High
Soy Rations Torture Prisoners
Nutrition Expert Asks Obama to Intervene
November
18, 2008--Washington, DC-The president of an
influential nutrition education organization has called for
President-Elect Barack Obama to intervene in a prison feeding
program that is poisoning inmates in the Illinois prison system.
In an open letter to Obama, Sally Fallon Morell, President of
the Weston A. Price Foundation, urged the president-elect "to
focus on 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.
According to Fallon Morell, 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).
In fact, it is unlikely that the soy diet is saving the state
of Illinois any money, because of greatly increased medical
costs 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.
"It is said that a nation is judged on the way it treats
its prisoners," says Fallon Morell. "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 to cruel
and unusual punishment and must be stopped."
Fallon Morell ends her letter to the next U.S. President with
a plea for action: "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."