"I Love Monsanto!" by Dusty Smith
from Cult of Dusty
Luckily one day, as I was eating my organic apple and planning a March Against Monsanto, I saw this video by Dusty Smith and it changed my life for the better. First it made me mad, he dared to assume I got all my information from memes. But I had. Then it made me stop and think about things critically. Suddenly I was questioning all of the things that had drawn me in- anti-gmo propaganda, anti-vaccine propaganda, big pharma hiding cures, natural cures/treatments were inherently better and more. (I never bought the chem-trail business though. I guess there was a limit to how far my tinfoil would stretch.)
Today I see the organics industry as a wildly profitable racket. What better way to beat out the competitor than to convince the world that the competition is trying to poison everyone? Absolutely brilliant. They sure had me fooled for a while. These days I try to be more critical and I am trying to learn but something pissed me off today. I felt the need to vent about it.
My Service Dog was recently diagnosed with cancer and she needs an expensive surgery. I can't afford to pay for it myself so I started a fundraiser and have been applying to about a dozen charities that help pay for things like this. (We have gotten one pledge of $500 so far!) A couple have replied that they have no funding at this time, which sucks but is just the way the economy is right now. One place, the most highly recommended one, Red Rover Relief sadly was one of those places.
Their lack of funds was sad but not surprising. What was surprising to me though, was what was in the rest of the email. Along with the standard list of other agencies that might be able to help us they suggested I find a different vet! Apparently they think the surgical estimate is too high (I live in San Francisco and this is a very difficult surgery) but this was my second opinion. The first vet said surgery wasn't an option. The surprising part was they also included links to holistic products they recommend I consider discussing with my vet.
I checked the pages out of curiosity and what I saw angered me. These unregulated companies sell "herbal remedies" that are untested and no one knows if they even really work. Some might have testimonials but I am learning that isn't the kind of evidence that holds any weight in the scientific community. One company sells a combo of powders and potions as a potential cure with ingredients like Venus Fly Trap, green algae and fish oil. This miracle sells for a mere $155 for the "large" containers or $125 for the "small"! Another company offers milk thistle and yucca as "cancer support" for the bargain basement price of $20-60 per bottle.
This was just a couple of products within the pet-care world. The
human holistic cancer market must just be saturated with this kind of stuff! I
can't believe so many people have started companies and make their fortunes taking advantage of people's desperation and vulnerability when they are going
through the horror of a life threatening diagnosis. They are like vultures
circling, looking to pick the pockets of the distraught. It makes me angry and
it makes me sick.
I can't believe such a well-known animal
care charity was even hinting that I should spend a ton of money month after
month on this woo rather than getting my pup a surgical procedure that has
every chance of completely curing her in just a few hours. That just stuns me. I don't hold them in the same regard as the companies selling snake oil though. I have to take into account that they were most likely truly trying to be helpful since they couldn't offer financial assistance. The person writing the email is probably like me when I believed all this crap.
Links they sent:
http://www.vitalityscience.
Links they sent:
http://www.vitalityscience.
I can't say that some supplements aren't helpful in some small way, but no one can prove that they are either. I can't believe that venus fly trap cures cancer though and we aren't hearing about it. We sure hear about people who believe cannabis cured their cancer and there is a legitimate reason why big pharma is just now researching its possible healing abilities. Testing on cannabis hasn't been legally possible, so we only have anecdotal evidence. Venus fly trap isn't prohibited from research as far as I know, nor is any other supplement ingredient.
As for cannabis, I am a medical user of it for chronic pain. I was convinced it was a miracle during my time in the world of woo. I have since developed a healthy skepticism as to its cancer curing abilities though. I realize that there need to be controlled studies done so we can know if it can kill some cancers. All of those who claim it cured them might have done something else that was the actual cure that we don't know about. We don't know what drugs or treatments they did with the cannabis. It needs to be researched freely to find out what it can and what it can't do.
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