Olestra and 5G: Both Marketed as Safe Despite Scientific Proof That They Are Anything But(t)

By B.N. Frank

If you’re old enough, you may remember all the fanfare associated with the introduction of fat substitute olestra. Inventors, manufacturers, and handsomely paid marketing teams all promised that it would give us great-tasting food that wouldn’t make us fat. Unfortunately, olestra’s literal explosive gastrointestinal side effects could not be denied for long and quickly became the butt of jokes by late night talk show hosts and everybody else. Since olestra, scientists and the FDA have made many mistakes – including ones that led to the current Opioid Crisis. In regard to olestra, CBS News categorized it as an “Epic, Embarrassing Product Failure. Time Magazine listed olestra as one of the Top 50 worst inventions:

In January 1996, the FDA approved olestra as a food additive.

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Frito-Lay was among the first companies to jump on board, introducing its WOW! division of potato chips in 1998 to claim fat-free stomach satisfaction. But olestra proved to be a greedy chemical. It not only removed unwanted fat from foods but also negated the body’s ability to absorb essential vitamins. Side effects included cramps, gas and loose bowels, turning fat-free French fries into a foiled business fad. The FDA has kept olestra as a legal food additive to this day, though, leaving its health implications in the hands of individual consumers.

What? The FDA has kept olestra as a legal food addictive despite everything they know? Other countries have banned olestra but not the U.S? Yes and yes. In fact, there have been recent complaints about olestra which led to a 2006 lawsuit because it was legally being added to foods without labeling:

In 2003, under pressure from the food industry and over the objection of CSPI, the Food and Drug Administration dropped a requirement for olestra-containing foods to bear a label warning consumers about abdominal cramping and loose stools. Then in 2004 Frito-Lay quietly renamed its olestra-containing line of “WOW!” chips as “Light”—a move that CSPI says was designed to intentionally deceive people into thinking that the product was an entirely new olestra-free lower-calorie chip.

Last week, CSPI forwarded 396 new reports to the FDA, bringing to 3,753 the number of reports CSPI has sent the agency since 1996. In a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, CSPI is asking the agency to reinstate the warning label on olestra-containing products.

OMG. Could you just sh*t twice and die? Umm – maybe. Adding insult to intestinal injury – 2013 research results found that olestra might also may make you gain weight, not lose it. Wow! indeed. Yet even this hasn’t completely stopped the marketing of olestra as safe and the title of one 2014 article suggested that it might even be “good for us.” However, the reported “benefit” was that by causing GI mayhem, olestra “could help rid your body of a dangerous toxin.” No thanks.

This leads us back to the marketing and forced installation of 5G wireless infrastructure in communities and in front of homes all across the U.S. and around the world. Only marketing says 5G is good for us. Many scientists, doctors, environmentalists, elected officials, neighborhood associations, tribal groups, even pro-tech folks say it’s not. In fact, exposure to all sources of wireless have been scientifically proven to not be safe after all. In regard to 5G, a court case was already won in Gateshead, England. Earlier this year, New Yorkers complaints about exposure were reported by Dr. Naomi Wolf. Despite all of this inventors, manufacturers. marketing teams and more are still promoting 5G as “good for us.”

However, unlike olestra, we will have NO choice NOT to be exposed to 5G when it is installed throughout our communities and in front of our homes. Wireless radiation exposure isn’t good for animals or the environment either.

If this concerns you, visit the following websites to learn what you can do to stop this from being installed where you live. Residents of Burlington, Vermont already have: