Doctor Andrew Weil: Whose Side Is He Really On?

Written by Sarah Cain Wednesday, 06 January 2010 17:54

Reprinted from Naturally Good Magazine, Issue #3.

Andrew Weil (pronounced "while"), M.D., is a professor at the University of Arizona specializing in integrated medicine, which is the unique version of health care he created that combines allopathic medicine with nutritional therapies. Dr. Weil is also a supplement spokesperson, and a prolific author. The doctor is an icon for organic products and herbal supplements, a media darling, and a self-appointed leader of the alternative health movement. As if all that were not enough, Andrew also has his own private medical practice, and is a proud graduate of Harvard University. Nowadays, one cannot stroll the aisles of most health-related retailers without seeing his face in all directions. These may be tough times for the rest of us, but business is great for Dr. Weil. At the beginning of his career, Weil lived on a South Dakota Indian reservation, where he studied herbal medicine and ritualistic healing with a Lakota medicine man named Leonard Crow Dog. In his 1972 book, 'The Natural Mind', Weil demonstrated his shaman influence by criticizing American drug policy, and revealing his fondness for states of altered consciousness induced by psychedelic drugs, hypnosis, and meditation.

A Media Darling

We have spent a great deal of time following and researching Dr. Weil's work. While much of what he has done is to be applauded, it is nevertheless true that much of what we discovered was so disturbing that we felt it was our duty to go public with it. Considering our findings upon the backdrop of his allopathic medical heritage caused us to wonder if he may be covertly aiding the opponents of alternative medicine by very publicly practicing it in a manner which ultimately discredits it.He has certainly been placed in an excellent position to do this by the longstanding enemies of the alternative health movement ― mainstream media and publishing houses ― whose funding from the pharmaceutical industry exceeds that from all other sponsors combined. We were flabbergasted by the fact that media outlets which have had an open policy of mockingly suppressing and marginalizing naturopathic and holistic health therapies are so willing to aggressively promote Dr. Weil. Our nervousness about about the M.D. is founded upon an unmistakable pattern that is exposed here.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

― Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

Sun Tzu knew that the easiest way to destroy any enemy was from the inside, by trickery and treason.

The safest, and easiest route for our publication would be, of course, to simply look the other way, as all of our cowardly peers have done. We are, however, striving for significantly higher journalistic standards and ethics. To contrast the difference, Time Magazine featured Dr. Weil not once, but twice on its cover, for issues which were largely dedicated to him. One of the articles confessed that Time Magazine was a partner corporation of Time New Media, which was bargaining with Weil for an affiliation with his website.

F.U.D.: It Happened First In The Software Industry

Our readers may remember, not so long ago, that during the so-called dot-com era, technology and Internet-based services were growing exponentially, at a rate never before seen in any modern industry. In the span of less than 10 years, we went from using the postal system and VHS video tapes to real-time streaming video, e-mail, and the mother of them all: the World Wide Web. Business in the tech industry was good, and I mean really good. Many of the meekly software companies quickly grew into titanic international corporations with billions of dollars flowing into them every year; and with no end in sight. It was an era fueled by incredible technological innovations by thousands of corporations and private projects. Foremost of the young mega-corporations was Microsoft. Greed got the better of them, and during the middle 1990's, Microsoft found itself in a federal court pile-on of epic proportions; fighting anti-trust charges concerning it having illegally used its monopoly power to stifle competition. The charges were all true, and one of the most inflammatory of its predatory practices came to be known as 'FUD'.

The term FUD, in technical circles, represents the practice of spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about competitors' products, while pretending to be those competitors. Microsoft pioneered this practice when it hired a marketing team to pretend to be advocates of its top software rivals. They half-heartedly pretended to promote the competing software at various Internet sites and in letters to editors, but they would also simultaneously spread fear, uncertainty, and disinformation in these writings, since Microsoft employees would have otherwise been recognized for having an obvious bias. They would post comments like, "Linux software is great, but there are so many security weaknesses with the software that it is hardly ready for the prime time". Microsoft executives had realized that fear and uncertainty are the most powerful weapons for destroying upstart competitors. Over time, this phenomena was noticed, because the questionable messages were traced back to the same locations, and it was noticed that all of them were written in a very similar manner. Unfortunately, Microsoft's campaign of FUD against competition successfully ended the innovation of the dot-com era. Technological progress stalled, and that was their intent. FUD is no longer just a problem of the software industry, and it is the surest way to protect established industry giants from superior competitors.

Andrew Weil's Corporate Partner: Drugstore.com

We do not have much information about Dr. Weil's other corporate partners, for Dr. Weil has made none of this information public. We became aware of Weil's business relationship with drugstore.com only because court-filed legal papers are public records. There is no way of knowing how many other pharmaceutical-industry partners Dr. Weil has.

Casewatch.com reported the following from the records of the lawsuit of Brownstein Hyattt & Farber, P.C. on behalf of Drugstore.com in the case of Drugstore.com, Inc. v. Dr. Andrew Weil, and Weil Lifestyle LLC. "Drugstore.com is suing Andrew Weil, M.D. and Weil Wellness LLC for breach of a contract... the contact called for 'honorarium' payments totaling $1.6 million to Weil and minimum royalty payments totaling $12.4 million to the company from September 2003 through June 2008. Drugstore.com began featuring Weil's advice and products in October 2003, but the suit charges that he failed to 'make commercially reasonable efforts' to promote what was covered by the agreement. The 'Vitamin Advisor' uses an online questionnaire to promote 'personalized products' said to be 'based on your specific health concerns'." According to papers submitted to the court, the Advisor Program was developed by drugstore.com, Weil, and members of his personal Science Advisory Board. The lawsuit prosecution further noted, "Pursuant to the Agreement, Weil Lifestyle and Weil agreed to promote various aspects of the parties' business relationship and to cooperate with Drugstore.com's operation and marketing of its online stores and services. In exchange, drugstore.com agreed to make monthly payments to Weil, Weil Lifestyle, and a foundation established by Weil Lifestyle ('The Foundation'). Pursuant to the Agreement, Drugstore.com pays Weil Lifestyle Monthly Sales Commissions and makes a monthly donation to the Foundation..." Drugstore.com has paid in excess of $3.9 million in Monthly Sales Commissions, Donations, and Quarterly True-Ups (Royalties). In addition to these amounts, Drugstore.com also pays a monthly Honorarium directly to Weil.

"I don't get money from the vitamins that I make. My after tax profits go to a foundation that supports integrative medicine."

― Andrew Weil

The Weil Foundation

We have been led to believe that Dr. Weil does not profit from his sponsorships and his outrageously priced nutritional supplements, since he allegedly donates all of this income into the Weil Foundation. The Weil Foundation is registered with the I.R.S. as a 501(c)3 (nonprofit charity) making it exempt from federal income taxes. The name of this foundation is no coincidence; for all intents and purposes, Dr. Weil has been donating the money to ― himself. He donates to this "charity", and thereby is entitled to automatically get a sizable portion of the taxes that were paid on this income refunded by the I.R.S. for his charitable giving ― to himself, no less. Dr. Weil frequently boasts about the fact that he pays taxes on that income before it is donated. This has been going on for many years, so it is likely that Andrew Weil has some powerful friends in government.

As expected, publicly available financial numbers for the Weil Foundation are virtually nonexistent, which is something not found in legitimate charities. We were able to gather some information from Weil's own Internet site for the year of 2007. The foundation's major benefactors for 2007 were the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson @ $300,000, and the University of Arizona Foundation in Tucson @ $250,000. Did we forget to mention that the University of Arizona is Dr. Weil's employer? It is amazing what can be accomplished with creative accounting. We can be certain that Dr. Weil's job security with the University of Arizona is rock solid, and it is likely that he never misses a promotion.

"The Weil Foundation received nothing from Weil or his company in 2003 and 2004, according to the most recent tax returns the foundation filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Yet during that period, drugstore.com was contractually obligated to pay Weil and Weil's company some $2.5 million. Maybe the money was swallowed up in expenses before the after tax profits were computed. Or maybe when Weil says 'I don't get any money from the vitamins I make,' he's not including any salary or consulting fees his company may pay him. Or perhaps Weil is saving it all up to make a lump sum donation later. We tried to find out, but Weil didn't respond to repeated requests to his publicist, public relations firm, and foundation to talk about his marketing deals. In any case, Weil could have been more forthcoming about the foundation with the Today Show audience. When he said that 'my after tax profits go to a foundation that supports integrative medicine', he could have mentioned that the foundation's primary beneficiary is Weil's own program at the University of Arizona."

― Nutrition Action Health Newsletter

Dr. Weil's Back-Handed Assault On Alternative Medicine

	The model of ideal health?

Andrew Weil hopes to eventually force all naturopathic practitioners to hold at least 4-year degrees, and to be officially licensed. Those who practice alternative health care would be forced to become the very people that they have been trying to escape from. It would wrest control of alternative medicine into the hands of the American Medical Association if naturopathic and holistic healers were indeed required to be licensed by the same medical schools that teach orthodox medicine. It would constitute Dr. Weil's greatest gift to Big Pharma and to the A.M.A..

The conflict of interest is massive, since he is the creator of integrative medicine, a college medical professor teaching it, and is now promoting the mandatory integration of his integrative medicine into the medical schools, while attempting to force alternative practitioners to be licensed through this system. Despite the altruistic media image that has been constructed for Dr. Weil, it all looks a little too self-serving.

Licensing means regulation, and you can bet your life that alternatives would be soon regulated out of existence. Check and mate. Licensing would mean regulating therapies to only those that are approved by Dr. Weil's future licensing boards, in the crippling manner that is already seen throughout orthodox medicine. Not only would alternative health care providers live in fear of promoting "unapproved therapies" (even when these are just herbs), but additionally, you or I could go to prison for "practicing medicine without a license" for merely helping our neighbors with natural cures. Dr. Weil was bold enough to boast about his plan during an online video, which can be seen at YouTube under the title, 'Naturopathic Medicine'.

"I think naturopathic doctors are well trained today and trained to operate within the scope of their practice. I also think there are natural partnerships between naturopathic doctors and medical doctors that are useful for both, and I see many opportunities for naturopathic doctors working in integrative medical clinics, which I think will be one of the forms of medical practice of the future. I think this is a natural partnership that can be useful. Many of the measures that naturopathic doctors are trained in, ahh, I think can lower health care cost, because the treatments are cheaper and safer than those used in conventional medicine."

― Dr. Weil, 'Natural Medicine' video

He used some cunning tactics to promote licensing, including the usage of a few half-truths. Naturally, Weil does indeed "see many opportunities for naturopathic doctors working in integrative medical clinics", because he is the owner of integrative medicine, and he will be the final authority for naturopaths working in integrative medicine. It is also important to notice that naturopathic doctors will only be allowed to practice "within the scope of their practice", which again, would be defined by Weil's licensing program. While alternative medicine is practically always much cheaper than conventional medicine, having a license would not lower costs. The licenses would increase the costs of alternative practitioners, so that they would charge more to cover their exorbitant licensing fees.

Ivory Towers

The process of forcing licenses would once again ensure that only the wealthy could practice medicine, and history does not reflect kindly on the elite classes, like those from ivory towers who continue to dictate what is, and what isn't, allowed to be medicine.

Weil's licensing scheme would be a repeat of the establishment, and more importantly, it would enable the establishment to control access to all health related information by labeling alternative information as ("unapproved claims"), and treatments as ("unapproved drugs") under the guises of licensing and regulation ― of course for our benefit. If you believe these are exaggerations, then be advised that the F.D.A. has already threatened to remove cherries from the market as an "unapproved drug" ― so what we describe here is actually standard procedure for how it protects its industry from competition.

Weil's stance on licensing was one of the initial pieces of information that I found; but it seemed that the more that I researched, the worse it became. In one discussion at his website, he suggests both surgery and radioactive iodine for those who have thyroid cancer, after admitting that it is a very slow growing cancer. This would then be followed by a full year of birth control, due to the poisonous effects of the radioactive iodine upon the ovaries. Despite the high risk of this spreading cancer throughout the body, and in particular, causing leukemia; he remarked that he did not know of alternatives that were as effective. Our staff was able to find better alternatives to radiation with only a few hours of research, while he supposedly cannot with his three decades of training and Harvard education. In fact, Dr. Weil is unique in the alternative community for making such suggestions, and for his appearance of blanket ignorance about alternative techniques for all serious health conditions.

The thyroid plays a critical role in the regulation of hormones and the metabolism. It absorbs the iodine which is found in our foods, and uses it to produce hormones which are paramount to the function of every cell in the human body. Cancer is a disease for which the alternative medical community has found cures, and it never recommends either radiation or poisonous "treatments".

Almost all of the alternative community mutually agrees that cancer can be cured through drastic changes in diet, avoidance of tainted water (e.g. tap water), internal hydrogen peroxide, omega-3 with sulfur proteins (The Budwig Diet), key vitamins (in particular F.D.A. banned B17), mega-doses of vitamin C, detox, and herbal supplements to help speed the process; since the root causes of cancers are internal fermentation combined with acidosis (low pH) and nutritional deficiencies. Instead of brutally attacking the entire body, the holistic process is one of correcting acidic body chemistry, so that the blood can again absorb oxygen at the rate it was intended to. This allows the immune system and the cells to begin functioning properly again. The alternative therapies do much more than merely treat the symptoms (tumors), and cancer cells are just a symptom of the real problems elsewhere. Dr. Weil seems not to understand these fundamental basics of alternative medicine, and we cannot prove if his ignorance is genuine or a manipulative charade.

Conversely, the orthodox use of chemotherapy and radiation promoted by Dr. Weil are incredibly damaging to the entire body, and should be avoided at all costs, due to the way that they attack all of the cells in the human body. These actually fuel the internal fermentation process that triggered the cancers; and therefore, these treatments have long been documented to actually stimulate future cancers. Dr. Weil's allopathic establishment considers having no symptoms of cancer for a mere 5 years as a success, and these doctors never publicly speak about their cure-to-kill ratios, in which the death rate is immensely higher than for people who receive no cancer treatments at all. Their "cure rate" (which they define as surviving tumor-free for longer than 5 years) is approximately 4%. The alternative therapies have almost the opposite numbers, but have the drawbacks of being tremendously cheaper, are not patentable, and they are still unregulated by the friends of the pharmaceutical cartel at the time of this writing.

F.U.D. Allopathic Style

Dr. Weil strongly disagrees with holistic and naturopathic viewpoints. Although he founded integrative medicine, he is actually very reliant on conventional treatments for serious conditions, and appears to support alternative approaches only in the area of nutrition, and for only lesser conditions that do not threaten the medical industry's cash cows.

"[Dr. Weil] cited such treatments as gene therapy, immuno-therapy [chemically attacking and suppressing the immune system], and anti-angiogenesis therapy, which involves blocking the development of new blood vessels that [allegedly] feed cancer. 'These hold the promise of being much less toxic treatments that I think may render chemotherapy obsolete, but at the moment chemotherapy is the best that we've got for certain kinds of cancers.'"

― CNN (Cable News Network)

Most patients would prefer cancer over deliberate mutations in their genes (which could have horrific repercussions lasting throughout their family tree to all of their grandchildren's grandchildren), the total destruction of their immune systems, or the blocking of their critical blood vessels. He actually described the above options as the "less toxic" alternative treatments.

In actuality, no reasonable alternative practitioner would ever recommend these to even his worst enemy. We wonder what this could be other than an attempt to condemn alternative medicine with damningly faint praise, and these unique "alternative treatments"? In typical M.D. manner, Weil made no mention of the real alternatives which exist, and he merely recited some unique treatments that are intended only to attack tumors (symptoms), instead of the actual cancers. In the same interview, he parroted that many natural supplements are ineffective, yet made no mention of the effects of his supposedly effective pharmaceuticals, which cause heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, paralysis, seizures, and stimulate even more cancer themselves, or even about how statistically ineffective they are.

Out Of The Canola-Coated Frying Pan and Into The Benzene

Dr. Weil was one of the pioneering proponents of canola oil usage. The canola plant is the genetically modified offspring of the poisonous rapeseed plant, whose oil is an E.P.A. registered pesticide. The canola plant, in fact, did not exist prior to 1978.

Upon its first appearance, Andrew wrote recipe books which used canola oil, and claimed that it was the healthiest cooking oil. Dr. Joseph Mercola deserves credit for being one of the first people to uncover that canola oil is more-or-less a healthy cooking oil ― until it is actually heated. Once heated, canola oil becomes harmful to the body, and the rancid oil emits toxic fumes according to the National Institutes of Health.

When cooked, canola oil releases 1,3Butadiene, benzene, acrolein, formaldehyde, and other related poisonous compounds which become infused into the foods being cooked. Mercola reported that, "During processing, the omega-3 fatty acids of canola oil are transformed into dangerous trans fatty acids; similar to those found in margarine, and possibly even more dangerous. A recent study indicates that 'heart healthy' canola oil actually produces a deficiency of vitamin E, a vitamin required for a healthy cardiovascular system. Other studies indicate that even lower ucic acid canola oil causes heart lesions, particularly when the diet is low in saturated fats."

 

	Andrew Weil's F.U.D. ― In His Own Words "I know of no effect of alcohol on tissue repair and no reason why you shouldn't drink alcohol (moderately, of course) after working out." "I have always voiced the opinion that there should be a clear separation between a health care professionals recommendations and the potential to profit from those recommendations." "Virtually every major US health organization has declared amalgam dental fillings, as they're known, safe, but some detractors remain unconvinced. Used to fill cavities, these dental fillings contain a mix of mercury, silver, tin, and other metals. Because elemental mercury and many mercury compounds can be toxic, some people worry that the dental fillings could be harmful." "My advice is to stick with the antibiotic treatment your son is receiving. And what you might do ― what's better than using colloidal silver ― is investigate electromagnetic stimulation for bone healing, a treatment that is backed by scientific evidence." "Most doctors are taught to regard the placebo effect as a nuisance, but it's the meat of the medicine. Placebo responses are responses from within, elicited by belief." "I'm not a proponent of the raw foods diet. First of all, when you eat everything raw, you lose much of the best flavor, texture and appearance of food. More importantly, however, is the fact that many of the vitamins and minerals found in vegetables are less bio-available when you eat these foods raw than when they're cooked. Another disadvantage stems from the fact that many of the natural toxins in edible roots, seeds, stems and leaves are destroyed by cooking. Although our bodies have natural defenses against these toxins, a raw food diet can add to the toxic load we're already dealing with. The latest word on raw food diets comes from a new study which shows that vegetarians who eat only raw foods have abnormally low bone mass, a sign that they may be vulnerable to osteoporosis." "Sickness is the manifestation of evil in the body." "It's unrealistic to imagine that you can never be sick. Health is cyclical: It breaks down; it reforms. Being sick is part of being alive." "Because autoimmune diseases tend to flare up in response to emotional ups and downs, I recommend some form of mind-body treatment — hypnosis may be especially helpful (children are more easily hypnotized than adults)." "The distribution of calories you take in should be: 40% to 50% from carbohydrates [sugars], 30% from fat and 20% to 30% from protein." "It is more important to eat some carbohydrates [sugars] at breakfast, because the brain needs fuel right away, and carbohydrates are the best source." "One claim holds that distillation removes all of water's beneficial minerals. While it's true that distillation removes minerals as well as various contaminants from water, we don't know that the human body can readily absorb minerals from water..." "The underlying idea is that you can prevent disease by balancing your body's pH. ...None of these claims are true. Furthermore, your body needs absolutely no help in adjusting its pH. Normally, the pH of blood and most body fluids is near seven, which is close to neutral. This is under very tight biological control because all of the chemical reactions that maintain life depend on it. Unless you have serious respiratory or kidney problems, body pH will remain in balance no matter what you eat or drink." "In general, I'm not a fan of products sold through multi-level marketing." "The use of yage, or ayahuasca, in Amazonian Indian cultures is often credited with giving people visions that have valid content." "You can lower your mercury levels over time by simply not eating fish likely to contain it." "Children with autism can also benefit from probiotics, possibly because they decrease leakage of large molecules from the gut that can trigger immune reactions with effects on brain function." "It's we who determine whether drugs are destructive or whether they're beneficial. It's not any inherent property of drugs." "Early detection is key to winning the cancer battle. Once you reach the age of 50, the following tests should be done routinely... A digital rectal exam at the same time the sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy or [radioactive] barium enema is performed... Consider taking aspirin therapy. Research suggests that taking a daily low-dose aspirin over a period of years can cut colon cancer risk by as much as half." "Some Essiac promoters irresponsibly advise against chemotherapy and other conventional treatments when using the tea. This is a reckless and dangerous recommendation. ...In fact, a 2004 study at the National Cancer Institute showed that Flo-Essence promotes the growth of mammary tumors in rats. ...can have unpleasant side effects. ...My advise? Avoid it."

 

Smoking Gun: Dr. Andrew Weil Even Promotes CODEX

"I've had a lot of questions about Codex, often based on alarmist and erroneous information being circulated on the Internet. I'm happy to set the record straight. Here's the story: in 1963 the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization created the Codex Alimentarius Commission to protect the health of consumers and to ensure fair practices in the international food trade through development of food standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations..."

― Dr. Andrew Weil

Doctor and congressional Representative, Ron Paul, relayed the following on the Glenn Beck program (paraphrased). Codex Alimentarius, established in 1962 as a U.N. trade commission serves corporate greed with no interest in health or consumer protection. The World Health Organization says Codex Alimentarius, "Has not made a contribution in human health in its 42 years of existence". Codex Alimentarius sponsors are Big Pharma, Big Medica, Big Chema (profitable toxic chemicals used on food and fields, including deadly pesticides banned in the U.S.), Big Agribiz (industrial factory farms that use antibiotics, drugs, and hormones to increase profits), and Big Biotech (creates dangerous untested genetically modified organisms (G.M.O.'s) planned to become legal worldwide unlabeled). Codex Alimentarius has no actual legal standing, but it exerts enormous influence since it is used by the World Trade Organization (W.T.O.) to decide trade disputes. Codex-compliant countries win automatically regardless of the merits of the case. Devastating trade sanctions result, so the U.S. is now racing to destroy protective laws that interfere with the implementation of Codex. This is what Codex has in store for us:

• Natural nutrients will be declared toxins that Codex will supposedly 'protect' us from
• Ban virtually all natural health options
• High-potency supplements will be illegal
• Deadly drugs are sold unopposed
• Dangerous growth stimulants (hormones) mandatory in all meat and milk (e.g. Monsanto's r.B.G.H.)
• Banned pesticides will be permitted in your food
• Untested, unlabeled, Frankenfood in your kitchen (G.M.O.'s - Genetically Modified Organisms)
• Free-radical enriched radioactive foods (i.e. "cold pasteurized")
• Weak and meaningless "Organic Farming" standards allowing dangerous drugs and chemicals in so-called "organic" foods.

Prologue

Despite the seemingly insane advice of Dr. Weil, he is becoming increasingly popular amongst newcomers to the holistic movement, and his face has become an advertisement for many health products. His interest in becoming a walking commercial, and his zealous adherence toward promoting establishment protocols leads us to conclude that Dr. Weil is not as well-intentioned toward alternative medicine as he portrays. It is remarkable that Andrew is being accepted as an expert, considering his own health. He boasts about his skin care products, while he has a terrible complexion, extreme hair loss, and is overweight ― all signs of severe acidosis ― something that genuine practitioners of natural medicine rarely experience. There are many out there who are just like him. They would love to monopolize supplements and competitive treatments, but Dr. Andrew Weil appears to be the most prominent of them. Remember to always do your own research, and buyer beware.

 

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