It Wasn't Alzheimer's It Was MSG an exposé by Adrienne Samuels, Ph.D.

199 Pages·2013·1.42 MB·English

It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s
It Was MSG
an exposé
by
Adrienne Samuels, Ph.D.
(Previously published as The Man Who Sued the FDA)
ii • It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.
It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s
It Was MSG
Written by Adrienne Samuels
Copyright © 2013 by Adrienne Samuels
All Rights Reserved.
All rights to this story and to this work in all mediums, are reserved by
Adrienne Samuels, who as creator of this work, It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s It
Was MSG, asserts her rights as its author and publisher. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without written permission
from the author.
Layout by Colleen Connery
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-9885584-1-0

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
First Edition: May 2013
Previously published as The Man Who Sued the FDA
January 2013
For more information, write to:
Adrienne Samuels
PO Box 556
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Acknowledgements • iii
Acknowledgements
This book has been more than twenty years in the writing. Millions
of words written on scratch pads and computers before a book came
into being. It grew from knowledge gleaned over the years from people
like George Schwartz, John Olney, Russell Blaylock, Jim Turner, Betty
Martini, and Maury Silverman who were our eyes and ears from
the beginning; and others, too numerous to mention, who offered
knowledge and support along the way.
With special thanks to Robert who came to take an oral history from
Jack; to Hannah for transcription; Lois, Marlene, Susan, Beatrice,
and Ginny, who read early manuscripts and clearly enunciated their
shortcomings; Sid who worked with me every step of the way, from
changing semicolons to commas and insisting that no statement be
made without proof in hand that each statement was true; Marc who
found significant errors that no one else had noticed; Bryan who read
what I had thought to be a final draft, and made it better; and Colleen
on whom I have relied to publish what was written.
iv • It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.
Table of Contents • v
Table of Contents
Foreword by Beatrice Trum Hunter ..........................................vii
1 | If It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s ...............................................................1
2 | If It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s, Then What Was It? ..............................3
3 | The Search for Understanding ....................................................5
4 | Finding What We Found – One Step at a Time ..........................9
5 | Why Me? ....................................................................................57
6 | On the Art of Deceiving the Public ...........................................73
7 | Scientific Fraud by Any Other Name Can’t Be Prosecuted .......81
8 | When Research, Even Badly Flawed Research, Isn’t Enough ...87
9 | The Fail-Safe for Hiding MSG: 3 Grams of MSG ..................103
10 | Your FDA: Guardian of the Glutamate Industry ....................107
11 | Moving Into a New Decade .....................................................123
12 | Where Are We Now? ...............................................................143
Epilogue ...........................................................................................151
In Memoriam ...................................................................................155
References ........................................................................................157
Appendices
Appendix 1: Selected MSG animal safety studies ....................173
Appendix 2: Selected MSG human safety studies ...................179
Appendix 3: Names of common ingredients that contain
processed free glutamic acid.....................................................187
About the Author .............................................................................189
vi • It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.
Foreword • vii
Foreword
Four federal agencies, notably the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), and the Consumer Products Safety
Commission (CPSC) were established at different times when it became
apparent that the public needed protection from harm, adulteration and
deception.
The objectives of these four federal agencies were commendable.
However, regrettably each agency was swiftly diverted from its original
purposes, and instead protected the very interests that were creating the
problems of harm, adulteration, and deception. These agencies have
been infiltrated by industrial interests in a system termed the “revolving
door.” Individuals from industry are appointed to the agencies, and while
serving, weaken or ignore regulations intended to protect consumers.
Or, they create new regulations that protect industry’s interests rather
than protect the public. There are many public servants within these
agencies who serve with integrity, and even become whistle blowers, but
they are not the administrators who formulate policies and regulations.
Upon retirement, these top echelon return to industry as highly-paid
consultants/lobbyists.
For any consumer who suspects that the agency’s laxity has affected
him/her adversely, it is a long and arduous journey to uncover the truth.
Adrienne and her late husband, Jack Samuels are two such consumers.
Both suspected that their health was being undermined by a food additive
approved officially as safe: monosodium glutamate, a so-called flavor
‘enhancer,’ added to numerous foods and food products. The Samuels
search for the facts was frustrating, torturous, protracted, and filled with
confusion and surprises. Ultimately, their search led to understandings
and amplifications. The monosodium glutamate enigma was part of a
larger issue, encompassing some 3,000 direct food additives, plus some
50,000 indirect additives that have not undergone adequate safety tests;
food additives declared to be safe because the manufacturers vouch for
their safety without offering proof; tests designed by, and paid for by
industry, and manipulated in ways so that the protocols are guaranteed
viii • It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.
to produce results that show no harm; and input from industry and
their legal teams, with little or no representation by independent health
professionals or consumers.
What the Samuels uncovered with monosodium glutamate and numerous
other substances with glutamic acid in a free state, is applicable to other
food additives as well. For example, aspartame (trade name NutraSweet)
the synthetic sweetener, has many similar features in its history, testing,
and approval of being safe, despite its toxicity.
Regarding food, the FDA’s original mandate was to protect consumers
from harm, adulteration, and deception. If this original mandate were
to be enforced, monosodium glutamate and its related substances, as
well as most food additives, could not be permitted in foods. Any food
or food product that is made to appear better than it is in reality, would
be declared adulterated and deceptive, apart from the more important
issue of safety. Monosodium glutamate, by bestowing a “meaty” flavor,
can reduce or replace more costly protein. Thus it is an adulterant and
deceptive. Similarly, colors and flavors (both ‘natural’ and synthetic),
added to food to restore what was lost in processing, are adulterants
and deceptive because they make the products appear to be of better
quality than they are, in reality. Obviously, if foods and food products
were seized due to this original mandate, supermarket shelves would be
devoid of highly processed foods. What would remain would be whole
foods, without questionable additives such as MSG. The results would be
better foods, better health, fewer health problems, and reduced medical
costs. The MSG issue leads to numerous issues of concern to all.
Beatrice Trum Hunter, author of
The Mirage of Safety: Food Additives and Federal Policy
It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG. • ix
Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?”
Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?”
And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?”
But Conscience asks the question, “Is it right?”
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular,
but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.
---MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
x • It Wasn’t Alzheimer’s. It Was MSG.