Fw: DOW ~ From Jon Rappoport's Boycott Page

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----- Original Message -----

From: " Myrl Jeffcoat " <myrlj@...>

<myrlj@...>

Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 10:13 PM

Subject: DOW ~ From Jon Rappoport's Boycott Page

> The following article is from Jon Rappoport's Boycott Page, it is also

> linked from Silicone City @ http://www.homestead.com/siliconecity

>

> Myrl

>

> -------

> DOW ~ From Jon Rappoport's Boycott Page

>

> http://home.earthlink.net/~alto/boycott.html#dow

>

> Number two in chemical sales in the U.S. Employees: 58,000. Sales: $20

> billion. Headquarters: Midland, Michigan, U.S.

>

> Dow, the manufacturer of Napalm and Agent Orange during Vietnam War, and

now

> the target of a billion dollars worth of lawsuits over their highly

> destructive silicone breast implants, is partners with the drug firm Ely

> Lilly in Dow Elanco, a spinoff company that is the largest producer of

> insecticides and fungicides in the U.S.

>

> Dow must have a magnetic attraction for severe defoliants. Having

distanced

> itself from Agent Orange -- its partner Lilly now makes Tebuthiuron, an

> herbicide that kills soil so that no plants can grow on it in the furture.

> Sounds like a weapon of war.

>

> Of course Dow also tries to distance itself from dioxin (contained in tis

> Vietnam era Agent Orange), but Greenpeace reports that hugely produced

> chlorine based Dow products -- pesticides, solvents and PVC plastics --

are

> the single largest source in the world of dioxin today.

>

> Dow owns n Merrell Dow (MMD), a major pharmaceutical house. Like all

> drug companies, whether you know it or not, the commercial output of MMD

is

> chillingly toxic. Let's start there.

>

> Examples:

>

> MMD's vaginal supository AVC cream is used to treat candida albicans. The

> PDR states that there is no data available on the long term potential of

AVR

> for causing cancer of birth defects, but " deaths associated with

> administration of oral sulfonamides (such as AVC) have reportedly occured

> form hypersensitivity reactions, agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia and

other

> blood discrasias. " . . . Comforting.

>

> Bentyl, Dow's drug for irritable bowel syndrome, also has in the PDR

listing

> " no known data " for long term potential carcinogenicity or birth defects,

> but " psychosis has been reported in sensitive individuals. " There are

also,

> the PDR says, reports of deaths from respiratory collapse.

>

> Cardizem, the Dow drug for hypetension and angina, carries the PDR

caution:

> " Worsening of congestive heart failure has been reported in patients with

> preexisting impairment of ventricular function. "

>

> Nothing could prepare a sane person for the PDR's description of Dow's

> Clomid, a drug that attempts to produce ovulatory stimulation so that

> pregnancy can occur in women for whom that would otherwise be unlikely.

>

> Here is a partial list of Clomid's post-marketing adverse effects:

>

> seizure

> stroke

> psychosis

> cataracts

> posterior vitreous detachment

> arrhythmia

> tachycardia

> hepatitis

> liver and breast and pituitary and ovarian and kidney and tongue and

bladder

> cancer

> brain abscess

> tubal pregnancy

> uterine hemorrhage

> ovaian hemorrhage

> In the babies born to the mothers taking Clomid, there have occurred:

> neuroectodermal tumor

> thyroid tumor

> leukemia

> abnormal bone development including skeletal malformations of the skull,

> face, nasal passages, jaw, hand, limb and foot joints

> malformations of the anus, eye, lens, ear, lung, heart and genitalia

> dwarfism

> deafness

> mental retardation

> chromosomal disorders

> neural tube defects

>

> Lorelco, Dow's drug aimed at lowering cholesterol, has this ominous PDR

> caution: females should be warned not to become pregnant for at least six

> months after discontinuing Lorelco. Lorelco's adverse effects?

>

>

> Gastrointestinal bleeding

> vomiting

> low hemoglobin

> fetid sweat

> impotency

> anorexia

> diminished sense of taste and smell.

>

> Dow makes Norpramin, an antidepressant. The PDR states: " It is important

> that this drug be dispensed in the least possible quantities to depressed

> outpatients since suicide has been accomplished with this class of drug. "

>

> Some of the effects of Norpramin are:

>

> both elevating and lowering of blood sugar levels

> heart block, myocardial infarction, stroke

> sudden death

> hallucinations, delusions

> tremors, ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, seizures

> dilation of urinary tract

> bone marrow depression

> vomiting, black tongue, hapatitis

> impotence, painful ejaculation, testicular swelling

> weight gain or loss.

>

> (Note: In these drug summaries I don't even bother to comment about the

> uniform unworkability of the drugs on the causes of the illnesses for

which

> they are prescribed nor will I comment on a further danger: the effects of

> combining several durgs at once. Nor on the fact that OTHER non-toxic

> remedies and approaches to health would eliminate the need for these drugs

> and their poisonous effects.)

>

> Dow makes Rifadin, a " semi-synthetic " antibiotic for the treatment of

> tuberculosis. The PDR comments, " Rifadin has been shown to produce liver

> dysfunction. Fatalities associated with jaundice have occurred in patients

> with (previous) liver desease. " The PDR further issues a bizarre

warning --

> " Rifadin can cause the urine, feces, saliva, sputum, sweat, and tears to

> turn red-orange. " Permanent discoloration of soft contact lenses may

occur. "

>

> The suggested Rifadin dosage for people with TB is 600mg a day for six to

> nine months. Yet the PDR gives this warning: " High doses of Rifadin

greater

> than 600mg given once or twice a week have resulted in high incidence of

> adverse reactions, including leukopenia (abnormal decrease in white blood

> corpuscles), thrombocytopenia (abnormal decrease in blood platelets),

acute

> hemolytic anemia, shock, renal failure. "

>

> Among Rifadin's other advese effects are anorexia, vomiting and menstrual

> distrubances.

>

> I have tried in listing adverse effects to avoid dipping into the explicit

> PDR category " rare " and the category, " has been found to occur in less

that

> 1% of people taking drug and vanishes upon discontinuing drug. " That

leaves

> the open categories of " general advese effects " or " we don't really know

how

> many people on the drug suffer from these effects " or the " these effects

are

> reported to occur after drug is marketed to the public and there is no way

> to prove the effects are caused by the drug. " I have relied for the most

> part on these three last categories.

>

> Dow and Ely Lilly and Company of Indianapolis are partners in a

corporation

> called Dow Elanco, one of the largest producers of agricultural chemicals

in

> the world. As a 40 percent partner Lilly falls within the purview of Dow

and

> so I have justifiably include its drug products under the umbrella of Dow

in

> this section.

>

> Lilly manufactures Heparin sodium (derived form the intestinal mucosa of

> pigs), a blood anticoagulant used to prevent clotting. Says the PDR,

> " hemorrhage can occur at virtually any site in patients recieving Heparin.

> Patients on the drug can develop an " irreversible aggregation of (blood)

> platelets . . . (which) may lead to gangrene of the extremities . . .

(and)

> amputation, mycardial infarction, pulmonary emoblism, stroke and possibly

> death. "

>

> Lilly's Nalfon is an NSAID for (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).

Every

> year in the U.S. seven to eight thousand people die from the

administration

> of NSAIDs and between 70,000 to 80,000 are hospitalized from their use.

>

> Lilly's Prozac is the wildy popular " in " anti-depressant of the moment.

> Prior to its release, it was never tested on humans for longer than

thirteen

> weeks. Prozac has been associated with suicidal and murderous behavior,

and

> the dampening of sexual desire. Its other effects include insomnia,

anxiety,

> and anorexia (in 9 percent of the patients in clinical trials). Fifteen

> percent of the 4,000 patients who received Prozac in pre-release clinical

> trials discontinued treatment due to " an adverse event. "

>

> Diethylstilbestrol, a Lilly drug, is a synthetic estrogenic substance used

> for breast cancer and prostate cancer (as a palliative only). The PDR

> states, " WARNING: USE OF ESSTROGENS HAS BEEN REPORTED TO INCREASE THE RISK

> OF ENDOMETRIAL CARCINOMA. ESTROGENS SHOULD NOT BE USED DURING PREGNANCY.

ITS

> USE MAY CAUSE SEVERE HARM TO THE FETUS. More PDR quotes on this drug:

>

> " A recent study reported a two to threefold increase in the risk of gall

> bladder disease occuring in women receiving post-menstrual estrogen

therapy

> . . . "

> " In a large prospective clinical trial in men, large doses of estrogen . .

..

> comparable to those used to treat cancer of the prostrate . . . have been

> shown to increase the risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction, pulmonary

> emoblism. . . "

> Adverse reactions to diethylstilbestrol include breakthrough bleeding,

> spotting and change in menstrual flow; vomiting; cholestatic jaundice;

> hemorrhagic skin eruption; corneal curvature; and migraine.

> All these effects for a cancer treatment that is admittedly only a

> palliative?

>

> (Note: The January 28, 1994, Congressional Quarterly in its report,

> Regulating Pesticides, points out that pollutants in the environment are

> being found to contain estrogenic substances. And that several researchers

> have linked exposure to estrogens with cancer, including breast cancer.

(Now

> read the above section the drug diethlystilbestrol again and if you mind

> isn't completely blown, check your breath on a mirror.)

>

>

> The above list and description of medical drugs is centainly not meant to

be

> all-inclusive vis-a-vis Dow. It is just a bitter sample. If you find

> yourself saying, " Well, even if these drugs have some horrible effects,

the

> doctors who prescribe them must know what they're doing " , consider that

once

> people said exactly that about the U.S. corporations who were busy

spilling

> poisonous chemicals into the rivers of this land. " They must know what

> they're doing. They would never . . . " But they did. And these

corporations

> are manufacturing the kinds of medical drugs I've just been describing AND

> the industrial chemicals AND the pesticides. Wake up and smell the

poisons!

>

> Who could present a complete and specific portrait of Dow's yearly

> industrial wastes? Inform, Inc. (New York City) has done an analysis of

> quantity in its Toxics Watch 1995 report. It culls the top twenty

> corporations from a total of 10,840 parent companies in the U.S. Dow ranks

> sixth in " production-related toxic chemical wastes, carcinogens and ozone

> depleting chemicals . . . " . How many pounds of waste are we talking about

> defecated by Dow into the world? 517.5 million pounds for 1992! Half a

> billion pounds.

>

> of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides

> names Dow's pesticide Dursban as a serious creator of health problems:

> nausea, headaches, behavioral changes in children. She told the

> Multinational Monitor that at least one out of every two phone calls that

> her office takes about pesticide complaints concerns Dursban. The

Pesticide

> Action Network states that Dow produced or sold three pesticides on their

> " Dirty Dozen " list before 1980. One of these DBCP, ordered to be phased

out

> by the EPA, now shows up being sold by Dow to the Dole Corporation, which

> has used it on its banana plantations in Costa Rica. DBCP contaminated

> ground water for several thousand square miles in the California central

> valley and caused sterility in agricultural workers. Four other Dow

> agricultural chemicals, Gallant, Verdict, Gauntlet, and Tridal, banned by

> the EPA, have shown up in Africa, Latin America, Central America, Asia and

> Europe.

>

> Beyond the products mentioned so far, what to boycott made by Dow?

>

> Styrofoam labeled plastic products, agricutlural herbicides (Starane,

Spike,

> Treflan), the soil fumigant Telone, and two insecticides, Dursban and

> Lorsban.

> It makes over-the-counter drugs: Norhistamine (cough), Cepacol, Gly-Oxide

> (antiseptic), Cepastat lozenges, Citrucel laxative, Delbrox (ear care),

> Gaviscon (antacid), the calcium supplement Os-Cal.

>

> Household products include Ziploc Bags, Fantastik Cleaner, Handi-Wrap,

Saran

> Wrap, Spray 'N Wash, Dow Bathroom Cleaner, Glass Plus Multi-Surface

Cleaner,

> Smart Scrub, Ultra Yes laundry detergent, Vivid bleach and Style and Perma

> Soft hair products.

> It should also be noted that Dow manufactures benzene, widely acknowledged

> as a carcinogen.

>

> Of course, all this information is faxed and internetted around the world,

> people outside the U.S. will find the Dow subsidiaries in their countries

> and the products they make. In the U.S. the reference text The Directory

of

> Multinationals is a good source for the names of these subsidiary

> corporations.

>

> So to this point, you have much more than sufficient evidence of massive

> toxicity to justify a boycott of Dow. You can also see that boycotting

their

> products is in some cases awkward, because wholesalers and companies, not

> individuals, are Dow's customers. More reason to press disinvestment,

making

> it unconscionable to hold stock of this company.

>

> We welcome additions and more complete descriptions of products entered by

> other researchers. But don't accept any softening of the boycott stance or

> baloney about how Dow is improving its environmental responsibility.

Despite

> changes, these corporations are toxic from top to bottom. Do you negotiate

> with them? Let other groups do that. This is a global educational campaign

> to isolate the biggest chemical companies from the rest of us who want a

> world we can live in. Expose the naked truth. Poison is poison.

>

>

>

>

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