Metal Shards Found in Mike Adams/Natural News Product? (Video)

Mike “The Health Ranger” Adams has been a frequent guest here at Bad Science Debunked. We’ve caught the anti-GMO fanatic hypocritically pushing GMO products¹ (more than once)², and hawking formaldehyde³ in pain relief formulas while simultaneously screaming about the compound’s toxicity.

The Health Ranger often relies on the general public’s lack of enthusiasm for science (and, sadly, love of conspiracy theories) to pull off his scams.  No better example can be found in his great “Wheaties Contains Metal Fragments” scare–a video that I won’t link to here, not out of fear of spreading hysteria, but because I can’t:  on March 4, Facebook science/skeptic pages lit up with the news that Adams has, at least temporarily, been banned from YouTube.^4,5

Because I believe in free speech, I’ve obtained a copy of the Adams’ Wheaties video and resurrected it–in true Internet “I Fixed That For You” style.  In my video, we use Health Ranger Blood Builder,⁶ a product I purchased from Mike Adams’ own online store.  The Ranger’s argument is that if a food product is attracted to a magnet, it must be full of metal shards.

With Health Ranger’s own product on the ol’ kitchen lab table, let’s put that claim to the test, shall we?

 

I purchased my bottle of Health Ranger MegaFood Blood Builder tablets⁶ in late 2017 for approximately $30.

Questions and Answers
My video prompted some interesting science questions that aren’t easily answered via multimedia updates. Here’s a summary:

“In both the Bad Science Debunked and Mike Adams videos, the Wheaties (and Adams’ product) only cling to the edges of the rare earth magnet, not the its entire face. Why is that?”

This is due to the way that rare earth magnets are manufactured. You’ll notice that my magnet is cube shaped, while Adams’ is rectangular, and, indeed, the Wheaties only stick to the edges of the both magnets.

The magnets didn’t come by these shapes naturally. According to my magnet’s manufacturer, the element neodymium is literally packed into the desired form during the manufacturing process. The brittle material is later encased in a rust-proof alloy for protection. The end result is a higher density of neodymium along the edges of the respective magnets (which aren’t even magnetized yet–they’re “zapped” with an electrical current at the end).

The higher density of magnetic material results in a higher pull strength at the edges; this is where the tiny ferromagnetic particles in the food products are pulled.

“Is this not just static electricity causing the attraction and clinging? Try a piece of non-magnetic steel to see what happens?”

First just a quick note: the magnet itself isn’t covered in steel; it’s an alloy of nickel and copper. But you might theoretically attract small pieces of cereal, etc. with static electricity. You’d need to build up an excess of electrons first. Because steel is made from iron, and iron is ferromagnetic (though not necessarily magnetized), I’d instead use something like a rubber balloon rubbed on a wool sweater if going that route. Sitting at my kitchen “lab” bench, frequently touching a grounded computer as I did the experiment, I doubt I was able to build up a charge. (I did use a stainless steel kitchen knife to scrape the particles together for photos, and nothing stuck to the knife.)

Finally, as part of my niece’s fifth grade science fair, she did a version of this experiment (yes, a fifth grader can easily debunk the Health Ranger.) Part of my niece’s experiment included a control group of fine-grained non ferro-magnetic materials such as salt, spices, etc. None were attracted to the rare earth magnet. If static electricity was the culprit, I’d expect a response from something besides just ferromagnetic materials.

This article was updated on March 12 to add a questions and answers section.

References
(1) Mike Adams’ GMO Addiction
https://badsciencedebunked.com/2017/01/18/mike-adams-gmo-addiction/
Retrieved 04 March 2018

(2) Natural News, Mike Adams Selling Even More GMOs
https://badsciencedebunked.com/2017/01/16/natural-news-mike-adams-selling-even-more-gmos/
Retrieved 04 March 2018

(3) UnNatural News: The Health Ranger Sells Formaldehyde
https://badsciencedebunked.com/2016/07/15/unnatural-news-the-health-ranger-sells-formaldehyde/
Retrieved 04 March 2018

(4) YouTube Terminated Natural News (via Skeptical Raptor/Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/skepticalraptor/posts/1760360460707584
Retrieved 04 March 2018

(5) Natural News Banned From YouTube (via Debunking Denialism/Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/DebunkingDenialism/posts/1544990368947885
Retrieved 04 March 2018

(6) Health Ranger Blood Builder (60 Count)
https://www.healthrangerstore.com/products/blood-builder-60-count?variant=16535372673
Retrieved 04 March 2018

 

Image/Video Credits
Mike Adams/Health Ranger/Natural News video excerpts are used in strict compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Snake Oil intro image used under parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

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Anti-GMO Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones is Selling GMOs

 

We’re living in a strange new reality in the United States.  Our citizens are forced to deal with problems such as terrorist attacks that never happened (e.g. Bowling Green, KY) and life-saving vaccines causing problems that they don’t.  A large percentage of the population is happy to accept lies and contradictions without question.  Alternate facts seem to be accepted in more places than MasterCard, Visa, and Discover combined.

It should come as no surprise then that virulent anti-GMO campaigner and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is selling genetically modified (GMO) soy via his online store, while simultaneously and falsely claiming that GMOs cause cancer, infertility, IQ reduction, and deformities.¹

The soy in question is found in a men’s health supplement named Prosta Guard,² sold by Jones’ InfoWarsShop.com.  Knowing that nearly all soy grown in the United States is genetically modified³ and painfully aware of Jones’ “America First” attitude, I contacted the InfoWars store and asked if the soy used in this product was genetically modified.  The response, was, unsurprisingly,  “Yes.”  InfoWars customer service added that any non-GMO products sold by Jones’ haberdashery would be clearly marked.

Prosta Guard as advertised on Alex Jones’ InfoWars store web site.  The soy is highlighted in this screen capture.  (click/enlarge)

I don’t give a tinker’s damn if the soy is genetically modified or not, and experts agree that consumers have no reason to be concerned either.  There’s no evidence that genetically modified foods are anything but safe, nutritious, and a boon to agriculture.  But arguing the point with conspiracy theorists is an exercise in futility.

Consider, if you will, that Alex Jones believes that the government uses chemicals to create homosexuals as a form of population control, Michelle Obama is a man who married Barrack to prove a point on transgender rights, the United States Government has a secret weather control machine, and the “new world order” is opening thousands of portals to allow demons to pour out onto Earth.^4,5  How do you debunk a reasoned argument when one is never presented?

Irony of ironies, InfoWars also spreads fear and paranoia about food-based chemicals believed to disrupt the human endocrine system.⁶   Yet they completely ignore the fact that the soy in their Prosta Guard contains naturally occurring compounds known as phytoestrogens, which are (wait for it)… endocrine disruptors.  Alison Bernstein, who runs the outstanding science page Mommy PhD, authored an excellent article⁷ on endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) science and associated paranoia.  Using soy as one example, Bernstein expertly picks apart the Appeal to Nature fallacy displayed by those such as Alex Jones, who eschew BPA food containers only to consume the very class of chemicals they’re trying to avoid.

In his blatant act of marketing hypocrisy,  Mr. Jones joins a host of other hucksters whose scholarly and ethical compasses arguably don’t exactly point north. For over three years, anti-GMO campaigner Vani “the Food Babe” Hari has sold a skin care product made with GMO corn despite warning that the “toxic” ingredients can be absorbed by the skin and into the bloodstream.  Mike “the Health Ranger” Adams of NaturalNews.com peddles wares containing GMOS here, here, and here, even though his web site contains over twenty pages of search results falsely linking GMOs from everything to cancer to farmer suicides to the destruction of agriculture in Africa.

Jones’ followers stare at his hypocrisy like a deer in headlights, blissfully ignoring the truckload of truth bearing down on them, a blaring horn of facts trying to warn them off the roadway.  It’s a scene growing ever more common in a country that once took pride in science, reason, and truth.  There’s nothing to fear from the GMO soy in the Prosta Guard sold by the InfoWars store, but many reasons to avoid funding the store’s owner, who spreads dangerous anti-vaccine propaganda that endangers public public health.

Buy Prosta Guard if you must.  Just please don’t buy it from Alex Jones.

References
(1)  “GMOS=HUMANITY’S DEATH SENTENCE (Cancer rates, Autism and other medical tragedies are spiraling out of control)”
The Alex Jones Show/InfoWars

(2) Prosta Guard (with ingredients) via InfoWars Store
http://www.infowarsshop.com/ProstaGuard_p_1547.html

(3) USDA: Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the US
(Recent Trends in GE Adoption)
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered-crops-in-the-us/recent-trends-in-ge-adoption.aspx

(4) Comprehensive Guide to Alex Jones Conspiracy Theories
http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2016/12/01/comprehensive-guide-alex-jones-conspiracy-theorist-and-trump-valuable-asset/214668

(5) Is Hilary Clinton a Witch? Some of the Worst Alex Jones Conspiracy Theories (Salon)
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/09/is-hillary-clinton-a-witch-rank-some-of-the-worst-alex-jones-conspiracy-theories/

(6) “ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS ARE IN YOUR FOOD, TOO”.  (InfoWars.com)
https://www.infowars.com/bpa-free-not-enough-endocrine-disruptors-are-in-your-food-too/

(7) “A Chemical is a Chemical is a Chemical”. (Dr. Alison Bernstein, PhD)
http://www.crediblehulk.org/index.php/2016/03/29/a-chemical-is-a-chemical-is-a-chemical/

Image Credits
Alex Jones pep band parody image by Mark Alsip/Bad Science Debunked uses elements from Hormel, Alex Jones/InfoWars, and YouTube under provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Alex Jones/InfoWar screen captures used in compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Edit History
This article was modified on March 28, 2017, to reference material from “A Chemical is a Chemical is a Chemical”.

Mike Adams’ GMO Addiction

Author’s note: I’ve been contacted by Health Products Distributors, the manufacturer of the product mentioned in this article, and asked to reaffirm that, as mentioned in the original writeup, the reformulated product no longer uses soy–it uses non-GMO sunflower oil. There is a disagreement on when the sunflower oil formulation went into use in the Natural News store. HPD now says 2013, though when contacted for the original version of this article, they said it was still being phased in, and the Natural News labeling still clearly showed soy. I’ve reached out to Natural News for comment and will provide an update here when it’s available.

Wasn’t it just yesterday we were pointing out that Mike Adams of Natural News was still selling GMOs while simultaneously claiming they would kill you?  Well, OK, it was two days ago.  But who’s counting?

Actually, I’m counting.  And I’m up to three–three times the Natural News Nattering Nabob of Nonsense has told you GMOs will eat away your innards, then turned around and sold you products containing GMOs!  Ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, we proudly present Rejuvenate Plus, the current batch made with GMO soy, available from Mike Adams’ Health Ranger store:¹

Rejuvenate Plus, from the Health Ranger store (click/enlarge)

I emphasize “current batch” in the preceding paragraph because the manufacturer, Health Products Distributors of Tucson, Arizona, informed me during a phone call that they were switching from GMO soy lecithin to non-GMO sunflower lecithin.  But, for now, here’s what Ranger Mike’s been pushing on his unsuspecting customers:

Ingredients in Health Ranger’s Rejuvenate Plus. Note the GMO soy lecithin (click/enlarge)

As we all know by now, there’s nothing to fear from genetically modified organisms and/or products derived from them.  Mike Adams and his #NaturalNonsense store make a small fortune bilking innocent people out of hard-earned money by selling them expensive items that contain the very same ingredients that they lie about being dangerous.  In fact, Natural News recently published a story falsely claiming GMO food was turning pigs’ stomachs to mush and hilariously suggested that it would do the same to humans…² all the while selling GMO food to humans here and here.

Why, the only way Natural News could possibly recede any further into the Twilight Zone would be by publishing a serious article warning of an actual pending zombie apocalypse.  They wouldn’t.  They couldn’t.  Would they?

Oh Sweet Jesus and bless their hearts, they did.  Judge their integrity for yourselves, dear reader:

This is a real Natural News headline. Mike Adams sanctions this tripe, along with harmful anti-cancer nonsense and GMO propaganda. Be an educated adult in 2017. Say no to #NaturalNonsense.  (click/enlarge)

 

References
(1) Rejuvenate Plus from the Health Ranger Store
https://www.healthrangerstore.com/collections/health-concerns/products/rejuvenate-plus-500-g?variant=16538979393

(2) GMO feed turns pig stomachs to mush! Shocking photos reveal severe damage caused by GM soy and corn
http://www.naturalnews.com/040727_GMO_feed_severe_inflammation_pig_stomachs.html

Image Credits
Natural News, Mike Adams/Health Ranger, Health Product Distributors screen and product snapshots are used in strict accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

The screen capture from the film The Sixth Sense  is used under parody provisions of the same Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.

Natural News, Mike Adams Selling Even More GMOs

Natural News founder Mike Adams is vehemently opposed to products that contain genetically modified (GMO) ingredients, so why do we once again find him selling GMOs?

Consider, if you will, Ultimate Protector, made by Health Products Distributors of Tucson, Arizona, and offered by Adams’ Natural News online store.¹  This “cell protection formula” uses genetically modified black soybeans.  Even though the bottle itself is labelled non-GMO,  I spoke with three Health Product Distributors representatives by phone, and again by email, and they confirmed that the company does indeed use GMO soy in several of their offerings, including Ultimate Protector.

 

Ultimate Defender capsules as seen on NaturalNews.com (click/enlarge)

As my grandma always said, you can’t swing a dead cat in the Natural News market without hitting a product that the self-styled Health Ranger falsely claims will harm you.  We already found him peddling GMOs back in July, 2016.²  In that same month, items that (by his definition) contain formaldehyde were found on his virtual shelves,³ even though he links the preservative to brain damage, cancer, and seizures.

Yes Virginia,  Mike Adams’ products are made from GMO soy  (click/enlarge)

I used Natural News’ online chat utility to ask the company about their GMO sales, but the representative I spoke with was double parked in the no comment zone.

As we all know, there’s nothing to fear from GMOs, and Health Products Distributors (HPD), who Adams unintentionally and falsely maligns through his scientific illiteracy and poor research, should not be penalized because he happens to stock their wares.  HPD reps  were very open and patient with me during our phone calls and didn’t hold back when answering questions.  I’m skeptical of some of the “science” they quoted (such as being able to “strip antigens from the GMO ingredients” before adding them to the mix), but let’s not punish them for Mike Adams’ sins.

No one has ever shown GMOS to be dangerous, and let’s remember that the man claiming otherwise has graced us with “news” goodies such as a recent thermonuclear missile launch near Los Angeles:

THIS NEVER HAPPENED–but the Truth Train doesn’t make regular stops at Natural News Station.  Are you going to take advice on cancer from this site? (click/enlarge)

We can (and should) laugh at Mike Adams’ ridiculous claims about nukes, but what about  his fake news that leads innocent cancer patients away from real doctors, and into his den of deception (aka the “Health Ranger Store”).   Here, it’s time to get angry.  It’s not funny when someone loses a life, but that’s the path down which Mike Adams is leading us.

Join me in making 2017 the year of the #NaturalNonsense hashtag:  pledge not to share articles from NaturalNews.com, the web’s most blatant fake news web site.

Let’s close this piece with a laugh: head over to YouTube and watch Mike Adams and a puppet sing about not eating the very same GMOs they’re selling online!⁴

Don’t want to eat GMOs?  Take the damn things out of your store then Mike! (click/enlarge)

References

(1) Ultimate Protector capsules on Natural News
https://www.healthrangerstore.com/products/ultimate-protector-180-vcaps?variant=16535585793

(2) Mike Adams and Natural News are Peddling GMOs
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/mike-adams-and-natural-news-are-peddling-gmos/

(3) Unnatural News: The Health Ranger Sells Formaldehyde
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2016/07/15/unnatural-news-the-health-ranger-sells-formaldehyde/

(4) The (very hypocritical) Mike Adams GMO Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEVw5Jl4c2g

Image Credits

Natural News, Mike Adams/Health Ranger, Health Product Distributors screen and product snapshots are used in strict accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.I can’t find a source for the original snake oil salesman snapshot that I Photoshopped with Adams’ image. I’m legally using it under the parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, but would love to credit the source if anyone can help me find it. A Google image search returned over 3 dozen hits, none with a definitive source

UnNatural News: The Health Ranger Sells Formaldehyde

For the most part, the scientific world simply laughs at Mike Adams, the self-proclaimed
“Health Ranger”.  Adams’ web site, Natural News, regularly publishes supermarket tabloid-style articles on topics such as life on Mars being wiped out by ancient aliens, World War III possibly already being underway, and both 9/11 and the Sandy Hook massacre being hoaxes.  And who can forget this side-splitting video¹ of Adams and a puppet expressing (in song) their scientific illiteracy about GMOs?

But there’s a serious, darker side to The Ranger.  In addition to spouting medical misinformation that could actually cost real human lives, such as the well-debunked view that vaccines are dangerous and pushing ineffective holistic cancer cures, Mike Adams is selling merchandise that contains the very same chemicals he claims will kill you.

To illustrate this last point, let’s go shopping at NaturalNews.com.  Having been bent over in the garden doing a lot of weeding these past few weeks, my back is killing me.  The Health Ranger promises that this bottle of NutraCool topical pain relief formula will cure what ails me:²

NutraCool, on sale in the Natural News store, contains an ingredient Mike Adams links to cancer. (click/enlarge)

Before I buy though, I’m keen to take the advice of Mr. Adams and learn what’s in the product I’m considering putting on my body.  If you read Natural News regularly, there are supposedly a lot of sneaky toxic chemicals out there in the cold cruel world–not all of them sitting out in plain sight.  Why, here… check out this advice on hidden formaldehyde in cosmetics and skin care products:

“Formaldehyde is a highly toxic chemical that is still used under the guise of different ingredient names that don’t include “formaldehyde” in the title in a large number of products that are frequently in close contact with consumers.” ³

One of those devious, hidden formaldehyde sources, according to the Health Ranger?  Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.  This compound is sometimes used as a preservative in cosmetics, much to the chagrin of astroturf “consumer advocate” sites quoted by Adams, such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which warns that sodium hydroxymethylglycinate can slowly release formaldehyde into cosmetics over time.

Why might this matter to Mike Adams?

“Formaldehyde is highly effective as a preservative; however, it is also highly toxic to our immune system, nervous system and is also a major carcinogen.” ³

Health Ranger says to avoid sodium hydroxymethylglycinate in personal care products and links it to myriad diseases.  Do you see where this is going?  Maestro, cue the ominous drum roll.  Let’s even add some scary claps of thunder, because this is going to be big.  Without further ado, I present the ingredients in the UltraCool pain relief gel sold by NaturalNews.com:²

NutraCool ingredients

As Minnie Mouse said to Mickey on their wedding night:  Eek!  There it is in all its glory… sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.  The chemical compound Natural News links via formaldehyde to cancer, neurotoxicity, and immune system disfunction is a prominent ingredient in the company’s merchandise.

If Mike Adams is a health “Ranger”, his (moral) compass doesn’t appear to be pointing due north.

A disturbing trait of snake oil salesmen is how openly they run their con games while going unnoticed by their marks.  You might forgive an unsuspecting customer for missing the sodium hydroxymethylglycinate buried deep on a web page, but Natural News also proudly displays the additive on the product label, complete with a magnifying glass feature.  You can’t miss it if you try.  See the following image (click to enlarge).

Mike Adams proudly displays the “carcinogenic” sodium hydroxymethylglycinate on his product label. Maybe he knows nobody’s looking and/or they don’t know he’s conning them. (click/enlarge)

So NaturalNews wants me to rub this pain-relief lotion all over my skin, even though it contains an additive they’ve linked to cancer?  Let’s pause one last time and let Mike Adams “educate” us on the wisdom of this action:

Given the fact that just about everything you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream…⁵

Gee, thanks Mike.

This is just one of many (upcoming) examples of a web site/Facebook page misleading nearly two million followers.  Chuckle over Natural News’ featherbrained conspiracy theories, yes.  But don’t fall for or spread their potentially fatal lies about the dangers of vaccines and GMOS (read: they’re safe).  And by all that’s holy, don’t spend your hard-earned money in the Health Ranger’s online store.  When an unqualified, self-styled “expert” such as Adams tells us to avoid “formaldehyde-releasing” cosmetic ingredients and then sells eight ounces of the very same for $29.95–shame on us for buying.

 

References
(1) Just Label It Song
http://www.naturalnews.com/just-label-it-song.html

(2) NutralCool on NaturalNews.com Store
http://store.naturalnews.com/NutraCool_p_4.html

(3) Four Common Formaldehyde Releasers to Avoid in Your Cosmetics and Skin Care (NaturalNews.com)
http://www.naturalnews.com/041323_formaldehyde_skin_care_cosmetics.html

(4) NaturalNews.com: Chemicals in Skin Care Products
http://www.naturalnews.com/023317_skin_chemicals_products.html

 

Image Credits
Natural News and Mike Adams/Health Ranger screen and product snapshots are used in strict accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Opening photo parody/illustration by Mark Alsip/Bad Science debunked.  Produced with elements (c) Natural News; also used instrict accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.