US FDA: Maybe It's
Time for the Hercules Solution...
Opinion
by Consumer Advocate
Tim Bolen
Wednesday,
April 18th, 2007
In Greek mythology,
Aegeas, the king of Elis, had a vast herd of cattle. The stables in
which they were kept hadn't been cleaned in 30 years. By then it was
impossible to clean them and the resulting stench was unbearable.
Hercules, who had been assigned 12 stupendous tasks ("the Labours of
Hercules") to be performed in atonement for a crime he had supposedly
committed, came on the scene. One of those tasks was to clean the Aegean
stables. Hercules did the job in one day by diverting a river to flow thorough
the King’s stables.
The phrase "clean the
Aegean stables" now means to clear away an accumulated mass of corruption
– physical, moral, ethical, legal...
The stench at the US Food
& Drug Administration (FDA) is unbearable. The FDA, designed to regulate
certain industries in the US, has been taken over, in its entirety, by those
industries, who operate the agency for their own benefit. There is no
argument against this statement. At FDA the tail is wagging
the dog. Americans are being regulated by industries. It's the way
it is.
The FDA is being used to
maintain the status quo in US health care, keeping the momentous flow of cash
dumping into the broken health care system, where it's being siphoned off, and
re-funneled into the pockets of America's real enemies - international
corporations. It's the way it is.
There is no better simple
example of FDA corruption than that illustrated by the FDA division assigned
the task of regulating US dentistry issues. The situation is so bad
there that, recently, the legal team for an activist group put FDA legal
counsel on "Official Notice," threatening to file "Fraud on
the Court" briefs if, and when, FDA dental division employees reversed
themselves once again. The intent was to force the dental division to
stop obfuscating the "mercury amalgam" tooth filling issue.
The FDA dental division sees, as
its mission, the preservation, at any cost, of the current dental system - one
based on "image" rather than "health." Official dentistry
wants no part of "what happens in your mouth affects your whole body."
Official dentistry markets teeth, and dentistry itself, as a tool for
sexual conquest. Their message "If your smile is white - you'll get
laid tonight..."
US Dentistry is at a crossroads.
It is being attacked by powerful activist groups dealing with anti-Fluoride
issue, anti-mercury amalgam issues, and more. People who don't
back down. And, Dentistry has no answers for these people - no counter
for their arguments except to stall, stall, stall. Obfuscate, obfuscate,
obfuscate...
Many US dentistry profit centers
are being challenged. For instance, the whole idea of "root canals"
is under attack - and US dentistry, who, so far, has generated over three
trillion dollars for this horrible dental profit center, is fighting back
ruthlessly, attacking anywhere, and everywhere, as critics of root canals show
themselves. US dentistry's message - "Criticize root canals and we'll
ruin you..."
Can they reach their critics?
Yes, they can, and they do. Even me. Last year, after my first
round of articles about dentistry appeared, and was broadcast to my subscriber
base, my servers were suddenly shut-down by my service provider who had been
threatened by a criminal organization I finally identified as the Spamhaus/SPEWS
criminal conspiracy. Spamhaus, currently under Federal Court Order,
claims to be operated from a single desktop computer on a houseboat in Great
Britain. In actuality, Spamhaus is a vigilante-like organization run by
so-called "volunteers," each of which, I have found, has a financial
interest in Spamhaus's activities. I suspect, with good reason, that a
top Spamhaus "volunteer" simply got a check (or a bag of cash) from a
New York ad agency to falsely label me as a "spammer."
So, what happened recently?
A lot. Last Friday, April
13th, 2007, the Washington DC Federal Appeals Court ruled that it lacked the
jurisdiction in "Mom's Against Mercury, et al v. FDA." But this
was NO VICTORY for FDA. It was the handwriting on the wall. Here's
why, explained by attorney Charlie Brown:
Court declines to rule on
merits in Moms Against
Mercury v. FDA --
but
suggests road map to victory
The
U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it lacks jurisdiction (the
statutory authority to rule) in
Moms Against Mercury, et
al. v. FDA,
adding the decision is not a ruling on the merits of our
cause and implying a remedy could lie in the U.S. District
Court.
(Full
opinion at
www.cadc.uscourts.gov
-- on right side click “All Opinions”; see Apr. 13, 2007,
4th case).
To win this round, FDA paid an
enormous price. To achieve credibility with the court, FDA
abandoned its long-time role of cheerleader for amalgam,
five times admitting in its court brief that it FDA
doesn’t know if mercury fillings are safe or unsafe.
(Those
5 admissions at
www.toxicteeth.org/natcamp_fedgovt_fda_admits_Mar07.cfm)
That a federal agency
continues to allow untrammeled sales of a mercury-based
device to pregnant women and children while conceding “the
lack of definitive scientific evidence” and “intense
disagreement about the scientific evidence” is reckless,
contemptible, and immoral. FDA must be hoping that no one
outside the Capital Beltway finds out. Or perhaps some of
FDA’s protectors of mercury fillings (see
next paragraph) intend to disavow those admissions
before the ink is dry on the court decision. Suspecting
just that, I sent a warning letter to FDA counsel advising
that any statements by FDA returning to the
status quo ante
constitutes a Fraud on the Court.
(Letter
at
www.toxicteeth.org/natcamp_fedgovt_fda_brown_Apr07.cfm)
FDA’s
hard-line protectors of mercury fillings include Associate
Comm’r Norris Alderson, who presented the
“white paper” apologia for amalgam in September, a position
soundly rejected by two Scientific Advisory Committee
position; Center for Devices Director Dan Schultz,
MD, and Dep. Director Linda Kahan, Esq., who
together uphold the outrageous “professional courtesy” stand
to allow self-interested dentists ignorant of toxicological
issues to make the decision, hence giving primacy to dental
economics over children and fetal health; Division Director
Chiu Lin, who used an unauthorized substantial
equivalence test to OK an application for mercury fillings,
even though the applicant himself advised Lin that mercury
fillings aren’t allowed for pregnant women and children in
its home country, the U.K.; and Dental Devices Branch
Director Mary Susan Runner, the initiator of
the notorious BETAH-LSRO contract and the ADA’s fifth
columnist inside FDA.
The
astonishing gap between FDA’s position (doesn’t know if it’s
safe) and its policy (may be implanted into anyone without
even warnings) is setting off a grassroots firestorm. Ken
Stoller, M.D., filed a sworn complaint to the New Mexico
Board of Pharmacy asking that mercury fillings, no longer
certified as safe by FDA, be banned in that state
(want to
help?--write Ken,
hbotnm@netzero.com).
Philadelphia Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown plans
hearings in early May
(want to
help?--write Freya Koss,
frekoss@aol.com).
The latest
example of a reckless dentist leaving bottles of mercury for
children to get exposed happened in West Virginia; this
time, we have a plan to fight back
(want to
help?--write Sandy Keech Esq.,
sandraK@toxicteeth.org).
In
Ohio, the movement is growing to add a mercury-free dentist
to a dental board whose policy is to block from consumers
disclosures that “silver fillings” aren’t really silver
(want to
help?--write Jessica Kerger, Esq.
JessKerger@aol.com).
Congresswoman Watson is closely monitoring these
developments in consultation with Members of the House
Government Reform Committee
(want to
help?--write Elizabeth Wright,
elizabeth@toxicteeth.org)
Here’s the
good news about the Court opinion: It appears to suggest an
ongoing violation of law. The Court holds that FDA may not
approve mercury amalgam by using a “substantial equivalent”
test. But that is exactly what FDA is doing when it
approves mercury amalgam applications.
In the
days ahead (stay tuned to our web
site), we will announce our next
step to reign in an FDA bureaucracy that exhibits both
contempt for the law and reckless indifference to the
health, and very lives, of America’s born and unborn
children.
Charlie
Brown, 4/14/07 - Charles G.
Brown, National Counsel, Consumers for Dental Choice,
725 K St., N.W., Suite 511,
Washington DC 20006,
202.822-6307;
fax 822-6309,
charlie@toxicteeth.org,
www.toxicteeth.org
So, What's
next in the US anti-amalgam movement?
The anti-amalgam movement
never stops. They are so large, so informed, so organized, that that
they span six time zones in the US alone - which means they can constantly
keep up a barrage of assaults. And, they do.
Which pleases me.
I'm not criticizing them when I
say "they take the high road," in their strategies and tactics.
I do want to mention that their opposition lives on the "low road," and
does not hesitate to use low road tactics. A few years ago, when I was
having dinner with some of their West Coast team I was asked how I would
organize an assault, and I responded with the following:
"I'd
hire a Private Detective firm, with a video camera, to follow around a
specific dentist, one of those who owns one of those "dental mills" churning
out mercury fillings to childrn on welfare. I'd gather evidence of this
dentist's extracurricular activities involving his twelve-year-old mistress on
his boat, and her recent, paid-for-by-the-dentist, boob job, enlarging her
breasts to 44 double D. Then I'd have the group sue the dentist over
mercury amalgams and make sure the news media got copies of the video."
Stunned, the West Coast
team asked me if I knew of such a dentist. I responded:
No, but think about what
I just said. Think about the type of person, in this day and age, who
would install that much mercury into the mouths of children. They're the
same kind of people who would have, not only a twelve-year-old mistress, but
absolutely would want her to have 44 double D boobs. Want to find one?
Look around."
They're still on the high
road.
Why are they so intent on victory?
A dentist in the anti-amalgam
movement explained it to me this way:
"Tim,
think about what happens when the first mercury amalgam filling is installed
in a ten-year-old child's mouth. That mercury begins to leak into the
body immediately causing serious problems. You've begun a cycle of bad
health that that person will never recover from."
High road, or low road, I
wish the anti-amalgam movement the best. America should be grateful they're
here. I am.
Stay tuned...
Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate
