Soy Protein Used in "Natural" Foods Bathed in Toxic Solvent Hexane

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

May 20 2009

Soy Protein Used in "Natural" Foods Bathed in Toxic Solvent Hexane

(NaturalNews) Virtually all "protein bars" on the market today are made with soy protein. Many infant formula products are also made with soy protein, and thousands of vegetarian products (veggie burgers, veggie cheese, "natural" food bars, etc.) are made with soy protein.

That soy protein is almost always described as safe and "natural" by the companies using it. But there's a dirty little secret the soy product industry doesn't want you to know: Much of the "natural" soy protein used in foods today is bathed in a toxic, explosive chemical solvent known as hexane.

To determine the true extent of this hexane contamination, NaturalNews joined forces with the Cornucopia Institute (http://www.cornucopia.org/) to conduct testing of hexane residues in soy meal and soy grits using FDA-approved and USDA-approved laboratories. The Cornucopia Institute performed the bulk of this effort, and NaturalNews provided funding to help cover laboratory costs.

The results proved to be worrisome: Hexane residues of 21ppm were discovered in soy meal commonly used to produce soy protein for infant formula, protein bars and vegetarian food products.These laboratory results appear to indicate that consumers who purchase common soy products might be exposing themselves (and their children) to residues of the toxic chemical HEXANE -- a neurotoxic substance produced as a byproduct of gasoline refining.

But how dangerous is hexane, exactly? Is it something that could be dangerous at a few parts per million? And which soy-based products on the market right now might be contaminated with hexane?

To answer these questions, NaturalNews looked into public documents surrounding Martek Biosciences Corporation, a company that manufactures DHA for infant formula, using hexane for extraction.

We found disturbing details about Martek, including a documented explosion in the wastewater treatment system downstream from the manufacturing plant. This explosion was caused by hexane pollution.

We also found documents revealing Martek's application for permission to pollute hexane into the environment, as well as a planned emission cap that would put the company just under the limit for being considered a "major polluter" of Hazardous Air Pollutants.

Additional documents reveal concerning information about the safety of Martek's oils used in infant formula. All this information is being released in tomorrow's feature story on NaturalNews, so be sure to check back to read that. The remainder of this story focuses on the use of hexane in soy products.

What you probably never knew about Hexane extraction

To learn more about the use of hexane in the health industry -- and in soy products in particular -- we turn to the Cornucopia Institute's recently-published report called Behind the Bean (http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/s)

This report contains some of the most shocking information you've probably ever read about the possible dangers of this chemical solvent used in the processing of soy. Here are some highlights of what it explains about hexane: (Quotation marks indicate exact verbiage from the Behind the Bean report.)

• Hexane is a petroleum chemical produced as a by-product of gasoline refining.

• "Hexane is used to process nearly all conventional soy protein ingredients and edible oils and is prohibited when processing organic foods."

• Soybeans are bathed in hexane as part of their processing by food manufacturers.

• "Hexane is a neurotoxic chemical that poses serious occupational hazards to workers, is an environmental air pollutant, and can contaminate food."

• Hexane has been detected as a chemical contaminant in soy-based foods.

• There is no requirement that food companies test their products for hexane residues (including soy-based infant formula).

• Soy protein isolate and texturized soy protein (TVP) are made using hexane baths.

• "The soy protein ingredients in most nonorganic foods such as vegetarian burgers and nutrition bars are processed with the use of hexane."

• Shocker: "Products such as Clif Bars with the label "made with organic oats and soybeans" are required by law to have 70% organic ingredients -- the remaining 30%, however, can legally be hexane extracted."

Soybean processing releases hexane into the environment

Perhaps one of the most shocking realizations in all this is that soybean processing facilities release huge amounts of hexane chemicals into the environment. It is an unavoidable part of the hexane extraction process, and right now tens of millions of pounds of hexane are being released into the atmosphere each year by soy processing companies like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill.

Here are more startling facts about the release of hexane chemicals by soybean processing facilities: (cited from Behind the Bean by the Cornucopia Institute)

(Quotation marks indicate a direct quotation from the Cornucopia Institute's report. Non-quotation marks indicate paraphrasing of this source.)

• Soybean processing plants release hexane into both the air and water.

• Hexane is considered by the EPA to be a hazardous air pollutant. It defines this as airborne compounds "that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental and ecological effects."

• "In 2007, the last year for which data is available from the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, grain processors were responsible for more than two-thirds of all hexane emissions in the United States, releasing 21 million pounds of this hazardous air pollutants."

• A soy processing facility owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Decatur Illinois reportedly released almost 2 million pounds of hexane into the environment in a single year! Each year in Illinois, ADM, Cargill, Bunge and other companies release nearly 5 million pounds of hexane into the environment.

• "Solae, a major supplier of soy protein ingredients found in vegetarian burgers, energy bars, and other "all-natural" foods, emitted nearly one million pounds of hexane, as a pollutant, from its factories in Ohio and Illinois. Its plant in Bellevue, Ohio, is the nation's seventh largest emitter of hexane, releasing more of this hazardous air pollutant than other major sources such as Exxon Mobil's oil refinery plant in Baytow, Texas, and Firestone's tire factory in Orange, Texas."

• "On August 29, 2003, two workers died when hexane gas in a Sioux City, Iowa, soybean processing plant ignited."

• Hexane explosions have occurred in Italy, Mexico (200 dead) and South Africa, often killing or injuring chemical plant workers.

• In 2001, a truck carrying 4,500 gallons of hexane caught fire and exploded, injuring the truck driver and setting fire to nearby homes.

• Hexane also poses a serious health danger to workers: "Workers who come in dermal (skin) contact with hexane experience immediate irritation characterized by erythema and hyperemia, and they develop blisters after several hours."

• According to The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the permissible exposure level of hexane is 500 parts per million (ppm) for workers with 8-hour exposures. Exposures of 800 ppm for 15 minutes can cause respiratory tract and eye irritation, as well as symptoms of carnosis. At higher exposure levels, workers can develop symptoms of nausea, vertigo and headaches.

• "Workers who are chronically exposed to hexane levels ranging from 400 to 600 ppm, with occasional exposures of up to 2,500 ppm, have developed polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder. In these cases, distal symmetrical muscle weakness is common, and nerve biopsies show nerve damage. A recently published peer-reviewed article in Environmental Health Perspectives hypothesizes that occupational exposure to hexane may contribute to the development of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, a disease that causes loss of vision. Chronic exposure may also lead to blurred vision, restricted visual field, and optic nerve atrophy."

(Read more details in Behind the Bean at http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/soy-report-and-scorecard/

• Almost no research has been done to test the toxicity of hexane residues in foods -- not on adults, nor infants.

• "According to EPA reports, small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) can be present in oil after extraction, even after solvent recovery by film evaporators and a distillation stripper. A Swiss team of scientists tested various oils and found hexane residues in some of the tested oils."

• Test results from the Cornucopia Institute's lab tests (funded in part by NaturalNews): <>

• "Most soy-based infant formulas contain ingredients that have been hexane extracted. In fact, nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted."

How can you protect yourself and your children from hexane?

As these laboratory tests reveal, hexane residues may be alarmingly widespread across the "natural" foods industry. In fact, as the Cornucopia Institute reports:"...hexane-extracted soy protein is found in the vast majority of nonorganic foods with soy ingredients that appeal to health-conscious, environmentally conscious, and vegetarian consumers.

For example, Gardein™ is a Canadian company that produces meat analogs -- soy-based "chicken" and soy-based "beef" -- for brands and private labels including Yves Cuisine®, Morningstar Farms®, Trader Joe's, and It's All Good Foods®, and for grocery store prepared foods departments such as Whole Foods. While the company describe its process for making these meat analogs as "pure and simple," it does not mention that it starts with hexane-extracted soy protein."

In the United States, there is currently only one way of knowing for sure that the soy-based foods you purchase is free of hexane contaminants: Look for the green USDA Organic seal on the package:

• Beware of claims of "natural" soy -- Even hexane-extracted soy can be called "natural."

• Beware of claims of "made with organic soy" -- Such products may still contain non-organic soy-based ingredients extracted with hexane.

• Beware of "veggie" products containing texturized vegetable protein. Many of these products not only likely contain hexane chemical residues; they also are usually made with yeast extract, a flavoring ingredient that contains MSG, a neurotoxin. (Imagine the impact of these two neurotoxins in combination...)

• Don't feed your infant soy protein. Instead, opt for human breast milk (the best option), or goat's milk formulas such as Genesis Organics (http://www.genesisorganics.com/).

The bottom line - the Health Ranger's opinion

From my point of view, these highly disturbing findings about hexane residues appearing in processed soy products just confirm what we've known about these food conglomerates for a long time: Big food companies are serving up poison to infants, teens, adults and senior citizens.

Not only are these food companies bathing their soy products in a neurotoxic chemical, the FDA is once again asleep at the wheel, allowing dangerous chemicals to remain prevalent in the food supply while doing virtually nothing to warn consumers or ban the toxic chemical from soy product processing.

Thus, We the People once again find ourselves in the position of being poisoned by the food companies and betrayed by the FDA. If that sounds familiar, it's because this has happened again and again with toxic ingredients ranging from monosodium glutamate and aspartame to sodium nitrite and petrochemical food colorings.

Big Food and the FDA, in fact, almost appear to be conspiring to poison the population... which just happens to create a windfall of profits for Big Pharma -- the other corporate master of the FDA.

It's a clever scam: Poison the people with hidden chemicals in the food supply, then when their organs start to fail, drug them on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, the FDA enforces the whole thing by outlawing real food (like raw almonds or raw organic cow's milk), thereby forcing people to eat chemically-contaminated processed food.

To put icing on the (processed) cake, the FDA allows these companies using toxic chemicals to claim their products are "natural." They even allow some health claims for companies using soy in their formulas -- even when that soy has been bathed in hexane!

Protect yourself from the toxicity of processed foodsThere is no limit to the insanity of what goes into the food supply when profits are at stake, it seems. And this use of the toxic solvent hexane to process soy that's used in infant formula, protein bars and "veggie" products is yet another example of why it's smart to avoid nearly ALL factory-made foods, regardless of their health claims.

When you grow your own food (or just buy fresh produce and food staples) and prepare it in your own kitchen, you know what goes into it. You also know what's NOT in it (such as hexane or melamine). It's the only sure way to protect yourself and your family from the dangers of processed foods made by food commodity giants that are motivated by money, not concern for your health. In fact, the attitude about chemical contaminants by many U.S. food giants mirrors the attitude about melamine in infant formula as demonstrated by China's powdered milk manufacturers: "Ah, what's a little melamine gonna hurt anyway?"But it does hurt. It hurts your health and harms your children. There are 10,000 children on dialysis machines in China who can prove it to you. And that's why, in my opinion, these companies using hexane-contaminated soy protein in their products deserve to be publicly exposed, heavily fined and perhaps even shut down and run out of business.

Why modern society looks the other way on chemical contamination of foodsWhy are companies run out of business when salmonella is found in their peanut butter (for example), but when toxic chemical solvents are found in their soy proteins, the mainstream media says nothing, the FDA does nothing, and the whole world pretends it's all just business as usual?

I'll tell you why. There is an irrational, false belief that continues to permeate society today, and it's founded in the lies of Scientism and the reductionist approach to western thinking. That false belief is that chemicals are good for you, but bacteria are bad for you.

This is the whole thinking behind the widespread use of antibiotics (which actually promote hospital superbugs) and the mass fumigation of California almonds (just to make sure they're no longer RAW). It's the reason why raw milk is outlawed, but chemically-contaminated soy milk is legal. It's the reason why the FDA views the food supply as safe only if it's sterile. It's the big lie about food safety, and virtually every mainstream newspaper, TV station and journalist buys into it.

They think salmonella is deadly dangerous, but MSG, aspartame and sodium nitrite are just fine. They believe in the lie that chemicals are safe as long as the FDA doesn't say anything against them!

But it's hogwash. A sterile food supply is a dead food supply. And dead foods don't keep people alive for very long. Hence the slow, torturous death of our aging population. Our people are not living longer; they're dying longer!

I say this: We are headed for a disastrous collapse of public health stemming from the mass chemical contamination of the food supply and the genetic alteration of the human population. I've covered this in a video report called Genopocalypse which you can watch for free as a promo to TheBestDayEver.com.

Check it out here: http://www.thebestdayever.com/healthranger/

In the mean time, avoid all soy products that are not labeled USDA Organic, and don't feed yourself or your babies processed soy protein bathed in toxic hexane.Looking for a good soy product? Try Eden Foods' soy products. Other trusted soy products are named in the Cornucopia Institute's report here:

http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/soy-report-and-scorecard/

http://www.naturalnews.com/026303.html

Urgent lawsuit filed against FDA to halt swine flu vaccines

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
October 9 2009

Urgent lawsuit filed against FDA to halt swine flu vaccines; claims FDA violated federal law


(NaturalNews) Health freedom attorney Jim Turner is filing a lawsuit in Washington D.C. mid-day Friday in an urgent effort to halt the distribution of the swine flu vaccine in America. On behalf of plaintiffs Dr. Gary Null and other licensed health care workers of New York State, the lawsuit charges that the FDA violated the law in its hasty approval of four swine flu vaccines by failing to scientifically determine neither the safety nor efficacy of the vaccines.

"The suit will seek an injunction against the FDA from approving the vaccine," attorney Jim Turner told NaturalNews on Thursday evening's Natural News Talk Hour show. "And the core of the argument is that they have not done the proper safety and efficacy tests on the vaccine to allow it to be release at this time."

The suit seeks to not only nullify the FDA's unlawful "approval" of the four H1N1 influenza vaccines, but to also ask the court to issue an injunction that would halt any mandatory vaccination requirements.

"The FDA is required by law to establish that a vaccine is safe and effective before it can be given to the public," said Turner. "We are arguing that they did not establish that the vaccine was effective, and did not establish that it was safe. They are trying to get it on the market by a waiver."


Vaccine / adjuvant combination has never been properly tested
The vaccine / adjuvant combination being referred to as the "swine flu vaccine" has apparently never been safety tested or approved by the FDA. In fact, in many cases the vaccine is being sent to clinics, pharmacies and other health establishments separately from the adjuvant chemical, leaving it up to each local vaccine retailer to properly mix the vaccine with the adjuvant, according to information provided by Turner. With hundreds of millions of Americans potentially being targeted with this vaccine, the potential for improper mixing, improper dosages, and human error is alarming.

If the charges described in the lawsuit are true, it means the FDA has blatantly abandoned medical science and violated its own regulations in approving not only these four vaccines, but the potentially deadly adjuvant chemicals as well. To date, the FDA has produced absolutely no scientific evidence documenting safety tests for any of these swine flu vaccines. There are no published studies, no records of any clinical trials, and no publicly-..available paper trail demonstrating that any safety testing was done whatsoever. There is no researcher who has publicly put their name on the record declaring the vaccines to be safe, and no FDA official has ever stated that scientifically-..valid safety testing has ever been conducted on the vaccine / adjuvant combinations now being distributed across America.

Normally, when a pharmaceutical achieves "FDA approved" status, there is a considerable paper trail of scientific scrutiny, peer review, clinical trials and other supporting evidence. To our knowledge, no such documents exist for the swine flu vaccines. The FDA's approval of these vaccines appears to be based entirely on a whim.

"What has been tested?" asked attorney Jim turner. "Where has it been tested? Who reviewed the test? Who looked at the test and said yes they proved safety and efficacy? There is no record that we can find that shows these things have been done."

By approving the four vaccines in the absence of such safety testing, the FDA itself stands in direct violation of federal law. "There is a law that they're supposed to follow and they are not following it," Turner added.


Billions of dollars are at stake
Why, then, did the FDA apparently violate the law and push these vaccines into full public distribution without securing the safety testing required by law? Turner suspects a profit motive may be involved: "They're charging $24.95 to get a vaccine. Multiplied by 100 million people, that's a lot of money. If you do the whole society, you're talking about several billion dollars."

In fact, the U.S. vaccination push could ultimately target over 200 million Americans, generating nearly $5 billion in vaccine-..related revenues. Cashing in on those revenues, however, requires three things:

1) Spreading fear about H1N1 swine flu by exaggerating its dangers.

2) Quickly making a vaccine available for sale, even if it has never been thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy.

3) Aggressively marketing the vaccines before the H1N1 swine flu fizzles out and can no longer be hyped up as "highly virulent."

All three of these conditions are now being pushed aggressively in the U.S. by pharma-..influenced health authorities at both the state and federal level. There is a mad, cult-like rush under way to vaccinate American citizens with an unproven, untested chemical that was thrust into distribution in apparent violation of federal law. And if this vaccine is not stopped, the price that may ultimately be paid in terms of lost lives could be quite dire.

It all harkens back to 1976 when a previous formulation of the swine flu vaccine paralyzed and killed thousands of Americans. Turner was one of the attorneys instrumental in halting that vaccine, and he fears a repeat situation could potentially recur today. He told NaturalNews, "[In 1976] they were intending to inoculate 200 million people. We stopped them... and somewhere between 40 and 50 million people were vaccinated. What ultimately brought it down is that a substantial number of people got 'French Polio' [..Guillain-Barre syndrome], a paralysis that goes... through the body, and if it goes far enough you die."


About health freedom attorney Jim Turner
Jim Turner, with Citizens for Health (www.Citizens.org ), is one of the most accomplished and respected health freedom attorneys practicing today. His firm, Swankin & Turner, represents businesses and individuals on a variety of regulatory issues relating to foods, drugs and health.

Donations to support this swine flu vaccine lawsuit are greatly welcomed. You can donate to Citizens.org on this page: http://www.citizens.org/?page_id=20
A special fund specifically focused on the swine flu vaccine lawsuit will be announced here on NaturalNews. Watch this story for an update.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027205_vaccines_swine_flu_the_FDA.html

Questionable Motives: Mainstream Medicine Attacks Colloidal Silver

by: Tony Isaacs
citizen journalist
October 08, 2009

Questionable Motives: Mainstream Medicine Attacks Colloidal Silver

(NaturalNews) Prior to the advent of patentable and more profitable antibiotics, medicines containing silver were the most widely prescribed infection fighters by doctors and there were no fewer than 34 different approved prescription and over the counter medications which contained silver. Now, after the elimination of most large particle and silver nitrate products and after improved technology has made nano-sized particles that require far less parts per million, colloidal silver proponents claim that it is safer and more effective than ever. At the same time, however, it has become the subject of increasing attacks by mainstream medicine, which labels colloidal silver as a scam, as quackery and as a dangerous substance with no proven value.

When it is pointed out that colloidal and nano-silver are used by NASA, Potters for Peace, the Hong Kong Subway System, Cure-Aid, and major hospital burn units, the detractors often concede that perhaps it works externally; however, they maintain that when it is taken internally it causes dangerous toxicity due to silver build-up. In a familiar refrain when it comes to silver and other alternatives to mainstream drugs, it is also claimed that colloidal silver taken internally has no "scientifically" proven benefits. One of the most widely publicized warnings is that colloidal silver causes people to turn blue due to a skin condition known as argyria.

Yet, the EPA says that 90-95% of ingested silver particles are eliminated from the body within two days and 99% are gone within a week (1). Furthermore, the bluest of the blue people, "Papa Smurf" Paul Karason was given a clean bill of health at Mount Sinai Hospital. (2) Karason, like the Montana senator who has bluish skin, did not actually take colloidal silver. Instead, he took large quantities of home-made ionic silver made with tap water and contaminated with salt for a prolonged period of time.

When it comes to scientific studies regarding the benefits of internal silver, last year it was reported that researchers in Hungary found specific silver receptors on human tissue - an indication that silver plays an important role in human health. (3) A joint study between the University of Texas and Mexico University published in the Journal of Nanotechnology showed that silver nano-particles of sizes 1-10nm attached to HIV-1 prevented the virus from bonding to host cells. (4)

Another study, conducted by the Department of Microbiology at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, Korea, and published in the prestigious Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, found that nano-silver was comparable in effectiveness to Amphotericin B, one of the most powerful prescription antifungal drugs known to man, which is often used intravenously to cure serious systemic fungal infections. The same study also found that nan-silver was superior to the well-known anti-fungal drug fluconazole (popularly known as Diflucan). (5)

In a recently completed study conducted by researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Akron, Ohio, and presented at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society, researchers infected a group of mice with the bacteria Pseudomona aeroginosa. Psuedomona aeroginosa is a common cause of bacterial pneumonia in humans, especially those on ventilators, those with cystic fibrosis or those with compromised immune systems. Once infected, all the mice then inhaled aerosolized nano-particles once per day. In half of the mice, these particles contained antimicrobial particles known as silver carbene complexes (SCCs).

Mice that inhaled the SCCs had significantly lower concentrations of bacteria in their lungs than mice inhaling placebo nano-..particles. Most significantly, none of the mice in the SCC group died, while all the mice in the control group did. (6)

Were all those doctors who prescribed silver products and the scientists who conducted the studies liars, scammers and/or quacks? Or could it be that mainstream medicine and its advocates are attacking colloidal silver because it really does represent a threat to the hundreds of billions in profits from patented drugs?

Meanwhile millions of people around the world are taking colloidal silver and reporting cures of pneumonia, staph, candida, MRSA, Chrohns, Lyme, the H1N1 flu, and much more.

Sources:
1. The Environmental Protection Agency, Integrated Risk Information Program (IRIS), Silver; CASRN 7440-22-4
2. www.flubreak.com/faq.html
3. The Crusador - interview with Dr. Eric Rentz, circa June 2008
4. www.physorg.com/news7264.html
5. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18756112
6. http://www.naturalnews.com/026952_nanoparticles_silver_bacteria.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/027192_silver_medicine_colloidal_silver.html

Merck employees had "hit list" of doctors they sought to "neutralize"

by Mike Adams
September 28 2009

Merck employees had "hit list" of doctors they sought to "neutralize", court documents reveal (opinion)

(NaturalNews) Previously secret documents that surfaced at a Vioxx court case in April of this year reveal pharmaceutical giant Merck maintained a "hit list" of doctors to be "neutralized" for speaking out against Vioxx. Although this story was reported on NaturalNews and other sites in April, Merck's involvement in the recent round of swine flu vaccines raises new questions regarding Merck's behavior towards its critics (see below).

As was reported in The Australian, documents that have surfaced in the Federal Court in Melbourne expose the criminal intent of Merck staffers who admitted they intended to "stop funding to institutions" and "interfere with academic appointments." (These actions are highly illegal, by the way.)

According to on-the-record testimony in this Australian trial, one Merck employee said, in referring to the doctors on the hit list, "We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live...

"That sounds a lot like a mob boss ordering a hit on a competing street thug, doesn't it?

At least eight clinical investigators were threatened or intimidated by Merck, the court heard in testimony. This is congruent with the many reports of academic intimidation by Merck that have already been published on NaturalNews.com and other news outlets. The picture of Merck that emerges from these revelations is a company run by thugs who deal with dissent by seeking to destroy the lives and careers of academics who dare to tell the truth about Merck's dangerous drugs.

A culture of criminality
Merck is a company steeped in a culture of criminality. Among its numerous questionable actions, Merck intentionally hid the liver-damaging effects of its cholesterol drug (http://www.naturalnews.com/024072_Zetia_Merck_cholesterol_drug.html),

it intentionally withheld the release of clinical trial data that showed the failures of another cholesterol drug (http://www.naturalnews.com/023889_Vytorin_Merck_Zetia.html),

it has dumped vaccine waste and manufacturing chemicals into the water supply (http://www.naturalnews.com/023124_water_Merck_chemicals.html),

it set up offshore banking accounts to avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes (http://www.naturalnews.com/021645_Merck_the_IRS_taxes.html),

and it was caught in a massive scheme of scientific fraud when it was revealed that the company used in-house writers to secretly author "independent" studies that were published in peer-reviewed medical journals
(http://www.naturalnews.com/023052_Merck_scientific_fraud_America.html)

And that's just the beginning of the real story on Merck. Read more astonishing news stories about this company here: http://www.naturalnews.com/merck.html

There's little question that Merck operates from a criminal mentality, resorting to tactics of deception and intimidation to accomplish what it could not achieve through honest means: An increase in sales of its pharmaceutical products.

So what does this have to do with the swine flu vaccine? Simply this: Almost no one in the industry of modern medicine has spoken out against the swine flu vaccines.

Are they being intimidated into silence by Merck and other vaccine makers?

Intimidating the scientists
Many who speak out against Merck products quickly find their credibility assaulted. If they are in an academic institution, they quickly find their research support drying up, and some end up blackballed by the pharmaceutical industry. What Merck has made perfectly clear over the last several years is that speaking out against Merck's products is academic suicide.

So how are honest scientists or doctors supposed to be able to raise concerns about the swine flu vaccines being manufactured by Merck and other companies? From watching the news, they already know that publicly questioning the safety of this vaccine could cost them their careers.

Is this what modern "science" (if you can call it that) has come to? A band of intimidated, frightened scientists too scared to raise their voices and question the safety of pharmaceutical products? And if so, how can anyone call this "scientific medicine" in the first place? It's more like gunpoint medicine, where you say what you're supposed to say because the big corporate players are holding a (metaphorical) gun to your head.

In terms of the swine flu vaccine itself, Big Pharma is already pumping the mainstream media full of "preemptive defense" stories, claiming that whatever side effects occur from the vaccines would have occurred anyway and the vaccines aren't to blame. Note that this story is being fronted before the vaccine is even in widespread use! They are, in essence, already predicting a wave of nasty side effects and trying to brainwash the American public into dismissing such concerns as mere coincidence.

This is the astonishing, contradictory mindset of Big Pharma: When any harm comes to a patient taking their drugs, that's just coincidence. But if any help comes their way and they see a health improvement, that's always due to the drugs alone, they claim. It is precisely this sort of selective, unscientific thinking that has caused the utter destruction of credibility for the pharmaceutical industry (and of those who push drugs and vaccines). Science has been outright abandoned, replaced with slick marketing, financial arm-twisting and blatant intimidation of anyone who steps outside the lines.

The truth isn't afraid of honest questions
Don't you find it odd that virtually no one in the conventional medical community has raised questions about the safety of the swine flu vaccines? Isn't it odd that these vaccines, having been long-term tested on no one at all, were suddenly approved by the FDA all on the same day and are now being advocated by doctors everywhere without a single question about their safety?

Now you know why this Merck court case in Australia is relevant: Knowing the way Merck operates, it's not unreasonable to suppose that doctors have been intimidated into silence about the vaccine. Questioning this vaccine is equivalent to committing professional suicide.

Vaccines are the core mythology of modern medicine, you see. Questioning their safety or efficacy is considered sacrilegious in the medical community. The entire mythology of western medicine is based on the (false) belief that chemical intervention is preferable to self-healing, and vaccines are the central fulcrum upon which that argument hinges. If vaccines fall, the whole philosophical facade behind which western medicine now hides will be shattered at the same time.

Protecting the profitability of western medicine necessitates the perpetuation of the vaccine myth. And since that myth can't be maintained based on pure science alone (because there's no real science backing it), it has to be supported through mob-style tactics of intimidation and bribery. That's why the bribery of physicians by drug companies is now routine. It's the way the "science" of pharmaceutical medicines is propagated through the machinery of our modern medical-industrial complex. Money buys what real science can't support: The idea that the world medical system must be based on chemical intervention (which just happens to financially benefit the drug companies perpetuating these myths).

Unraveling the fiction
These revelations about Merck threaten the mythology of modern medicine upon which so many billions of dollars of drug revenues are based. Even doctors don't want to talk much about Merck. Why? Because they realize that as one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, the ethics of Merck reflect on the ethics of western medicine as a whole.

Much of western medicine, after all, is based on pharmaceuticals. And believing that pharmaceuticals make you healthy requires that you also believe the drug companies are acting with integrity and looking out for the welfare of the people. But believing that little piece of mythology requires that the drug companies are believed to be benevolent, compassionate corporations that would never resort to unethical, dirty or illegal tactics to accomplish their aims.

This whole tapestry of pharmaceutical fiction begins to quickly unravel when you begin to see the truth about what really goes on inside Merck -- and that's what we've seen time and time again with previously secret documents that emerged through court cases or other means. The Merck culture is one that most reasonable people would describe as "thuggish" or "criminal" in nature. It has virtually no resemblance to the compassionate image the company tries to peddle through mainstream media advertising.

Besides, if Merck's products are really so good, why would it need to resort to intimidating and threatening researchers in the first place? If its drugs were really so good and so safe, wouldn't the science speak for itself?

Clearly, the intimidation of academics is only necessary when real science turns up answers that you don't want to hear. So intimidation is invoked to replace the science with fear.

And that's what our entire pharmaceutical system is based on today, folks: FEAR. The media won't report the truth about pharmaceuticals because they are afraid to lose their advertising dollars. Researchers won't report the real science about pharmaceuticals because they are afraid to lose their careers. Doctors won't tell you the truth about pharmaceuticals because they're afraid to lose their medical licenses. The entire system is held together by fear and intimidation rather than honest science.

Belief systems in which questions are suppressed and "truths" are reinforced at the end of a stick are called "dogmas." They cannot, by definition, be called "scientific." Anyone believing that modern drugs or vaccines are based on rigorous "science" does not understand the definition of the word.

Keep that in mind when you're deciding whether to get a vaccine shot. Remember that any researchers who voiced safety concerns about those vaccines might have already been "neutralized" or "discredited," to use the exact words of Merck's own employees.

And the "scientific" conclusions of today's pharmaceutical researchers can be no more believed than the testimony of a U.S. soldier who is captured and tortured by terrorists, then told to speak to the camera with a gun pointed at his head.

Additional sources for this story include:

TheAustralian:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25272600-2702,00.html

NaturalNews:
http://www.naturalnews.com/026420_Merck_Vioxx_doctors.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/027116_Merck_doctors_vaccines.html