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| Coming soon: Gulf of Mexico Syndrome. | |
"And while some vets will receive compensation they don't deserve, many more who bravely served in Vietnam will simply live out their lives in fear that they are at elevated risk for diabetes or cancer. "
This clearly indicates that Mr. Fumento has brought shame and dishonor on those vets awarded compensation for something he merely disagrees with. All veterans deserve at least as much consideration and benefit for their service as much (or more so) as some organizations deserve funding for careless propaganda! To publicize such garbage is not only cruel, it's unamerican [sic]!
You will see Mr [sic] Fumeto's [sic] true colors bleed all over our sick veterans at the American Gulf War Veteran's [sic] Association's Bulletin Board. His association with your organization has been duely [sic] noted and publicized!
Mr. Fumento replies:
Actually, this clearly indicates Mr. Reid took no care in reading the article he attacks by the writer he attacks. Had he done so, he would have seen that, NO vets are currently being awarded compensation for having diabetes. This group that I’ve "brought shame and dishonor on" doesn’t exist. But here are Mr. Reid’s "true colors" straight from the bulletin board he mentions: "If [Fumento is] not paid to say what he does, then he is, indeed obsessed and sick! I would love to see if this guy has a criminal background, or, if he has psychiatric records laying around somewhere. Did he say he was prior service? Hmmm... It would be even more interesting to review those records! I'll bet he's divorced with an abusive record on file somewhere, too!"
Very compelling, Mr. Reid.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Teuton@[omitted] writes:
Your GWS replies never include the possibility that GW Vets [sic] MIGHT
have been exposed to psychotronic weapons testing against the Iraqis.
I am specifically referring to Microwave/Radio Frequency Radiation weapons
and Synthetic Telepathy (non-lethal disabling technology pioneered by
the KGB). The US has expanded this category of weapons with blinding lasers,
holomorphic projectors, phasic lighting, harmful ultrasonics, and field-disruptive
camouflage. Many have been tested before (in Somalia) and later (over
the former Yugoslavia). It is logical to assume that some of these WERE
tested/operational in the Gulf. So maybe SOME Vets [sic] were exposed
to them.
Dear Teuton,
You're right, I haven't addressed those. There might be a reason for that.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
I have one more question – what is your position on the subject of electrogravitic recon aircraft operated by the NRO? A myth or disturbing reality?
Very disturbing.
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| "We’re marching for compensation for Revolutionary War Syndrome!" | |
From lulu [omitted]
Mr. Fumento,
I write this for my husband who is a GW vet. He served with Bravo Co.2/12 while there and suffers from the symtoms [sic] of the GWI. All I can say to you is to walk a day in any of these vets [sic] shoes. I see first hand [sic] what my husband was before the gulf [sic] and what he is now after and it's [sic] a sad scarey shell of a man that once was outgoing and VERY physically fit. Your views are what we don't need at a time when vets from ALL wars are fighting another battle with our OWN government for answers the government have [sic] and are NOT giving in hopes the vets will just go away or better yet DIE. My husband WAS in the gulf [sic] and he DOES have MEDICAL problems that are NOT in his HEAD. You should be ashamed to even admit you served in the Armed Forces[sic]when you expound [Expound?] such garbage like you do. I didn't buy it when our government said our troops didn't have exposure to the god only knows what and I don't buy what your [sic] trying to say now.
I've never said that Gulf vets don't have true physical problems, but rather that they have no more than would be expected out of 700,000 people after nine years. If I give you my fax number, could you supply the enlistment contract your husband signed, including the promise that if he served in wartime he would never become sick or die? Somehow that wasn't in my contract. It’s also interesting that you believe "vets from ALL wars are fighting another battle with our OWN government." All wars? Does that go back to the American Revolution, because those guys are all over 230 years old. You should be ashamed of attacking a person for writing something you haven't bothered to read.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
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| "I am Toad, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore!" | |
From "Toad" who identifies himself as B Co. 50th Signal Battalion (Abn)Fort Bragg N.C.
[I have] PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] 30%, Diarrhea [sic], Insomnia[sic], and tired of reading your rhetoric!!!
Dear Mr. Toad:
There’s probably not one American who hasn’t had both insomnia and diarrhea in the past year. Yet out of 270 million of us, only 700,000 were in Desert Storm. Thank you for such a fine example of my assertion that GWS is nothing more than vets blaming any bad thing that’s happened to them over the last nine years on this "mystery" illness.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
From bluskyvodka [omitted]
Subject: ever here of word mycoplasma
you must own stock in the chemical companies who mfg [sic] and sold these agents to the iraqi [sic], your mis leading [sic] statements and in complete [sic] rebuttals of joyce [sic] riley [sic] and others are what the public is suppose to believe – i [sic] for one have been treated repeatedly for mycoplasma infections, and at first the unqualified quacks we call doctors tried dismiss [sic] as mental – till [sic] i [sic] found one ran a couple special tests, found heart [sic] nearly shut down to 30 percent, and hi [sic] titers [sic] to mycoplasma, blind one eye at the time, too, enlarged lymph nodes, etc [sic] , finnally [sic] got a prescription for erythomicin [sic] which puts in remission [sic] for months at time, this was very bad in 1995 – i [sic] hope you get to experience this illness your self [sic], i [sic] also believe the people who made and sold along with all govt [sic] officiallc should be tried for treason and executed for there [sic] actions including the president [sic] for making such a weapon to start with then saling [sic] to another country such as iraq [sic]
Dear Bluskyvodka:
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| "WHAT kind of factory?" | |
Going to your alternative theory about these alleged traitor chemical companies, it’s already against the law to export products to a country with which we are at war. You apparently want to extend that to all countries with which we may EVER be at war, thereby destroying our export industry and the nation’s economy. Sounds a bit drastic to me, but it’s obvious I lack your smarts.
As far as experiencing "this stuff" for myself, I may very well carry MF, but like most people with it I have no symptoms. Nevertheless, if it makes you feel any better, I assure you that I have been sick on many occasions since Desert Storm and I fully expect to die one day.
Meanwhile, I think you’d be a whole lot happier if you laid off the vodka.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
are you some senators [sic] house boy trying cover up for them [sic]
Now there's an excellent answer to the facts I gave you. Drop your argument and just go after the messenger. Never mind that the Senate and House have given this fake Gulf War Syndrome far more attention and research money than it deserves. That’s just all the more proof that they’re part of The Conspiracy, huh? Boy, you are a smart one to figure that out! By the way, when I told you to lay off the vodka, I didn't mean for you to switch to gin.
I have seen a whole lot of sides to this story, but I still believe that something happened over there because my father was there and he has GWS.
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| "Find my body and you’ll find da cause of dat GWS." | |
Any intelligent person that reads this article can see that you base all your beliefs that you have solely on the words of one person and that the so-called "studies" that were done can be coverd [sic] up just like Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance.
The public will believe what it [sic] is told but, the person [meaning the individual affected] will believe what he has gone through or is going through. I hope you can understand that, if you can understand anything at all. Apparently you can only understand that glowing vomit is not real, but that doesn't mean that Martin's whole story was a farce. Soldiers ahve [sic] a code just like the blue code of civillian [sic] police. You don't rat out anyone for any reason. It makes all of us look bad. So if A [sic] lot of soldiers didn't put MOPP 4 on then the other soldiers will cover up the fact that they didn't so that they won't look bad. [MOPP 4 means donning full biological-nuclear-chemical protection, but beyond that I have no idea what he’s trying to say.]
Also if this Syndorme [sic] is not real then why has the government agreed to give compensation and aid? They might have denied it in the past but now are not? Hmmmm Sounds like a cover-up that just wouldn't work this time
Son of a soldier
And soldier myslef [sic]
Dear Son of a soldier:
You say you know GWS exists because your father has it. Point, set, and match, right? Wrong. I say there is no such thing as GWS in any real sense of the term, therefore he CANNOT have it.
If you’re in the military as you say, let me give you a bit of advice. Never attack unless you’ve determined the size and strength of your opponent. Specifically here, you repeatedly accuse me of relying on the false statements of a single soldier, without having interviewed other Gulf vets. You are obviously ignorant that I have 20 GWS articles posted on my web site, the best-known of which, Gulf Lore Syndrome, used interviews with eight soldiers. You say that because part of Martin’s testimony was obviously wacky, that shouldn’t impugn the rest. Really?
What if you were in a jury and a witness testified that he watched the defendant kill her boss, and he added that he also saw Hillary kill Bill and flush Socks down the toilet? But you knew that both Bill and Socks were alive and well. Would you still take seriously the account of the defendant killing her boss? Essentially everything Martin told me was false, only part of which I expressed to my readers. He had all sorts of symptoms his doctors said they had never seen in any Gulf patient. He claimed to have been taken by ambulance to the hospital five days a week for ten straight months. He even lied about the littlest things, such as claiming he personally videotaped the bunkers that were later blown up when actually he taped it off a TV set; the original tape was shot by his company commander. But so what, right?
In any case, all that really counts is the studies you disparage. You disparage them for an obvious reason; time and again they show that Gulf war vets are as healthy or healthier than matched vets of the same period who did not deploy to the Gulf.
I don’t know why you brought up the subject of "ratting out," but it makes me wonder if you’re really in the service. When I was in, soldiers not only regularly snitched on their fellows, they even more commonly accused them of things they hadn’t even done. I personally was accused by a private of using marijuana when actually I was virtually the only enlisted man in my company (including my platoon sergeant) who refused to touch the stuff!
Finally, you ask why, if there’s no GWS, vets are being compensated for having it. Simple: They’re not. If you are injured, killed, or made sick in the line of duty, you or your survivors receive compensation. That’s true in war and peace. Thus some Gulf vets and their survivors are receiving compensation. Some may have only served as peacekeepers in Haiti. Does that mean there’s something called "Haitian Service Syndrome"? Oh boy, me and my big mouth. Now there WILL be!
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Subject: Agent Orange
mr. [sic] I am a vet,, [sic] air force [sic],with diabetis [sic],,high blood pressure, thryoid destroyed, high blood pressure, depression,malise,can hardly walk.constant headaches (sic, sic, sic). I cant [sic] get a dime from the veterans [sic],, what the hell are you talking abou [sic]
Roger.
Roger:
I might ask the same of you.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
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| An Army Ranger – or Dr. Marcus Welby? | |
Sir: As a Vietnam Vet [sic] who is & has been having health problems which I feel were caused by service there, I find your comments on the A.O. Debriefing page [posted by some outside source unknown to me] very unflattering & frankly one-sided. You obviously never served your country in uniform have you. We fought in a war nobody wanted, the government sprayed that shit on us, denied it for yrs. & want [sic] to still say it hasn't caused any real damage. This country hasn't, doesn't & probably will never treat its veterans right. We don't need comments like the ones you made. Please do not take offense, I'm sure you are a good writer.
Richard [omitted]@webtv.net
Sir:
My comments were never intended to flatter anyone but they were certainly meant to be one-sided, taking the side of science, reason, and demonstrable evidence. That would tend to exclude conclusions that Agent Orange caused a problem because a Vietnam vet "feels" it was the cause with no further explanation. Your "obviously," is wrong, since I served in the Army for four years, but I do reject the notion that to comment on a military issue one has to have served in the military. I personally did not feel that when I donned my uniform I suddenly became an expert on military health issues.
The government never denied spraying Agent Orange, nor did it deny that soldiers were exposed. It DID say almost no soldiers on the ground received exposure and it DID release data indicating the dioxin levels in the blood of Vietnam vets was slightly LOWER than that of civilians who were in the U.S. at the time. I certainly agree that Vietnam veterans have much to complain about, ranging from the stupidity of their Commanders in Chief to the lack of support and even contempt the public showed them. But considering that though I was only a child at the time I venerated the vets and held them in awe, leading in part to my own enlistment years later, I have nothing for which to apologize.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
[John Stossel, in his June 16, 2000 "Give Me a Break!" segment of ABC’s 20/20 highlighted my work on the falsity of the "based on a true story" film, Erin Brockovich. This led to renewed flamings against me and also against Stossel on his web site. This first letter is from a woman who wrote the day before the segment appeared asking for my data. I told her right where to go to get it. Two days later, she wrote again.]
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| How Hinkley residents receive scientific news. | |
Dear Ms. Barr,
I rather had the idea you were not going to be convinced, no matter what. I directed you to the EPA’s own web site, I told you how to use the internet to research chromium 6 to your heart’s content. Nothing you would find would provide the least evidence that ingested chromium 6 is harmful, yet you say "there is so little evidence." What to you is a lot of evidence? Of the massive number of studies done on chromium 6 exposure, only one was so much as funded by PG&E, and it was conducted by one of America’s most eminent cancer epidemiologists. How does that compare to tobacco companies funding tobacco studies? But you’re right, those people had no choice about the water. Likewise, the people in your town have no choice but to inhale the exhaust fumes from your car. And how about the area dumps that have taken your trash ever since you were born, some of which have almost certainly leached chemicals into the water supply? And what of the pollutants put out by power companies that have supplied you with electricity? Regardless of proof of harm, I think that anyone who does, has, or will live near you should be able to collect money from you for exposing them to these agents. Or in any case, that’s the burden you would inflict upon PG&E.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
[Now here’s something you don’t often find on the hate mail page.]
Dear Mr Fumento:,
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You got me. I didn't go to the web site. I watched the broadcast and got lazy. I will though. I assumed from the broadcast there wouldn't be much there because John Stossel didn't make it sound like there is a mountain of evidence at the EPA either. Your point about the other pollutants are well taken. (At least my pampers aren't in the dump. I didn't wear them as a baby.) I stand corrected. It is a scientific argument and I got emotional. I told you I was naive. I'm learning everyday all the time. Thanks again.
[omitted] Barr
[I like this lady!]
Mr. Fumento,
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| "I just don’t understand what he’s got against Julia Roberts." | |
I came about your web site by accident, and thought that it looked very interesting. But I found it a bit disturbing. I am a [sic] R.N. and work in a [sic] oncology unit, and I [sic] the stuff you wrote about Chromium 6 was very wrong. I have read a lot [sic] of articles about Chromium 6 and I know that it can kill you. I do not understand how you can say for example, in the case of the people of Hinkley, California vs. 'PG&E' [sic] that the cancers that they had were not caused by the Chromium 6. How in the world can you say that. You seem like a very intelligent man, how on earth can you say that the people in Hinkley, California got sick not from the Chromium 6 but from other things. I really do not understand at all. I want to know how in the heck you sleep at night, when you and I both know for a fact people are dying because they were poisoned by companies like 'PG&E' [sic] using chromium 6 in there [sic] plants. I am sorry that you do not like Ms. Erin Brockovich, but she has done a lot [sic] to help make small towns that are being poisoned get justice that they deserve. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Mrs. [omitted] R.N.
Mrs. [omitted],
I came across your e-mail and I thought it looked very interesting. I have written about toxicology for over a decade and the stuff you wrote about chromium-6 was very wrong. I have read the exhaustive EPA information on the chemical, done a thorough MedLine search, and talked to many toxicologists with specialties in the area, and I know there’s no evidence that it’s harmful through ingestion. I do not understand how you can say for example, in the case of the people of Hinkley, California vs. PG&E that the cancers that they had were caused by the chromium-6. Did one of the oncologists you work with remove a tumor from a Hinkley resident, flip it over, and read "Courtesy of your neighborhood utility!" Every year one in 25 Americans contracts cancer. There are currently about 700 to 900 people in Hinkley, meaning on average they would be expected to contract about 32 cancers. But you seem to think they should be immune from the disease. How in the world can you say that. You seem like a very intelligent woman, how on earth can you say that the people in Hinkley, California got sick from the chromium-6 when their illnesses range from breast cancer to bleeding noses to genital warts spread only by sexual intercourse? I really do not understand at all. I want to know how in the heck you sleep at night, when you and I both know for a fact that Erin Brockovich is painting the town red with the more than $2 million she got by using the residents of Hinkley as pawns to extract money from the rate payers of PG&E using a corrupt California arbitration system? I am sorry you hold Ms. Erin Brockovich in such high esteem, but maybe you ought to learn a bit more about the case than what you saw at the cinema. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
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| Erin Brockobitch testing water for contaminants. | |
Please do not judge the tests that have been done on the animals [Huh?] for you are not going through what I and many others are having to go through because of PG&E. I am not a believer in testing on animals for any stupid reason that falls out of the sky. But, I am sorry but this is something that they do not know what all it may cause. If this was your wife, husband, and or [sic] children going through this wouldn't you want to know what may happen to them in the future do to this misfortune. To give you an example: When I first found out that I had Endometriosis [sic] I was 17 years old and let me tell you that was the hardest thing I thought that I could ever go through. But it wasn't. I have gone through two surgeries and a leep [She means "LEEP," a "loop electrosurgical excision procedure" or biopsy of the cervix.] because I have Endometriosis, the virus for cervical cancer, and chronic ovarian cysts. The Doctors [sic] have been telling me for the past 3 ½ years that there is a possibility that I may never be able to have children, and that is the hardest thing I will ever be faced with. My husband and I have tried to have a child for the past 3 ½ years and only succeeded once. One month into my pregnancy I lost my child. I will never say that this is all PG&E's fault but it is very likly [sic] to assume that [sic] the chromium 6 has not helped my problems, and on that thought the problems of the people that have been affected by issues like this. My self [sic], my family, and many others like me will have to live with this for the rest of our lives. This will affect our lives for generations to come. So, my thoughts to you and your readers are that maybe people should not be so judgemental [sic] of things unless they are going through the same or have gone through these things previously. Just imagine if it were your family. What would you do? What would you want to know about these chemicals?
Dear Mrs. [omitted]:
First, here's a bit of information on the conditions you say you have.
Endometriosis, an inflammation of the lining of the uterus, is thought to afflict about 10% of all American women of child-bearing age. Ovarian cysts are so common nobody really keeps track of them. Miscarriages occur in about 15% of recognized pregnancies, and endometriosis is a strong risk factor for miscarriage. Finally, the virus which you do not name is called "human papilloma virus" (HPV) or, more commonly, genital warts. These afflict tens of millions of American men and women and are spread by sexual intercourse. None of these conditions, not just the warts, have any support in the medical literature for an association with the chromium 6 that PG&E put in your water supply.
Twice, early on, you write that it’s "because of PG&E" you have your medical problems. Then later you say you do not necessarily blame PG&E, but "assume that the chromium 6 has not helped my problems, and on that thought the problems of the people that have been affected by issues like this." What the heck does that mean? Either the stuff is harming you or it’s not; nobody ever claimed chromium 6 in water would alleviate endometriosis or HPV. What you're doing is exactly what I and later John Stossel said people in Hinkley are doing, edged on by Brockovich and pals. You're blaming every ailment you have, common or uncommon, on a pollutant for which there is no evidence of any harm at any level when ingested. If I were a mother, that is what I would want to know.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
It has been confirmed by many that the chromium 6 does cause major health problems when it is ingested. You can down these people all you want, even myself but I know that Myself [sic] and many others are having a lot of health problems that can be caused by this chromium 6. I HAVE DONE MY RESEARCH!!! I have also gone to a toxicologist and have been tested for chromium 6. The test [sic] come back positive. So, you tell me what is going on since you know so much and you and your family are not being affected by this shit. And I am sorry but if it was your family you would want to know what kinds of health problems this shit can cause.
"Confirmed by many," you say, yet you name not one. If you have DONE YOUR RESEARCH!!!, why do you seem so unwilling to share what you have found? Instead, you rely on your heart-felt conviction that somehow a heavy metal gave you a sexually transmitted disease. How convenient! Does your husband believe that? You've tested positive for chromium 6 and you think that means "end of story." Hardly. The perfectly healthy people in the Scottish studies I've written about tested positive for chromium 6. Do you think any of those men studied at the PG&E plant who had massive exposure to chromium 6 – and were healthier than average – had anything less than extremely high levels of the chemical in their blood? Meanwhile, there are hundreds of other detectable chemicals in your body, but you don't blame any of them. By comparison with the highest level of chromium 6 you could possibly have, your blood is teeming with glucose. ("Sugar" to you.) Why don't you blame the warts on sugar? You're right; if it were my family I would want to know what kinds of problems the chemical can cause. But clearly you feel otherwise about your family.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
To the editor of American Outlook [Regarding my article "Errin’ Brockovich"]
The author must indeed be familiar [sic] with Hollywood for he puffs up an old, obvious and hackneyed story – "lawyers out for their own good" – into some grand comment on the Law in America –". . . when a nation replaces rule of law with rule by lawyers."
But he does so without the connective tissue of logic.
Of course the lawyers fought for their own clients!
And of course they used every technique they could!
And of course if there had been adequate legislative controls on hazardous substances – if PG&E (presumably) hadn't been fighting such oversight for many years – perhaps PG&E wouldn't have had to settle in tort because it would have had regulation on its side.
My lesson from this is "Hon [sic] y soit qui mal y pense." Or in other words PG&E was hoist by its own pitard [sic].
Regards,
David Sucher
Dear Mr. Sucher:
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| "How darest thou abuse my prose!" | |
"On y soit qui mal y pense" roughly translates into "One belongs in the fix one contemplated," and is not the equivalent of "hoist by its (or properly his) own petard." The latter is not only old and hackneyed but inapplicable. As it originally appeared in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," it refered to somebody trying to set off a bomb under the enemy but being blown up (hoisted into the air) himself. Your usage would imply that PG&E was trying to poison people but that it came back to haunt them. But nobody has ever argued anything but that PG&E was trying to get rid of a cleaning agent, chromium-6.
I suffer no "connective tissue" ailments; but you seem to suffer from the belief that all’s fair in the courtroom and a verdict by judge or jury is equivalent to the Word of God. No, introducing false evidence is not fair. No, exploiting one’s own clients is not fair. No, dividing the "spoils" on the basis of who the attorneys became buddies with is not fair. That all this was allowed to take place is an indictment of both the Brockovich lawyers and the California arbitration system.
Is it really a given that lawyers can "use any technique"? How about bribing or threatening judges or witnesses? How about destroying physical evidence? How about "putting a hit" on a key witness? It definitely happens; that doesn’t make it right.
Now HERE’s a hackneyed expression for you, from author John Donne. “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main . . . ” PG&E lost the bucks. But a miscarriage of justice, especially one glorified and misrepresented in a major film, diminishes us all, including – whether you recognize it or not – you.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Erin Brokovich [sic] aside . . . . I lived through the drama you so eagerly deny ever could happen. Have you ever met the people of Hinkley. Have you met the hundreds that have illnesses that no one can explain but yet your nieghbor [sic] has the same thing? Have you ever gone through such an ordeal as to find out a 20 year old [sic] must lose any chance of ever having children? I live through these ordeals on a daily basis and have never collected any money. I was thrown out of every lawsuit by brokovich [sic] and [attorney Edward] [sic] masry. They did not go house to house [sic] and gather victims of PGE (sic.) Don't sit on your high horse and say that none of these illnesses could ever of [sic] happened. When you start living in my shoes for one day and go through the extreme chest pains, migraines and fear of future health problems then you can say whatever you want. DO NOT ATTACK THE PEOPLE OF HINKLEY! You can attack Brokovich [sic] and her lawyers anytime [sic] you want because they did not help all of the little people. They cut out half the people with the first lawsuit and that way they could get as much money as possible. Why don't you find out about the coverup that occurred when PG&E said that there was a cap on what they would pay out and any amount over that cap would have to be covered by the lawyers trying the case. 
This would force masry [sic] and the other lawyers to through [sic] out any other possible litigate [sic].
Think of these things before you attack us. LIVE IN OUR SHOES FOR JUST 1 HOUR.
What you're saying is that some of your neighbors got tons of money, there's nothing really distinguishing them from you, and yet you got no money. You're ticked. That's understandable. What isn't is understandable is going after me, because I argued that you all should have gotten the same amount. Nothing.
You're also missing the whole point of the suit, which – contrary to what the movie depicted – wasn't to help Hinkley residents or punish PG&E, but to make Erin and Ed rich. That's exactly what it did. I know you've already complained to our hero and heroine, but your complaints now should be directed at the movie studies and television networks that beatified these two-legged rodents and all the film critics who rose their right hands and solemnly swore that the movie was true.
As to your ailments, there has never been anything diagnosed in Hinkley that isn't diagnosed every single day in America. There's nothing that's been diagnosed in Hinkley that was found to be at a significantly higher rate than in the country as a whole. Studies have shown that most illnesses for which people see a doctor go without a diagnosis. Why should Hinkley be any different in this regard? In any casue, many illnesses have been diagnosed in Hinkley – though no more than in any other town of its size. The problem is they have nothing in common, unless you've discovered a relationship between nose bleeds, rashes, breast cancer, and "deteriorating spines." You're claiming that whatever causes these ailments in the other 270 million?
Americans, when they're diagnosed in Hinkley they're the result of PG&E and the chromium 6 it released. Indeed, while you accuse me of not talking to people from Hinkley, I have. One of your neighbors told me her human papilloma virus came from PG&E chromium 6. In the entire rest of the world, HPV (genital warts) are sexually transmitted. Only in Hinkley are they caused by pollution exposure. How convenient!
To return to your main point, you're complaining that some of your neighbors won the Erin & Ed lottery while you didn't. But isn't that the way the lottery works?
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
[There was another exchange, deemed too boring for the Hate Mail page. Then this:]
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| "Me? Bull-headed?" | |
Its [sic] probably a losing battle to talk to someone as bull headed [sic] as you are. PG&E admitted everything and still you continue to argue that none of this could happen. I was trying to make a point that even over exposure [sic] of the non threatening [sic] form of chromium was dangerous. [Her previous letter had mentioned that she had read that chromium 3 shouldn’t be taken during pregnancy, as if that were a point in her favor considering that otherwise chromium 3 is widely recommended – and packaged – as a mineral supplement.] Chromium 6 is a KNOWN carcinogen and still you argue that. Why don't you drink the chromium 6 laced water everyday, drink it, swim in it, bath [sic] in it and overall breath it everyday your whole life! Let your children drink it and your family. I doubt that you would do that but you will still deny that chromium 6 can cause all of these problems. Over 65 tons of Chromium was [sic] dumped into the unlined ponds that is way over the amount the EPA allows [sic]. But again I am talking to an [sic] very stubborn man who will prove his point to the death and really will never do anything but talk. DRINK THE CHROMIUM 6 IF NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!
Okay, dammit! I’m heading right to the 7-11 to get a six-pack. But if it doesn’t come in "diet," then forget about it.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
From [omitted] McMillan
bible thumper dr death is our savior
[The reference is to my work on Dr. Jack Kevorkian.]
Dear Mr. McMillan:
Short and to the point. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Dear Mike,
First let me tell you how happy I am to come across your e-mail address! What a happy synchronicity! ["Synchronicity" means "coincidental occurring of events." What coincidence?]
I have been wanting to respond to your ideas for so long. First, let me say that you have the scientific acumen of a flea. EVERY single study of the impact of weight on health is flawed because they [sic] fail to consider the intermediate and antecedent variables that may be the real culprit behind ill health.
I wont [sic] go into what these variable [sic] are because to you it wont [sic] matter. You opinion comes from 3 deep character flaws:
1 - Low self-esteem. People who have deep doubts about their own self-worth have a compulsive need to try and [sic, she means "try to"] victimize others (emphasis try because to many intelligent fat folks your work is pathetic and we take pity on you).
2 - Need to conform at all costs. The reality is that lipophobia (anti-fat attitudes) are a very recent social pathology. But as Einstein said, mediocre minds can never rise above the times they live in.
3 - Being a sell out [sic]. Just as J. [Jean, an M.D.] Manson has ties to the pharmaceutical companies, you know and I know that there was $ involved for you. You are willing to distort information and do psychic damage to millions of emotionally vulnerable Americans just to line your own pocket Mike.
Maybe that is why those big, flabby bellies bother you so much – you are projecting unto [sic]them your own greed.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am 5'7". [sic] 220 lbs and proud of every ounce of myself. I have been standing up for causes I believe in ever since I can remember, and have defeated what other people considered unbeatable by courage of conviction. Truth ALWAYS wins in the end, ALWAYS!!!! However science ultimately settles these issues, your approach was motivated by all the dark and ugly forces in mankind that we should be trying to overcome: intolerance, greed, conceit, self-hate. In a little itty, bitty, rather insignificant footnote, history will record you as just another bigot.
Sherie [omitted]
Dear Sherie,
First let me say it’s interesting that you challenge my knowledge of science, but that science is never again mentioned in your big fat letter. (Oops, I mean "horizontally challenged.") Instead you "wont" go into it with me because it "wont" matter. Or maybe you’re as lacking in data as you are in apostrophes.
Instead of discussing the science, you prefer to make up a psychological profile of me and then attack the straw man you built. You ignore the massive number of studies in my book The Fat of the Land that attribute an incredible number of health problems to obesity. You ignore virtually everybody in the health community from the Surgeon General on down to your family physician. Instead, you make ludicrous arguments like I’m only in it for the money. Anybody with a lick of sense knows the real money is in writing books like "Your Fat is Not Your Fault," not in publishing a book that says that your fat is your fault but you can do something about it. People in general, like you, would much rather have (and pay for having) their prejudices or desires confirmed than be rudely awakened.
Here’s a brief translation of your letter. You’re saying you would rather lie in bed eating Cheesy Poofs and watching "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" than to eat healthily and walk a few times around the block every evening. You know that virtually every obesity specialist in the world says you are shortening your life and opening yourself to all sorts of illnesses, ranging from chaffed legs to breast cancer. You know what a chore it is to carry all that bulk around and get nasty looks from the airline passengers next to you when you bulge over into their space. But you think the trade-off is worth the continual passing of high-calorie foods through your lips to prove you’re not "lipophobic." You think that if you attack the messenger of what you consider bad news it will make you feel better.
Perhaps it will. But guess what? It won’t make you live any longer, have fewer diseases, or feel any better when you’re huffing and puffing like an emphysema sufferer every time you climb the stairs. Funny, I never thought that eating Cheesy Poofs by the barrel and refusing to get off your can was something to be proud of. But I must bow down to someone with such obvious authority as you.
By the way, your feeling of utter security about your size is most evident from your letter.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
At Least it’s Short!
From George Bennet:
Hey Mikey, rec'd any honorable mentions from the KKK?
Hey Georgy,
Say, aren’t you the guy I saw trying desperately to burn a cross in my yard but didn't know how to operate the child-proof lighter?
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
[omitted] @starpower.net writes:
I observed your performance on [CNN] TalkBackLive [sic] in regards to AIDS in Africa and among people of color in America. I've never heard such blither. I guess they have to get a far-right kook for "balance," don't they?
Thank you for you intellectually-stimulating letter. By the way, if you're going to BLATHER, you ought to learn how to spell it.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Dear Mr. Fumento:
[Edited for brevity. This regards a piece I wrote defending ABC "20/20" reporter John Stossel and a show he did on organic foods.]
What DATA do you have on the toxicity of the so-called natural pesticides as regards humans? For example, you infer [sic] that organic growers cry. [sic] "...Frankenfood!" with regard to genetically inserted Dt [sic] used as opposed to the the [sic] Dt use topically on the foods. Did you ever hear of washing the food one eats to eliminate bacteria and unclean aspects of food?(!) I do this, obviously, to reduce ingesting the critters, which is the point of washing it, and one cannot wash out genetically inserted stuff – or do you know better? Talk to me!
Are YOU guilty of self-serving authorship of journalism as is Mr. Stossel (your claim). [No, not my claim; the writer’s claim. He’s a bit confused.] You certainly got my attention with it. Big, noisy claims; where's [sic] your data on the real HARM, Mr. Big Shot?! I tend to consider it to be the toxins we actually ingest.
You offer harm to us all by only screeeeetching your random, chemical name tossing and jumping the attention to another screecher-cluster of parties (CBS< ABC< EWG, NAS;....LMNOP, QRST, UVWXYZ)while avoiding to:
TELL US WHERE THE REAL HARM IS. From my own experience, washing and scrubbing is one way to de-toxify my food from organic sources (I understand conventional sources cling better and don't totally wash off the toxic residue; do you concur? do you even know at all?!) and minimize harm from the food sources on which I am currently dependent.
I relish your reply.
Very truly yours (I am telling the truth, not announcing my loyalty in "truly")
J.
Dear J:
First, it’s not "Dt," but "Bt." "DT" is delirium tremens, from which you appear to suffer. Actually, there’s a paucity of data on so-called "natural" chemicals, in great part because of the widespread belief perpetuated by persons such as yourself that chemicals produced by Ma Nature never would harm us. Obviously you’ve never heard of cyanide, mercury, lead, arsenic (formerly a "natural pesticide" or any of nature’s other rather toxic treats. As far as carcinogenesis goes, published reviews by Lois Gold and Bruce Ames of other people’s animal studies find that natural chemicals when administered at the maximum tolerable dose cause cancer at the same rate as synthetic ones.
Your effort to distinguish between the bacteria-derived Bt pesticide sprayed on crops and hence labeled "natural," versus the Bt pesticide incorporated into the crops’ genome, and hence labeled "Frankenfood" fails because what’s used in both the spray and the genetic engineering is not the bacteria itself but merely a gene from it. Do you regularly wash your foods to remove genes? No, I’m not referring to washing your jeans.
Finally, J, if you’re the product of a lifetime of eating organic food, you’ve just made the best argument for using synthetic pesticides I’ve ever seen.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Dear Mr. Fumento:
I'm flattered that you replied to my letter.
I'm just sorry you didn't pay attention to what I was asking you, Mr. Guru..
For all your superior smarts, I should think that, [sic] if you are going to answer my letter, you would at least value your own time and attention to what I actually was addressing for your attention.
Then again, do you get paid to denigrate the mentally infirm? Before your response to me, I would have thought that such a reply to be [sic] quite beneath your intelligence.
Again very truly yours,
J.
Dear J:
No, I don’t get paid to denigrate the mentally infirm. I just do it for fun.
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
Michael,
Really, what are you thinking? Why do you write these lies? Do you not realize what you do, or do you realize and not care about the consequences to yourself and others? This is very serious, Michael.
Below is my response to Forbes concerning your article [on Dursban, an insecticide]. If you are unaware, it is time to wake up. If you are aware, then I ask you to act accordingly and remember who you are.
Blessings,
Susan
[Susan’s letter to Forbes essentially comprised a restatement of the "if ingested internally" part of the Dursban label.]
Susan,
What I'm thinking is that I know a bit more about toxicology and pesticides than reading the labels of cans, specifically the parts about drinking something intended to be sprayed on bugs. Do you realize how many shipwrecked sailors over the centuries have been poisoned and killed by overexposure to the chemical sodium chloride? That means drinking saltwater.
Unfortunately, saltwater doesn't come with a warning label. Maybe the government ought to do something about that.
Blessings,
Michael Fumento
| |
| "'Tis only Celtic Sea Salt that's good for ye, Lassie." | |
A lot of thing [sic] that are found in nature are necessary to human life; that's why they're there. However, Dursban is NOT necessary to human life; it is completely, totally detrimental to all life as we know it. Until you can PROVE otherwise, you are killing people to recommend its use – ESPECIALLY when there are substances found in nature that will take care of pest control without harming anything but the pests.
Furthermore the "salt" that most Americans use is detrimental even in small amounts and it has added sugar to boot. I use only Celtic Sea Salt.
The dose makes the poison simply does not apply to artificial man-made ingredients - there are many other factors involved in what causes poisoning, and each person has the right to decide whether or not he allows an exposure to a poisonous, man-made substance, and he has a right to all the facts about it.
Dear Susan,
I have a feeling that trying to prove anything to you that you didn’t already believe in the 3rd grade would be a fruitless endeavor. Your knowledge of toxicology and chemistry is simply astounding. For half a millennium, Paracelsus’s dictum stood, only to be knocked down by Susan who has divined that it doesn’t apply to "artificial man-made ingredients". Nor did I know there was more than one type of salt. Fool that I am I thought it was all made from an atom of sodium attached to an atom of chlorine. Now I find that some salt has sugar in it and the best salt of all is from the Celtic Sea. There’s just something about those Gaelic atoms, isn’t there!
Sincerely,
Michael Fumento
[Then Sea Salt Susan sent three messages, of which this was the last.]
P.S.
On Paracelsus:
Ever hear of Copernicus, or do you think the Sun [sic] is revolving around the Earth [sic]? Maybe you do believe the Earth is the center of the universe, and you the center of the Earth [sic]?
What makes you think I'm any less a genius than Copernicus?
Lady, don’t even get me started . . .
Introduction to Hate Mail and Other Hate Mail Volumes
A Review of Michael Fumento's Hate Mail
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