can move from place to place, so the spread of GMO gene traits is inevitable.” Hopwood adds, “What’s different about this form of pollution from any other form of pollution is that it’s alive. These new life forms multiply, spread, and cannot be recalled. … Not only are organic farmers not allowed to call their crop ‘organic’ when it becomes contaminated, but
also farmers can’t sell their crops overseas where GMOs are not accepted.”

Oh, by the way, there is a proposal in California, SB 1056, introduced by Dean Florez that would effectively remove a community’s control over its food supply. In part SB 1056 states “no ordinance or regulation of any
political subdivision may prohibit or in any way attempt to regulate any matter relating to the registration, labeling, sale, storage, transportation, distribution, notification of use, or use of field crops.”

That doesn’t sound very exciting until you realize that it says that all meaningful discourse and debate about GMO foods by local communities will be forbidden in California if this bill passes. This is what I call a legal dum-dum bullet: like a real dum-dum bullet which is scored on the tip to explode inside its target, this one sounds pretty ho-hum but, if passes, it will dovetail with the preemptive legislation States are falling all over themselves to pass which prohibits communities from protecting themselves or their crops and explode right in the belly of food freedom. Oh, yes, no government agency has ever conducted long-term meaningful GMO feeding studies to make sure that the information Big Biotechna puts out to assure us that GMOs are safe bears any resemblance to reality.

But California wants to join the other 15 States which will compel communities to plant what they are told and allow their fields to be contaminated as pollen drifts across their land without comment or complaint. Freedom? Lady Liberty? Have you seen her? Isn’t she that smudge on the road where the big truck with “Monsanto” painted across it just passed?

But GMOs are safe, aren’t they? Are they? In the EU, the dangers of Mon 863, a genetically modified corn, came to light only after a German court ordered Monsanto to reveal the data from a 90 day rat feeding study earlier this summer. Jeffrey Smith, author of “Seeds of Deception” wrote on August 27, 2005, “Rats fed Mon 863 developed several reactions, including those typically found with allergies (increased basophils), in response to infections, toxins and various diseases including cancer (increased lymphocytes and white blood cells), and in the presence of anemia (decreased reticulocyte count) and blood pressure problems (decreased kidney weights). There were also increased blood sugar levels, kidney inflammation, liver and kidney lesions, and other changes. According to top research biologist Arpad Pusztai, who was commissioned by the German government to evaluate the study in 2004, based on the evidence no one can say that Mon 863 will cause cancer or allergies or anything specific. The results are preliminary and must be followed-up to rule these out. He warns, however, “It is almost impossible to imagine that major lesions in important organs. . . . or changes in blood parameters. . . . that occurred in GM maize-fed rats, is incidental and due to simple biological variability.”

Dr. Pusztai was forced to sue the French government in order to be able to discuss his highly disturbing findings.

We’ll be taking more about this case tomorrow. In the meantime, give some thought to what it would take to shift to a diet that did not have GMOs in it if you were so inclined. Please share your thoughts by commenting on this blog.

Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in GMOs, Hall of Shame | 5 Comments »

Big Changes, Same Campaign

August 27th, 2005

Perhaps you have noticed that this blog has a new appearance and a new name: we’ve changed it from “Daily Codex Update Blog” to “Dr. Laibow’s Health Freedom Blog” for good reason. When the Natural Solutions Foundation began the HealthFreedomUSA Campaign, Codex Alimentarius was virtually unknown to Americans despite the fact that it was 43 years old. So we concentrated on bringing it to America’s conscious level of awareness. Last week, for example, I was on 6 different radio shows talking about Codex to who knows how many people? Codex awareness is jousting with Codex Coma. You know who is in favor of which one! But, as I have said from the first day that I began writing and talking about America’s health freedom, Codex is one big, bad dude but there is a whole posse of bad freedom foes out there. It would be nice if we could ignore all but one until we solve that problem, but that’s not how it works. So the blog, while bringing you all the Codex news that the major media apparently feels is not fit to print, will now be covering all the other important health freedom issues along with Codex.

Our web site, however, will continue to focus heavily on Codex because it is such a complex and confusing issue. (That’s why I had to read so many thousands of pages before I began to get it straight!) If you have not visited www.HealthFreedomUSA.org lately you will find a brand new, updated and reorganized website waiting for you when you do, which I hope will be very soon.

The site has been totally rewritten with pages that are easier to read, large link buttons and an easier to use navigation structure. We have new articles, like the one about the effort to discredit nutrients by a poison press of bogus “science”. We have new sections, too, that we are very proud of and hope you will find useful. We invite your suggestions and comments, of course! Please take a moment to check out our new

Reccomended Books List with convenient direct purchase links to Amazon.com

Recommend Internet links page

We have added some new buttons and sections to help make the Health Freedom and Codex issues clearer. You can easily see what the Natural Solutions Foundation stands for and take a quick, 5 minute Codex tour and, if you like, follow that up with a 7 point summary of Codex.

You won’t be surprised that our legislative action page, “Bills to Support and Oppose” is easier to use so you can send a personalized letter on each of the bills your Congressional Delegation with a few mouse clicks. Of course, we will keep this page updated so when new bills are added you can take action right away on them as so many thousands of you do regularly. Thank you, by the way!

And for those of you who need and want more detail, our In Depth Information section will provide an abundant amount of detailed documentation and background for you.

You will find both more and less action on the site. The previous 6 action steps have been reduced to 3 action steps and we have added an Easy Activism page with things to do alone and in your community. Please take time to read and act on all of these options if you can, or, if not, as many as you can. Your health and health freedom really do depend upon it!

And, of course, there’s the Donation page. I know, I know. Everybody asks you for money. We have added a page to let you know how we spend the money you donate and one to let you know what we have accomplished and what we are up to next.

This is an expensive campaign; there is just no way around it. Websites of this caliber cost money. Airfare, hotels, consultations, each has a real life price tag attached. I can promise you that every single penny sent as a donation (and you can use your credit card, Paypal, a check or a money order to support of health freedom by making a secure donation now and, if you can, on a monthly basis.

We are here for you. Won’t you be here for us?
Please show your support now!

Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in Activism, Inspirational, Miscellaneous, The Law & CODEX | 5 Comments »

Scott Free or Bought?

August 26th, 2005

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Wall Street biotech insider gets No. 2 job at the FDA

I don’t know Scott Gottlieb, (in fact, I never heard of him before tonight) when I read that this man of many talents had gone from a Wall Street Biotech specialist to the number 2 guy at the already disastrously Pharma and Biotech Friendly FDA.

As if we did not have enough problems with the FDA, the opportunity to appoint a pro-health, rather than a pro-corporation number 2 person has, at least in this go around, been lost. According to The Seattle Times, Scott Gottlieb is a physician, an internist a biotech industry analyst. He apparently holds pro-industry beliefs which, if implemented, will make the Pharma Friendly FDA even more prone to take positions to support and assist the pharmaceutical iand biotech industry (to the steady detriment of the people of this country). For example, he believes that if early results in an experiment show that a drug is endangering people, that information should not be released early despite the harm that the clinical trial is doing. Not good for people, I would say!

It is no news to anyone that the FDA is hostile to natural medicine, trumping up imaginary “dangers” of natural products while turning a blind eye, a deaf ear and a silent tongue to the deadly side effects and toxicity of patent medicines, better known as drugs. Approximately 200, 000 people die from drugs in America each year at a minimum. The real figure is probably several times higher, by the way.

Biotechnical innovations like genetically modified foods (GMO’s) are dangerous, too, but their dangers are more subtle. All that the FDA asks of a corporation is a voluntary evaluation to make sure that a genetically modified something-or-other has “substantial equivalence” to the un-engineered something-or-other. If it does, on to the market it goes. We find out later that it is bad for the environment or that fatal allergies result from breathing its pollen or …..To Be Determined. The corporation-enamored regulatory agency in which Gottlieb has taken the number 2 job probably needed a health advocate, not an industry analyst.

Gottlieb’s interests are clearly focused on corporate issues. And I expect him to carry out the real mission of the FDA beautifully: to promote and protect the pharmaceutical (and biotech) industry . People will undoubtedly die because of the regulatory actions he will carry out but he will be right in line with the rest of FDA policy.

Now, that’s not what the FDA likes to tell you about its mission. No, they say it is to promote and protect the public health. But if you had to determine its actual mission from its behavior in suppressing natural treatments and protecting dangerous drugs (think Vioxx and then think of the 40% of drugs which are recalled within 5 years of being put on the market after the dangers which their manufactures’ and, often, the FDA itself, knew about before they were allowed on the market, subsequently killing people.) what would you conclude?

Looking at its behavior objectively, whom would you say the FDA is bent on protecting? Yours or Big Pharma’s? Whose interests are promulgated? Yours or Big Biotechna’s?

Even the AMA has finally gotten the idea: an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association calls for reform of the FDA since it can not be trusted to take care of our interests. Although the AMA reportedly has over $10M of its retirement fund invested in the drug industry, its editorial states ” “It is unreasonable to expect that the same agency that was responsible for approval of drug licensing and labeling would also be committed to actively seek evidence to prove itself wrong.”

I agree. What I don’t agree with is the choice of a person to fill the powerful number 2 slot who is clearly interested — and apparently, quite expert — in focusing on the economic impact and corporate issues of the biotechnical industry. Is that what the American people need in the wake of disaster after disaster caused by the absolute disregard of what is good for people in favor of what is good for companies?

How committed to what is good for us will Dr. Gottlieb turn out to be? Let’s watch closely.

Yours in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow, MD
Medical Director

Posted in Events, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »

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