Book Reviews

Corrupt to the Core: Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower
by Dr. Shiv Chopra
KOS Publishing Inc., 2008

When Shiv Chopra grew up in rural India’s Punjab state during the last decade of the British Raj, he never dreamed he would become one of the world’s leading defenders of food safety and security and do battle for three decades with the giants of the food and drug industry. Those were the years when a new political ethic was emerging in the world, and Mahatma Gandhi’s dictum that “civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt,” deeply impressed the young Chopra who found himself putting Gandhi into practice for the next forty years in Canada.

The young veterinarian, who was destined to become one of North America’s most prominent and successful whistleblowers, earned a prestigious scholarship to McGill University in the early 1960s and became a Fellow of the World Health Organization. Having become an expert in vaccines and drug evaluation, he worked for drug companies in the UK, but soon was hired by the Trudeau government headhunters as a Health Canada scientist – just at the time when Big Pharma began to emerge as a political power with interests other than the public good.

Within less than a decade, Dr. Chopra was centre-stage in what the Canadian media often referred to as a David and Goliath fight because of Chopra’s insistence that the safety regulations of the Canadian Food and Drugs Act be fully observed to protect the public, incurring the displeasure of a long line of Ministers of Health and several Prime Ministers. Simultaneously, Dr. Chopra’s wife Nirmala, also a Health Canada scientist, found herself embroiled in one of the greatest medical scandals of the 20th century, namely silicon breast implants, the marketing of which she had the temerity to oppose on the soundest of immunological grounds.

With full support from The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, a 50,000-member union of scientific and professional public service employees, Dr. Chopra and his colleagues refused to approve various harmful drugs which manufacturers intended to use in meat and milk production. Chopra and his compatriots defied gag orders, spoke publicly to the media and testified at many Senate and parliamentary committees.

Time and again the courts supported Dr. Chopra and his fellow scientists and ruled against government attempts to shut them up. Today, the dangers of the drugs they opposed are internationally recognized and many countries have forbidden their use. In 1999, Chopra and his colleagues succeeded in preventing the use of carcinogenic bovine growth hormone (already banned in the EU in 1988) with implications for its use throughout the world. They also succeeded in stopping the use of dangerous antibiotics and hormones such as Baytril, Revalor-H and many more. His ongoing fight against the sources of Mad Cow Disease, while calling the bluff on the Anthrax scare, and his warnings about the myth of safe and effective vaccines are equally inspiring stories.

Five years in the making, Corrupt to the Core is introduced by Right Livelihood Award winners Maude Barlow, Vandana Shiva, Samuel Epstein, and recommended by Ralph Nader and David Suzuki. It includes a blueprint for a world in which food is uncontaminated by genetic engineering and free of pesticides and immune disrupting and carcinogenic hormones and antibiotics.

His life story sets an example as well as provides tools for action. The worldwide food safety activities which Dr. Chopra continues to be involved in provide an invitation to the reader to join forces with him. The book will be available at KOS Publishing booth 166 at the Whole Life Expo, or can be ordered from any book store.   
     
Review by Helke Ferrie

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes
by Robert Kull
New World Library, 2008

In February 2001, Bob Kull traveled to a remote island in the Patagonia wilderness with enough supplies to live alone for a year. He sought to explore the effects of deep solitude on the body and mind, and to find answers to the spiritual questions that had plagued him his entire life. With only a cat and his thoughts as companions, he wrestled with inner storms while the wild forces of nature raged around him. The physical challenges were immense, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him to the limits of human endurance.

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes contains the diary of Kull’s tumultuous year. Throughout the book, he also includes reflective “interludes” between his journal entries to add perspective and to allow the reader to step back from the immediate intensity of his solitude experience. But the heart of his story beats within the hours, days, and months of his journal.

When asked if he recommends deep wilderness solitude to others, Kull says, “I do not. It was painful, difficult, and can be dangerous. A person needs to be called to it from within, and if someone requires external encouragement, he or she is not ready. But I do think that many of us benefit from stepping out of our hectic daily activities to spend time alone.”

Molecular Resonance Effect Technology: The Dynamic Effects on Human Physiology
by Dr. Howard Fisher, BSc, BEd, DC and Dr. Igor Smirnov, M.S., PhD
Britannia Printers Inc.; 2008

What is MRET and why do we want to know more? Molecular Resonance Effect Technology (MRET) offers exciting possibilities for improving our health. This latest book by prominent author and electromagnetic radiation expert, Dr Howard Fisher, is a fascinating collaboration with brilliant scientist-inventor Dr Igor Smirnov. In it, we are taken on a step-by-step educational tour, beginning with the story of how MRET came to be, as well as many accounts of positive experiences and documented studies from around the globe.

MRET is essentially a technology that can activate water or re-structure it so that it possesses increased healing abilities. According to the authors, we can ingest this activated water with the expectation that any number of positive results will occur.  Compelling photos and illustrations show the change in people with psoriasis, for example, who have been totally transformed by drinking MRET-charged water. Research shows MRET water increases hydration as well as nutrient absorption, decreases inflammation, is anti-tumour, anti-bacterial and anti-viral. In addition to these attributes, evidence illustrates anti-aging capabilities of MRET water and shows marked effects on cancer cells as well as improvement in both white and red blood cell counts.

Dr Fisher has long been interested in “Electropollution” and its negative effects. He began to share his research in an earlier book, The Invisible Threat ~ the risk associated with EMFs. He expands on his findings in this latest book as the MRET technology has recently been incorporated into a polymer chip proven to significantly reduce the effects and damage caused by electro-magnetic fields. The second half of the book illustrates worldwide study results regarding the MRET polymer chip and its protective effect on the body vis-à-vis EMF radiation such as that emitted from cellular phones. This series of documented studies really makes one stop and think about how the exploding popularity of cellular, cordless and wireless technologies negatively impact us – our children in particular.

In essence, this reference book is an educational tool for those wanting to learn more about the MRET technology plus the latest information regarding EMF pollution and its documented negative influence on our bodies and minds as well as our environment.

Both Fisher and Smirnov are convinced that our modern technology, albeit convenient, negatively impacts everything from our ability to concentrate to autistic spectrum challenges.  With 10,000+ cellphone towers in the GTA and a ‘wireless’ downtown core, one realizes that cell phone radiation is everywhere – and Torontonians are ALL affected. Dr Fisher, also a renowned international speaker, commented recently that one would need to be situated on an ice floe in the Antarctic to NOT be affected by it all. Readers will need to make their own decisions.

Report by Carol Little

The book will be available all weekend at the Whole Life Expo, booth 182, BIOPRO TECHNOLOGY. As well, Dr. Fisher will be speaking on the subject there (Sat., Nov. 15)