A New Theory of Disease?
by Aajonus Vonderplanitz
Does Bacterial Food-Safety Equal Health-giving Food?
Have you noticed that almost every "fresh" fruit and vegetable
juice you consume is no longer fresh, does not taste that good, and is
absent of most of its nutrient value? They look fresh! But they have been
pasteurized or irradiated under the mandates created by health-department
officials to eliminate microbes. Health-officials are pushing to mandate
that all fresh produce be irradiated in the name of food-safety. What
does that mean to us as consumers?
Let's take a look at a different view on food-safety that will come
as a paradigm-shift for most of you. It is likely to change your perspective
on nature, the environment and life. Hopefully, you will develop a new
trust and faith that relaxes and eliminates fears that have been conditioned
into most of us since birth, extolled by theorists to academics, and on
to the media and government.
The Birth of Food-Safety
Around 1890 Louis Pasteur made it popular to blame molds and bacteria
for disease because he proved that heat-processing slowed food-spoilage
and lengthened shelf-life. This concept became an economic boon for the
food-industry. During the following century, as a direct result, the prevailing
medical theory was that bacteria and viruses were the cause of disease.
Since then, besides pasteurization other methods have been developed
to annihilate microbes in food. These methods include irradiation, freezing,
chemical additives and washes, such as ascorbic acid, chlorine and hydrogen
peroxide. All of these processes slow food-spoilage for particular foods
and give them false appearances of freshness.
Now, over a century later, we continually wage an immeasurable war against
bacteria and viruses in our kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, restaurants,
schools, supermarkets, clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and inside and
outside of our bodies. Naming only a few, we use antibacterial mouthwashes,
soaps, douches, air-fresheners, dishcloths, towels, diapers, treated toys,
and rugs.
It's time to evaluate the results and cost of this continual, and
continually escalating war.
The estimated cost for antibacterial products per household is $3,000
per year. In the battle against bacteria, federal, state and county agencies
in the USA spend an estimated 4 trillion dollars per year (estimates I
gained from Center for Disease Control, federal and county figures published
currently on the Internet).
That's approximately an astounding $10,000 for every American household.
This figure, combined with the average expenditure per household, raises
the total household expenditure for social bacterial warfare to $13,000
yearly. Many families could pay their mortgages in a few years with that
money.
What Is Food-safety?
In the broadest sense, it is the ideal that food is not only health-giving
but also harmless. To health-officials it means food without "pathogens"
(def: any agent capable of producing disease).
Does Food Have Health-giving Properties?
Many scientists, famous and not, have proved that vitamins and enzymes
are paramount to proper bodily functions and good health, and that deficiencies
manifest in diseases.
Does Using Antibacterial Technologies Interfere with the Health-giving
Properties of Food?
Research throughout the world shows that heat-treatment of food alters,
damages, or destroys many vitamins at the standard pasteurization-temperature
of 161° F. (65° C.). Also that all enzymes are destroyed at 122°
F. (50° C.). Furthermore, the actual temperature that cripples some
vitamins and enzymes is as low as 104° F. (39° C.) The loss of
mineral-utilization due to cauterization (burn-sealed by heat or caustic
substance) by heat-treatment is significant. Many scientists have proved
that heat-processing renders toxins from proteins and fats in food, such
as heterocyclic amines (an organic caustic compound formed from ammonia)
and lipid-peroxides (an oily oxidizing organic compound), which have been
observed to cause cancer in laboratory animals. Therefore pasteurization
can be said to actually destroy many of the health-giving properties in
food.
Research demonstrates that exposing food to high intensity gamma radiation
affects the activity of key enzymes and causes the depletion of radiation-sensitive
essential nutrients such as: the amino acids l-cysteine, l-histidine,
and l-tryptophane. Other nutrients such as vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12,
folic acid, vitamin C, E, K; the omega-3, 6 and 9 unsaturated essential
fatty acids are affected.
Some irradiated minerals in food actually become toxically radioactive.
Radiation destroys the health-giving properties of food as well as its
use being a cause of public hazard.
My laboratory and practical experiments proved that ascorbic acid can
cause irritability and depression. The lab-technician with whom I worked
observed that ascorbic acid causes nerve lesions throughout the body,
including the areas of the brain and spinal cord. He observed, as well,
that hydrogen-peroxide burns tissue along with destroying bacteria and
virus. All chemicals have proven side-effects, immediate or long-term.
Chemical destruction of bacteria and virus in our food results in poisoning.
Freezing food alters, damages, or destroys all enzymes as well as many
vitamins.
All of the methods to eliminate bacteria and viruses in food rob us
of nutrients and create more toxins. Consequently, we must measure which
is the greater risk: the low-risk of developing bacterial food-contamination,
or from developing diseases from processed-food deficiencies and toxicity.
Is There an Imagined or Real Risk of Bacterial Food-poisoning?
There are several astute scientists challenging the postulate that bacteria
is a threat. Before the Los Angeles County Medical Milk Commission, Dr.
Marc Harmon, a dentist, stated that in his medical education and career
he was trained to blame disease and decay on bacteria and virus. He stated
that the genocide of microbes has not reduced dental decay any more than
it has disease in general.
Disease continues to increase at an astounding rate. Science, medicine
and technology have waged a fantastic war against microbes while tooth-decay
and other diseases continue to overwhelm and devastate our lives. Dr.
Harmon concluded that the war against microbes is futile toward eradicating
disease.
Jon Monroe, Director, New Science, tried in a project "to avoid
diseases caused by viruses. The assumption was that viruses were pathogens
and should be avoided." But each of the subjects became depressed.
With the reintroduction of virus, the depression-symptoms disappeared
along with the return of colds and flu.
Monroe learned that "viruses can carry information from one individual
to another and from one species to another. They are in reality, pathways
within the environment for all living things to share critical information.
They probably play a crucial role in...cross species symbiosis" (def:
unlike organisms living harmoniously together).
Joel Weinstock, a gastroenterologist who heads a research team at University
of Iowa, said, "We're the first population never to experience
[gut] worms. He asked six patients with intractable inflammatory bowel-disease
to quaff worm-eggs in a liquid solution, specifically the eggs of Trichurissuis,
a whipworm (parasite that looks like a whip) normally found in pigs. Within
about two weeks, five of the six patients went into remission - for up
to five months. The patients were begging for more parasites.
Interestingly, Weinstock noted that intestinal problems are increasing
in animals as well. Pigs, which are now raised in clean pens, are getting
sick. So are some species of captive monkeys that are kept too clean.
The micro-science that studies "pathogens" is relatively new
(50 years) and obviously flawed. New research (20 years) has been and
is being performed proving that "pathogens" are responsible
for reversal of cancer, and possibly for cancer prevention. Dr. K Brooks
Low of Yale University reported that he has used salmonella (a genus of
bacteria believed to cause food-poisoning) to shrink tumors and reverse
cancer.
As part of her doctoral studies in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Sara Arab (now
a clinical fellow in Medical Genetics) injected verotoxin (bacterial byproduct)
from E.coli (a genus of bacteria found in bowels and feces also believed
to cause food-poisoning) directly into human astrocytoma (malignant tumors
of the brain) that had been grown in mice. After a single injection, within
7-15 days both the tumors and their blood-vessels completely dissolved.
Bacteria and virus are naturally present in the company of degenerative
tissue but not the cause of degenerative tissue. They are the cleanup-crew
for degenerative tissue. Do you blame vultures, crows and worms for the
death of the dying carcasses they find and feed on?
Louis Pasteur, on his deathbed, rejected his work against microbes by
stating that the environment that hosts microbes is the problem, not the
microbes.
What About All of Those Reports of People Dying from Food-poisoning?!
I have seen many medical reports that stated microbial food-poisoning
as cause of death. In every case, the reports described symptoms of anaphylaxis
(severe allergic reaction) rather than food-poisoning. In a very rare
case does a sufferer actually die of what might be termed food-poisoning.
She or he dies from dehydration and/or excessive bleeding, caused by,
in an infinitesimal number of cases, a ruptured stomach or bowel from
violent vomiting or diarrhea.
Anaphylaxis is caused by any foreign substance that causes traumatic
allergic reactions. Anaphylaxis is very common with injected antibiotics
and vaccines. Basically, those people reported as having died of bacterial
food-poisoning actually died of the medical treatment with antibiotics
and/or other medication. The moral is, if I contracted a detoxification
in the form of vomiting or diarrhea my chances of living are great if
I let it run its course, as with a cold or flu, and stay completely away
from medical treatment and advice.
Is Microbe Genocide a Rational Pursuit?
The idea of eradicating microbes like salmonella is ludicrous because
they are ubiquitous. At the University of Utah, John R. Roth, Professor
of biology, has studied salmonella for 40 years. "[Salmonella] is
mostly reported as a pathogen but ... [lives beneficially] as part of
the gut flora." He believes that the idea of banishing it is absurd.
"Salmonella is distributed pretty widely," he says. "Sometimes
it makes a mistake and gets across the gut wall ... is an irritation at
the gut wall ... Symptoms can range from a loose stool to more flu-like
symptoms."
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Arkansas Children's
Hospital performed a study of 50 Arkansas homes where infected children
lived. They found salmonella-concentrations in 38% of the homes; on doorsteps,
vacuum cleaners, the refrigerator, and a pet lizard (Richmond Times Dispatch,
July 19, 1999; Salmonella Bacteria Often Lurks Claw By);
There are simply no hard figures about how many cases of food poisoning
occur each year. For example, confirmed cases of Salmonella enteritis
among 270 million Americans is estimated at about 40,000 cases a year.
Yet the media regularly carries estimates dispatched by health departments,
such as the Centers for Disease Control ("CDC"), of total cases
ranging from 800,000 to 4 million. Recently these were revised downward
to around 300,000, prompting farmers to joke that two more reports might
eradicate it completely (LA Times, January 5,2000, The Great Egg Panic).
Peter Barton Hutt, a former chief counsel for the Food and Drug Administration
("FDA"), now a lecturer on food safety at Harvard University,
is a long critic of the numbers. "The statistics are all over
the place" he says, "because none of them are any good. They
are all wild guesses. What people do is gather statistics of reported
cases and extrapolate from there. It then all depends on what multiple
you choose."
The CDC in Atlanta insists, however, that it has gone to a lot of effort
refining the multiplier of 38 that it uses in extrapolating its estimates.
However, British food-safety advisor Richard North who wrote his doctoral
thesis on the British "salmonella enteritis crisis" and now
works as a food-safety advisor, dwells less on the numbers of cases than
on the severity of cases. "If cases are unreported, then the people
who suffered cannot have been that terribly bothered, can they?"
he asks. So to inflate the figures 38 times seems like an act of alarmism
to fuel some prejudicial agenda or view.
Rick Berman, Executive Director, Guest Choice Network, Washington D.C.
said, "For nearly three decades, [CDC] has been whipping up fear
over food while remaining virtually unchallenged by the press or the scientific
community. By generating more heat than light, [CDC] helps create fear
... over ... food products."
LA Times researcher Emily Green says, "My foray through salmonella
literature going back to World War II did reveal a remarkable phenomenon.
In the last 12 years, what was perfectly legitimate speculation by CDC
doctors concerning the possible origin of salmonella enteritis somehow
transmogrified into fact once it reached the pages of political reports.
It should be stressed that CDC speculation concerning salmonella enteritis
remains unproved. This is not surprising. Scientific and medical journals
are not tablets of stone. Much of what appears in them is guesswork. A
process of tossing up and shooting down guesses is how science works.
This also explains the recent turnaround over cholesterol in eggs [raw
viewed by the scientific community as benign]."
Why do Health Department Officials Condemn and Rob Us Of Natural Foods?
The common assumption and false premise is that microbes labeled "pathogens"
are harmful and must be eradicated. Compound this with the common assumption
and false premise that if a substance is toxic at any level, it is toxic
at all levels.
Consider insulin, for instance. At one level insulin allows excess carbohydrates
to be converted to stored sugar (glycogen) for proper utilization at another
time. On another level, too much insulin causes all carbohydrates and
blood sugar to be converted into glycogen, causing the body to suffer
shock that resembles seizures, which may result in respiratory and/or
heart failure and/or brain damage.
Consequently; we are faced with a perspective of Nature, including our
bodies; that is inherently endangered no matter what we do, no matter
how much we make war to survive and thrive.
Zero exposure to "pathogens" cannot be proven, yet people
believe in it. And, basically, zero exposure to "pathogens"
is not possible because they are ubiquitous. Threshold extrapolations
to generate quantitative risk estimates are pseudo science. Using the
impossible criteria of zero exposure to estimate risk is pseudo science.
Existing regulatory policy is based on a "better safe than sorry"
premise. But in the real world of everyday practicalities where common
sense decisions are needed, it is a morally bankrupt philosophy. There
is nothing "better" about the illusion of "food-safety"
when it results in people using pathogens as scapegoats instead of scientifically
verifiable causes of actual harm.
Add to this, the false premise that the elderly, infants and the infirm
are more susceptible to harm from "pathogens." Considering one
individual's rights to absolute protection over the well-being of
others is poor social planning. Especially if the protection for the minority
harms the majority.
But, again, the risk to these groups is scientific speculation. I have
witnessed approximately 34 cases from these so-called risk-groups in which
an amount of bacterial rich, aged (rotten) raw food was consumed and successfully
utilized to regain health of bowels, digestion, liver and glands, and
in many cases to reverse disease. It worked favorably in all situations
with only 6 experiencing minor loose bowels, or nausea and/or vomiting.
Those people considered their discomfort well worth the eventual beneficial
results.
The Chinese, using rotten eggs, and the Eskimo, using rotten raw fish
were cultures that successfully used high-bacteria food as remedies and
disease-prevention.
If Bacteria and Virus Are Not the Problem, Why Are We Trying to Eradicate
Them?
Government regulators are not responding to what is actually harming
people. They pander to what merely frightens people and themselves? Health
departments are overcrowded with individuals prejudiced against microorganisms
labeled "pathogen," and have based their raw food-restrictions
on speculative scientific data. They are one-sided on the "pathogen"
and bacterial food-poisoning controversies.
With new existing contradictory data that tends to indicate that even
pasteurization does not provide food-safety nor prevent diseases, but
cause disease, their adherence to such a mindset does not make rational
sense, nor good judgment.
People and their fears have always been at the heart of the risk problem
-- fears of loss, fears of injury, above all, fears of the unknown.
Special Interests
There is one more equation in this problem, and that is the food-industry
wants pasteurization and irradiation because their products will have
longer shelf-life, reducing costs by slowing spoilage. They care much
more about their costs and profits than our health. So they encourage
government officials to pass laws mandating compulsive pasteurization
and irradiation. They can always blame the government for producing and
supplying a less healthy and toxic product.
Conclusion
To have passed laws against "pathogenic" existence in food
is not only impractical it is harmful. Over a period of decades this nutrient-destruction
can actually cause more disease than the possible rare incident of fatal
bacterial food-contamination. By depriving people of fresh raw unpasteurized
and non-irradiated food, hasn't government condemned people to a higher
risk of disease?
The public has a right to choose what is best for them. Government,
fueled by science with its vacillating conclusions with every new change
in theoretical and technological approaches, does not have the right to
deprive people of choices. The public has a right to easily obtain any
God-given natural food with all of its bacteria.
As a nutritionist for over 30 years, I have observed that 90% of all
diseases, including cancer, have been reversed by eating raw foods and
refusing medical therapies. The father of the Hippocratic Oath said it
best when he taught, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your
food."
Our food's future
If we don't do something about it now, we will not be able to buy
any health-giving fresh produce, meat, seafood, or poultry in the markets.
Write a letter every month to the U.S. President, FDA, your governor,
state and local county health-department officials, demanding that they
return and preserve your right to have fresh food with all of Nature's
bacteria and nutrients, non-chemically treated, non-irradiated and unpasteurized.
Form groups that will meet each month to accomplish this task together
while enjoying and celebrating a banquet of fresh foods.
To help send donations and contact:
Right To Choose Healthy Food
P.O. Box 176
Santa Monica, CA
90406-0176.
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