The Ecologist Vol 32 No 4
April-29-2002
from
Rense Website
A dirty tricks campaign leads straight to the door of a Monsanto PR
company, says Jonathan Matthews in the launch of his new column.
The journal Science reporting recently on how the Mexican "maize
scandal" was driving the battle over GM crops,
"to new heights of
acrimony and confusion", noted the part played by, "widely
circulating anonymous e-mails" accusing researchers, Ignacio Chapela
and David Quist, of "conflicts of interest and other misdeeds".
These accusations surfaced first in late November on the day of
Nature's publication of Chapela and Quist's findings of GM
contamination of maize varieties in Mexico - the global heartland of
maize diversity. Samples of native criollo corn were found to
contain a genetic 'switch' commonly used in GM crops and one sample
was even found to contain a commonly inserted gene that prompts the
plant to produce a poison. The results were particularly surprising
as Mexico banned the growing of GM maize in 1998, and the last known
GM crops were grown almost 60 miles from where the contaminated
maize was found.
For the biotech industry this could not have come at a worse time.
Its efforts to lift the European, Brazilian, and Mexican moratoria
on GM seeds or foods were all coming to a head.
Chapela and Quist came under immediate attack in a furious volley of
e-mails published on the AgBioView listserv. AgBioView
correspondents calling themselves 'Mary Murphy' and 'Andura Smetacek'
claimed Chapela and Quist's research was a product of a conspiracy
with "fear-mongering activists". The conspirators' aim, apparently,
was to attack "biotechnology, free-trade, intellectual property
rights and other politically motivated agenda items."
These claims prompted a series of further attacks from others. Prof
Anthony Trewavas, for example, denounced scientists like Chapela who
had "political axes to grind".
Trewavas demanded Chapela be fired
unless he handed over his maize samples for checking.
This was not Trewavas's first controversial intervention in the GM
debate in response to material put into circulation on AgBioView.
Last October, for instance, Trewavas was named in the High Court as
the source of an anti-Greenpeace letter at the centre of a libel
case. Trewavas subsequently claimed that the letter originated on
AgBioView.
The last piece in question was posted by one Andura Smetacek, who
regularly posts vitriolic attacks on critics of the biotech
industry. In Smetacek's early posts, interestingly, repeated
reference is made to one particular website, CFFAR.org. Ostensibly,
CFFAR - or the Center for Food and Agricultural Research, to give it
its full title - is "a public policy and research coalition"
concerned with "food and fiber production." But despite links to
CFFAR.org from the websites of US public libraries and university
departments, there appears to be no evidence this organization
really exists.
To judge by the frequent usage of words like "violence",
"terrorism", and "acts of terror", the real purpose of the site is
to associate biotech industry opponents with terrorism. This mission
is facilitated by fabricated claims. In its "vandalwatch.org"
section, for instance, CFFAR.org accuses Greenpeace of engaging in
multiple attacks on British farms. Greenpeace is accused of
commandeering farmers' tractors and crashing through fences in
pursuit of farmers' families.
The domain registration details for CFFAR.org show the registrant to
be one 'THEODOROV, MANUEL'. Among early signatories to a pro-agbiotech
petition launched by AgBioView list editor, Prof CS Prakash, the
following details can be found:
-
NAME: emmanuel theodorou.
-
POSITION:
director of associations.
-
ORGANIZATION: bivings woodell, Inc.
-
DEPARTMENT: advocacy and outreach.
What kind of "advocacy and outreach" do
Bivings Woodell, Inc., aka
the Bivings Group, do?
According to an article in the Chicago
Tribune,
"The Bivings Group has developed 'Internet advocacy'
campaigns for corporate America since 1996... Biotechnology giant
Monsanto [is] among the Bivings clients who have discovered how to
make the Internet work for them."
As part of its brief, Bivings designs and runs Monsanto's websites
and Theodorou is believed to have been part of Bivings' Monsanto
team. Mary Murphy would also seem to connect to Bivings. Or so it
would seem from the evidence of a fake Associated Press article on
the bulletin board of the foxbghsuit.com website. It was posted by
"Mary Murphy (bw6.bivwood.com)".
Between them Smetacek and Murphy have had 60 or more attacks
published, often very prominently, by Prakash on the AgBioWorld
listserv. Prakash presents AgBioWorld as a mainstream science group
reliant on the support of individuals and philanthropic foundations.
However, a website design specialist who took a detailed look at the
AgBioWorld site reported that there appeared to be evidence that
part of its content was held on a Bivings' server.
Furthermore, agbioworld.org, vandalwatch.org and the Bivings'-designed
thebivingsreport.com, all seemed to be the work of the same
designer.
Perhaps it's time for Prakash to clarify where AgBioWorld finishes
and biotech industry PR begins. Come to that, the Royal Society
might like to tell us why Trewavas, one of its media advisors, seems
so keen to promulgate PR industry smears.
And, finally, Monsanto
needs to explain how its much vaunted pledge to abide by principles
of openness, transparency and respect tallies with a dirty tricks
campaign.
Comment
From Betty Martini
Bettym19@mindspring.com
May-15-2002
Dear Dr. Tyron and Bonnie,
This article is very timely because it explains what went on with
the post you have and the way Monsanto uses PR, front groups, etc.
I lectured for the World Environmental Conference some years ago. I
actually wrote the post you have to Dr. Rivner who headed a list of
neurologists after I had returned. The post was put on web. Then
somebody by the name of Nancy Markle published it under her name,
changing the title. Someone in the UK saw it and sent it to a global
networker, Shoshanna Allison. She had just gotten a divorce because
aspartame had shattered their marriage.
Her husband developed lupus
from aspartame, ballooned up to 400 lbs and had the usual mood
swings. She didn't want it to happen to anyone else so she took my
post and put it on 450 global networks and it made world news
overnight. It was unbelievable how many calls came in and still come
in about it. People called from countries in languages I couldn't
understand. It didn't take long for anyone to realize I was the
author by simply doing a search on the Internet.
I removed call-waiting from the phone because I couldn't talk to two
people at once, and the phone would ring every two minutes as soon
as you put it down and went on like that for months. Plus radio
stations were calling constantly and you couldn't be interrupted
during a broadcast. We have a Mission Possible list that has the
world experts on
Aspartame, and it showed the physicians
how
epidemic Aspartame Disease really is the world over.
We started more
Mission Possible operations from Mission Possible Romania to
Mission
Possible Indonesia.
Four support groups were set up for the sick and
disabled. Because Monsanto, the FDA and the professional
organizations funded by industry were putting out propaganda that
aspartame is an additive and safe, physicians were unable to
diagnose their patients, and they went from doctor to doctor. Many
of them died because nobody could help them.
Monsanto could not put the fire. A person on aspartame had put to
read the post to see their symptoms and finally understand why they
were so sick. Calls came from victims in tears who told horror
stories. Since aspartame destroys the central nervous system and
mimics MS, many people had been misdiagnosed as having MS. And many
people who read the post in wheelchairs, got off aspartame and
walked away well. Front groups were set up on the Internet to try
and persuade the people it was a myth but it didn't work.
Even
people who didn't know I was the author simply decided if they were
so sick, it wouldn't hurt to get off the toxin and see what
happened. The blind began to see again. Mary Reiff who was on Texas
TV with me a couple of years ago had a grand mal seizure while
driving and had an accident, and she was declared eventually legally
blind. After getting off aspartame the seizures stopped and
eventually by the time we were on the Debra Duncan Show her vision
had been restored.
People who suffered horrific, agonizing joint
pain got off aspartame and could walk again. And, of course, these
people made thousands and thousands of more copies. The professional
organizations funded by NutraSweet (Monsanto) went to their defense.
Still thousands got off NutraSweet and got well and told others.
Even respectable institutions like Mayo Clinic put false information
on their web site. Giving them the correct information I couldn't
understand why they didn't change it until I read who funded the
misinformation web site - and it was Searle. Searle was the original
manufacturer of aspartame and Monsanto bought them in l985.
So their are many organizations who pimp poison for a price. In
order to warn the victims off the poison they have to close the
diamond mine, and presented with saving the lives or continuing to
accept bribes they elect to sacrifice the people. Those responsible
to solve the problem ARE the problem.
Finally, knowing the world now knew about aspartame's toxicity, even
in the jungles of Africa, Monsanto sold the NutraSweet Company
dividing it into several pieces, to Ajinomoto, their Siamese twin,
another aspartame manufacturer, Childs in Boston, Michael Dell of
Dell Computers, and an investment firm of Monsanto managers.
But
like Mohammed Ali once said: "They can run but they can't hide".
We
are now taking case histories for class action on aspartame starting
with brain tumors, seizures, blindness and eye deterioration. I hope
in the end they will take them all.
These monsters knew before aspartame was ever approved what would
happen to the population. If you go to www.dorway.com you can read
the Secret Trade Information which was voluntarily submitted during
Congressional Hearings. You will notice in the last paragraph they
say they have to consider almost complete conversion to DKP,
the
brain tumor agent, and if they tell the FDA they won't approve it.
so they knew people would come down with brain tumors and they
didn't care, they wanted it approved.
They knew it was an addicting
(methanol classified as a narcotic) neurotoxic drug, and would be a
cash cow.
In l983/84 Searle decided to find out just how much aspartame could
humans tolerate. They sacrificed people in 6 countries to do studies
in poor villages. The studies showed in 18 months that aspartame
destroyed the brain and the central nervous system which we already
knew from post marketing surveillance reports. People developed all
kinds of brain tumors as well as seizures. The pregnant woman lost
her baby and disappeared according to the study.
Aspartame hardened
the synovial fluids which helped us to understand why aspartame
victims suffer such agonizing joint pain often diagnosed as
fibromyalgia, a diagnostic waste-bucket. A new study at the
University of Florida shows that eliminating excitotoxins, aspartame
and MSG, eliminates the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and
fibromyalgia. Some people died in these studies. Searle finding out
that aspartame was a killer did not publish the studies and in l985
sold to Monsanto.
Never does a day pass that I don't get calls about this post that
made world news. It also went to media the world over and articles
were written around the world. Nobody ever found Nancy Markle
although as people got well they wrote songs about her, and on some
web sites you would see notes - "please write home Nancy Markle".
I
believe she lives in England because she wrote the Ecologist using
my home address telling them to contact Mission Possible. I
explained to the Ecologist and they did their own investigation of
aspartame and its on www.dorway.com titled Sweet Talking! When I
lectured in England we broadcast for Nancy Markle as I did radio
interviews but to no avail. Shoshanna Allison has now been dubbed
Paula Revere for firing the shot heard around the world.
I wrote the story for the Disinformation web site, they were going
to put it in a book called "They Lied To Us". However, they put it
on their web site instead and we have it on
www.dorway.com/nomarkle.html
and its titled Update World Environmental Conference. I suspect the
post has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and was
the beginning of the end for Monsanto. Monsanto eventually merged
with Pharmacia Upjohn, trying to get rid of their bad name. It was
changed to Pharmacia after we started calling them PU.
Today, no one can even question the medical information in the post
as its now all been documented in the new medical text on the global
plague of Aspartame Disease by H. J. Roberts, M.D., Aspartame
Disease: An Ignored Epidemic,
www.aspartameispoison.com or
www.sunsentpress.com or 1 800 814 - 9800 1038 pages, 8 1/2 by 11 on
the symptoms and diseases triggered by this deadly neurotoxin.
There
is a chapter on Multiple Sclerosis or Aspartame Disease?, behavioral
and psychiatric problems, diabetes, brain tumors, seizures,
infertility, male sexual dysfunction, drug interaction, birth
defects, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrigs, Desert Storm Syndrome, ADD,
autism, and even the implications of marketing a chemical poison for
human consumption including the cover-ups. Every physician in the
world needs a copy, it's the only way he can diagnose
Aspartame
Disease.
Many victims getting well have said one day
Aspartame
Disease may be called Roberts Disease.
Dave Rietz, webmaster of www.dorway.com likewise is a victim. He
went to 21 physicians who could not diagnose his agonizing joint
pain. He eventually built on to his home and put in a Jacuzzi
because it was too painful to walk. Eventually he got on the
Internet and saw the FDA report of 92 symptoms and realized it was
aspartame causing his problems.
He got off of it and the joint pain
disappeared. He set up www.dorway.com as a DORway to Discovery,
saying he was paying back to the Internet what the Internet gave
back to him - his life. He still suffers from Prostate cancer. World
famous toxicologist, Dr. George Schwartz wrote a paper on aspartame
and prostate and mammary tumors.
In original studies aspartame
triggered brain, mammary, uterine, ovarian, testicular, thyroid and
pancreatic tumors, as well as grand mal seizures.
There are some particularly serious problems all physicians should
know about. Aspartame damages the cardiac conduction system and can
cause sudden death. It also interacts with cardiac medication and
patients can go into complete heart block or cardiac arrest. It is
also a chemical hypersensitization agent and interacts with vaccines
and other toxins and additives.
Since vaccines have been known to
trigger autism and aspartame can trigger autism babies don't have
much of a chance, especially if their mothers are not warned not to
use aspartame while pregnant.
Read these reports on www.dorway.com:
-
Aspartame Murders Infants by James Bowen, M.D.
-
Aspartame and
Pregnancy and Small Children by H. J. Roberts, M.D.
-
Testimony before
congress by Louis Elsas, M.D., pediatric professor, Emory
University.
All physicians should also have in their library,
Excitotoxins: The
Taste That Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D.
It was the famed Dr. John Olney, who founded the
field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity. He did the studies on
aspartic acid in l970 and found out it causes lesions in the brains
of mice. He told Searle but they did not tell the FDA until after it
was approved. Aspartic acid which is 40% of aspartame is an
excitotoxin. Dr. Blaylock explains on the back of the book this is a
product that literally stimulates the neurons of the brain to death
causing brain damage of varying degrees.
If you want to read some of the horror stories you can go to
www.holisticmed.com/aspartame, the
Aspartame Toxicity Center. We
have four support groups on line and there are now five Aspartame
Detoxification Centers in the United States and one in Canada.
Bonnie, I need to know which is the correct email, rosenet.com or
net. I'm sending this to both.
Below this note is an excellent article on Monsanto PR, and you will
understand about the front groups on the Internet and people paid to
lie for industry, and those paid to pimp poison for a price.
You will see my invitation to speak for the World Environmental
Conference and my correspondence with Dr. Gaylord who gave the
keynote address on
www.dorway.com
If I can help you further please let me know. We do have these four
support groups on line for victims. In Dr Roberts medical text there
is a chapter on detoxification and how to treat a patient who has
used aspartame. There is also a detox page on www.dorway.com and
Newton Labs has made an antidote to try and pull some of the
formaldehyde out of the body. There is also a page on pre-embalming
in the medical text. The Trocho Study shows that the formaldehyde
converted from the wood alcohol accumulates in the cells and damages
DNA. A new study in Norway shows that aspartame destroys the brain
which, of course, we knew, especially in the areas of learning. This
accounts for the global epidemic of ADD.
Sandra Cabot, M.D.,
Mission Possible Australia, has a book on
cleansing the liver on www.dorway.com with recipes that are very
helpful. Be sure to read Dr. James Bowen's paper on how aspartame
triggers steato hepatitis, as well as his article on male sexual
dysfunction. This is why so many are on Viagara.
I will send you an email from a former U.S. Attorney writing these
misinformation sites to cease and desist from putting out lies. This
is against the law under Title 18, Section 1001 and the Justice
Department has been notified. I doubt Mr. Ashcroft, Attorney
General, will do anything about it as he received a lot money from
Monsanto and is from St. Louis their home town.
But they have been
reported just the same. Be sure you read the UPI investigation and
you will understand the fiasco of aspartame approval and how Searle
went so far as to even threatening physicians to prevent studies on
aspartame.
And, of course, read on below my signature this excellent
article on how industry misinforms the public.
All my best,
Betty
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