Skin care weblog

Urgent! Please pass this to all your friends, family and other concerned
citizens.

LET HIM SPEAK !

We have been ambushed by the Food & Drug Administration.
(actually, the American citizens have been ambushed!)

Thursday was "marketed" as an opportunity for Americans to comment
before the FDA Commissioner in Chicago on biotechnology and labeling
issues. Our statements were to begin at 9 AM, giving each of us time to
deliver a message. Instead, forums have been substituted and our time
to testify severely shortened.

Robert Cohen signed up long ago for this speaking opportunity. He is

number three on the list of speakers. Cohen expected to speak at 9:00
AM. On Monday he was told that the speakers begin after the forums…at
2:45 PM. He has a return flight at 2:00 PM. Cohen will arrive in
Chicago armed with new evidence, and is requesting 3 minutes to present
further proof that genetic engineering is flawed. Food labeling is more
than an option, it’s imperative. FDA has thrown us a curve ball,
changing the schedule. Cohen will NOT be allowed to speak.

Something is rotten at FDA.
Six hundred people want to speak. They have been reserved 135 minutes
for that privilege. That’s 13.5 seconds for each American to voice his
or her opinion on bio-engineered foods.

"LET HIM SPEAK!"

**************

The greatest controversy in the history of the Food & Drug
Administration was the approval process for the genetically engineered
bovine growth hormone. In order to end that controversy, FDA published
a review of the research in the August 24, 1994 issue of the journal
Science. In that paper, FDA reached conclusions that were severely
flawed. For example, FDA concluded that 90% of the bovine growth
hormone in milk was destroyed by pasteurization. In order to reach that
conclusion, milk was heated for 162° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Normal
pasteurization at that temperature calls for 15 seconds of heat, not 30
minutes. Only 19% of the hormone was actually destroyed but FDA
Commissioner David Kessler testified that 90% was destroyed, even at the
exaggerated pasteurization time. That was the key moment for approval,
and as a result of that misrepresentation, FDA did three things. First,
they relieved Monsanto from the obligation of performing further
toxicology studies. Second, they relieved Monsanto from the
responsibility of developing an assay or test for the presence of bGH in
milk. Third, FDA developed a "zero day withdrawal" for bGH-treated
milk, meaning that genetically engineered milk was safe human
consumption.

FDA Commissioner Kessler testified that untreated milk and bGH-treated
milk were indistinguishable. Truth is that after cows are treated with
bGH, levels of another powerful growth hormone in their milk increase.
That hormone is called insulin-like growth factor or IGF-I.

There are 4,000 mammals in the animal kingdom and millions of different
hormones in nature. IGF-I is only hormone in the animal kingdom that is
identical between two species, human and cow. Last year, The Lancet
identified IGF-I as a key factor in the growth of breast cancer. Other
journals called IGF-I a key factor in prostate and lung cancer.

FDA approved bGH on the assumptions that the bioengineered milk was the
same, that the hormone was destroyed by pasteurization, and that there
was no possibility that there could be any change to the human
physiology by drinking milk. The October 1999 issue of the Journal of
the American Dietetic Association contradicted that conclusion and waved
a red warning flag to all of America. In a twelve-week study, levels of
IGF-I increased by a factor of 10% in a group of milk-drinking adults,
while remaining unchanged in the non-milk-drinking control group.

A publication in the July 1994 issue of the journal Protein Science
revealed that Monsanto created a FREAK amino acid in the number 144
position of the 191 amino acid chain of the genetically engineered
hormone. Monsanto never told FDA. Evidence of this crime of omission
is reason enough to immediately revoke bGH from the market. Evidence of
this omission demonstrates how severely flawed our system is. Genetic
ngineering may one day solve many of mankind’s problems. Until we get
it right, we demand the right to know what is in our food. We must have
labeling.

Conclusion: Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone
raises levels of other hormones in milk, and those hormones survive
digestion. We must be protected by those who have previously betrayed
us. Madame Commissioner, this is your watch. It is our right to know.

What can you do? Tell the FDA to forget those committees and listen to
the people!

Concerned? Send an Email to the FDA BOSS!

and let her know what you think of this FDA action to shut out the invited
public.

Please pass this message to all friends, family and others who may think
the citizens should be heard (especially, when invited to do so)!

Urgent! Please pass this to all your friends, family and other concerned
citizens.

LET HIM SPEAK !

We have been ambushed by the Food & Drug Administration.
(actually, the American citizens have been ambushed!)

Thursday was "marketed" as an opportunity for Americans to comment
before the FDA Commissioner in Chicago on biotechnology and labeling
issues. Our statements were to begin at 9 AM, giving each of us time to
deliver a message. Instead, forums have been substituted and our time
to testify severely shortened.

Robert Cohen signed up long ago for this speaking opportunity. He is
number three on the list of speakers. Cohen expected to speak at 9:00
AM. On Monday he was told that the speakers begin after the forums…at
2:45 PM. He has a return flight at 2:00 PM. Cohen will arrive in
Chicago armed with new evidence, and is requesting 3 minutes to present
further proof that genetic engineering is flawed. Food labeling is more
than an option, it’s imperative. FDA has thrown us a curve ball,
changing the schedule. Cohen will NOT be allowed to speak.

Something is rotten at FDA.
Six hundred people want to speak. They have been reserved 135 minutes
for that privilege. That’s 13.5 seconds for each American to voice his
or her opinion on bio-engineered foods.

"LET HIM SPEAK!"

**************

The greatest controversy in the history of the Food & Drug
Administration was the approval process for the genetically engineered
bovine growth hormone. In order to end that controversy, FDA published
a review of the research in the August 24, 1994 issue of the journal
Science. In that paper, FDA reached conclusions that were severely
flawed. For example, FDA concluded that 90% of the bovine growth
hormone in milk was destroyed by pasteurization. In order to reach that
conclusion, milk was heated for 162° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Normal
pasteurization at that temperature calls for 15 seconds of heat, not 30
minutes. Only 19% of the hormone was actually destroyed but FDA
Commissioner David Kessler testified that 90% was destroyed, even at the
exaggerated pasteurization time. That was the key moment for approval,
and as a result of that misrepresentation, FDA did three things. First,
they relieved Monsanto from the obligation of performing further
toxicology studies. Second, they relieved Monsanto from the
responsibility of developing an assay or test for the presence of bGH in
milk. Third, FDA developed a "zero day withdrawal" for bGH-treated
milk, meaning that genetically engineered milk was safe human
consumption.

FDA Commissioner Kessler testified that untreated milk and bGH-treated
milk were indistinguishable. Truth is that after cows are treated with
bGH, levels of another powerful growth hormone in their milk increase.
That hormone is called insulin-like growth factor or IGF-I.

There are 4,000 mammals in the animal kingdom and millions of different
hormones in nature. IGF-I is only hormone in the animal kingdom that is
identical between two species, human and cow. Last year, The Lancet
identified IGF-I as a key factor in the growth of breast cancer. Other
journals called IGF-I a key factor in prostate and lung cancer.

FDA approved bGH on the assumptions that the bioengineered milk was the
same, that the hormone was destroyed by pasteurization, and that there
was no possibility that there could be any change to the human
physiology by drinking milk. The October 1999 issue of the Journal of
the American Dietetic Association contradicted that conclusion and waved
a red warning flag to all of America. In a twelve-week study, levels of
IGF-I increased by a factor of 10% in a group of milk-drinking adults,
while remaining unchanged in the non-milk-drinking control group.

A publication in the July 1994 issue of the journal Protein Science
revealed that Monsanto created a FREAK amino acid in the number 144
position of the 191 amino acid chain of the genetically engineered
hormone. Monsanto never told FDA. Evidence of this crime of omission
is reason enough to immediately revoke bGH from the market. Evidence of
this omission demonstrates how severely flawed our system is. Genetic
engineering may one day solve many of mankind’s problems. Until we get
it right, we demand the right to know what is in our food. We must have
labeling.

Conclusion: Monsanto’s genetically engineered bovine growth hormone
raises levels of other hormones in milk, and those hormones survive
digestion. We must be protected by those who have previously betrayed
us. Madame Commissioner, this is your watch. It is our right to know.

What can you do? Tell the FDA to forget those committees and listen to
the people!

Concerned? Send an Email to the FDA BOSS!

and let her know what you think of this FDA action to shut out the invited
public.

Please pass this message to all friends, family and others who may think
the citizens
should be heard (especially, when invited to do so)!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 20th, 2003 at 8:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.