Guest guest Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 SHFN Newsletter – February 2004 by Lanny Messinger Sovereigns’ Health Freedom Network (SHFN) http://www.HealthFreedom.info EPHEDRA & THE FDA-PHARMACEUTICAL FRAUD This month’s newsletter is a response to the FDA’s recent announcement to ban ephedra. To get the big picture please read this entire newsletter because it exposes in detail an insidious conspiracy between pharmaceutical cartels, the FDA and Congress to defraud the American people. This is not just about ephedra. This newsletter reveals how our health freedom Rights are being taken from us and how we can get them back. WHAT IS EPHEDRA? Ephedra is the family name of natural, God-given herbs which have been used since time immemorial by people all over the world. The Chinese call it Ma Huang (ephedra sinica). There are numerous varieties of the American ephedra family that grow in the arid southwest and are often referred to as “Mormon Tea”. Ma Huang is a sympathetic nerve stimulant resembling adrenaline which has been used safely for thousands of years for such conditions as asthma, colds, allergies, arthritis, rheumatism, muscle pain and as a blood purifier and energy booster. CAN EPHEDRA BE BANNED? Let me begin by making a bald-faced statement: No agency of the federal government can make a law banning ephedra or any other herb. The reason why the federal government cannot make a law banning ephedra is because the powers of Congress are limited solely to Article I, Section 8 of the united States’ Constitution. Congress has absolutely no power whatsoever to tell We the People what we may or may not put in our bodies. Furthermore, Congress never had the power to create the FDA in the first place. The Supreme Court has ruled that “a law repugnant to the constitution is void.” [Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137] The FDA cannot make any law about anything! Why?--Because the FDA is in the executive branch of government. Under the separation of powers principle inherent in the Constitution, only a legislative body may enact laws. Therefore, the FDA cannot ban anything. Although Congress is a legislative body, even Congress can not pass a law to ban an herb, because Congress was never granted that power by We the People through the Constitution. Also, ephedra is a God-given herb for healing, and Congress is not above God (though they often act like they are). LAWS THAT NEVER WERE Even the FDA does not presume to make a law banning ephedra. Their web site states in no uncertain terms that they “issued a rule”, a “regulation”. A “rule” or “regulation” is not a law unless a person has consented to the “regulation” or voluntarily placed himself or herself under the jurisdiction of the FDA by contract. Then it falls under contract law. The FDA, FTC, HHS and other alphabet agencies must therefore use fraud and intimidation in order to coerce people to follow their bogus “rules” and “regulations”. I wish every American would commit the following quote to heart from the Declaration of Independence: “Governments derive their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed.” If a person has consented to be “ruled” by the FDA, then that person is subject, by contract, to the FDA “rules” and “regulations”. However, if the FDA has perpetrated fraud, a new element is introduced: Fraud vitiates (voids) a contract. The Constitution guarantees “We the People” a “republican Form of Government”. The definition of republican Government is: “One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially delegated.” This is why we use the terms “civil servants” or “public servants”. We are the Sovereigns--the kings and queens of our respective castles--and they are our servants. Our servants only have the powers that we give them. THE PROBLEM WITH DSHEA Here is a quote from an alleged health rights group’s web site that illustrates how much people have been programmed: “The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), passed unanimously by Congress in 1994, gives the FDA ample authority to remove products it deems unsafe.” People were programmed to believe that DSHEA would protect rights. Instead, it actually limits people’s rights. DSHEA was a fraud from the very beginning. Congress never had the power to pass DSHEA in the first place! That power does not exist in Article I, Section 8 of the united States’ Constitution. It is therefore null and void. Furthermore, the DSHEA was written to encourage FDA abuse because they are not required to prove that ephedra or any other herb is harmful, only that it poses “a significant and unreasonable risk.” Lawyers love this kind of nebulous wording because it puts money in the pockets of private lawyers and can be used by government lawyers to usurp people’s rights. What is even more perplexing is that many alternative health advocates keep citing DSHEA believing that this so-called “law” is going to protect their rights. At the risk of sounding redundant, I wish to remind everyone that our rights do not come from statutes. A careful study of legislative history will show anyone that statutes are inevitably used to abrogate natural, unalienable, God-given Rights and Freedoms, not protect them. To understand where our Rights and Freedoms come from, please read the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. Each one of us has the freedom of choice to assume our rightful position as Sovereigns or to acquiesce to the “rules” and “regulations” of our servants. The DSHEA example reminds me of a quote from an old issue of Mad Magazine: “America is that land which fought for freedom, then passed laws to get rid of it.” SHARK INFESTED WATERS Lawyers are flocking to the ephedra battle like flies to a cow pie. Type “ephedra” into the Google search engine and see whose (paid) web site is at the very top of the page—LAWYERS!--the very parasites that have infected Congress with such outrageous laws as DSHEA. This is why I thoroughly expose the Bar Association on the Sovereigns’ Health Freedom Network. Bottom-feeding lawyers are at the bottom of government corruption in America. Nevertheless, when health freedom rights are threatened, the programmed public runs to the lawyers, praying and paying for salvation. The lawyers then say: Well, let’s see here, under DSHEA you must blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, ad nauseum and it will only cost you $$$$$. So the FDA lawyers, feeling very safe on their fat cat government salaries, bennies and immunity from prosecution, usurp the rights of citizens who then run to the private lawyers for help. Can you guess who wins every time? FDA = FRAUD ADMINISTRATION I would like to invite everyone to visit the FDA web site to read about their so-called “ban” on ephedra because it is a wonderful study in fraud. First of all, one cannot help but notice how they are trying to bully and con people into giving up their right to use a natural, God-given herb based upon mere “rules” and “regulations”, which are not even constitutional. Then the FDA states: “Ephedra, also called Ma huang, is a naturally occurring substance derived from plants.” This statement is blatantly false because ephedra is not derived from plants, it is a plant.” However, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are two substances which are derived by chemical extraction from the whole herb ephedra sinica. This unnatural chemical extraction process did not exist before the Industrial Revolution. In Nature, chemical components in whole herbs often counterbalance each other to limit or negate any possible adverse side effects. However, when one unnaturally separates a chemical from the whole herb, that isolated chemical can have an entirely different or excessively potent effect on the body. If you have ever read how ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are extracted and separated you will see that this chemical process is anything but natural. However, you will notice on the FDA web site that they repeatedly equate the natural herb ephedra with “ephedrine alkaloid” as if they are one and the same. This is clearly a deception on the part of the FDA. EPHEDRINE IS NOT EPHEDRA Ephedrine is not ephedra any more than caffeine is coffee. Could you imagine what would happen if the caffeine from a fifty-gallon drum of coffee was extracted and then given to a sick child or a heart patient? It would probably be fatal. Yet, the FDA has not banned coffee, have they? Furthermore, according to herbalist Christopher Hobbs and other data sources including the FDA’s own “Final Rule” on ephedra, the American varieties of ephedra have little or no ephedrine at all, particular ephedra nevadensis. There are at least 15 species of ephedra growing profusely in 10 states in the southwestern united States. Is the FDA going to label them a “drug” and then enlist the DEA to arrest millions of Americans who have ephedra growing naturally on their land? It is a veritable impossibility for the FDA to ban a native herb that grows like a weed over a third of the united States. Is this absurd or what? By the way, folks, don’t worry if US customs keeps Chinese ephedra from entering the country. We’ve got all the ephedra we need right here in America and it is very efficacious. Native Americans used ephedra for asthma and other lung diseases, colds, coughs, fevers without sweat, sores, burns, blood purification, gastrointestinal problems, kidney problems, venereal disease, or just as a beverage (tea). The ephedrine issue is a moot point. THE RAND REPORT The FDA and the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) began the attack on February 28, 2003 by announcing “a series of actions designed to protect Americans from potentially serious risks of dietary supplement products containing ephedra.” They then cited the RAND Corporation study which was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. Ironically, the RAND report showed that ephedra was effective and that they could not prove that it harmed anyone! In other words, FDA officials lied. Folks, when government officials lie and deceive in order to deprive people of their Rights, that is fraud, by defintion. Here are the facts: The RAND report states that “a causal relationship between ephedra or ephedrine use and these [serious adverse] events cannot be assumed or proven.” The report mentions some serious, adverse “sentinel” events, but then concludes: “Classification as a sentinel event does not imply a proven cause and effect relationship.” The RAND report shows that people can lose weight with ephedra or ephedrine and that it does improve “athletic performance.” The only physiological effects of ephedra that could be shown were tantamount to the effects produced from drinking coffee. In fact, many of the studies actually used ephedra or ephedrine in conjunction with coffee for the purpose of weight loss. A team of doctors from Columbia University and Harvard University performed long-term clinical research using randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of the efficacy and safety of ephedra and ephedrine. The doctors found “no adverse events and minimal side effects that are consistent with the known mechanisms of action of ephedrine and caffeine.” They also stated that “herbal ephedra/caffeine promoted body weight and body fat rejection and improved blood lipids without significant adverse effects.”Nevertheless, in spite of the published scientific evidence the FDA states: “The totality of the available data showed little evidence of ephedra’s effectiveness except for short-term weight loss, while confirming that the substance raises blood pressure and otherwise stresses the circulatory system. These reactions have been conclusively linked to significant adverse health outcomes, including heart ailments and strokes.” Please read that last sentence again. According to the RAND report and Columbia/Harvard studies, doesn’t this statement appear to be a bald-faced lie? Notice the use of the word “linked”. What does that actually mean? It merely means that people reported taking ephedra (or a derivative thereof) during the same time frame that they experienced a health problem. That’s all. There is no proof of a cause and effect relationship! FDA officials are using deceptive wording to mislead the public. Most likely, lawyers are behind this careful crafting of the FDA’s declarations. Furthermore, the FDA lawyers proclaim in the Federal Register: “There is no requirement that there be evidence proving that the product has caused actual harm to specific individuals, only that scientific evidence supports the existence of risk.” Let’s compare ephedra to a frequently used “legal” substance. How many people have suffered “severe adverse effects” from alcohol? How many people have been killed by alcohol-related road accidents? Alcohol is a known killer, but the state and federal governments are making too much money in taxes from it to mention that minor point. How many proven deaths are there from smoking tobacco? Is tobacco banned because “scientific evidence supports the existence of risk”? It is very clear that the attempted banning of ephedra has nothing to do with protecting people from “actual harm” or “the existence of risk”. In spite of the FDA’s fraudulent position on ephedrine, it is not attacking pseudoephedrine, which is another chemical that is unnaturally-derived from ephedra. Pseudoephedrine is found in common, over-the-counter cold medications like Contac, Primatene, Sudafed, etc. Here are some of the official side effects of pseudoephedrine: convulsions (seizures), hallucinations, irregular heartbeat, elevated heartbeat, nausea, vomiting, difficult or painful urination, headache, nervousness, restlessness, excitability, dizziness, fear, anxiety, tremor and shortness of breath. Of course, these adverse side effects do not constitute “actual harm” or even “the existence of risk”, according to the FDA. THE WAR ON NATURE AND GOD The FDA is also not attacking the pharmaceutical corporations’ “synthetic ephedrine”. They are only attacking “dietary supplements” that contain “ephedrine alkaloids”, which are defined as “botanical” ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and whole herb ephedra. Please take the time to read the following quotes because it is the most important point in this newsletter. I took these quotes from the FDA’s own web site of the “Final Rule” posted in the Federal Register. Here is how the FDA lawyers are trying to slip this one by us. “We use the term “dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids” in this final rule to refer to dietary supplements containing botanical sources of ephedrine alkaloids.” “Like dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids, OTC drug products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrin have risks related to these ingredients.” “This final rule also does not include OTC or prescription drugs that contain ephedrine alkaloids.” Therefore, in spite of the admitted risks of man-made, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, only natural, God-given herbs will be banned. If we the people do not challenge this outrageous fraud before April 13, 2004, a dangerous precedent will be set. Fraud always has a motive and the motive here is $$$$$$$$$$. Since a natural herb like ephedra can’t be patented, the pharmaceutical cartels can’t make a megabucks with it. However, they can corner the market and guarantee higher corporate profits by getting their friends in the FDA to ban natural ephedra, thereby allowing their patented drugs and unnatural poisons to be freely marketed. Doesn’t this sound a bit like a protection racket? THE FDA EXPOSES ITSELF A former head of the FDA, Dr. Herbert Ley, publicly exposed the FDA protection racket. Here is what FDA Commissioner Ley said: “The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it's doing are as different as night and day. "First, it is providing a means whereby key individuals on its payroll are able to obtain both power and wealth through granting special favors to certain politically influential groups that are subject to its regulation. This activity is similar to the 'protection racket' of organized crime: for a price, one can induce FDA administrators to provide 'protection' from the FDA itself. "Secondly, as a result of this political favoritism, the FDA has become a primary factor in that formula whereby cartel-oriented companies in the food and drug industry are able to use the police powers of government to harass or destroy their free-market competitors. "And thirdly, the FDA occasionally does some genuine public good with whatever energies it has left over after serving the vested political and commercial interest of its first two activities.” This is fraud, ladies and gentlemen, and criminal charges need to be pressed against all individuals in the FDA who are perpetrating this fraud. That is why We the People must unite in nation-wide coalition to press criminal charges against these hoodlums. Therefore, feel free to download the FDA ephedra web pages, because this is evidence which can be used in a court of law (theoretically) to convict them. The bottom line is that the international bankers and their henchmen own and control the media and the pharmaceutical cartels. The media has been whipping up fear of ephedra in the papers and on the boob tube while the FDA and their goon squads implement the agenda of the pharmaceutical cartels. This state of affairs has persisted so long, without any accountability, that it is becoming a treasonable situation on the part of the FDA and FTC. As Dr. Gary Glum puts it: “The FDA and the FTC are the leg-breakers for the pharmaceutical cartels.” ASPARTAME DISTRACTION I recently interviewed Dr. Glum and learned one of the primary reasons why the FDA is attacking ephedra. Dr. Glum is an herbalist, chiropractor and physical therapist who developed the “neuromuscular reeducation” technique which earned him a reputation that attracted many celebrity athletes. From 1984 to 1992 he helped world-class Olympic athletes and professional football players and baseball players with their personal sports injuries. He said that most of them were on a steady diet of aspartame-loaded diet pop to keep their weight down and were experiencing adverse effects from the heavy doses of aspartame. Although some of these athletes also took ephedrine products, aspartame was the real killer. Also, people who are dieting often use both aspartame and ephedrine supplements simultaneously to lose weight, so it is very easy and convenient to blame serious adverse events on ephedrine when the real source of the problem was aspartame. This is why the RAND Report stated: “a causal relationship between ephedra or ephedrine use and these [serious adverse] events cannot be assumed or proven.” The people who put the RAND Report together weren’t lying. Of course, they weren’t identifying the real culprit either. The first animal tests on G.D. Searle’s aspartame in the 60s and 70s showed that aspartame caused grand mal seizures and death in monkeys and caused holes in the brains of mice. Of course, according to the FDA these are not “significant adverse effects” and they continue to deceive the American people concerning aspartame’s safety. Dr. Glum stated that the ephedra scare is merely a distraction to take the attention off the public exposure of aspartame. Since aspartame is used around the world by hundreds of millions of people, it is very, very big busine$$. The FDA initiated a criminal investigation of aspartame’s creator,G.D Searle, in 1977. However, G.D. Searle hired former Congressman and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as CEO of Searle. Rumsfeld then used his political power and corporate position to stop the criminal investigation. The attorney prosecuting the case left the U.S Attorney’s office and went to work for Searle’s law firm. Once again the maxim is proved: America has the best politicians money can buy. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? The American Medical Association’s own statistics reveal that over 100,000 people a year are killed by pharmaceutical drugs that the FDA approves. Yet the FDA has not been able to prove even one death from ephedra. Every year more than two million people are hospitalized from the serious adverse effects of drugs, yet the untouchable drug companies continue to freely pedal their poisons. What’s wrong with this picture? I spent six years of my life seriously debilitated by pharmaceutical inhalers prescribed by medical doctors for my asthma. I finally cured my asthma with herbs. However, I did not become completely well until I stopped using those insidious inhalers. The inhalers actually produce asthma symptoms to insure repeated, long-term sales for the pharmaceutical corporations. The inhalers also produced debilitating side effects that caused headaches, mental fogginess and caused me to sleep twelve or more hours a day. I could not even hold down a job. If I had known about the asthma relieving properties of ephedra at that time, I could have regained those six years of my life that I lost. One of the asthma inhalers I used during those six years was called “Serevent”. The following quoted adverse side effects were taken from a pharmacy web site advertising “Serevent”: “dizziness, lightheadedness, heartburn, loss of appetite, restlessness, anxiety, nervousness, trembling, sweating, chest pain, rapid, pounding heartbeat, rash itching, swelling, trouble breathing.” I experienced all of these symptoms. Please take special notice of the last one. THE WAR ON HEALTH FREEDOM Predictably, the ephedra scare is being used to further limit rights to natural herbs and food supplements. The other problem with statutes like DSHEA is that they can be easily amended. The war began last year in February with the attack on ephedra, followed by the introduction of Senate Bill 722 one month later. Then on October 28, 2003--the very same day that the FDA attacked epheda in the Senate Commerce Committee--H.R. 3377 was introduced in the House with this statement by anti-ephedra advocate California Rep. Susan Davis: "The ephedra crisis has raised public awareness about dietary supplements and the absence of accurate information concerning risks and benefits. Much of the confusion surrounding dietary supplements can be attributed to the changes made in 1994 by DSHEA. The FDA, however, is prohibited from screening out any of these potentially dangerous dietary supplements. What if ephedra is only the tip of the dietary supplement iceberg?" Ephedra is the latest fabricated “crisis” to justify denial of access to natural, God-given herbs. Of course, there is no “crisis”, but if passed, H.R. 3377 will “require” people to list their herbs and herbal products with the FDA and it requires “mandatory” adverse effect reporting (AERs) so that the FDA can “take action more swifty” to remove herbal remedies from the shelves. Remember, when the FDA “takes action” they do it with machine guns, handcuffs and very long prison terms to enforce their self-proclaimed police powers. But get this—this bill only applies to “herbs and botanicals”, drugs are excluded. Surprised? WHEN WILL THIS INSANITY END? Like it or not, we are at a pivotal point in our history where we must all make a conscience choice between exercising our natural Rights and Freedoms or tolerating tyranny. The really bad news is that the FDA is hoping to set a precedent with ephedra as it relates to the DSHEA. This is not just about ephedra; it’s about the end of all health freedom rights if we don’t all stand up now and JUST SAY NO TO TYRANNY. When will the American people stop tolerating this insanity and treason? Failure of the American people to act right now will be the death knell for health freedom rights. This is not the time for complacency or fence-sitting. We must now stand together and refuse to comply with the unconstitutional, criminal activities of the FDA. To learn what we can do about it, please visit the Sovereigns’ Health Freedom Network at http://HealthFreedom.info and click on “EPHEDRA & THE FDA FRAUD” or : http://healthfreedom.info/Ephedra%20%20FDA%20Fraud.htm Yours in Health & Liberty, Lanny Messinger Sovereigns’ Health Freedom Network Lanny tlcrealdollars http://www.HealthFreedom.info You are most welcome to email this newsletter to a friend or post this newsletter on a web site as long as it is unaltered and unedited. Http://www.msfraud.org New Photos - easier uploading and sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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