Category Archives: Suzanne Somers

Farm and Cattle Woo

Google is an amazing thing – it occasionally tosses you a link that lands you in an alternate universe of folks you’d never encounter in real life.

Like cattle ranchers.

I’ve just spent the good part of an hour wandering their world – reading about their concerns (water, wolves, the economy), seeing how cattle breeding has changed (You pick a sire at Bullsemen.com, then do genomic profiling on your stock – did you know that cows bred for docility have more tender meat ?) and learning that ranchers are not immune to marketing from the world of scientific Woo.

Check this out – it’s called SOP Life Vibration or “Serio Bio-Hygienization”. They’re selling it to farmers and ranchers in Europe and the US as the latest and greatest answer to bacterial growth and odors in farm feed and bedding.

SOP Bio-HygienizationSOP products are formulated with the innovative Sirio Operating Process technology to improve the environment of the farm in a more effective and longer lasting way than current available means.

SOP® products are natural and scientifically tested. They are not enzymes, bacteria nor disinfectants. Using a process of “frequential bio-conditioning” they selectively favor the activity of the “beneficial” micro-organisms and create unfavorable conditions to inhibit the development of the “pathogenic” ones.

A 100% natural product. Through a bio-frequency method, SOP® is created with strategic wavelength and harmony. This same technology is comparable to the electronic systems used for radio broadcasting.

“100% natural” “Bio-hygeinization”  “Frequential bio-conditioning”

I smell a Woo. And that makes me nervous.

After all, I’m a meat eater.  If someone’s putting something wacky into and around my food source, I want to know about it. So I decided it was worth my while to find out what the heck was in this SOP® stuff .

What’s in SOP’s products?

Just try to find that out.

I read this huge SOP brochure targeting organic farmers in the UK – nada. Googled every possible permutation of the name SOP – nothing but Woo. Poured over a batch of scientific papers from some university in Italy – nothing but brand name without product description.

Even the farmers using the stuff have no idea what they are sprinkling around their cattle stalls.

Okay, so now I was really nervous…

And then I stumbled across this little tidbit that someone from the SOP marketing branch accidentally let slip through –

SOP® products are made with calcium sulphate as a carrier agent which has undergone the SIRIO OPERATING PROCESS treatment. This technology is capable of transferring specific bio-frequencies from the carrier to the environment, starting up, in this way, the process of bio-hygienization. The correct and constant distribution of a very small quantity of SOP® gives great results which are fully evident within only 5 months from the beginning of treatment.

Calcium sulphate. Bingo.

It’s also known as Gypsum. And it’s been safely used for generations on farms as fertilizer and as a drying agent. You mix gypsum with straw bedding, and the straw stays drier. So it grows less bacteria and fungi. And smells better. Gypsum is also an organically-approved fertilizer.

So, of course SOP products work. They’re nothing but Gypsum. And since calcium sulphate comes from rocks, they can legitimately call the stuff natural. (Unless they’re recycling it from used drywall, in which case they should tell us that.) Heck, I’ll even grant that they might have worked out the ideal amounts and concentrations of calcium sulphate to be used for optimal results.

So why all the smoke and mirrors? I can only guess – money.

You can pick up agricultural grade gypsum for 5-8 bucks per 100 lbs. Something tells me the SOP folks are charging more than that – but I can’t prove it, since they don’t post prices anywhere.

Bottom Line

SOP® products appears to be nothing more than re-packaged calcium sulphate, a chemical safely used for years on ranches and farms to control moisture and optimize soil composition. Assuming that’s the only chemical in this product, no harm is being done, except perhaps to rancher’s wallets.

And while I don’t have the time to find our about the rest of the SOPGroup’s products (I’ve wasted enough time on this post so far), I suspect their entire operation is just a smoke screen for a farm chemical company that figured out a new way to sell the same old stuff at a higher price.

And that alternate universe of cattle ranchers?

Turns out it’s not much different than mine.

We’ve got Medical Woo, they’ve got Farm Woo. Both use similar tactics – fancy marketing, smoke and mirrors and patented trademarks for ridiculous unexplainable technology – to grab our dollars.

In the end, we’ve all got to be skeptical about what’s being marketed to us and demand transparency from those selling us products that ultimately may end up in our bodies – either directly or through the food chain.

Suzanne Somers, Larry King and Cancer – Enough is Enough


Suzanne Somers appeared on Larry King Friday night touting her book and pushing docs who use untested cancer therapies, including drugs called Anti-neoplastins and dietary regimens that include large amounts of enzymes coupled with coffee enemas.

In typical fashion, King set the stage in support of Somers by seating her at a table with three of her alternative medicine cronies, leaving Dr Otis Brawley, CMO of the American Cancer Society and the single voice of sanity, to appear via satellite. Despite this, Brawley clearly took the upper hand in the discussion, balancing Somer’s babbling with calm, reasoned facts that in the end, made her appear as exactly who she is – an uninformed layperson who has no idea what she is talking about.

Here’s how it went down –

In 2008, from what I can piece together from a rambling story that took us over a commercial break, Somers had either an allergic reaction or a pulmonary embolism after having dinner with friends, a meal which included a glass of Merlot. While in the hospital, further tests showed multiple masses throughout her lungs and livers, which Somers states, were initially mis-diagnosed as “full body cancer”. However, “for some reason” (like maybe to make a diagnosis?) the docs did a biopsy that showed a fungal infection (coccidiomycosis). This infection, while common, is rarely disseminated except in immune-compromised persons.

How is it that Suzie, the picture of perfect immunity, got such a severe infection?

Here, I’ll let Suzie and Larry tell you what she thinks happened ( if only to give you a sense of what I had to listen to for an hour)…

KING: And what was the final result?
SOMERS: I had none of those diseases. I was either poisoned or I was a substance.
KING: The merlot?
SOMERS:Salir, the merlot, yes….
KING: Do they think that was the cause?
SOMERS:Nobody — nobody knows, because at the…
KING: Could it have been sour?
SOMERS: At the time — at the time, I kept saying, couldn’t this be a poisoning? Couldn’t this be a severe allergic attack? No, it doesn’t look like that on the C.T. scan. What happened? Something blew out my immune system. My immune system, that had been at 43, like that, in five minutes, my immune system was wiped out. And they think what happened was a dormant fungus that all of us in Southern California could have was dislodged. And the day before I was in perfect health and I had had my immune system tested, because I do that because of the books I wrote. And the doctor had said, “Wow, you’re at 43”. And I said…
KING: ” I don’t have a frame of reference.”
SOMERS: He said, “Well,usually, people’s immune systems at your age is two or three. Really good is 10. You’re at 43.
KING: Oh and it was 43.
SOMERS: Forty-three. So I thought…
KING: And you were 63.
SOMERS: No, no, no, no. My immune system.
KING: Oh, I see.
SOMERS: I’m 63 years old.
KING: OK. I’ve got it.
SOMERS: My immune system is 43.
KING: All right

So what Suzie is saying is that a glass of merlot that others had drunk without any adverse effects blew out her entire immune system in less than 5 minutes so that in less than 24 hours, her entire body was riddled with fungal tumors. I won’t even begin to address this – I believe the idiocy speaks for itself.

Oh, and for the record? There is no valid immune test such as she describes.

11/10/09 ADDENDUM – Turns out Suzie was taking adrenal hormone supplements aka “steroids” (think prednisone…) These most likely suppressed her immune system.  I have no words to describe the stupidity.

Suzie’s life-changing experience with medical mis-diagnosis leads her on a nationwide chase to interview every quack who exists out there. Larry and Suzie focus on Stanislaw Burzynski, MD, a doc with a big clinic in Houston who claims to have treated over 8000 cancer patients with drugs he calls “anti-neoplastins”. Suzie is incredibly impressed with anectodal stories of miracle cures in Dr Burzyinski’s patients, and even more impressed that Dr B has drugs are in phase 2 clinical trials. Brawley then proceeds to calmly cut down Burzynski, although he is careful not to completely dismiss alternative medicine.

A look at the FDA website finds that indeed, Dr B has over 60 clinical trials of anti-neoplastins initiated since 1998. And of these, not a single one has had published final results. Several studies have been closed due to prolonged inactivity or failure to recruit. A pub med search finds that Dr B has published only preliminary (I presume cherry-picked) results of his phase 2 trials, all in all less than 100 patients.

Thus, while Dr B appears to have started the FDA approval process, he has clearly stalled. (Perhaps because his treatments don’t work?) In the meantime, his attempts to promote these treatments before they are finished being tested is unethical and should be illegal. And his use of Somers, a well-meaning but ill-informed and gullible patient, to promote him is truly astounding.

Yesterday, I blamed the media for kow-towing to Suzie, and allowing her to spread her misinformation to the public. Today, I’m adding her publisher to the blame list. I cannot believe such a book was allowed to be published, let alone publicized the way this book is being sold to the American public.
Since the program, King seems to be at long last backing off in his support of Suzie. His website no longer highlights her appearance, and a video of the segment on CNN’s website mostly features Brawley.

Hopefully Oprah will get the message, and will decline to feature Suzie on her show.

Because enough is enough.

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Suzie’s At it Again

This time it’s a new book about cancer. How do I know? My previous posts about Suzanne Somers on Larry King are getting hundreds of hits a day from her believers searching for her latest appearance on Larry King.

I was all set to get off a round at Suzie’s latest bit of quackery, but looks like Orac has fired the first salvo –

Let’s get one thing straight here. It is not amazing that Somers is still alive after having “rejected chemotherapy.” As I explained at the dawn of this blog, Somers had a stage I tumor with a favorable prognosis. If Somers is going to play the gambit of “I rejected chemotherapy and I’m still alive,” perhaps now is the time to go into more detail than I’ve ever gone into before about her case…

Then he proceeds to blow Somers out of the water as only Orac can. He’s even taken on her case of Valley Fever (coccidiomycosis), which she states was intially mis-diagnosed as “full body cancer” (whatever that is…) –

Most people who contract coccidioidomycosis are either asymptomatic or have mild disease…So why did Somers get such a serious case? It’s a legitimate question, given how she represents her woo regimen as the path to rejuvenation and health.

Let’s see. Somers is 63, but apparently in good health. She also takes all sorts of supplements which, or so she claims, “strengthen the immune system.” But her immune system was obviously not strong enough to prevent her from getting disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Didn’t all those supplements ward off the fungus?

Suzanne Somers is a monster created and sustained by the mainstream media, who do nothing but kow-tow to her. Harry Smith should have his journalist licence revoked (if there is such a thing), for his recent interview with Suzie. Why not just turn the show over to her and stop pretending that this is reporting? Smith claims there are attacks on Somer’s book, but has anyone seen comparable media space given to the voices of reason that counter her quackery? I haven’t. Search for “Suzanne Somers” on CBS news website, and almost everything you get is a pitch from Suzie. Only a single opinion piece, part of a well-written AP series on alternative medicine, takes her on.

To their credit, CNN’s website has a commentary piece by Dr Otis Brawley. But they then flip the finger at Brawley by displaying a prominent ad for Suzie’s appearance on Larry King within the text of his commentary. I don’t see a link to Brawley’s commentary on Larry King’s page about Suzie’s appearance. Shameful.

Look, Suzanne Somers is entitled to her opinion. She’s entitled to take or not take her doctor’s advice. But she’s not entitled to mislead and misinform the American public.

And that is exactly what she is doing.

Suzanne Somers Back on Larry King Live

This post refers to Somers 2008 appearance on Larry King Live. There is a more recent post about Somer’s 10/23/09 appearance here.

Well, I called that one, didn’t I? After being cited by the FDA for making unsubstantiated claims, the compounding hormone industry hit back with a one-two punch aimed straight at Wyeth, delivered of course by Suzanne Somers on Larry King Live. As I predicted, they’re framing the fight as the little guy (them) against the rich pharmaceutical companies, forgetting of course that it is the informed choice of American women which is at stake here.

Once again, the American public is distracted from the real issue, which is that these anti-aging folks don’t have a scientific leg to stand on when it comes to the health claims they are making for their billion dollar compounded hormone industry. Since these charlatans can’t find a legitimate doctor to tout their medical blasphemy, they have to rely on poor Suzie, who, God bless her, doesn’t know a steroid backbone from a botox molecule (which, by the way looks suspiciously like the Thigh Master).

Larry King should be ashamed of himself. The only voice he gives to the side of science is to give out the FDA’s website. Because when it comes to the health of American women, the only expert he wants us to hear is an actress with a book to sell. (Suzanne’s book, Ageless, just came out in paperback)

In fairness to Suzanne, you should know that I prescribe HRT, almost exclusively bio-identical hormones. I’ve even given these hormones to women who have had breast cancer and were unable to find a non-estrogen alternative to treat their symptoms. But every one of these women was informed about the risks of HRT as we best know them today, and not as the compounding industry would like them to be.

Some of the claims Suzanne and her friends are making could someday prove true – but until they have the data to support these claims, they are not allowed to make them. If you want to sell drugs, you’ve got to play by the rules. And you can’t point fingers at the big bad pharmaceutical industry and then pretend that the rules don’t apply to you.

If you want to claim that estriol prevents against breast cancer, go out and prove it. At this point, there is not enough data, either in the European or American scientific literature, to support that claim. Estriol looks better than estradiol in some studies simply because it is a weaker estrogen. But when given at the higher doses prescribed by many anti-aging docs, that advantage is gone. Suzanne should know this – she herself had a hysterectomy for endometrial hyperplasia – a precancerous condition of the uterine lining known to be caused by her hormone replacement.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Estrogen is estrogen, whether it comes from mare’s urine or the moon. Until you prove otherwise, women who take HRT must be given the information they need to make an informed choice. The FDA is absolutely right on this one.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading over to Home Shopping Network to buy a Thigh Master.
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Read my Four Part Series on Hormone Replacement

Suzanne Somers on Larry King Live

Suzanne Somers appeard on Larry King last night, supposedly to take on her critics in the medical establishment who, like me, are concerned about the misleading medical information contained in her best selling books. (See my recent post on suzanne and the bio-identical hormone hype.)

What could have been an informative debate ended up being a cat fight that did nothing to inform American women about the real issue. That issue is the unfettered promotion of bio identical hormones as a risk-free cure-all for everything from depression to cancer to getting old.

Neither Suzie nor her critics got to say more than a few uninterrupted words at a time, and Larry seemed unable to control his guests or to frame the debate. When he did attempt to give some context, he focused on the personal battle between two of the guests, a physician and an unlicenced practitioner of anti-aging medicine. (You could read the transcript here, but don’t waste your time.)

Wolf Utian, the head of the North American Menopause Society, and probably the most objective of the guests, was unfortunately placed at a distinct disadvantage given his consultant work for Wyeth and his society’s Big Pharma support. (One more argument for disentangling the medical profession from Big Pharma.)

The fact that Wyeth appears to be leading the charge against Suzie and her anti-aging consituents is unfortunate. Wyeth’s involvement only serves as a lightening rod that distracts from the real issues and hurts the credibility of those in the medical establishment who want to see the FDA regulate the multi-billion dollar anti-aging and compounding pharmaceutical industries. These folks love to play themselves as the little guy against Big Pharma, and as long as Wyeth stays in the fight, that’s how they get to frame it.

This is not about protecting Big Pharma or defending Prempro. It is about informing women. Wyeth needs to step out of the fray.

Category: Second Opinions