Reply #26: Which leads us back again to the subject of torture...

[lucretia54]

A group of people who propose going back to a natural diet of unrefined foods, recently wrote to the future President Obama about the food being offered to those imprisoned in Illinois State Prisons:

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA
From Sally Fallon Morell, President, the Weston A. Price Foundation


November 16, 2008

Dear Mr. Obama,

Congratulations on your recent victory in the American presidential elections. As the
president-elect, you have many issues to consider as you prepare to take office.

One issue I would urge you to focus on concerns a grave injustice taking place in the
prisons of your home state, namely, a prison diet that is slowly killing the inmates assigned to the
Illinois Department of Corrections. This is a diet based largely on soy protein powder and soy
flour. As you stated on last night’s 60 Minutes Program, America does not condone torture.
I think you would agree that what is happening in the Illinois prisons is a form of torture.

Soy protein and soy flour are toxic, especially in large amounts. The US Food and
Drug Administration lists 288 studies on its database showing the toxicity of soy. Numerous
studies show that soy consumption leads to nutrient deficiencies, digestive disorders, endocrine
disruption and thyroid problems.

Even the most ardent supporters of soy, such as Dr. Mark Messina, warn against
consuming more than about 20 grams of soy protein per day. But the inmates in Illinois are
getting upwards of 100 grams per day—beef and chicken by-product mixtures containing 60-70
percent soy, fake soy meats and cheese, even soy added to baked goods. The soy products are
produced by Archer Daniel Midlands, which contributed heavily to the campaign of Rod
Blagojevich. The change from a diet based largely on beef to one based on soy happened in
2003, when Mr. Blagojevich began his first term as governor.

The national office of the Weston A. Price Foundation has heard from dozens of
inmates begging for help. Almost all suffer from serious digestive disorders, such as diarrhea
or painful constipation, vomiting, irritable bowel syndrome and sharp pains in the digestive tract.
One reason for these problems is the high oxalic acid content of soy—no food is higher in oxalic
acid than soy protein isolate, which can contain up to 630 milligrams per serving, at least six
times higher than the amount found in typical diets.

Oxalic acid is associated with kidney stones, but the sharp crystal deposits can form in
almost every tissue in the body--in the heart where they can stop electrical signals; in the
bones where they can displace bone marrow cells, leading to anemia or immune deficiency; in


the brain where they can impair the transmission of signals; and in the skin where they can cause
fibromyalgia.

Other problems reported by the inmates include acne, hair loss, depression, lethargy,
allergies, heart arrhythmias, passing out after soy consumption, frequent infections and constant
feeling of cold. Many of these are symptoms of low thyroid function. The estrogen-like
compounds in soy are known to depress thyroid function.

When the prisoners seek medical treatment, they are told that soy does not cause the
problems they are experiencing. Even those who vomit or pass out immediately after eating soy
cannot get an order for a soy-free diet. They are told: “If the soy disagrees with you, don’t eat it.
Buy food from the commissary.” And since most of the inmates cannot afford to purchase food
from the commissary, they are faced with a choice of serious health problems or starvation.
Several have had sections of their colons removed when a simple return to a nutritious, soy-free
diet would have solved the problem. One inmate who passes out whenever he consumes soy was
given a pacemaker.

Several inmates have filed lawsuits. One inmate has been subjected to illegal and
life-threatening retaliatory actions as a result of his filing two lawsuits claiming inadequate
medical care. Pro bono legal help is urgently needed for these cases.

According to law, prisoners are entitled to “nutritionally adequate food” (Ramos v
Lamm, 639.2d 559, 1980). According to Illinois law, “Infliction of unnecessary suffering on
prisoner by failure to treat his medical needs is inconsistent with contemporary standards of
decency and violates the Eighth Amendment” (Key Note 7. Criminal Law 1213).

The justification for the switch from beef to soy is to save money. But according to one
court case, “A lack of financing is not a defense to a failure to satisfy minimum constitutional
standards in prisons” (Duran v. Anaya, 642, Supp. 510 (DNM 1986), page 525, paragraph 6).

And it is not clear that the soy diet is saving the state of Illinois any money, not when you
consider the greatly increased medical costs that have ensued, and the risk to the state of costly
lawsuits. The state of Virginia provides grass-fed beef to inmates at no cost to the state. Low-
risk prisoners raise the beef at Sky Meadows State Park. The surplus is sold to the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections, resulting in a net gain for the prison budget. All over the country
prisons are instituting creative ways to save money while teaching inmates new skills, including
gardening, animal husbandry, beekeeping, food processing, composting and recycling. Only the
state of Illinois has chosen to poison its prisoners instead.

It is said that a nation is judged on the way it treats its prisoners. The American prison
system is predicated on the premise that criminals can be rehabilitated. To feed prisoners a diet
that can permanently ruin their health robs them of any opportunity for rehabilitation, renders
them unfit for normal life when they are released, and will impose an unnecessary burden on the
state’s medical services. It constitutes a medical experiment and amounts cruel and unusual
punishment, which must be stopped.


Mr. Obama, you can stop this cruel soy-feeding experiment with one phone call. I
urge you to be that champion of fairness and justice that you promised during your
campaign by making that call.

Sincerely yours,

Sally Fallon Morell, President
The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a non-profit nutrition education foundation dedicated to
restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. The
Foundation is spearheading a national campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of
modern soy foods. Please visit their website www.westonaprice.org to learn more about the
Foundation’s Soy Alert! campaign.


I think it's probably safe to say that soy products are being used in prisons all over the country, and perhaps that is why poor Mr. McNichols is having such distress!