August 9, 2019, I was contacted by
Washington Post reporter Lena H. Sun. She requested an interview, which
I had to decline due to travel and speaking engagements. Instead, I
asked her to send me the questions, so I could respond in writing.
Considering the biased and clearly industry-favorable reporting done
by Sun and The Washington Post on previous occasions, I would not be
surprised if my answers are twisted or misinterpreted to support an
industry narrative, so I’ve decided to publish all of The Washington
Post’s questions to me, along with my complete answers. I expect The
Washington Post article to be published later this week.
The
Washington Post reporters are really concerned with how much money I
make selling vitamins, which is pretty funny considering their owner has
admitted to selling and profiting off of FAKE supplements! What are the chances we will see those revealing details in their sleuthing?
In my response, I also confronted Sun about The Washington Post’s
concerted efforts to “dig up dirt” on me and my company, as well as her
failure to publish a correction to a vaccine story in which she made a
provably false claim. Below, you will find correspondence to Sun in its
entirety.
As noted in an August 6, 2019, HuffPost article1
by Paul Thacker, media reporters and columnists are routinely enlisted,
groomed and secretly used to disseminate industry propaganda, and
Sun’s reporting bears many of the hallmarks and talking points of the
vaccine industry. Her questions to me have them as well.
In his article,2
Thacker highlights another Washington Post columnist, Tamar Haspel,
whose blogs and articles consistently favor the GMO industry and
chemical agriculture. Haspel has also become a voice for GMO Answers
(an industry front group created by Monsanto’s PR firm, Ketchum). Not
surprisingly, there’s now evidence suggesting Haspel works rather
closely with Monsanto and Ketchum. According to Thacker:
“For many who have been suspicious of Haspel’s relationship with
agrichemical giants, the documents are further evidence that she’s too
close to the industry she writes about and that her prominent column at
The Washington Post provides a perch to spread misleading information
about agriculture and the food we eat.”
The war on health freedom is heating up
I’ve been publishing articles about the dangers of social engineering
and data collection by the largest monopolies for several years.
Facebook, Google and Amazon are engaged in a dangerous attempt to
control the masses through massive data collection, surveillance and
censorship.
These technology tyrants are working overtime to prevent access to
information that contradicts their world view and ultimate goal, driven
by greed, conquest and insatiable lust for control.
While the justifications given for the current censorship on holistic health in general and vaccine safety in particular is that of “public safety,” one must question the rationale behind blocking first-hand testimony of vaccine damage,
and bullying and maligning of victims of medical harm rather than
supporting them and investigating the causes that allow for harms to
occur on such vast scales.
Between the current online censorship and the exponential advancement
of artificial intelligence, our ability to think independently is
under immediate threat. Social engineering tactics are employed from
every angle — the manipulation and control of a significant portion of
the global population is occurring right before our very eyes.
There is a reason that data has become the world’s most valuable resource, exceeding the value of oil.3 As reported by The Economist in 2017,4 Amazon captures 50 cents of every dollar Americans spend online, while Google and Facebook between them “accounted for almost all the revenue growth in digital advertising in America” in 2016.
Facebook alone makes billions by tracking every click, image, word
and GPS location of its users and then selling that information to
anyone willing to pay. Google, meanwhile, has infiltrated virtually
every nook and cranny of our lives.
By taking over schools, it now has the means to start its extensive
data harvesting right from childhood, building the most extensive
personality profiles of a generation ever conceived.
And, while current censorship and social engineering efforts are
focused primarily on eliminating voices that are critical of vaccines,
it would be foolish and naïve in the extreme to believe it will end
there.
Ultimately, the end goal is total control — they will tell you what
you need, be it a vaccine, a medication, a toxic food or any other
goods or services, and you are to comply, handing over your mind, body
and cash, no questions asked.
Surveillance and social manipulation through censorship and “curated
content” are all required for such a nonviolent yet hostile takeover to
work, and all of them are currently in play, right before our eyes,
behind our backs.
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Big Brother joins big tech in ‘Surveillance Valley’
As reported by NBC News5
August 8, 2019, Amazon is now “developing high-tech surveillance tools”
for the U.S. police force, saying it “has a duty to help police,
defense and intelligence agencies.”
While there are benefits, there are also hidden drawbacks and side
effects of such partnerships, the most obvious one being the expansion
of government’s ability to surveil Americans without just cause.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos also bought The Washington Post in 2013.6 Now, what could the owner of a massive monopoly, who has no newspaper experience, want with a newspaper?
Considering
the power of collecting data and controlling information at the scale
that this surveillance allows, logic will tell you that when you
combine mass data collection capabilities with a massive media empire,
you develop the synergistic ability to protect and further your goal —
whatever it might be, from moment to moment.
Google and Facebook follow the same model — they collect data,
control information and use artificial intelligence for social
engineering purposes. I’ve been the target of hit pieces pushing
industry propaganda for a long time, and I’ve been talking about the
dangers of these technology tyrants for years.
We are now looking at the “endgame” for the continued existence of
freedom of speech, freedom of thought, and not only your ability but
also your very right to take control of your health. All of these basic
human rights of autonomy and self-determination are under attack, and
unless we defend them with everything we’ve got, we may well lose them
all.
What follows are my responses exactly as I wrote them to Sun’s
questions exactly as she wrote them for her Washington Post article,
starting with my commentary on her attempts to extract information from
former Mercola.com employees.
Confronting Sun about dirt digging and false statements
Before I answer your questions, I have a comment to make: We’ve
received disturbing communications from former employees informing us
of your attempts to solicit negative opinions and confidential business
data from them. If you are interested in seeing the true culture at
Mercola.com, the following video was recently produced by some of my
employees to celebrate our 22nd anniversary.
Furthermore, in an October 25, 2017, story you published false information
about vaccines and whooping cough, which you stated does not occur in
communities with high rates of immunization. We duly sent you a
correction. Your response, oddly, was to delete the false information but, to our knowledge, you did not issue a correction.
If you did publish a correction and we missed it, please advise.
This type of journalistic error being covered up and your repeated
questions containing false claims and attacks on others supporting
informed consent principles demonstrates a reckless disregard of the
truth and adherence to fair journalism standards which include
presenting opposing views and different perspectives.
Some of the claims you make about me and my company are not remotely true.
• You claim that I state “my products are
better than vaccines.” If such a statement is indeed found on my
website, why don’t you provide the link? To allege that I claim “my
products are better than vaccines,” is false, and demonstrates a
reckless disregard of the truth.
• You claim I “tell[s] people not to get
vaccinated and to take Vitamin D instead.” That statement is twice
false: I do not tell people not to get vaccinated, and I do not say to
take vitamin D instead of getting vaccinated. Making either claim in
any article you publish would demonstrate a reckless disregard for the
truth.
• You infer that I make big profits by
taking on unpopular positions and getting attacked by critics. I donate
a significant amount of sales to nonprofit groups — none of it
earmarked — to advance individual and public health by encouraging
people to take control of their health and defend their freedom to do
that.
Consumers have enormous power if they have the knowledge and freedom
to wield it, and I urge everyone to make informed choices that improve
their health and decrease their need to rely on pharmaceutical products
or medical interventions that have real risks and cause tens of
thousands of deaths each year, not just in this country but in
countries around the world.
The Washington Post Q&A
Question: Tell us your story, how you got into medicine and natural health.
Answer: As a child I dreamed of becoming an astronaut and began my
academic studies in an engineering program before changing my major to
pre-med. I graduated from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in
1982 and became board certified in family medicine in 1985 before
starting my own practice.
I answer most of these questions in more detail in this short video.
Question: How many products do you sell and how would you categorize
them? What are your most popular products? Why are your products better
than vaccines, as you say on your web site?
Answer: There are more than 100 different products at
shop.mercola.com that include vitamins and supplements, organic fruit
and vegetable powders, biodynamic foods, Alaskan seafood, grass fed
beef, organic cotton clothing and pet products.
Please provide the reference regarding the claim that "my products
are better than vaccines". That is a blatantly false and defamatory
statement.
If you are referring to this video recorded by Dr. Joe Prendergast,
he explains why he believes Vitamin D is more powerful than any
vaccine. I can't find anything that resembles your false accusation.
Question: How has your business evolved? What were you selling in
the 90s, mid 2000s, and later? How much do your businesses make? In the
natural health space, how big of a player are you?
Answer: I started my website in the late 1990's to share information
with my patients and their families. For the first three years of
running the site, I supported the cost entirely from my medical practice
alone and sold no products.
I eventually realized that did not
scale well as the site grew in popularity. The only realistic options
were to either charge for a subscription for the information, accept
advertising, or sell my own products.
Subscribers wanted free
information, and I didn't want to advertise products and businesses that
I didn't trust or believe in – so I formulated, tested, and sold my own
brand of products to support the website.
I have around 175
employees. It is a fairly small business in comparison to the companies
that make up a majority of the nutraceutical space.
My business makes less than Jeff Bezos makes while shaving.
Question: Do you still practice medicine/see patients and if not, when did you stop practicing medicine?
Answer: I stopped seeing patients in 2009 so I could concentrate my
time on publishing my research. Instead of helping tens of thousands of
people in my office, I could help hundreds of millions of people
nationally and internationally. My website is now published in 11
languages.
Question: How would you characterize your position on vaccines and how has it evolved, if at all?
Answer: I believe very strongly in the principle of informed consent
and am deeply concerned about the enormous amounts of money spent by
pharmaceutical companies to lobby federal and state legislatures. The
deep conflicts of interest that exist because of public-private business
partnerships between drug company giants and federal health agencies
has created a revolving door that is progressively eroding consumer
safety.
I do not believe in a one-size-fits-all-cradle-to-grave
mandated use of liability-free vaccines because it violates individual
freedoms and eliminates health care choices. I think medical policies
that rely almost exclusively on indiscriminate use of prescription drugs
and vaccines by children and adults does not protect individual or
public health.
The revolving door between
top government health officials and pharmaceutical companies is
particularly disturbing. Gottlieb goes to Pfizer, Gerberding goes to
Merck – the list goes on and on.
The CDC itself deceives the public
by presenting disclaimers that erroneously claim no financial conflicts
of interest while receiving millions of dollars from pharmaceutical
companies.
The pharmaceutical choices
we make must remain free from any legally mandated social penalties.
The pharmaceutical and pesticide industries operate essentially in the
same way as criminal organizations exploiting people for financial gain. The mass media is quite friendly to industry talking points and very protective of its advertisers and advertising money.
The pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars every year advertising through media.
Question: We understand that you reached out to Barbara Loe Fisher
around 2007/2008 to work with her. What prompted you to do so? Tax
records show you've given around $400,000 a year to the National Vaccine
Information Center -- why did you decide to do this and what do you see
as the benefit for Mercola.com?
Answer: I personally reached out to NVIC over a decade ago because
they produce accurate, referenced information and are completely aligned
with my philosophical beliefs.
I can strongly assure you that
being an adversary to powerful industries is not a positive for a
business like mine being targeted with major discrediting campaigns and
the leveraging of regulatory agencies, which is just a small part of the
cost required to engage in these battles.
Question: Tax records also show you fund the Organic Consumer
Association and others. Can you tell us why you decided to fund these
groups. Can you also tell us more about what the Health Liberty
Coalition does and why you founded it?
Answer: I support the Organic Consumers Association because of their
dedication to improving food & agriculture. Good health requires
good food, but we've polluted most of the earth's water and depleted
much of the soils. Agriculture consolidation and control is threatening
the very existence of farmers, and the fertilizer / pesticide treadmill
the current processed food business depends on is toxic and
unsustainable.
The pesticide industry is increasingly damaging our
health and deceiving people, extending their tentacles into scientific
journals and media.
A Washington Post columnist's relationship has recently been uncovered as part of a strategic relationship for the agrichemical business.
Regeneration International is an initiative I support through the OCA.
All of the organizations I support can be found in the footer of my
website. They are all dedicated to protecting individual rights, the
environment, and improving health by helping eliminate barriers that
industry and government have created to achieve optimal health. All
contributions are in the form of unrestricted grants. I believe in the
mission of these organizations and ask for nothing in return.
Health
Liberty was started as a way for non-profits working to empower people
with information to network and share knowledge. There is massive
social engineering occurring, especially by the technofascists of
Silicon Valley – and I believe that everything that can be done should
be done to empower individuals to take control of their health.
Question: Has NVIC helped your business? If so, what are the examples?
Answer: As stated previously, for more than a decade I have
financially supported the work of the National Vaccine Information
Center, a charitable organization founded by parents of vaccine injured
children in 1982 to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public
education. I believe in their mission and their strong defense of civil
liberties and human rights, including the human right to exercise
informed consent to medical procedures or use of pharmaceutical products
like vaccines that have risks. The information they publish is well
researched and helps people make educated vaccine decisions, which is
what everyone should be doing.
Publicly supporting non-profits like NVIC that are being attacked by
the media for criticizing drug companies, government health agencies and
medical trade associations for not doing their jobs when it comes to
protecting children's health does not help my business, but it is the
right thing to do.
Question: You tell people not to get vaccinated and to take Vitamin D
instead. But you also sell Vitamin D. How can people trust your motives
and your credibility?
Answer: I tell people to become informed and make their own
decisions. I personally would never take the influenza vaccine. Getting a
flu shot every year can make some people more susceptible to
influenza-like illness caused by other respiratory viral infections, as
well as increase risks for influenza. In addition, the effectiveness of
influenza vaccine has been less than 50% during the past decade.
I get my vitamin D from controlled exposure to the sun, as I tell
everyone to do, because a vitamin D supplement is inferior to natural
sunshine. However, especially for people who live in northern
latitudes, vitamin D supplements can help maintain appropriate vitamin D
levels.
Optimizing your vitamin D
levels to between 40-60 ng/ml is one of the best ways to improve immune
system function.
Nearly every year the flu vaccine is promoted for the elderly as a
life-saving drug and yet every year it is a failure for those most
vulnerable to influenza:
Flu vaccine injury is one of the most widely reported vaccine
injuries, including in the federal vaccine injury compensation program
that has awarded more than $4 billion
to vaccine injured children and adults since 1988. It should be noted
that the manufacturers of flu vaccine, like the manufacturers of all
vaccines licensed, recommended and mandated in the U.S., do not have any
liability in civil court when a child or adult suffers a vaccine
reaction that can permanently damage health or even cause death.
You can read more about my position on influenza vaccines here.
Who can people trust? It's up to each one of us to decide who to trust
and what to do about how we want to stay well. That is the point –
people should have the freedom to choose.
Question: How do you respond to critics saying that you're profiting off of bad medical advice?
Answer: It takes decades before what is criticized today becomes
standard treatment of care in the future. I've been criticized for my
positions on artificial sweeteners, appropriate sunshine exposure,
excessive mammograms, glyphosate, ketogenic diets, EMF's, cholesterol,
eggs, statins, Vioxx – the list goes on and on. Over time, my
positions have been proven correct more often than not.
The
practice of medicine must change. Many current medical policies and
practices are undergoing scrutiny by both the public and critics inside
the medical profession and will eventually be discarded, but the
pharmaceutical industry will continue to work to silence the critics
through smear campaigns and financial lobbying to convince legislators
that nothing should change so they can protect market share.
My
intent is to empower individuals to take back their health. I defend
freedom and autonomy. I believe that people should be allowed to
identify and access simple, inexpensive and safe alternatives to the
conventional medical system, which is contributing to the premature
death of millions and is causing needless pain and suffering in great
part because multinational corporations want to increase their revenues.
It has been my experience and observation that these
multinational corporations and oligarchs will do everything in their
power to control the people, control the food, the medicine and
government programs so they can also control the money.
Question: State and federal regulators have warned you about false
and misleading claims on your web site about your products. How do you
respond to those charges?
Answer: The warning related to thermography was based on political
pressure from the vastly oversold, multibillion dollar mammography
industry.
I've been talking about this for nearly two decades. This fact has
become more widely recognized.
The
FTC settlement regarding my views on UVB health benefits was based on
criticisms and political pressure from the American Academy of
Dermatology and a position taken by a dermatologist Surgeon General, who had developed an action plan targeting UVB advocates. The AAD & Surgeon General are wrong and providing dangerous advice by saying there is no safe level of sun exposure for any skin type.
I believe it is a grave error for the American Academy of Dermatology
to recommend that people completely avoid sunshine because UVB is
instrumental to producing Vitamin D. There is a large industry that
directs everyone of all skin tones to avoid the sun – yet indoor workers
end up with the most skin cancers because of this complete misunderstanding of the importance of responsible UVB exposure. Others are beginning to recognize this mistaken advice as well.
Question: We noticed you have moved your foundation and your
businesses to Florida. What's the reason for that? We also noticed
you've created a new foundation called the Mangrove Pines Farm
Foundation -- can you tell us about that and your plans for it?
Answer: I moved the business to Florida because it offered the
opportunity for a better lifestyle fit for the company. Avoiding
Chicago 's harsh winters has significant advantages for health, and the
state of Illinois has serious financial problems that make it a very
challenging environment for small and medium-sized businesses.
The
Mangrove Pines Farm Foundation is in development and it will become an
educational non-profit to teach people how to grow their own food
regeneratively, without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.
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