>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
CONTACT:
Kimberly Hartke, Media Relations, The Weston A. Price Foundation (703)
860-2711 or cell (703) 675-5557, _kimberly@hartkeonline.com_
(mailto:kimberly@hartkeonline.com) .
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 has spearheaded a national
campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of modern soy foods. Please visit
their website _www.westonaprice.org_ (http://www.westonaprice.org/) to learn more
about the Foundation’s Soy Alert! campaign.