Tag: GMO

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FDA panel approves Pfizer’s COVID vaccine … but there’s no FDA panel that ever said that MSG is ‘safe’

According to an article by Jackie Salo in the November 1, 2021 New York Post, the FDA has a panel that approves food and drugs submitted to them.   At least that’s what I took from her article, “FDA panel approves Pfizer’s COVID vaccine for kids ages 5-11.”

I was truly impressed. Although the article didn’t name the panel members, I thought there might be some real people from the FDA involved. And there might even be records in the Federal Register of past meetings held by panel members, and maybe even discussion of the data they had considered before making their recommendation.

But here’s the rub.  If you ask the FDA about the safety of monosodium glutamate or the free glutamic acid in it, the FDA will respond with the statement that MSG is “safe.”  And most often they will offer as evidence an allegedly “independent” review done by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, or FASEB, for the FDA by persons with serious conflicts of interest – an “independent” review that was rejected by the FDA and sent back to FASEB for an additional year’s study.  Or they will offer something called “Questions and Answers on MSG” that contains no evidence/data but instead reads like an excerpt from the glutamate-industry propaganda that is widely circulated by the U.S. manufacturer of MSG.

So, I decided to ask the FDA for the evidence – the data – behind making the assertion that MSG is “safe,” and spent the whole day Monday searching for someone who could answer that question – or even someone who could tell me how to ask that question. And before FDA closing time on Monday, I had filed the following Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request:

“Requested are copies of data used by the FDA for determining to give GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status to free glutamic acid used in food.   Requested also are copies of data used by the FDA for determining to give GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status to monosodium glutamate (MSG) and other ingredients that contain free glutamic acid.  

“Also requested are copies of the scientific procedures used to produce those data.

“According to its U.S. manufacturer, the free glutamic acid produced by genetically modified bacteria for use in monosodium glutamate (MSG) was first used in food in 1957.  Since neither it nor its ensuant MSG had been used in food prior to that time, the newly developed MSG and manufactured free glutamate (MfG) could not have been found to be safe by reason of a history of safe use.  It is not possible for MSG produced in this manner to have been found safe by reason of a history of safe use.

“According to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the FDA Code of Federal Regulations, the use of a food substance may be GRAS only through scientific procedures or, for a substance used in food before 1958, through experience based on common use. I am not familiar with any data gathered through scientific procedures that demonstrate that free glutamic acid – which neuroscientists recognize as an excitatory – brain damaging – amino acid, is “safe.”  It is for that reason that I ask you to please send me all data, complete with the scientific procedures used to produce those data, that establish that free glutamic acid, MSG, or any other free-glutamate-containing food ingredient has met the requirements established by the FDA for establishment of GRAS status. I don’t believe that such data exist.”

The FOI request was submitted electronically.  Turnaround time should be 2-3 days, unless, of course, the FDA is short-staffed as they usually are when the Truth in Labeling Campaign asks for information.

In the meantime, I spent the evening anticipating just how the FDA would respond to a question about the safety of an excitotoxic – brain damaging – amino acid.  They’ve had fifty years’ experience fronting for the glutamate industry (1), and having chosen to ignore three Citizen Petitions filed with the FDA requesting that the FDA strip GRAS status from free glutamic acid, MSG and the other ingredients that contain free glutamic acid (2), I would expect them to be extremely creative.

They will of course offer the paper titled “Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG)” that is posted on the FDA website. It has the requisite number of MSG-is-safe statements and talks about reviews by authoritative bodies (all of whom did no reviews of data, but reviewed material brought to them by the FDA or other agents of the glutamate industry).  They will undoubtedly refer to the many negative studies that failed to conclude that MSG is harmful, without mentioning that in their double-blind studies, their agent in charge of glutamate-industry research supplied his researchers with placebos containing aspartic acid, an excitotoxic amino acid that produces both brain damage and reactions identical to those cause by the excitotoxic glutamic acid in MSG.

We’ll keep you posted.

Adrienne Samuels

References

Industry’s FDA https://www.truthinlabeling.org/fda.html

Webpage petition post summaries https://www.truthinlabeling.org/petition.html

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Moms Across America are setting a new standard for healthier shopping!

Zen Honeycutt is a force of nature. She’s doing what many of us just talk about. Setting up Gold Standard certification for food and beverages was brilliant. We hope you’ll use it — and recommend to family and friends that they do the same.

Remember, Big Food has no purpose other than to make money, and if you’re not buying their products, they’ll retool and make the Gold Standard products that you will buy.

Adrienne Samuels
Truth in Labeling Campaign

UNSTOPPABLE MOMS ACROSS AMERICA LAUNCHES THE GOLD STANDARD TO SHIFT THE MARKETPLACE TOWARD A HEALTHIER PLANET

Los Angeles, CA, September 12, 2019 – MomsAcrossAmerica.org has today announced the launch of the Moms Across America Gold Standard. Awarded to food, beverage and supplement brands that have achieved superior levels of organic practices and eco-friendly procedures, the bar-setting, multi-tiered verification will finally take the mystery out of shopping, making it simple for people to choose the healthiest products for themselves and their families and to use their wallets to take a stand against unhealthy alternatives and unethical business practices. Likewise, the standard also provides a path for companies that know better and do better to prosper by throwing the buying power and influence of millions of dedicated mothers behind their products.

MULTI-TIERED VERIFICATION PROGRAM CREATES A TRUSTWORTHY RESOURCE FOR CONSUMERS WHILE ENCOURAGING BEST PRACTICES BY SUPPLIERS, CREATING A WIN-WIN FOR HUMANITY AND THE PLANET.

The Moms Across America Gold Standard will evaluate and award brands based upon their verifiable commitment to health, integrity, transparency, and beyond sustainable- regenerative organic practices. On a scale of three to five stars, the three-tier standard is designed to include established, proven certifications while augmenting their benchmarks in some cases and supplementing them to create an exceptional level of verification for key components, such as ingredient transparency, fair wages, and packaging biodegradability.

THE MOMS ACROSS AMERICA GOLD STANDARD
AN EXCEPTIONAL STANDARD FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD

While the requirements vary slightly for food and supplements, to receive three Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Provide total transparency, including “natural flavors,” and not include carrageenan, chlorine dioxide, synthetic food dyes or additives.
  • Be certified organic by the USDA or other certifiers (or BIODYNAMIC/Wildcrafted).
  • Be glyphosate herbicide tested or certified Glyphosate Residue-free.

To receive four Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Meet all previous requirements.
  • Be Non-GMO Project Verified (including no synthetic biology) if the ingredients exist as GMO.
  • Heavy metal tested for 1.5x or more than the number of heavy metals in standard testing.
  • Tested for 2x more than the common pesticides and herbicides in current organic standards.
  • If animal products are used, they must be humanely raised.

To receive five Gold Stars a brand’s product must:

  • Meet all previous requirements.
  • Support the transition to Regenerative Organic Agriculture or BIODYNAMIC either through ingredients or by donation of a portion of sales.
  • Use Fair Trade practices and pay Fair Labor wages.
  • Use Low to No Pollution Packaging-utilizing 100% recycled materials, bioplastics or glass, or have a mail-in recycling program.

BioRay Meets Gold Standard

The first recipient of the Moms Across America Gold Standard is the environmental toxin remover Primary Detox from BIORAY®, which received the ultimate verification, 5 out of 5 stars, for its stellar accomplishment in raising the bar in the pursuit of clean, ethically manufactured, beyond-sustainable products. As well as having met the base requirements for the Moms Across America Gold Standard three-star verification, Primary Detox passed the test for non-detectable heavy metals, glyphosate, 429 and other pesticides. Furthermore, the company has taken the rare extra step to label their bottles with plant-based material that enables their glass bottles to be recyclable.

“We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Primary Detox from BIORAY® is the first Moms Across America Gold Standard product,” remarked Zen Honeycutt, Founder and Executive Director of Moms Across America. “Founded by mom and herbalist Dr. Stephanie Ray, BCN, CNHP, BIORAY® creates safe and effective herbal supplements with the utmost integrity. Our standards are high, and at the 5 Star level, BIORAY® is leading the way in creating a healthier world.”

“With the Moms Across America Gold Standard, we can measure and know that we are ingesting products free of environmental pollutants and genetically modified organisms that are also eco-responsible. This gives families products they can rely on to support the body as well as keep it clean; exactly what moms want!” said Dr. Ray, President and CEO of BIORAY®.

Moms Across America (MAA) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities. Their motto is “Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids”. The national coalition of mothers is dedicated to ensuring that the food we eat and feed our families is safe and healthy, with an emphasis on eliminating GMOs and glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, from our food supply. A powerhouse activist organization, MAA reaches as many as more than four million followers on social media each month and millions in person with local events across the country. Among its many successes, the group is responsible for having initiated the first-ever glyphosate testing in tap water, urine, and breast milk in 2013. And it was their petition that convinced Costco to stop selling Roundup in their stores.

For more information, visit:
https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/gold_standard