FDA approves viral adulteration of our food supply (repeated from 8/28)

The FDA recently approved a viral cocktail to be sprayed on foods we eat. This is the first time viruses have been approved for use as food additives. The FDA believes it will be safe to consume these viruses every day for the rest of your life with no adverse health effects.

The first virally contaminated foods will be luncheon meat and poultry. Live viruses will be sprayed on foods such as cold cuts, sausages, hot dogs, sliced turkey, and chicken. The stated goal of the new FDA-approved viruses is to kill a rare bacterium known as Listeria monocytogenes. This bacterium is killed by cooking; however, it poses a problem in meats that are cooked during processing and not cooked again prior to consumption, so it can readily infect foods such as deli meats.

The FDA assures us the viruses will not attack human cells. However, they cannot possibly be certain the viruses will not attack the friendly bacteria that make up the lining of your digestive tract. The FDA approval was based on scant human testing, mostly from unrelated medical experiments. Such safety data is woefully inadequate to determine safe ingestion of a specific product by humans over the course of a lifetime.

The viruses are known as bacteriophages, viruses that kill bacteria, or phages for short. Phages have been around a long time, living as parasites inside many bacteria. The company that produces these viruses, Intralytix, Inc., uses biotechnology to grow viral phages in a culture with Listeria, in theory teaching the viruses to recognize the bacteria. The FDA-approved cocktail contains six different viruses intended to attack one strain of bacteria. This concoction is then sprayed on food. If Listeria is present in the food, the bacteria will ingest the viruses. This results in massive viral replication inside the bacteria, until such point as the bacteria simply bursts. This battle results in significant production of bacterial poisons called endotoxins, as the bacteria tries to defend itself. When the bacteria burst, these endotoxins are released.

The human immune system is highly reactive and sensitive to bacterial endotoxins. They provoke allergy, asthma, autoimmune problems, and elevate cholesterol. They also interfere with the healthy function of cells lining the digestive tract. Researchers have demonstrated that the presence of bacterial endotoxins can start cancer in the colon. Additionally, the human immune system reacts directly to viral phages. We know the Listeria bacteria are not going to take the issue lying down. They will develop resistance to the viruses over time, as we have seen with the overuse of antibiotics. Going down this path, we are likely to have hundreds of viral food additives in the food we eat, all designed to combat some possible infection coming from poor quality food. We may inadvertently create deadly new super-strains of bacteria and/or parasitically infect the human digestive tract with an untreatable infection.

Intralytix is also seeking FDA approval for viral sprays to treat foods that could be contaminated with E. coli and Salmonella, which means that similar viruses could end up in a majority of the protein foods in our food supply. Intralytix sees financial opportunity. They have already licensed their now FDA-approved viral spray to an undisclosed multi-national company for use around the world.

While the FDA will require the ingredient to be listed on packages as "bacteriophage preparation," most consumers will have no idea that means they are ingesting live viruses. Foods bought at deli counters or prepared in restaurants will not need to warn consumers. How can any responsible parent feed virus-tainted food to their children?

Courtesy of Healthy News Service

Bonnie - you heard it hear first. The above article, while biased against the virus spray, is unfortunately, dead-on. This issue, which has until now flown under the radar (it was approved 10 days ago by the FDA), I predict will open up a "Pandora's Box." The digestive tract of the average human is under attack every second of its existence. Adding more endotoxins and creating a new menagerie of mutated viruses and bacteria will just compound the problem for the next generation. The goverment and Big Pharma's "band-aid approach" has struck again. My suggestions?

1. Read labels: anything mentioning bacteriophage preparation, AVOID! If you get cold cuts and meats at a restaurant, ask them if they use meats prepared this way. The same rule goes for irradiated foods, and foods that contain hormones and antibiotics.
   
   
2. Eat organic as much as possible.
   
   
3. Supplement with probiotics daily. Nobody knows to what extenet this new virus spray will create mutated bacteria and viruses. We do not know if they will be contained or will extend into our entire food supply. Thus, you must give your digestive tract every possibility to sustain balanced gut ecology. It is near impossible to do this without probiotic supplementation. Make sure your probiotic is from a high quality, reputable brand.