Page 12 - Fall2020

Caustic Commentary

Sally Fallon Morell takes on the Diet Dictocrats

GERMS AND GENES highest levels. All of the ingredients continued to exceed the
I have often pointed out that modern medicine likes to FDA safety threshold of 0.5 ng/mL on day seven, and two
blame the three Gs for disease—germs, genes and God. A of the ingredients, homosalate and oxybenzone, remained
perfect example of this misplaced castigation is evident in above the threshold on day twenty-one (JAMA 2020 Jan
an August 10, 2020 Examiner article, “What Really Killed 21;323(3):256-267). Homosalate is of particular concern
Elvis?” which claims that it wasn’t long-term drug use or a because it exerts estrogen-like activity. FDA says under the
poor diet that killed Elvis off at age CARES Act, the agency is required
forty-two, but bad genes! Elvis was to propose a revised sunscreen order
doomed to die young, says Dr. Stephen by September 27, 2021. But it is not
Kingsmore, a specialist in “genomic” in any hurry. A spokeswoman for the
medicine, who analyzed a sample of Personal Care Products Council said,
Elvis’ hair. The conditions Elvis suf- “There will be no deadline for FDA
fered from—obesity, heart disease, ir- to issue a final order, but if and when
regular heartbeat, high blood pressure such an order is issued, it may not take
and bad eyesight—were inherited! effect for at least one year after the
Elvis also suffered from fatigue and proposed administrative order.”
fainting. This had nothing to do with
his diet, says Dr. Kingsmore, which 3D CHICKEN NUGGETS
included something called “Fool’s Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) plans
Gold Loaf,” a hollowed-out loaf of to test chicken nuggets made with 3D
bread, stuffed with peanut butter, an “bioprinting technology” in Russia
entire jar of grape jam and a pound of bacon, slathered with this fall. The nuggets “will mimic the taste and appearance of
margarine and then deep-fried (note, we’re not blaming its original nuggets at a fraction of the environmental cost.”
the bacon); nor with the fact that toxicology reports found The product will contain lab-grown “meat” shaped with a 3D
eleven drugs in the singer’s system. “There had been so much printer. According to Raisa Polyakova, CEO of KFC Russia,
speculation about cause of death,” says Kingsmore, “and so “Crafted meat products are the next step in the development
much ill spoken of his lifestyle, and we had this intriguing of our ‘restaurant of the future’ concept. Our experiment in
finding that possibly Elvis had a medical illness, and all of testing 3D bioprinting technology to create chicken products
the stuff about how he killed himself with his lifestyle might can also help address several looming global problems. We
have been very unfair.” are glad to contribute to its development and are working
to make it available to thousands of people in Russia and,
SUNSCREEN CHEMICALS ACCUMULATE if possible, around the world.” Yusef Khesuani, cofounder
Moms who slather sunscreen on their kids might want to and managing partner of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, hopes the
think again. A recent FDA study of six active ingredients KFC partnership will “accelerate the rise of cell-based meats
in sunscreens (avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene, and make them more widely accessible” (Business Insider,
homosalate, octisalate, and octinoxate) found they appear July 21, 2020). KFC is also selling Beyond Fried Chicken
in the bloodstream on day one and accumulate over time. (made out of pea protein) at over fifty California outlets
The FDA considers blood concentrations over 0.5 ng/mL after “successful” tests in Nashville, Atlanta and Charlotte.
as unsafe; this threshold was surpassed on day one after What all these fake products have in common is lots of MSG
a single application for all active ingredients. Maximum and other artificial flavor enhancers; lab meat will contain
plasma concentration rates ranged from 3.3 to 258.1 ng/mL, antibiotics and mold inhibitors used in the manufacturing
depending on the chemical and whether it was applied to process. We’d like to know how these products can help solve
the skin in the form of a lotion or spray—lotions giving the “several looming global problems.”
10 Wise Traditions FALL 2020