by KP Stoller, MD www.incurable-me.com
“A poison in a small dose is a medicine.” – Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806–1880) forensic toxicologist
The FDA, in their wisdom and duty to protect us from dangerous foods, devices and drugs, has issued a warning against Hyland’s Teething tablets because they contain Belladonna (0.00000000000000003% to be exact).
Not plutonium, not mercury, not cyanide but Belladonna.
What is Belladonna that the FDA felt it needed to issue a warning to parents?
Belladonna has long been an herbal pain reliever, muscle relaxer, and anti-inflammatory.
The Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants known as the nightshade or potato family are both edible and poisonous. The family includes the Datura or Jimson weed, eggplant, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, capsicum (paprika, chile pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, and petunia.
The Solanaceae are known for possessing a diverse range of alkaloidal glucosides, (alkaloids), such as tropanes (atropine) and hyoscine (scopolamine), as well as nicotine and solanine. These toxins have anticholinergic properties so at high levels will produce symptoms such as dilated pupils, tachycardia, loss of balance, headaches, flushing, dry mouth, urinary retention, delirium and convulsions. Nicotine is an alkaloid as is caffeine and cocaine.
Belladonna, for the most part, is a combination of these alkaloids:
- Atropine
- Hyoscyamine
- Hyoscine
A homeopath would tell you a “Belladonna” patient, that is a patient who might benefit from homeopathic Belladonna, would be “dry as bone, red as beet and mad as a hatter.” Because in homeopathy you treat symptoms with a ultra micro dose of the very thing that would cause those symptoms if taken in a concentrated form. In homeopathy it is called the law of similars.
The amount of belladonna in Hyland Teething tablets is diluted to 1 x 1012 another way of saying this is one part per trillion (ppt) – 1 ppt. (The Hyland’s Teething tabs contain Belladonna 12x – or one part Belladonna to 10 to the 12th power sugar, since the tablets are made with lactose, so that is what the Belladonna is being diluted into.) The absolute amount of Belladonna per tablet is 2 trillionths of a mg.
Whether or not one believes homeopathy has any therapeutic benefit, I am not aware that 1 ppt of Belladonna has any deleterious effect. In fact I will go so far as to say it has no effect at all if you just straight dilute it to 1 ppt.
To put this in context…
Mercury free (reduced) vaccines contains 2000 ppb of mercury – the most deadly non-radioactive element on the periodic table. The flu vaccines contain 50,000 ppb of mercury.
1 ppm = 1,000,000 ppt
So, the flu vaccine has 50 million times more mercury than Hyland’s Teething tablets has Belladonna.
In my book, Incurable Me (published last month), I discuss the use of mercury in dental fillings. I also included, in the chapter on mercury, my resignation letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics for supporting the continued use of mercury in childhood vaccines. Here is a excerpt from my resignation letter.
“Vaccines with “trace” amounts of Thimerosal, by definition, “contain less than 1 microgram of mercury (Hg) per dose.” For example, consider that the reduced-Thimerosal flu vaccine with 0.0002% mercury is equivalent to 1 microgram (µg) of Hg per 0.5 mL, or 2 µg of Hg per mL, which is the same as 2000 µg per liter; or 2000 ppb or parts per billion.0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury has been shown to kill human neuroblastoma cells. 2 ppb mercury is the U.S. EPA limit for drinking water. 20 ppb mercury destroys neurite membrane structures. 200 ppb mercury is the level in liquid that the EPA classifies as hazardous waste. 25,000 ppb mercury is the concentration of mercury in multi-dose, hepatitis B vaccine vials, administered at birth from 1991–2001 in the U.S. 50,000 ppb mercury is the concentration of mercury in multi-dose DTP and haemophilus B vaccine vials, administered 8 times in the 1990’s to children at 2, 4, 6, 12, and 18 months of age and currently “preservative” level mercury in multi-dose flu, meningococcal, and tetanus (7 and older) vaccines. “
So, the FDA is concerned about 1 ppt of Belladonna but approves vaccines as safe that have known toxic levels of mercury and aluminum?
What else is Belladonna in that the FDA should warn us about?
The Belladonna alkaloids (excluding solanine, etc.) in potatoes come in around 0.02mg/kg (sometimes a little more sometimes a little less and it depends if you are eating the skin, which are usually much higher in these alkaloids.)
Well, 0.02 mg/kg of Belladonna in potatoes is the same as saying 20 ppm. Let’s say a nice Russet is about 300 grams, one would be getting the equivalent of 7 ppm of Belladonna… (technically, it is still 20 ppm but the portion size is smaller). Large fries at your favorite fast food place about 150 grams or 3.5 ppm. Now most teething infants will not eat a serving of large fries, but they might be served up mashed potatoes by their mommy. Is the FDA putting out a warning about not feeding potatoes to infants and everyone else for that matter?
No they do not and why don’t they? Because it is an innocuous amount of Belladonna. It is not lead, plutonium or mercury where there is no safe amount.
So, why is the FDA picking on Hyland’s teething tablets?
Because it is homeopathic, it is alternative, and because they can put out a warning and damage sales of something harmless and often effective sold outside of the Big Pharma paradigm.
I don’t know anyone at Standard Homeopathic anymore – it was almost 40 years ago when I visited their plant and learned how those teething tablets were made, and saw the machines they were made in. I attempted to contact Standard Homeopathic to find out why they rolled over and just pulled the product from the United States market instead of stating what I just stated above as a response….
They didn’t have to pull the product, but I guess they didn’t want to be seen as a company selling a product that the FDA felt inclined to warn us all about… It would be bad PR and even if they tried to explain this to the public…. do you think the public is going to understand parts per trillion vs parts per billion. The public hears the word poison and that is the end of it. No one buys poison to consume unless you don’t have a choice – like our fluoridated drinking water.
If the FDA were being consistent with their concern for us, they would put out warnings for all the mercury laden vaccines – all of them even the ones with only trace amounts (remember – that is still 2000 ppb), but vaccines also contain aluminum, retrovirus and homologous human DNA contaminants. They would be putting out warnings on their website for all vaccines if they were being consistent with their concern about protecting us. Where is the warning for aspartame, which the FDA should never have approved? Where is the warning for Mercury laden dental filings, etc. Where are those warnings?
Something is rotten in Denmark and it isn’t the 1 ppt of Belladonna in Hyland’s Teething tablets.
by KP Stoller, MD www.incurable-me.com
America is not so stupid that they can’t understand this argument. True, the Media might not understand it, but they are paid to be stupid on purpose. I recently shocked myself. I asked my group of 5000 facebook friends a simple question: Please answer yes or no. If diagnosed with cancer, would you get chemo/radiation? Yes or no? I got about 200 fast answers, most all of them, 95% of them, no. And I’m not running an anti cancer forum. My friends are just that awake. I then asked the same question in Larry Cook’s forum. Same response: about 600 quick no answers. Many gave the alternative therapies they would use. I copied it all together into a large “cure cancer” document. Posted at my page on facebook.
Jason, I am very heartened.
I’m completely a “Belladonna” person as is my youngest child…and for a shitty, stubborn headache or ear infection nothing is better. So, we keep our Belladonna supplies full now with Biorin or WHP,usually in both 9C and 30C.
The FDA can’t have it both ways. Homeopathy is either a quack placebo with no active ingredients, (their stance) or an effective remedy with ingredients that work. If they demanded hylands take their product off the market, then there must be an active ingredient. Truth is, the product works, as does homeopathy. Insomnia facto the FDA are liars pandering to pharma, who still can’t come up with something as effective as hylands for teething. And if mothers get relief for their babies with hylands, it just might start them down the road of homeopathy and real cures. God knows we can’t have that!