The Poisoning of a Nation... and the Cover-Up | Vani Hari

31:59because I think people like you, Josh, and others that were there that day, we were like bonded forever in friendship after that moment and being there and marching to Kellogg's headquarters to deliver those petitions and then be met with such disdain at the door where Kellogg's executives didn't show up. They weren't even there. They told their entire office to go home and not be there that day. And so we were met with a paid for security guard who gathered the petitions and then signs in the in the windows that said, get off our lawn. You know, I don't think I've ever been more mad in my entire life.

32:42I mean, I had to literally physically walk off and like cool off because I didn't know how to handle seeing that sign get off our lawn and it pointing down at so many women and children who had come out that day to support our mission and other citizens and elected officials. so it was uh it was quite the slap in the face but i think it was one of the the most pivotal moments of our campaign it was actually the most the the biggest pr mistake in food industry history but also the greatest gift to our movement because it energized our movement it energized our movement so much that secretary kennedy saw what happened that day and took our voice to the campaign trail right after.

33:28And not only did he, you know, send out a tweet in support of us, but he also went in interviews and said, the first thing I'm going to do when I am secretary or in a position of power, I'm going to ask the food companies to remove artificial food dyes. And that's exactly what he's done since becoming secretary of health and human services. Well, it's amazing. And a lot of these are, you know, we see companies removing these left and right. We see, you know, yeah, we see these, you know, these bands coming up. And so it's super, I mean, it's super exciting. It's super exciting. You know, one thing to turn the conversation a little bit, and then I want to, I then I have quite a few other questions for you.

34:14But, you know, one thing is, it is so a shame that so much of this has turned still partisan today. You know, there's this I know we're on a chat together, a group chat. And there's this I think she's a dietician, maybe, who's, you know, doing these interviews and basically kind of, you know, trying to diminish the Mahav movement, trying to diminish artificial food dives. Why do those matter? That's not important. Forget it. And like be very critical of RFK Jr., of yourself, of sort of anybody that's a part of this this whole movement. it. You know, but it is sad that there are so many of these people that and the other thing is, you know, what most of these people do, they don't really have any suggestions.

34:53They just are trying to criticize others for popularity. And it's sad, but it still is political, which is so which is so crazy, you know. Most people have no idea that the pan they use for breakfast this morning may have released the same forever chemicals found in contaminated drinking water. In fact, U.S. poison centers reported 267 cases last year of people getting sick from the toxic fumes released by their nonstick pans. That's why I want to tell you about 360 Cookware. They make premium stainless steel cookware that's free of toxins like PFAs, PTFEs and PFOAs, no chemical coatings, just pure high quality steel.

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36:21This is a simple change that makes a big difference in your life for your meals, for your health, and for your peace of mind. So the people that are critical of our movement, I have a really hard time understanding where they're coming from because there has never been this type of information ever coming out of our health government leaders in history. I have never seen the FDA talk about the food chemicals that don't belong in our food the way that they have I have not seen the Secretary of Health and Human Services talk about the root cause of why we are so sick I have not seen anyone address the fact that there is a loophole that allows the food companies to self-affirm and self-approve chemicals for use and our food system.

37:23I have not seen anyone talk about the fact that infant formula has not been reviewed over, you know, two, two decades, I think. And looked at the nutrition science of how to get safer, better formulas for our infants. I have not seen, I mean, I could go on and on and on. Yeah, I was gonna tell you, I mean, I thought one of the criticisms was, we needed to be, you know, So basically, one of these people is basically like, the key is to get people to stop eating calories and sugar. And it's like, you can't like tell people, you know what I'm saying? I mean, we, of course, this is what we do. You and I educate people.

38:04So we are constantly doing that. The government's job is to protect us from things that aren't even food that are called food and those types of things. And I know from working with like a lot of kids on the autistic spectrum and a lot of kids with ADHD in a lot of families. Food dyes affect them. Food dyes absolutely cause behavioral issues. They absolutely cause issues with the liver, the kidneys, the gut. So as a practitioner, I've seen that as well. The science shows that as well. You've seen that as a mom and a leader in this whole space. And so, you know, I think one of the things that RFK Jr.

38:41is doing, and this is what I'm saying is one of the first things, and he said this as well, he's going after low-hanging through? What are some changes we can make right away as quick as we can that we know will make a difference? And he's got a plan. I mean, when you look at, I just saw his policy of what he's trying to do with vaccines. And it's really, it's really impressive. I mean, the big, I mean, the changes he's trying to make right now, I'm like, they are like, I don't think most people understand how big his changes are. I saw someone post recently who was on the left and more holistic, Like, well, why isn't he banning them all?

39:15I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, he couldn't possibly do that. Like, that's, you know, it's just not realistic. But what he's doing, it is very lofty. These are big, hairy, audacious goals. The crazy part is he's probably going to do them, though. Like, I mean, you know, in looking at what he's going after and everything from vaccines to getting peptides approved, you know, opening things up where HSA accounts and we can spend more on vitamins and supplements and medications and holding, you know, So removing pharmaceutical commercials from TV, like these are massive, massive changes he is working on all right now.

39:53All of them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that alone, Dr. Axe, if that's accomplished, that is partly the root of all of our evil is the fact that our media, our TV, everything we're being fed is being largely funded by the pharmaceutical ads and pharmaceutical companies. And when you stop that, that stops a lot of information that, you know, we don't need to hear that, you know, misinformation that we're getting fed that ends up keeping us in a perpetual cycle of being sick. And when you start talking about the root cause of why we are so sick, what we're eating, our lifestyle factors, exercise, sleep, then we start to see that we can really empower our citizens to start to live a healthier life, to literally change the life expectancy trajectory we're on from being lower than our children having a lower life expectancy than us, changing that so that they end up having a better life expectancy than us.

41:05And if we're able to just do that alone, that's tremendous. Whereas any previous administration up until this point has not made this a priority like it is today. And that's true for Democrats and Republicans, whether somebody like Bush or Clinton or Obama or whoever, I mean, it's been across the board. They have not really cared or prioritized American health. That's the reality. And they haven't done it. One of the things I would love for you to share, because I think this would just shock some people because it shocked me because I think a lot of times people would think, well, that that probably only takes place in the movies.

41:40You know, when this dietician was posting yesterday, criticizing Maha, somebody posted on there, I think she's likely paid by these pharmaceutical companies. And I don't think people realize how often there are trolls online and people that are showing up at events and doing things where pharmaceutical companies actually pay these people to go out and speak, even though they're not publicly saying I'm paid by big pharma. And I remember you had a book launch. This is years ago. And there were all these negative reviews before the book even came out. I'm talking about like fit like a hunt, like so many negative reviews.

42:16You know, of course you remember this because it was your book. I remember thinking this is crazy. And it was like literally pharmaceutical companies were paying people to go and write negative reviews for your book. So share, share with people just how often that's happening where they might think, oh, this person's a leader in health and they're speaking out against and saying everyone should be eating food ties or, or whatever. And these people were actually paid for. Yeah. And, and so it's funny because at the time when I was, you know, taking on the food industry for the first time and taking on some of these big giant corporations and getting them to remove chemicals like Subway, getting them to remove a chemical called azodicarbonamide and getting Kraft to remove artificial food dyes.

42:58And then I got Starbucks to remove caramel color level four. And then I got the beer companies to release the ingredients in their beer for the first time in history. You know, there's all these wins back to back to back. And the food industry and the chemical industry were very nervous about the power that I had in this amazing army of citizens, everyday citizens, that signed petitions and held these companies accountable, they wanted to do whatever they could to take down my character and to stop the momentum of this movement, to stop my success. And so at the time, we didn't have this widespread awareness around chemicals in our food like we do now.

43:36I didn't have this cover from the leaders of our world saying the same things, right? Like I was I felt largely alone in a way, you know, speaking off a rooftop and trying to to warn the public. And so I felt very attacked by this coordinated effort online to take me down. But it wasn't until FOIA requests, Freedom of Information Request Acts, that we submitted and organizations like U.S. Right to Know, an amazing nonprofit that submitted all of these FOIA requests to different universities and people who were spokespeople that you saw in every like, for example, there was a university professor, Kevin Fulta, who ended up in every single article that was written about me.

44:26And I'm like, how did this guy end up in everything? And he's a doctor, PhD, professor saying that I'm full of, you know, and and of course they're using him as like an expert against this, you know, just everyday citizen who decided to research and learn about health and food. And so they were trying to diminish my credibility and tell everyone that I didn't know what I was talking about. But they used this guy over and over and over and over again. Well, we found out through Freedom of Information Request Acts that he was getting paid by Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, others. Right. And he was in coordination with these chemical corporations.

45:13And thankfully, an amazing Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Eric Lipton, published an article outing him. And it was on the front page of The New York Times. It was incredible. So I felt very vindicated. And I remember taking that front page article and sending it to James Hamblin, who wrote the, you know, 15 page piece in The Atlantic about me. And it was like me and Kevin Fulta against each other. and how I said in that piece, this guy is getting paid by someone. I just don't know who. You need to ask him and investigate this. I send this article to him and I'm like, I think you need to update that piece and say I was right.

45:53Well, he refused to do it. And it was maddening. But this is what I was up against was hidden collusion behind the scenes with academics and quote-unquote independent experts trying to persuade the media and the public to say, these chemicals are safe. GMOs are safe. Glyphosate is safe. Artificial food dyes are safe, right? And I don't know how many times, you know, I've read that in the paper where it says, you know, the food companies go by the fact that these things are safe. They're not safe. We know they're not safe. These other countries have taken them out for a reason to protect their citizens.

46:36And we've shown you the side by sides. Right. And so so now the truth is getting out there. You know, I ended up writing a whole book about this. It's called Feeding You Lies, where I talk about the playbook of the chemical and food industry. And it follows largely the pharmaceutical industry and what they do as well. I think they're even more nasty. And I think that's why the attacks on RFK Jr. have been so vicious. but the chemical corporations are just as bad. I mean, to the point where they had a program at Monsanto that was called Leave No Comment Left Behind. That meant anytime anybody would talk critically about GMOs or glyphosate or any of the chemicals used in genetically engineering crops they would have an army of trolls astroturfing campaigns that would go and squash that you know piece that news article that video anything that you would post and so there would be you know countless negative art comments about usually character assassination against the person who was posting it which a lot of times was me but they had this program and they have since shut it down because they got found out, right?

47:52And then Bayer bought Monsanto. But also they continue to do illegal activity, which was they used a secret database that was actually funded by USAID, which actually was shut down, thankfully, recently. But they funded this secret database called, what was the name of it? I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but it was this secret database and it was being run by the head communications director at Monsanto. And it housed doxing information about activists like me and Vanna Nesheva and Michael Pollan or anybody who would speak out about the chemical intensive agriculture in America.

48:40And it was not just used by Monsanto. It was used by ChemChina, which is now Syngenta was bought by ChemChina. in other chemical corporations. And it had information about my parents, my family, had my address, had a phone number. I mean, it was very intense personal information about me, but it was used to use me as like, I'm a target of their chemicals. And, you know, they were using this information to gather intel on, on me and others. So, So they are very sophisticated and they have a history of colluding with government leaders and the EPA to prevent the impacts of their chemicals from getting out to the public, the risks of their chemicals from getting out to the public, the fact that their chemicals cause cancer.

49:36It is crazy. I mean, the way that I see this and just, you know, through kind of a philosophical or symbolic biblical lenses, I mean, this is a true David versus Goliath sort of situation. You have gone up against these. I mean, we're talking about billion and multi-billion dollar companies. RFK Jr. has done a similar thing. Billion dollar companies and won. I mean, in certain ways, you know, definitely won some of these battles. And I think that, you know, this is where ultimately things are always exposed in the end. I mean, things are always found out. And so by, you know, Kellogg's going back on their word and essentially lying and not keeping a promise, they're suffering now, even economically.

50:17You know, I saw you post the shares, you know, they just it's not it's not good. It's not good for Kellogg's right now. And a very similar thing from Monsanto. I mean, they've they've taken a major hit from just lying and killing so many people. That's a whole nother thing. And I think the pharmaceutical industry is next. I think what they've done in harming people with these conventional medications that are overprescribed, everything from antibiotics to statin drugs to so many others. Again, I think that they're they're next. You know, they're going to pay the price next. So, yeah, they are.

50:47And I think, again, we have extraordinary leadership coming out of Washington to to hold these companies accountable and to put human health above profits. And that's really exciting to have someone with that passion and someone with the know-how of how this works and all the corruption and to have someone as passionate as Secretary Kennedy in that position. We're really lucky as a nation. And it's an everyday battle, though, in terms of watching the lies come out of the media and the onslaught of the mass media and how they spin a certain narrative to try to negatively talk about this movement or talk about even the progress that Secretary Kennedy and others have made to this day.

51:42And it is, you know, my phone since September has not been has been ringing off the hook with reporters, you know, from every single major news outlet. And it's every single day. It's it's trying to figure out, you know, fact from fiction and getting that out to the public and being that positive voice out there. That's like this is really what's happening. Right. And I think the perfect example of this is actually what happened recently where President Trump announced that he was talking to Coca-Cola and convinced them to move from high fructose corn syrup to cane sugar. And immediately there were so many articles that came out that talked about how this is a nothing burger.

52:30You know, it's still a soda. This has nothing to do with human health. And meanwhile, the chemical corporations are laughing because that's exactly what they want being portrayed in the media. They want people to think there is no difference between high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar. But when you actually look at the truth and the facts behind the chemicals involved in producing cane sugar versus high fructose corn syrup, they're dramatically different. First of all, high fructose corn syrup is coming from genetically engineered corn that is designed to withstand heavy doses of Roundup that causes cancer.

53:13That alone, the reduction of high fructose corn syrup or the elimination of high fructose corn syrup in our food supply in America would have a tremendous impact on how much glyphosate is being dumped into our farmland and our waters and in our bodies. So that alone is a win in my opinion. But again, at the end of the day, it's true. It is a soda. It's not something you want to be consuming because it now contains cane sugar. But it's more about the bigger mission, the overall supply chain, and how to change our farming practices to more regenerative farming practices where we have more biodiverse crops.

53:59We're eliminating the need for so much corn and soy and converting those farmers over to other crops that are more nutritionally sound for our diets that aren't solely there to feed cattle or produce cheap, ultra-processed additives. Yeah. Yeah, and there's a big difference between this ultra-processed food and high-fro-disc corn syrup and a processed food like cane sugar. And of course, again, you don't want to eat a bunch of cane sugar either. But to your point, there's no doubt that for the environment, for toxicity levels, the amount of glyphosate for our health, it's better than high-fro-dose corn syrup.

54:39But, you know, you're doing just such incredible work in just leading this charge. I know that there are so many people that are just so grateful for you and all the amazing things you've done. And on top of that, on top of leading this charge, you've started an amazing supplement company. You're, you know, you're just sharing with me the amazing vacations you've been doing with your kids and family this summer. I've loved the post. I love following you online and seeing those there as well. What are you excited about coming up? What are some of, by the way, I, one of my goals for you in the future, I have goals for you.

55:12So one of those is I would love to see you start a food company in the future. Maybe that's post supplement. Maybe we got a food company in your future, but I'd love to, what are some things you're excited about? Yeah, you know, I am, well, first of all, it's the end of summer. The kids are going to be going back to school soon. And, you know, I just kind of realized since having kids, your summer, you're kind of, you know, your productivity is a little lower because they're out of school and you want to spend time with them. And you only have so many summers with them. And I really try to maximize that time.

55:43And when they get back to school, I'm just going to hit the ground running. I have so many different projects. I have a new cookbook coming out. I'm really excited about it. It's called Food Babe Feast. And it's going to be on like how to party like a food babe, right? Like how to really enjoy food and have fun with food and throw a party and have a celebration, have a holiday with all the toxic crap. So I'm really excited about, you know, digging into that cookbook. And, you know, one of the things that I've been cooking with lately that I absolutely love is 360 Cookware. actually three which is actually the sponsor of this blog post which is amazing they they are one of the tools that i use every single day in my kitchen i i make a steel cut oatmeal almost every single day and it takes me less than 30 seconds to like put it in their crock pot which is 100 stainless steel by the way so there's no um risk of leaching lead or other chemicals that you see in the other ceramic type crock pots or the ones that have the coating on them the different colored coatings and things so this is completely stainless steel so not only is it easy to clean because you just literally throw it in the dish washer or you can put it um in your sink and just a little soap and everything just wipes clean very quickly but it's it's so easy to use and it saves me so much time in the morning when the kids wake up and they're so hungry yeah and they want to have something first thing.

57:17And this is my biggest trick for any mom out there to have something really healthy, ready to go. And I think this is one of the reasons why cereal became so popular back in the eighties is because, you know, women went back to work and it was just like, you know, they didn't have time to cook a homemade breakfast every morning or even to sit and, you know, stir the oatmeal so it doesn't burn. And so now you don't need to do that. You can use this crock pot and it's amazing it's 30 seconds the night before you have creamy amazing steel cut oat and i i use this brand i don't know if you've seen it but it's called one degree they test for glyphosate and they have sprouted oats yes yeah yes so the oats are soaked the phytic acids removed so the the oats are more easily digestible for anybody that has any gut issues or anything in general just you want to feel healthier and happier you know so anyways it's just one of my tricks that I have so that when the kids wake up and they're like, mom, I'm starving.

58:14I have oatmeal ready. I can throw some ground flaxseed on it, some cinnamon. I can put walnuts in it, some almond butter, add some nice fat in there and then some berries and they love it. They love pomegranate seeds in it. Anyways, it's just my, it's my hack for having something easy, but healthy, ready available in the morning. Um, but anyways, I, I am a, I'm really excited about getting back in the kitchen and making these recipes for this cookbook. So I've been thinking a lot about that. And one of the things I've been thinking about, too, is just like how to reduce my load of all of the plastics and the aluminum foil and all of the other chemicals I'm being exposed to.

58:52And one of the things I've thought about recently and, you know, for a while I've stopped, you know, stopped using any kind of aluminum foil to cook my food on because I don't want that aluminum to leach into my food. And there's been, you know, data that suggests that aluminum is linked to Alzheimer's disease and other health issues. And so, you know, I primarily use parchment paper. But then I thought about the parchment paper that I'm using, too. That's also coated in some kind of plastic. Right. And I'm cooking on that. And so this is another use for 360 that I love is all of their cookware is stainless steel.

59:29Yeah. And so they even have stainless steel bakeware where you don't need to use parchment paper. You cook directly on that. Whereas most bakeware that you find in different stores that are available, it's all coated with aluminum. It's all coated with, you know, Teflon or some other toxic chemical that's leaching forever chemicals into your food or your diet. And we know that forever chemicals are really hard to remove from your body once they're in them. That's why they're called forever chemicals. And this is what eventually leads to hormone disruption, immune disorders, liver damage. It leads to cancer.

1:00:09And so when I think about things that I'm doing every single day, I think about how I can just eliminate my exposure to these chemicals in the easiest way possible, the most convenient way possible. So it's not going to be something where I'm, you know, spending so much time doing something different in the kitchen. But it's just an easy swap. So anyways, I'm a huge fan of 360. I partnered with them, too. I love them. And anyways, if you're trying to clean up your cookware in your kitchen, you've got to check out this company. And they're all American-made, which I love. Yeah, it's so great. Well, I want to encourage you guys to, yeah, check out 360 Cookware.

1:00:51It is a great stainless steel cookware brand. You can go to 360cookware.com. And if you put in the code AXE20, you can get 20 % off their cookware and bakeware there as well. Vonnie, thanks so much for coming on. Thanks so much for leading the charge. I want to encourage everybody in the future, when it's out, when it's ready on Amazon, check out Vonnie's new cookbook, Food Babe Feast. I love the name. It's going to be great for Thanksgiving, Christmas, holidays. A lot of the comfort food turned healthy, the food that we love. So I want to encourage that as well. Well, Vani, thanks so much for coming on.

1:01:23Thank you, everybody, for listening. And thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show, where every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. Don't forget to subscribe. Also, share. There are so many people that don't know the truth about what the pharmaceutical companies and the food companies are doing to target our kids, do our own our health. And also, I want to thank a lot. So many of you, I know, have been reposting the post that Vani and I have done, bringing awareness about food diets, bringing awareness about high fructose corn syrup and all the chemicals in our food supply to make America healthy again.

1:01:58So thanks so much. Thanks again, Vani. And I'll see you guys on the next episode.

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