When it comes to human health, there is nobody on the planet who I trust more than the incomparable Dr. T. Colin Campbell. Dean Ornish, MD, a legend himself in the area of lifestyle medicine, has said, “Everyone in the field of nutrition science stands on the shoulders of Dr. Campbell, who is one of the giants in the field.” Dr. T. Colin Campbell has been dedicated to the science of human health for more than 60 years, with a focus on the relationship between diet and disease. He is a game changer, and because of his discoveries of the power of plant-based nutrition, and his relentless efforts to publish his work and educate others, he has no doubt saved millions of lives. Unfortunately, Dr. Campbell has also been under a decades long assault by many powerful forces, who see his research as a direct threat to their financial bottom lines. Despite their vile and relentless efforts to try and undermine and discredit his work, Dr. Campbell has never sold out, and has always remained true. And this is what makes him even more remarkable, and sets him apart. In other words, Dr. T. Colin Campbell Rocks!
Why am I bringing all of this up? Dr. Campbell and his wife chose not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In an interview on the The Exam Room podcast, Dr. Campbell had this to say in response to a question about a new variant of COVID which is supposedly more contagious than the last one, “In my mind it’s very clear, but it’s very confusing for a lot of people, basically if we are eating the wrong food, the immune system is going to go haywire…I’m almost afraid to say, but I am going to say it anyhow, I’ve been really concerned about the discussions surrounding the whole COVID experience. In my research program we’ve worked, you know, on a virus that is an even more serious virus, I would argue, than the COVID virus. We’ve been working with that since the late 1980s in China…Hepatitis B virus is the virus we are talking about and it causes cancer, so when we surveyed 8990 people to be exact, adults at a point in time about 1989, at that time we collected a lot of nutrition information, and we also collected a lot of immune function information, whether there was enough antibodies, whether there was an active virus present, and so forth, and here’s the results we got: Those who consume animal food even a small amount like even at 10% of what we have here, I didn’t expect to see anything, but what we saw was those who consume a small amount of animal food, they maintained the presence of the active virus, they did not form the antibodies. In contrast, those consuming more plant food, they’re the ones who made the antibodies. It turns out that the people consuming some animal food, they were the ones who got the virus and died. Those who consumed the more plant food, got the antibodies, and did not die. It was that clear. And so we looked at this question a little more carefully, in the laboratory as well and brought in experimental mice, and it turns out there’s a whole bunch of mechanisms that are involved in this process, one can get lost in this kind of thing, but the one that is most current I would say, is that we looked at the presence of T cells. Now T cells, natural killer cells we would call them in those days, these are cells that are produced by our immune system, and they’re sitting there ready to go to work when an infection comes on board. So, what we found was, in experimental animal studies at least, those who consume more animal protein, they’re the ones who got the virus, and they’re the ones who died of liver cancer, and their T cells were depressed. T cells are good things, they are one of our defense mechanisms. People who consume whole plant-based diets, they increased their T-cells, which is a good thing. They’re talking a lot about that right now in the present day, figuring out a way to get the T cells up. Do you know the easiest way to get the T cells up and maintained? Eat simply a diet without animal protein, very simple…and I just want to add one more point, I know what I’m saying here for a lot of people might be kind of shocking and they have never heard of such a thing before. I took those data and submitted it for publication at the beginning of the pandemic to two of the best known journals in the western world, well the whole world actually, I’ve published there before, I have published like 375 papers, and I am on editorial boards, it is not like I am unknown. I have published extensively. I sent it into those two journals, and do you know, this is the first time that I ever saw this happen, they wouldn’t even review my results, spectacular results. Because I was simply suggesting was that what we saw in China could have great relevance for COVID-19. They didn’t want to hear it. I never saw this before. They just said simply they would not review it. Finally, I had to go to a journal published in the European Commission, Journal of Nutrition, so it did get published, but you know it’s just not getting recognition in the others. So, I had another occasion which they just simply didn’t want to hear it. Somebody sitting there on a throne, did not want this information to get out. And I am really, really confident that the one mechanism that we have in dealing with these viruses, wherever they come from, variants, original virus, or whatever, it doesn’t make a difference, the one thing that we can do to protect ourselves keep ourselves healthy, eat the right diet. So, quite frankly, I’m gonna say this and I don’t care what people call me, we decided not to get the vaccine my wife and I. We’re older, obviously, I’m 88 she was 81, and my God you know, the kids and everyone else said you’re crazy, you’re crazy. We did not get the vaccine. So then finally just about two months ago, we got COVID. So, what happened, we had no fever, we had no headache, we had no nausea, mine lasted for 6 days, she had hers for about 8-9 days, there was a cough that went with it and that was it. Exactly what I thought would happen. But they would not allow the public to hear that. I would argue that this particular relationship of diet with immune system, that you asked about, as it relates to let’s say a virus disease, is a relationship we need to talk about it. But the system within which we are now living, does not want that to happen. I am supposedly immoral, and you know all the rest of it, it is very, very, painful, that this is what science has come to.”
Click here for the entire interview with Dr. T. Colin Campbell (Interestingly, PCRM has removed this interview from their website).
Click here for Dr. Campbell’s excellent article, Nutrition and Medicine: Are They Connected?
Can Plant-Based Diets be more Effective than Vaccines?
According to the Hepatitis B Foundation, “Hepatitis B is a global public health threat and the world’s most common serious liver infection. It is up to 100 times more infectious than the HIV/AIDS virus. It also is the primary cause of liver cancer, which is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the world…820,000 people die each year from hepatitis B and related complications such as liver cancer, with 2 people dying each minute from hepatitis B.” Wow. When Dr. Campbell looked at Hepatitis B (HBV), the most serious viral disease in the world, his study concluded that the consumption of more plants as whole food (“vegetables”), was associated with a higher prevalence of viral immunity (antibodies) but not with its main symptom, liver cancer. In contrast, he also determined that the consumption of a very small amount of animal-based foods (only about 10% of what people eat in the West) was associated with fewer viral antibodies, and a greater prevalence of the active virus, and liver cancer. Dr. Campbell explained that although every virus creates its own unique symptoms, the processes by which viruses invade us, and our immune systems make antibodies, are pretty much the same across all viruses. Wow again.
Armed with this information, I will not be getting any more shots related to COVID-19. I did receive the initial vaccine because I wanted to travel and spend time with family and friends, but I have avoided the additional shots as I have been skeptical since the beginning. My reasons include potential side effects, and the capitalistic for profit motives of Big Pharma, as well as the CDC, corporate media, US government, and US healthcare’s (sick-care) continued refusal to even acknowledge the power of plant-based nutrition. The only scientifically proven way to reverse the diseases that are our top killers (including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) is through a low fat, whole food plant-based diet, and yet there is a concerted effort to keep this information from the general population. Simply put, there is far more money to be made by these powerful and ruthless industries in managing people’s diseases rather than in preventing and curing them. And this applies to COVID-19 too. We know that a healthy plant-based diet can reduce moderate to severe symptoms of COVID-19 by at least 73%, and yet we never hear anything about the critical role of plant-based nutrition from the CDC, US government, Big Pharma, most physicians, and the healthcare industry. Why? Again, there is zero financial incentive for these powerful industries, institutions and doctors to promote plant-based diets. Their continued silence is clearly criminal, and a breach of public trust. The one question that remains for me is whether the COVID vaccines and boosters are still a good idea for people with a pre-existing condition or comorbidities, and for all who will continue to eat high animal protein, Standard American Diet (SAD), types of diets. Hmm.
“The closer one approaches a total plant based diet, the greater the health benefit.” – Dr. T. Colin Campbell
Dr. T. Colin Campbell has had a remarkable career, and his honesty, and the integrity of his work are beyond reproach. If you didn’t already know, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his son Thomas Campbell, MD, wrote the groundbreaking book, The China Study (based in part on The China Project), which collected blood tests and data from 6,500 people across 65 counties throughout China, and is still considered to be one of the largest studies of nutrition ever conducted. The book changed my life. When the work was done, Dr. Campbell’s team had collected more than 8,000 statistically significant associations between lifestyle, diet and disease. One of the most significant findings from Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s research is that high animal protein intake increased 8 cancer promotion mechanisms, while also reducing 2 cancer inhibiting mechanisms. This translated into 10 out of 10 mechanisms working in unison to increase cancer risk whenever animal protein was consumed. As a result, he has described drug interventions as often being a “dead end street.”
The Greed of Big Pharma
Have you heard of Public Citizen? Public Citizen is a self described nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power, defends democracy, resists corporate power and works to ensure that government works for the people – not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, they now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country. Nice!
As per Public Citizen:
– Pharmaceutical giant Moderna is threatening to more than quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine. (Pfizer has already made similar noise.)
– Development of the vaccine marketed by Moderna was actually done in partnership with the federal government — specifically scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — and almost entirely funded by American taxpayers, to the tune of some $1.7 billion.
– On top of that, the U.S. government has been paying the company an additional $26.36 per dose — for millions and millions of doses — for almost three years now.
– As a result, Moderna — a company with just three employees as recently as 2013 — made more than $19 billion in *profits* over just the past two years.
– By the way, it costs the company less than $3 per dose to manufacture the vaccine. And — again — research and development was paid for by the American people, not the company.
– Yet Moderna’s CEO — a French man named Stéphane Bancel whose personal net worth is estimated at $6.3 billion — wants to jack the price up to as much as $130 per dose.
Here’s some of what Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a recent letter to Moderna’s CEO: “The purpose of the recent taxpayer investment in Moderna was to protect the health and lives of the American people, not to turn a handful of corporate executives and investors into multi-billionaires…Now is not the time for unacceptable corporate greed.”
For progress, Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
“We are a culture of celebrity, not morality” – Maureen Dowd
Lastly, have you ever heard of the Kennedy Center Honors? I noticed that they recently had another event (attended by a US president and viewed by a national TV audience) to commemorate those in the performing arts for their lifetime contributions to American culture. A very cool idea, but I couldn’t help but think of people like Dr. T. Colin Campbell. If we can have an annual gala to recognize actors and singers, then surely we can have a national celebration each year for scientists, educators, and others who have contributed mightily not just to our culture, but also to our collective future as well. Interestingly, the 2022 Kennedy Center program honored, amongst others, both Bono from the musical group U2, and the actor George Clooney. Memorializing these two individuals is another reason why we should all appreciate people like Dr. Campbell even more. The singer Bono is often hailed as an activist, but is essentially little more than a corporate shill who has palled around with the rich and powerful for decades, while amassing a fortune that exceeds $700 million. In a previous post, I shared the idea of “worthy” and “unworthy” victims (a concept coined by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman), where “worthy” victims are those who we are allowed to pity because it fits the narratives of the wealthiest few, and provides cover for the atrocities they have committed, or the wars they are about to start. Celebrities like Bono, and George Clooney (estimated worth of $350 million), may appear to be compassionate to the “worthy” victims, take their bows, and even call themselves activists, so long as it doesn’t truly challenge the US war machine, and other corporate interests. Such shenanigans are great for their public image as people actually believe that they give a sh*t about peace, justice and equality. And this, of course, normalizes the war crimes of their powerful friends, and provides them with even more access to wealth, and fame.
“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” – Honoré de Balzac
Alan Macleod has written an excellent piece for Mint Press News, titled “The Frontman of Empire: How Bono’s “Activism” Serves the Rich and Powerful”. The article references Dr. Harry Browne, Technological University Dublin, and author of “The Frontman: Bono (In the Name of Power)”, and argues that far from helping the poor and challenging power, Bono has instead bolstered it. According to Dr. Browne, “Bono has been, more often than not, amplifying elite discourses, advocating ineffective solutions, patronizing the poor, and kissing the arses of the rich and powerful. He has been generating and reproducing ways of seeing the developing world, especially Africa, that are no more than a slick mix of traditional missionary and commercial colonialism, in which the poor world exists as a task for the rich world to complete.” As Mcleod wrote: “In this line of work, Bono has gladly rubbed shoulders with many of the most notorious individuals the world has to offer. At the World Bank, he discussed poverty with Paul Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq War. At the World Economic Forum, he told Rwandan genocidaire Paul Kagame and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde that “capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other ‘ism.’” Indeed, it is hard to find a powerful figure with whom he has not joined forces.” George Clooney may hardly be any better as he has proven to be very selective, and anything but courageous in who he champions publicly. He may be an otherwise nice guy for all I know, but he is hardly a true activist. As per Chris Hedges, “Celebrities, who, like the powerful, carefully orchestrate their public image, pour out their hearts to worthy victims. Hollywood stars such as George Clooney made trips to Darfur to denounce the war crimes being committed by Khartoum at the same time the US was killing scores of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war in Iraq was as savage as the slaughter in Darfur, but to express outrage at what was happening to unworthy victims was to become branded as the enemy, who of course, like Putin or Saddam Hussein, is always the new Hitler.” Like thousands of other celebrities, Bono, and George Clooney play the game, and the game rewards them with greater fortune and fame. And because of the game, they are often worshipped by a large percentage of the masses, while also being invited to national events that sitting presidents attend.
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From an activist’s perspective, do you think Dr. Campbell, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Cornel West, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, and others like them are ever going to be invited to a Kennedy Center Honors program? Highly unlikely, because for the most part, they don’t play the game. In the last year of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was denounced by the press, rejected by the president, and even dismissed by the black middle class. Of course now he is popular again, and everyone and their sister has co-opted his name (and Nelson Mandela’s too but that is another story) because there is no risk, and they can all appear to be forward thinking, cool, and compassionate. Do you think that in the last year of his life, Dr. King would have been invited to a Kennedy Center Honors event or a corporate media program? Right, it never would have happened. And that is the very reason why we need to celebrate and honor the invaluable contributions of individuals like Dr. T. Colin Campbell, who, like Dr. King, will forever be admired and respected for fighting the good fight, and being on the right side of history.
“But I suppose the most revolutionary act one can engage in is… to tell the truth.” – Howard Zinn
Dr. Campbell has taught us that a healthy plant-based diet is the most powerful weapon we have to fight disease and sickness. We have learned from his research that there is no chemical carcinogen that is nearly as important in causing human cancer as animal protein, and that people who eat the highest amounts of animal protein have the highest rates of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Again, the only proven way to REVERSE heart disease (our number one killer), cancer, and diabetes, is through the adoption of a low-fat, whole food plant-based diet. Dr. Campbell has also shown us that when it comes to viruses, even those that are more deadly than COVID-19 (like Hepatitis B), people who eat animal food are more likely to die because their ability to develop antibodies is significantly diminished. Conversely, people who eat plant food, get the antibodies, and typically don’t die. He has explained that the process for how our immune system makes antibodies, is more or less the same for all viruses. Wow. Dr. Campbell has also estimated that if every American adopted a whole food plant-based diet, they would not only reduce their chances of developing a chronic disease by about 80%, but also slash healthcare costs by roughly the same amount (we are talking trillions of dollars in savings each year). His message is simple, eat plants, and try to make them whole. If you follow his evidence based advice, and adopt a healthy plant-based diet, you will likely live a much longer, and happier life without drugs, doctor visits, and hospital stays (you will also save nearly 200 animal lives per year, as well as greatly reduce suffering, and your carbon footprint). Knowing all of this, is it any wonder why Dr. Campbell has been under attack for decades by countless organizations and industries who regard him as a direct threat to their ability to maximize profits (including the so-called “non-profit” organizations such as hospitals, “health” organizations, and the US government)? Incidentally, it is not just about the failures of capitalism, and our broken healthcare, political, and judicial systems that makes it so difficult for people to adopt plant-based diets. Our culture is damaged too. For years, I have received steady pushback from school administrators, public libraries, food banks, “non-profit” hospitals, colleagues, and even friends and family members who do not want to hear anything about the power of plant-based nutrition. But of course that is another topic, for another day. 🙂
Dr. T. Colin Campbell is one of our world’s top scientists, and he has come out and publicly questioned the risks and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. As a result, he has once again been targeted by autocratic, for-profit forces, and condemned for his honesty, and for being true to science. If I had Dr. Campbell’s ear, I would remind him that any criticism he receives from powerful industries, government officials, and other money-making institutions, is actually a badge of honor. Please keep educating and inspiring us all Dr. Campbell. We need you, and we love you.
Until next time… 🙂
Sources:
Click here for a link to The China Study.
Click here for a link to Dr. Campbell’s excellent book, The Future of Nutrition.
Click here for a link to another superb book by Dr. Campbell, Whole, Rethinking the Science of Nutrition.
Click here for the Center for Nutrition Studies website.
Click here to learn more about the health risks of vaccines from Dr. Pam Popper.
Click here to learn more about how the flu vaccine is mostly useless but highly profitable for Big Pharma from Dr. Pam Popper.
Click here to learn more about how a Plant-Based diet reduces moderate to severe symptoms of COVID-19 by over 73%.
Click here for PCRM’s official position on the COVID-19 vaccine.
Click here for the Doctors Without Borders stance on the COVID-19 vaccine and ending the pandemic.
Click here for the Public Citizen website.
Click here for an excellent piece on Bono called The Frontman of Empire.
Click here for the full article on “worthy” and “unworthy” victims from Chris Hedges.
