From Orthomolecular Medical News Service
By Andrew W. Saul
(OMNS December 16, 2019) The 36th annual report from the American Association of Poison Control Centers shows zero deaths from any vitamin. Supporting data is in Table 22B, p 1412-1413, at the very end of the report published in Clinical Toxicology. [1] It is interesting that it is so quietly placed way back there where nary a news reporter is likely to see it.
But wait, there’s more:
- The AAPCC report shows no deaths from any dietary mineral supplement.
- There were no fatalities from amino acids, creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, or chondroitin.
- There were no deaths from herbs. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, valerian, yohimbe, ma huang/ephedra, guarana, kola nut, or yerba mate. And, there were no deaths from energy drinks. While the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service considers a number of these items to be improperly classified as dietary supplements, they are nonetheless specified by AAPCC as causing zero fatalities.
- There were no deaths from any homeopathic remedy, Asian medicine, Hispanic medicine, or Ayurvedic medicine. None.
On page 1407, a single death is attributed to an “Unknown Cultural Medicine” and five fatalities are alleged to have been caused by some “Unknown Dietary Supplements or Homeopathic Agents.” The obvious uncertainly of such listings diminishes any claim of validity. Something caused those six deaths, but investigators simply have no idea what it was. So they blame a supplement or natural remedy. It is a bit like a homicide detective telling a judge that murders were committed by either a man, or a woman, or an animal, using perhaps a knife, gun or claws. Few magistrates would issue warrants accordingly.
Throughout the entire year, coast to coast across the entire USA, there was not one single death from a vitamin, mineral or any other nutritional supplement. If supplements are allegedly so “dangerous,” as the FDA, the news media, and even some physicians still claim, then where are the bodies?
(Andrew W. Saul is Editor-in-Chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, now in its 15th year of free publication. He is also a member of the Japanese College of Intravenous Therapy, the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame, and is author or coauthor of twelve books. He has no financial connection whatsoever to the supplement or health products industry.)
References
1. Gummin DD, Mowry JB, Spyker DA et al. 2018 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 36th Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology 2019, 57:12, 1220-1413.
PMID: 31752545 DOI: 10.1080/15563650.2019.1677022
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15563650.2019.1677022 or https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ictx20/57/12?nav=tocList
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