[Mb-civic] cherries and arthritis

[IHHS at aol.com]

Originally published May 2 2006 _http://www.newstarget.com/019366.html_ 
(http://www.newstarget.com/019366.html)     
FDA tyranny and the censorship of cherry health facts  (opinion)
In the past, I jokingly said that broccoli might someday be  banned as soon 
as the public begins to learn about the potent anti-cancer  chemicals found in 
the vegetable. That’s because, as I jested, the FDA wouldn’t  want people 
treating their own cancer with the anti-cancer medicines found in  cruciferous 
vegetables. But it seems that my joke wasn’t so funny after all,  because the 
FDA is now threatening cherry growers with raids to confiscate their  cherries, 
haul them into court, and put them out of business for doing one  simple thing 
that _the FDA_ (http://www.webseed.com/the_FDA.html)   cannot stand to allow: 
The distribution of scientific information describing the  _health benefits_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/health_benefits.html)  of  cherries.  
On October 17, 2005, the FDA sent warning letters to 29 companies that market 
 _cherries_ (http://www.webseed.com/cherries.html) . In these letters,  the 
FDA threatened these companies with legal action and told them they had to  
remove the scientific information on their websites that described the health  
benefits of the natural medicines found in cherries, such as the anthocyanins  
that reduce _inflammation_ (http://www.webseed.com/inflammation.html)   for 
arthritis sufferers. According to the warped FDA logic that now seems to be  
standard, when cherry growers post scientific information about the health  
benefits of their cherries, they magically transform their cherries into drugs  and 
therefore, as drugs, they must have FDA approval in order to sell them in  the 
United States.  
The FDA says a cherry is a drug
Now, any normal, sane person would look  at a cherry and say, “It’s just a 
cherry.” It’s a natural fruit that people have  been eating for as long as 
anyone can remember. But the FDA, in light of the  fact that people are now 
discovering that cherries are actually good medicine,  looks at a cherry and says 
(paraphrasing), “No, it’s a drug, and you have to  have our permission to 
market it, and if you continue to talk about the health  benefits of cherries, we 
will use our power to put you out of business.”  
I’ve often talked about the tyranny of the FDA and its campaign to censor the 
 scientific truth about the healing benefits of _natural foods_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/natural_foods.html) , including  cherries and many other items. 
This event demonstrates perfectly well the  sinister nature of the FDA, which 
clearly intends to restrict the spread of  knowledge about cherries and thereby 
protect the profits of _anti-inflammatory  drugs_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/anti-inflammatory_drugs.html)  that treat joint pain. If Americans knew the true 
power of cherries to  reduce inflammation, you see, the sales of 
anti-inflammatory drugs might  plummet, and the criminal drug pushers who run organized 
medicine today can't  allow that to happen. Hence, _censorship_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/censorship.html)  and oppression of  scientific information are the 
tactics used to keep the _American people_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/American_people.html)  ignorant  and, therefore, controlled.  
Because it's not just cherries that contain powerful medicine, you see. It's  
blueberries, garlic, cabbage, onions, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, aloe vera,  
almonds and a thousand other natural foods and medicinal herbs. If the public 
 understood the true healing power of these foods -- and the powerful 
medicines  they contain -- _conventional  medicine_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/conventional_medicine.html)  and all its drug-pushing participants would suddenly be 
irrelevant  and bankrupt.  
That's what the drug pushers absolutely cannot allow to happen, and that's  
why the American people must be kept ignorant at all costs, even if it means  
engaging in book burning, armed raids on alternative medicine clinics, and  
jackbooted censorship of simple truths that might empower people to take charge  
of their own health. It is the most insidious use of power by any federal 
agency  because its aim is ignorance, not education. It seeks to isolate people 
from  information that might save them in order to control them, and it is the 
same  tactic used by every evil regime in world history, including Nazi 
Germany. It  also makes the FDA the single greatest threat to the health and safety 
of the  American people, far outweighing the threat of terrorism in terms of 
the number  of people harmed or killed. (See "_Statistics prove prescription 
drugs  are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists_ 
(http://www.newstarget.com/009278.html) ")  
So I’m just curious; are cherry growers who distribute scientific information 
 now going to be arrested as cherry traffickers? Will people start smuggling  
cherries across borders so that their customers can benefit from the healing  
effects of these natural foods? Will the FDA raid cherry orchards with guns  
drawn like it did Dr. Jonathan Wright’s clinic in Seattle many years ago? Will 
 cherry growers be arrested and tried on crimes of making health claims or  
illegally marketing unapproved drugs?  
These things were once thought of as being ridiculous. The very idea that a  
natural food could be outlawed was once considered a joke. Now it is one step  
closer to reality as this tyrannical organization, the U.S. _Food and Drug  
Administration_ (http://www.webseed.com/Food_and_Drug_Administration.html) , is 
censoring scientific information on the health benefits  of cherries and 
using its power to threaten cherry growers into silence.  
More nonsense from the FDA
Amazingly, the FDA doesn’t claim to disagree  with the scientific information 
about cherries. Instead, it says that cherries  “have not been recognized as 
safe and effective when used as labeled.” And as  the Life Extension 
Foundation explains, the FDA’s interpretation of the law  means that cherry growers are 
“engaged in criminal conduct by relaying findings  that have been published 
in peer reviewed scientific journals.”  
So now publishing information makes you a criminal even if that information  
is scientifically sound and widely known to be absolutely true. If this isn't 
a  blatant violation of the First Amendment, I don't know what is. Where's the 
 Electronic Freedom Foundation on this issue? Isn't this a clear case where 
the  tyranny of the FDA should be openly challenged by champions of Free 
Speech?  
Cherries are now, according to the FDA, not recognized as safe and effective  
when used "as labeled." I’m just curious, what does the label of cherries say 
 about using it? Does it say, “Eat me?” Because that's what we should all be 
 saying to the FDA right now, as it is an agency immersed in such absolute  
nonsense that even fools can see the emperor has no clothes. To say a cherry is 
 a drug and then threaten cherry growers with drug crimes is something ripped 
 right out of the pages of 1984 and its Ministry of Truth. (See _Wikipedia_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four)  to learn  more.)  
In terms of genuine authority, the FDA is nothing short of an utter joke and  
an embarrassment to the American people. Unfortunately, it still has power, 
and  it is exploiting that power to threaten cherry growers with criminal 
prosecution  for doing what people have done for countless generations on this 
earth, which  is to grow their own _fruits_ (http://www.webseed.com/fruits.html)  
and  eat those fruits while enjoying their many benefits.  
Do not tolerate unjust authority
Gandhi once initiated the Salt March to  Dandi (the "Salt Satyagraha") in 
defiance of the tyrannical _salt_ (http://www.webseed.com/salt.html)  taxation 
rules of the occupying  British government, and there he and his followers 
intentionally violated the  law by harvesting salt from the waters. It was a 
practice that had been carried  out for centuries by the people there, and one that 
provides essential minerals  for human health. Gandhi’s defiance may teach us 
something very important about  modern times, and that is that when a law is 
so unjust as to stand in violation  of fundamental _human  rights_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/human_rights.html) , it is not only the right, but the duty of 
individuals to stand in  firm opposition to that law and to challenge whatever 
authority unjustly imposes  that law upon the people.  

The FDA operates today much like the occupying British in 20th century India, 
 oppressing the people, outlawing natural traditions like salt harvesting in  
order to control a monopoly market, silencing dissent, and threatening any  
organization or individual that challenges its power. The FDA, as it exists  
today, is an organization of tyranny and injustice that simply has no place in a 
 free society.  
That’s why I believe it is time for growers of cherries, fruits, vegetables  
and other _healing foods_ (http://www.webseed.com/healing_foods.html)   to 
take a stand against the FDA. Stand firm against _oppression_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/oppression.html)  and censorship, and  stand up for your right to tell 
the truth about the healing benefits of your  natural products. The FDA’s 
reclassification of cherry growers as _criminals_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/criminals.html)  is a violation of  every system of law and ethics that we’ve known on 
this planet. It is a  violation of natural law, it is a violation of God’s law, 
and it is a violation  of basic human rights, which include the right to grow 
and eat food and share  that food with your neighbors along with information 
about what those foods can  do to nourish them.  
The FDA would like to imagine that it is the ultimate authority over all  
things health related and that only it can approve what words we might use to  
describe the fruits and _vegetables_ (http://www.webseed.com/vegetables.html)  
we share with our  neighbors. And as such, the FDA is an entity of ignorance 
and evil that actually  seeks to de-educate the American people, and the day of 
outing the  criminals who currently operate the FDA is long overdue. This is 
an agency whose  decision makers need to be immediately arrested and tried for 
their crimes  against humanity. It is an agency that demands wholesale reform 
from top to  bottom and that must eliminate its obvious conflicts of interest 
and its desire  to protect the pharmaceutical industry. It must be reformed 
with a new mission  that it should have been following all along: To protect the 
health of the  people it is supposed to serve.  
End the tyranny of the FDA
If you're an American voter, one of the best  ways to protect your _health  
freedom_ (http://www.webseed.com/health_freedom.html) , which is clearly under 
assault by the Food and Drug Administration  as well as other 
disease-promoting interest groups, is to support the Health  Freedom Protection Act (HR4282). 
It is a bill that will allow organizations  like cherry growers to tell the 
truth about their products, as long as that  truth is based on sound science. It 
would allow cherry growers, for example, to  reference the published 
scientific studies that report on the healing benefits  of the phytochemicals found in 
cherries.  
It is a shame that in this country we even need such a bill, but we do need  
it, because the level of censorship, oppression, and tyranny now practiced by  
the FDA has reached its apex, and we must fight back with legislation that 
ends  the tyranny of the Food and Drug Administration and reinforces our right 
to  access information that can help us live happier, healthier and longer 
lives.  Support the Health Freedom Protection Act (HR4282) by writing your  
representatives in Congress and voicing your opinion. Also visit the _Life Extension 
Foundation_ (http://www.lef.org/) , publishers of Life  Extension Magazine, 
which contributed to this report.  
Finally, refuse to live as a slave of conventional medicine and the FDA for  
another day. Demand health _freedom_ (http://www.webseed.com/freedom.html)  
and settle for nothing  less than the ending of this age of medical tyranny that 
seeks to turn us all --  you, your parents, your children and preschoolers -- 
into ignorant, drug-induced  consumers who will never know true freedom, nor 
true health. Perhaps the  greatest legacy that we can pass on to our children 
is the ending of this  medical McCarthyism and the unfolding of a new golden 
age of health freedom.  Stay active and informed, and do not let ignorance and 
oppression prevail.  
Action items
If you know a cherry grower or cherry marketing company,  forward this 
article to them.  
If you are a cherry grower or marketing company, link to this article.  
If you'd like to take a stand against the FDA and challenge this censorship,  
Truth Publishing will gladly provide global coverage to your story through  
articles, phone interviews and even video interviews distributed to over half a 
 million readers around the world. If you're fed up with FDA oppression, and  
you'd like to take part in a David vs. Goliath _free speech_ 
(http://www.webseed.com/free_speech.html)  battle that could  prove pivotal to the ending of 
FDA tyranny, contact us through our _feedback form_ 
(http://www.newstarget.com/feedback.html) . Anonymity is  100% assured. We won't share details about your 
story without your permission.  
 
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