Criminalizing Food Distribution - S.3767

Here's a note I just emailed to some of the leading lights in the health and food freedom NGOs and media

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered S.3767 in its Executive Business Meeting today.

While Senator Leahy continues to push his bill through the Judiciary Committee (of which he is the Chair) the Senate leadership had to acknowledge wide-spread public opposition to criminalizing food distribution. The Committee's web site states the following action on the bill:

"S.3767, Food Safety Accountability Act (Leahy, Klobuchar, Franken, Durbin, Feinstein) Ordered Reported By Unanimous Consent. "S.3767, Food Safety Accountability Act (Leahy, Klobuchar, Franken, Durbin, Feinstein) - Ordered Reported By Unanimous Consent. Substitute Amendment HEN10891 (Leahy)"

Leahy's substitute amendment adds the following words to the definition of the crime.:

"...and with conscious or reckless disregard of a risk of death or serious bodily injury..."

Thus, what would have criminalized any distribution of food where FDA, FTC or other govt agency later decided some rule, regulation, guideline or standard had not been met to the satisfaction of the bureaucracy, the added language at least references more traditional standards of criminal liability.

While this is a partial victory for the forces of Food Freedom, we must redouble our efforts and defeat S.3767 and S.510 just like we defeated S.3002... with massive Push Back!

We've amended our Action Item to take this into account. Earlier today, more than thirty email messages a minute were being sent to Senators and other involved decision makers... so our voices are being heard!

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4878

So, what do we want?

Maybe, if Congress wants to criminalize distributing things that are harmful to the public... maybe it should criminalize "knowingly" introducing dangerous drugs (including vaccines) into commerce! But, then, there might be a lot of drug company executives and maybe even some FDA officials who would face criminal charges...

Certainly, we need to continue to oppose S.3767, the bill that could criminalize commercial speech about food (or at least food distributed in interstate commerce) whenever FDA or FTC decides subsequently that the claims about the food were not substantiated to the liking of some bureaucrat.

The "serious" harm amendment (HEN10891) added by the Judiciary Committee on September 23, 2010 is not sufficient to protect food distributors from bureaucratic harassment.

We the People need protection against over-zealous regulators who will destroy small producers while big companies can afford the legal talent needed to escape penalties.

On Thursday, September 23rd the Senate Judiciary Committee considered this bill, which was only introduced a few days before. This bill should not be rushed through the Senate at this late point in the session.

It would make a major change to criminal law and might be amended to include the language of discredited "food safety" [sic[ bills, such as S.510 or S.3002.

Such changes should be debated, considered and decided by the new Congress about to be elected.

This bill and all fake "food safety" bills that will attack our Food Freedom should be tabled and not adopted by the Senate.

Instead, our communities need to be protected by law from Federal Government interference in local and natural food production and distribution. We need a Food Freedom Amendment, such as we proposed last year when the House was considering its version of S.510 and which we have continued to urge:

Food Freedom Amendment

"No provision of Federal Law giving regulatory oversight to any Federal department or agency shall be deemed to apply (a) to any home, home-business, homestead, home or community gardens, small farm, organic or natural agricultural activity, (b) to any family farm or ranch, or (c) to any natural or organic food product, including dietary supplements, as protected under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.”

Food Freedom is part of the Liberty that all free people have a right to expect. Legislators ought to protect that freedom from the bureaucracy they foist on us. Local oversight of local food production would be far superior to big govt poking into all our local activities. Reducing central govt power would enhance the overall health of our society.

S.510 Companion Bill (S.3767) to Reintroduce Criminal Penalties

Yesterday, in the waning days of the 111th Congress, as We the People prepare to throw the rascals out, Big Agra Biz' friends in Congress have taken the unusual late-session step of introducing a criminal penalty bill.

The bill reintroduces a 10 year jail term for anyone who sells what the govt later decides was "adulterated" or "misbranded" food, a provision which had been removed from the House-passed (sic) "Food Safety" version last year (HR.1279). Yes, Dietary Supplements would be covered under this provision. The political insiders plan, our contacts tell us, to add S.3767 to S.510 so the penalties can be in the final bill approved by the House/Senate conference committee, if We the People allow S.510 to pass the US Senate!

In the nutrient industry the old procedure was that FDA would send a warning letter telling a company its claims were illegal and the company would either change its claims or defend them... if this bill passes FDA can simply start by bringing criminal charges any time it determines that a claim is not allowed, since that would make the product "misbranded."

Here is what the bill actually says:

"S.3767 -- Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010 (Introduced in Senate - IS)
111th CONGRESS - 2d Session

To establish appropriate criminal penalties for certain knowing violations relating to food that is misbranded or adulterated.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 13, 2010

Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish appropriate criminal penalties for certain knowing violations relating to food that is misbranded or adulterated.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010'.

SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

(a) In General- Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Sec. 1041. Misbranded and adulterated food

`(a) In General- It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly--

`(1) introduce or deliver for introduction into interstate commerce any food that is adulterated or misbranded; or

`(2) adulterate or misbrand any food in interstate commerce.

`(b) Penalty- Any person who violates subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.'.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment- The table of sections for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`1041. Misbranded and adulterated food.'."

To stop this bill from being amended into S.510, and to keep S.510 on hold, go here: The Empire Strikes Back: President Supports Forced Industrialization of Food http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=6611

Fake "Food Safety" Bill S.510 Remains a Threat when Senate Returns

They say "no person's life, property or liberty are safe when Congress is in session..." and to that we must add, nor is our right to grow and use our own food, as families and communities.

For more than a year, the plan to capture - and kill - clean, local, organic, independent and safe farming has been wending its way through Congress, supported by the party in control of the White House and Congress, as well as the too-big-to-fail AgraBiz industry.

Last year, the devastating HR 1279 passed the House, although working with patriots like Ron Paul, We the People put up a good battle, delaying it for quite a while. However, at the end of the day, a good battle followed by a loss is still a loss.

Then the field of battle shifted to the US Senate's version, S.510, where we've held the forces of Big Agra and Big Govt at bay for nearly a year...

During one memorable weekend in November 2009 over 150,000 emails to Senators tied the bill up in the HELP committee with its chairman, Senator Tom Harkin remarking about the "thousands" of emails. He promised that the (sic) food safety bill would not impose Codex Alimentarius restrictions in the USA.

We didn't believe him and when, in February, Senator McCain introduced the "companion" so-called "dietary supplement safety" bill, S.3002, we mobilized the Health Freedom "Mouse Warriors" and in one month and one day, and several hundred thousand emails, later the Senator was forced to withdraw support for his own bill, opining (and whining) that its major points could be covered by (hiss, hiss...) S.510!

Then in mid-July, the congressional majority leadership issued its "short list" of bills it wanted to push to passage before the August recess. The good news was: S.510 was not on the list!

The bad news is that the bill's handlers could "sneak it through" the Senate as a "unanimous consent" non-controversial matter when the Senate returns in September!

That is, unless opposing Senators put a "hold" on the bill, which means it cannot be treated as non-controversial. On the way to recess, the Senate HELP committee reported the bill out, without the amendment from Senator Tester that would have offered a bit of protection to family farms and ranches, home and community gardens, farmers markets...

Please send the Action Item below to your Senators, demanding that the "hold" the bill! How does a Senator do that? The Senator has one of his or her staff members call the staff of the Senate Cloak Room (yes, there still is a Senate Cloak Room, but now it has a staff! Ah, bureaucracy! The staff is responsible for non-controversial, unanimous consent bills. That's where this bad bill stops!

Natural Solutions Foundation, www.HealthFreedomUSA.org, suggests that you write your Senators to tell them about the overwhelming sentiment of their constituents who, like you, are adamantly opposed to the passage of S510 or any other legislation which industrializes the US food chain, damages independent and organic farmers, community gardens and markets, and make food less safe, much less safe...

URGENT Action Item: Stop S.510! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4613

My co-trustee at Natural Solutions Foundation, Dr. Rima E. Laibow MD made this YouTube video where she discusses the issue:


Dr. Laibow: Stop S.510 Now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHUeyD_KCrI&feature=player_embedded

For full Estimate of Situation, see: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=6269

You can follow this issue at www.Twitter.com/HealthFreedomUS with these hash tags: #HealthFreedom #FoodFreedom #DrRima #NoForcedVax

Push Back Victory! FTC Denied Expanded Power

PUSH BACK WORKS! Victory!
"Wall Street Reform" Bill to be Signed by President --
Does Not Include FTC Power Enhancement

We warned about the potential for a general grant of FTC "rule making" authority to restrict our access to natural solutions -- to nutrients and remedies -- under the guise of "consumer protection" which would create such barriers in the marketplace as to destroy the generally small producers of natural products.

The www.HealthFreedomUSA.org Action Item regarding this issue resulted in about a hundred thousand messages to decision makers... and they listened!

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173), adopted by the House of Representatives and by the Senate as S.3217, could have include language -- offered by Rep. Waxman [D - CA] -- giving more power to the Federal Trade Commission to make "general rules" for interstate commerce that could have been used to restrict truthful information about dietary supplements, by requiring expensive, "drug company" level clinical trials before vitamin companies could make claims about their products. This "reform" could have handed-over the natural products industry to Big Pharma, which, over the past few years, has bought up most of the larger industrialized vitamin companies. The new rules could have been a "barrier against entry" driving many smaller companies out of business.

Instead, reports are, the final bill to be signed by the President does NOT include such general rule-making power.

Please continue to provide your generous support for efforts like this! We need your help and rely on it to achieve victories like this! http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=189

Article on "FTC Denied Expansion of Powers" - http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/content/view/print/309545

The original Action Item: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3142

Does Wall Street "Reform" Threaten DSHEA Products?

As most health freedom advocates know, the two most powerful "consumer protection" Federal agencies, the FDA and the FTC are not friendly toward natural products, including dietary supplements protected by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Before that law, such products were under severe attack, so much so that FTC sought in 1975 to use its rule making power to effectively ban such products. By 1980 the public outcry caused Congress to restrict that power, and then in 1994 DSHEA was adopted, protecting our right to truthful information about nutrition.

Thus when a number of astute "old hands" in the industry said the new Wall Street "reform" * bill had language hidden in it that could threaten natural products with new general rule making power for the FTC to abuse we paid attention.

We've opposed this bill on that basis, with many thousands of messages to Congress demanding protection in the bill for DSHEA products.

See: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3142

Now along come some suggesting there is no problem here (somewhat the way some "old hands" thought John McCain's justly maligned and now happily defunct "Dietary Supplement Safety" bill, S.3002 was no threat). We're told there is no FTC empowerment language. We did our due diligence and researched the actual bill, S.3217. Go to www.Thomas.gov and put in the bill number, open up the .pdf version and search for the name "Federal Trade Commission."

You'll find what I found:

I've reviewed the 1522 page .pdf file of the version of the bill considered by the US Senate. The terms "Federal Trade Commission" occurs on 26 pages. Five pages discuss FTC authority.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s3217as.txt.pdf

Page 1375 contains the smoking gun:

"(C) CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN COMMISSION AUTHORITIES. —
Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), the Federal Trade Commission shall continue to have authority to enforce, and issue rules with respect to—
(i) the Credit Repair Organizations Act (15 U.S.C. 1679 et seq.);
(ii) section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) * and
(iii) the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (155 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.)."

Section 45 of Title 15 states:

"Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful. "

Notice how carefully the new law is stated, "continue to have authority to enforce, and issue rules..." -- so it will "continue to have authority to enforce..." -- notice carefully how it is worded, "..., and issue rules..." Thus "continue" applies to enforcing existing rules, dating from the 1970s or issued under limited laws passed by Congress (as they have done with regard to, for example, direct marketing) while "issue rules" is a new power which relates, tucked in section (ii) to the agency's general Section 5 authority!

So FTC now has authority to enforce and issue rules with respect to "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce..."

That is general authority to control all interstate commerce without further authorization from Congress!

I therefore conclude that the bill does threaten natural and DSHEA products.

One of my colleagues, Counsel Jim Turner of Swankin and Turner, Washington DC attorneys, puts it this way:

"My understanding is that the FTC was stripped of this authority in 1980 and this is an effort to restore that authority. It has broad implication for example if what I understand is true then this is the authority that FTC used in its effort to ban the words 'organic, natural and health food' from all commerce. It is not good if this is happening."
----------------------

June 2, 2010 Update: this cogent comment from Gretchen DuBeau of Alliance for Natural Health,

"My initial thought is that issuing rules in itself isn't terrible as long as the Magnuson Moss Act** isn't rescinded, as happened in section 4901 of the companion house bill. With all of those safeguards in place, FTC has difficult hurdles that prevent them from issuing controversial rules, such as formalizing their internal procedures re dietary supplement advertising. However, if section 4901 makes it into the final bill, coupled with the provision you pointed out, we might have a recipe for disaster!"

----------------------
* In this case "reform" means a multi-trillion anti-market bailout and a slap on the wrist...

** The Magnuson Moss Act, passed in 1975, is the federal statute that governs warranties on consumer products. According to the Act, ambiguous statements in a warranty are construed against the drafter of the warranty.

American Rally for Personal Rights - May 26, 2010

The American Rally for Personal Rights is scheduled for May 26, 2010 in Chicago. Some very good people will be there, speaking up for the rights of all people to vaccinate themselves and their children as and if they choose. We all agree, free people need to be free from coerced or forced vaccination!

The organizers say, "The breadth and depth of speakers assembled promises to be compelling, and include many people and perspectives on vaccination choice that have not been explored before, this is information that no one faced with the decision on whether or not to vaccinate should miss."

There are several ways to participate in the rally. You can join the rally-goers in Chicago's Grant Park on May 26th from 3pm to 5pm or you can join one of the satellite rallies that are being held on the east and west coasts.

The organizers state: "If out of town travel isn't possible, we are bringing the rally to you online so you can be a virtual participant! Watch the rally on the web site, or invite friends over and throw a House Party for Personal Rights. Make your presence felt in Chicago, even if you can't be there, by ordering balloons to represent your family at the rally in Chicago."

"As public health officials and politicians become more intent on forcing an over sized, poorly tested and largely unproven vaccine program on the American public, it is vital that we put the establishment on notice that we will not be forced into medical interventions that we do not believe are in our best interest or in the best interests of our children."

Rally on May 26th! http://AmericanPersonalRights.org

And in the spirit of the Rally, I offer a link to Dr. Rima E. Laibow MD's rousing folk song, The Health Freedom Trail: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/wp-content/uploads/DrRimaReportsTheme.m4a

Health Freedom Under Increased Threat

There is so much going on right now regarding Health Freedom... the attacks by the Powers that Be are, as Bill Faloon of Life Extension Foundation stated in an urgent message on 04/29: "The threat of a regulatory stranglehold over dietary supplements has intensified."

We have at least three dangerous bills pending in the US Senate, any one of which could be a real disaster for Health Freedom.

S.3002 - the happily stalled McCain bill. We pushed back against this one so hard that even McCain withdrew his support from his own bill just one month and a day after introducing it! This took about 300,000 emails. However, the Senator from Arizona is still hovering around, trying to get parts of his "HARMonization" with Codex bill terms into the other pending bills.

S.510 - the fake "Food Safety" bill. The "natural products" industry shills and astroturf groups are now backing this disaster, after promises of a Manager's Amendment to exempt DSHEA products. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Over a million and a half emails continue to pour in, demanding real protection in these words:

"Rule of Interpretation - No provision of this act shall be deemed to apply (a) to any home, home-business, homestead, home or community gardens, small farm, organic or natural agricultural activity, (b) to any family farm or ranch, or (c) to any natural or organic food product, including dietary supplements regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994."

Action Item:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714

S.3217 - the Senate version of the financial institution "reform" law. California Rep Waxman included more power for the FTC to abuse in the bill that passed the house. Congress took away from FTC in the 80s its general rule making power, due to abuse. Now, in the "new" socialist DC environment, the agency is about to get the power it wants to force Dietary Supplement companies to meet drug-company substantiation standards that are totally inappropriate for food products and that could destroy small nutrient companies.

Action Item:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3142

And the above does not include such extraordinary assaults on Health and Health Freedom as are embodied in the new nationalized illness payment system... but that's going to get repealed sooner than its proponents can imagine! These other legislative assaults therefore demand our attention -- we need millions of emails to the Senate to push back and stop them!

As all this is occurring, a Codex Alimentarius (the World Food Code) committee on nutritional labeling is meeting in Canada perhaps defining the fate of world food trade for decades to come. Health Freedom is at stake there too. See Dr. Laibow's daily video reports from Quebec City here:
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=5276

Fake Food Safety Bill Still a Threat

This email exchange raises some of the issues that suggest the pending fake "Food Safety" bill -- S.510 -- is being engineered by the "Bigs" -- Big Pharma, Big Agra, et al, to do exactly what we've feared: nationalize all food production.

The key here is the curious comment on Snopes that the bill "only" controls Interstate Commerce. Any student of US Constitutional law knows that the Federal courts have, for over 75 years, given such a broad definition to that concept that ALL food production is covered (including in recent cases, home gardens), so when Snopes says "don't worry..." it's time to worry!

Action Item: tell the Senate that we want S.510 defeated. We want, at a minimum, very strong protective language as stated in the Petition:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714

------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:55:06 AM EDT
From: N... H...
To: Ralph Fucetola JD

Subject: Mr. Fucetola: Alert -- Bill which could impact community gardens

> Dear Mr. Fucetola,
>
> There seems to be some confusion regarding this legislation. S.510. Snopes here sort of debunks it. It would appear though that the legislation Snopes refers to is a different one (HR 875/S425 Could you possibly clarify for us?
>
> Thanking you in advance for your kind efforts,
>
> Susanna in Ft. Lauderdale
> Mouse warrior and friend of NSF (and Dr. Rima)
>
> > *Subject:* Re: Alert -- Bill which could impact community gardens
> >
> > Thanks for the heads up, but according to Snopes http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/organic.asp), there isn't much to worry about. The focus of the bill is to ensure the safety of food in interstate commerce.
> >
> >> http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=5205
-----------------

On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Ralph Fucetola JD < ralph.fucetola@usa.net> wrote:

The "food safety" bill that actually passed the House last July was HR.4739 -- it has an exemption for direct farm to consumer sales. No other protection.

The bill that was "marked-up" in the Senate HELP committee last November was S.510 which has no protection for anyone.

All of these bills can be checked on www.thomas.gov and doing so will show which was passed and which were not...

Various business groups are now supporting S.510 claiming that the "Manager's Amendment" includes protection for DSHEA products. That Amendment is not on thomas.gov so I cannot comment on it, other than to say that we thought the DSHEA exemption in Ted Kennedy's FDA Amendment bill in 2007 would protect nutrients from FDA abuse of power... but it hasn't (see the banning of one form of B-6 and the planned banning of another, both at the behest of "Citizen Petitions" from drug companies seeking to outlaw the competition).

Without strong protection and with unlimited power to FDA to issue whatever regulations it chooses (and the power to keep those guidelines secret!!) the only organic garden that will be left will likely be Mrs. Obama's!

Our bullet points on S.510 are at:

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=5205

It is rather sad that Snopes is so often nothing more than a shill for the Bigs...

Regards,

Ralph Fucetola, JD
Natural Solutions Trustee
The Vitamin Lawyer.com Consultancy
http://www.VitaminLawyer.com
http://www.NaturalHealthOptions.net
http://www.NaturalClinicalTrials.org
http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com
All rights, public and private, reserved . . .

Oath Keepers Endorsement Published

I am honored to announce that my endorsement of www.OathKeepers.org has been published at their site:

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2010/04/06/i-pledged-to-uphold-the-constitution-of-the-united-states/

Thereat I wrote:

I pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States when I took the Oath as an attorney at law, in 1971, I pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States as an Officer of the Courts. Even though I’m retired from formal “practice of the law” the Oath I took is as sacred to me now as then.

As a Trustee of Natural Solutions Foundation I am inspired by our Foundation President, Maj Gen Bert Stubblebine (US Army Ret) who is an Oath Keeper [Link] to renew my Oath to uphold the Constitution by submitting this testimonial.

Never have and never would obey any order to violate anyone’s Inalienable Rights!

Ralph Fucetola JD
http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org

Dr. Andrew Wakefield: Medical Hero

I am reproducing Dr. Wakefield's statement regarding his persecution by the Vaccine Pushers. Our gratitude to Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues for standing up for the children and against the Big Pharma propaganda offensive.

-----------------------------------------
April 05, 2010


Statement from Dr. Andrew Wakefield Regarding GMC Hearing Sanctions

On Wednesday April 7th, General Medical Council (GMC) lawyers will demand that I and likely two other doctors involved in the MMR-autism case should be erased from the UK’s medical register, removing our license to practice medicine. Doctors’ regulators have found the three of us - Professor John Walker-Smith, Professor Simon Murch and me - guilty of undertaking research on children with autism without approval from an ethics committee.
We can prove, with extensive documentary evidence, that this conclusion is false.

Let me make it absolutely clear that, at its heart, the GMC hearing has been about the protection of MMR vaccination policy. The case has been driven by an agenda to crush dissent that in my opinion serves the government and the pharmaceutical industry — not the welfare of children. It’s important to note that there has never been a complaint against any of the doctors by any parent involved in this case — only universal parental support and gratitude.

My colleagues, Professors Walker-Smith and Murch, are outstanding pediatricians and pediatric gastroenterologists. They have led the field of pediatric gastroenterology for decades, devoting their lives to caring for sick children. Our only “crime” in this matter has been to listen to the concerns of parents, act according to the demands of our professional training, and provide appropriate care to this neglected population of children. It is unthinkable that at the end of an unimpeachable career, Professor Walker-Smith would even consider unethical experimentation on children under his care.

In the course of our work, we discovered and treated a new intestinal disease syndrome in children with autism, alleviating suffering in affected children around the world. This should be cause for celebration. Instead, we have been vilified in the press, and demonized by a wasteful PR campaign by the Department of Health. The aim of this negative publicity was to discredit my criticism of vaccine safety research.

Sadly, my colleagues have suffered severe collateral damage in this effort to prevent valid scientific enquiry. They should be exonerated, and left alone with their reputations intact, in the certain knowledge that they have done only what is right.

The loss of my own medical license is, unfortunately, the cost of doing business. Although I do not take this loss lightly, the suffering - so much of it unnecessary - that I have seen among those affected by this devastating disease makes the professional consequences for me a small price to pay by comparison.

As long as a question mark remains over vaccine safety; as long as a safety-first vaccine policy is subordinate to profit and self-interest; as long as the benefits of vaccines are threatened by those who have compromised public confidence by denial of vaccine damage, and as long as these children need help; I will continue my work.

Dr Andrew Wakefield is an academic gastroenterologist, committed to understanding more about the role of intestinal inflammation and dysfunction in childhood developmental disorders. He is involved in a new initiative, focused specifically on issues of autism causation. His book Callous Disregard comes out in May 2010.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/04/statement-from-dr-andrew-wakefield-regarding-gmc-hearing-sanctions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ageofautism+%28AGE+OF+AUTISM%29