Let's All Do Exactly What Consumer Reports Tells Us To

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, August 10, 2012

Let's All Do Exactly What Consumer Reports Tells Us To

Commentary by Andrew W. Saul, Editor

(OMNS Aug 10, 2012) Chicken Little was in the library one day when a copy of Consumer Reports for September 2012 fell on her head. She read their "10 Hidden Dangers of Vitamins" and it scared her so much she trembled all over. Why? Because Chicken Little had read other negative articles on nutrition supplements. . . and now this! She became so afraid that half her feathers fell right out.

"Help! Help!" she said. "Vitamins are killing us! I have to go tell the President!"

So she ran in great fright to tell the President. Along the way she met Henny Penny.

"Where are you going, Chicken Little?" said Henny Penny.

"Oh, help! Vitamins are killing us!" said Chicken Little.

"How do you know?" said Henny Penny.

"I read it with my own eyes," said Chicken Little, "It was in Consumer Reports! And part of it fell on my head!"

"Vitamins are killing us? This is terrible, just terrible!" said Henny Penny. "We'd better hurry up."

So they both ran away as fast as they could. Soon they met Ducky Lucky.

"Where are you going, Chicken Little and Henny Penny?"

"Vitamins are killing us! Vitamins are killing us!" said Chicken Little and Henny Penny. "We're going to tell the President!"

"How do you know vitamins are killing people?" said Ducky Lucky.

"I read it with my own eyes in Consumer Reports," said Chicken Little, "And heard it with my own ears on the news, saw it on the internet, and the magazine fell on my head."

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Ducky Lucky. "We'd better run!"

So they all ran down the road as fast as they could. Soon they met Goosey Loosey walking down the roadside.

"Hello there. Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

"We're running for our lives!" said Chicken Little.

"Vitamins are killing us!" said Henny Penny.

"And we're running to tell the President!" said Ducky Lucky.

How do you know that vitamins are killing people?" said Goosey Loosey.

"I read it in Consumer Reports," said Chicken Little, "And part of it fell on my head!"

"Goodness!" said Goosey Loosey. "Then I'd better run with you."

And they all ran in great fright across a field. Before long they met Turkey Lurkey strutting back and forth.

"Hello there, Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Loosey. Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

"Help! Help!" said Chicken Little. "Vitamins are killing us!"

"We're running for our lives!" said Henny Penny.

"And by the way, the sky is falling!" added Ducky Lucky.

"So we're running to tell the President!" said Goosey Loosey.

"How do you know that vitamins are killing us?" asked Turkey Lurkey.

"CONSUMER REPORTS SAID SO!" they all answered together.

"Oh dear!" said Turkey Lurkey. "I always suspected those damned supplements were dangerous! I'd better run with you."

So they ran with all their might, until they met Pharma Fred the Fox.

"Well, well, well," said Pharma Fred. "Where are all of you rushing off to on such a fine day?"

"Help! Help!" cried Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey all together. "It's not a fine day at all. Vitamins are killing us, the sky is falling, and we're running to tell the President!"

"But of course vitamins are killing you," cooed Pharma Fred the Fox. "Now all of you calm down. Here, have a Prozac."

Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey each swallowed a few Prozacs, and some Valium for good measure.

"Well then," said Pharma Fred the Fox. "How did you learn of how dangerous those vitamin supplements really are?"

"I read it with my own eyes in Consumer Reports," said Chicken Little.

"I see," said Pharma Fred the Fox. "Well then, come with me. I'll take you straight to the President. Yes, indeed I will!"

So Pharma Fred the Fox led Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey away. He led them across a field and through the woods, but took them nowhere at all near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Pharma Fred led them straight to his den, and none of them ever saw the President.

However, Foxy Pharma Fred had a most delicious dinner.

The moral of the story? Vitamin therapy pioneer Abram Hoffer, M.D., once told me that the worst fate vitamin bashers could experience would be to never, ever have use of the nutrition supplements they so often criticize. As for the rest of us, the sky is not falling. There is not even one death from vitamins over the last 28 years. [1] We are a nation of sick, undernourished, and overmedicated people. Half the population is on prescription drugs. [2] Pharmaceuticals, taken as directed, kill over 100,000 per year just in the US. [3] Antibiotics cause 700,000 emergency room visits per year, just in the US. [3] Modern drug-and-cut medicine is at least the third leading cause of death in the USA. Some estimates place medicine as the number one cause of death. [3] Over 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors in hospitals, doctors' offices, and nursing homes. [3] If in a hospital, a patient can expect at least one medication error every single day. [3]

Vitamins are not the problem; they are the solution. Taking supplemental B-vitamins, vitamin E and vitamin D each individually reduces lung cancer by 50%. [4-7] Vitamin C stops cancer more effectively than chemotherapy. [8-10] HIV-positive persons taking vitamins are 50% less likely to develop AIDS. [11] And if they do, AIDS patients taking supplements have a 27% lower death rate. [3]

Consumer Reports should stick to testing laundry appliances. That's what they are good at.

References:

1. No Deaths from Vitamins: America's Largest Database Confirms Supplement Safety. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n16.shtml

2. Way Too Many Prescriptions http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n07.shtml

3. How to Make People Believe Any Anti-Vitamin Scare http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n12.shtml

4. Vitamins Decrease Lung Cancer Risk by 50% http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n13.shtml

5. Vitamin E Prevents Lung Cancer http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n18.shtml

6. Vitamin B6 Reduces Colon Cancer http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n16.shtml

7. Vitamin D Stops Cancer; Cuts Risk In Half http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n11.shtml

8. Vitamin C Slows Cancer Down and, Doctors Say, Can Reverse It as Well http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n19.shtml

9. Intravenous Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Free Access to Twenty-One Expert Video Lectures Onlinehttp://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n03.shtml

10. High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy Proven Effective http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n01.shtml

11. Nutritional Supplements Fight AIDS http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitamins_aids.html

For further reading:

Doctors Say Vitamins are Safe and Effective. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v08n09.shtml

Resources on Nutritional Therapeutics: Orthomolecular, Online . . . and Free of Charge http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n27.shtml

How Doctors Use (Or Should Use) Vitamin Therapy http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n25.shtml

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

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To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

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Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Dean Elledge, D.D.S., M.S. (USA)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org Readers may write in with their comments and questions for consideration for publication and as topic suggestions. However, OMNS is unable to respond to individual emails.

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