Stores selling vit B-17 are being shut down here in the USA too. Jim Wright
though was
shut down in a particularly mean-spirited way. The FDA has shown itself to be
capable
of the same behavior, if not moreso. Big Pharma wants to keep ordinary people
from keeping
themselves healthy by natural means without the use of unnatural allopathic
medicine. The FDA is the junk yard bulldog for Big Pharma. Vit B-17 also known
as laetrile. See:
http://www.cancure.org/laetrile.htm for more info.
Peace, D. Mindock
---------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release: Vitamin Seller Made a Criminal
Jim Wright, from Port Talbot in South West Wales (U.K.), ran a small business
selling natural products. Like many involved in natural health, Jim wanted to
help not only his family and himself, but also others. Jim's caring nature and
concern for the suffering of others ultimately got him into trouble. In fact,
it made him a criminal. Find out how the UK medicines regulator, in cahoots
with the BBC, set him up. This is an astonishing case about persecution and
prosecution. Yesterday, Jim received his sentence from Swansea's Crown Court.
Jim and his family have been through hell and back, yet he's not beaten - he's
going to appeal.
To download the full press release (which has this morning been circulated to
the entire UK media) as a PDF document, including the Editor's Notes that
provide more details on this important case, please click the following link:
http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/_docs/ANHwebsiteDoc_263.pdf
The text of the release is given below:
Vitamin seller made a criminal
After three years of apparent persecution by the UK medicines regulator, a
Swansea man, Jim Wright, was yesterday criminalised by the Swansea Crown Court
for selling vitamins and herbs.
Jim Wright had operated a small business selling natural health products for
some years before being raided for the first time in May 2003, then again two
years later, by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Authority
(MHRA). During these unannounced dawn raids, his stock was taken, thus
preventing him from running his business. The vast majority of his stock
comprised common garden herbal products the like of which can legally be bought
from high street health food stores across the UK.
Emerging from the Court room, Wright said, 'I think given the wealth of false
evidence that was presented in Court, the whole thing's been a total farce. Yet
in the process they've managed to make me a criminal. The Judge gave me a £1000
fine, £1000 that I haven't got, and 120 hours of unpaid community service. I
was accused of selling products that I wasn't selling and we even showed the
Court that the supplier of vitamin B-17, as found in apricot kernels, was
itself shut down by the US Food & Drug Administration on 30th September 2003.
They found nothing in two raids on my house. I was set up.'
Wright, like others who had been selling vitamin B-17 up until it was made
illegal in 2002, was made aware of the change in government policy and withdrew
the product from sale. He had always made a point of complying with any advice
or requests by the UK medicines enforcement agency.
In 2003, the MHRA worked with BBC Wales to entrap Wright. A women and her
partner who, he was told, had a myeloma in the leg that had been operated on
and that had subsequently spread, approached Jim Wright with a view to buying
products that would help the cancer patient. The couple forced Wright to meet
them in a car park on two separate occasions to deliver a range of natural
health products. Wright thought this a most strange request, yet the customers
were adamant this is how they wanted their products delivered. They filmed him
covertly the first time, but on the second occasion, the cameras were revealed
as he passed over the products. He was devastated to find the customers were
really a BBC reporter and her perfectly healthy colleague.
Shortly after this, Wright saw himself on the BBC, being made out to be a
criminal, despite the fact the products he was selling were 100% legal. About
one week later, the MHRA raided him, confiscating all of his stock, and so
handicapping his small business operation.
No legal proceedings followed, but Mr Wright's stock was also not returned even
after three requests. The enforcers went peculiarly quiet on Mr Wright.
Two years later, Wright received an order for vitamin B-17. Unknown to him, the
order was from an MHRA enforcer who, posing as a member of the public,
presented a heart-wrenching story about her husband dying of prostate cancer.
The lady was very specific about her desire for vitamin B-17, that Wright was
well aware had been banned some years earlier. Wright made it clear that he
could no longer sell B-17 and had none in stock. After continuous pressure,
however, Wright succumbed to providing a single pot that he still had in his
home office that had been returned to him by a customer and that he hadn't yet
posted back to the original supplier in Mexico. He was given a mailing address
that happened to be the accommodation address for the MHRA. On receipt of the
product, a warrant was obtained the same day from Bow Street Magistrates and
Wright was raided for a second time, in May 2005.
Speaking about this second raid, Jim Wright said, 'They were hoping to find a
big stash of vitamin B-17 - that was what they said they were after when they
barged into my home. They of course found nothing. So they again took all my
stock, all my accounts, a folder with all of my correspondence with the MHRA
and another with thank-you letters and customer contact details. It was
frightening - and deeply disturbing.'
Dr Robert Verkerk, executive director of the Alliance for Natural Health
responded today to Wright's sentencing, 'The Swansea Crown Court Judge took the
opportunity to condemn the natural products industry. He said the manufacturers
of these supplements are exploiting people's misery and making lots of money
out of them. Jim Wright, he said, was a victim, and clearly hadn't made a lot
of money himself.'
Reflecting on the sentencing, Verkerk added, 'To prey on someone's intent to
help others - to set them up like this - is astonishing and deeply unethical.
Jim Wright and his family have been through hell and back - his business has
been irreparably damaged, yet no illegal products were found in either raid.
The lack of reasons given during and after the raids, and the confiscation of
legal stock that included extra virgin olive oil, beggars belief. We are
heartened to hear that Jim Wright and his legal counsel have every intention of
mounting an Appeal.'
It is expected that Jim Wright's Appeal against his prosecution will be
launched within 9 months.
Contact point for all media (UK and international):
Dr Robert Verkerk or Meleni Aldridge
Alliance for Natural Health
The Atrium, Curtis Road, Dorking RH4 1XA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1306 646 600
Fax: +44 (0)1306 646 552
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe, please go to
www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=unsub
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