The Cure for Bi-Polar (Empowerplus)

November of 1995 Tony Stephan was concerned about his 15 year old, who was manic depressive. His wife had committed suicide almost two years earlier, after suffering through years of a bi-polar disorder. He confided to a member of his church, David Hardy, that his family feared for their lives because of his son's violent behaviour. His other daugher was also on anti-psychotic drugs and when she was not hospitalized, she had to have 24 hour supervision. David Hardy was a retired high school biology teacher and was running a livestock feed supplement business in Southern Alberta. The symptoms of bi-polar sounded like the ear-and-tail-biting syndrome that effects pigs. What was used on pigs was a concoction of 24 vitamins and minerals added to their feed. So the two men decided to put together a human version of the mixture and bought the supplements at some health food stores. In January 1996 Stephan forced his son to take the mixture. Within days he was better, within a month he was normal. He also knows that he would be dead right now if he hadn't used it.
By 2002 Truehope was manufacturing the product in the U.S. and it was being shipped to Canada. At the beginning of 2003 Health Canada seized all shipments at the border and in March 2003 outlawed the importation of Empowerplus and Truehope was "shut down" for not having a DIN (Drug Identification Number). Emplowerplus is a natural health product, basically not a patented pharmaceutical drug. At the time over 90% of natural health products did not meet this standard and it was changed effective Jan. 1, 2004 and natural health products no longer fall under this category. Truehope did not comply and they continued to offer support and what was left of the supplement, which finally ran out. Health Canada did not listen to over 1,000 complaints they received while the sale of Empowerplus was suspended, they were too busy following the letter of the law (visions of Chalk River).
Head of Canadian Mental Health in Alberta, Ron LaJeunesse testified that he warned Health Canada that people were becoming suicidal, he had documentation that two committed suicide when they relapsed into severe depression and could no longer get the supplement. During testimony Dr Charles W. Popper, professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and a private practitioner said "they made claims about this treatment that struck me as pretty obviously ridiculous. Claims like 80% of all mentally ill people who try Empowerplus improve significantly." David Hardy forced a bottle on Dr. Popper as he was leaving early from the meeting. He hid it in his pocket and later hid it behind some books until a colleague's 10 year old son was having four hour tantrums every day. Dr. Popper gave his colleague the bottle with no expectations. After four days the father called Dr. Popper and said "the tantrums are gone, not better, not a lot better, gone. And that the kid wasn't even irritable" testified Dr. Popper. As of March 2006, he had 150 patients on Empowerplus, and they are so stable that for the first time in 20 years he has been able to see new patients. He also have between 300 to 500 of colleagues patients on the supplement and they are doing well. Health Canada also conducted their own testing on Empowerplus and concluded it was a "type 2" product, meaning that the "possibility of harm" was "remote".
On July 28, 2006 Judge Gerald Meagher, Alberta Provincial Court, Calgary, Alberta found Truehope and it's founders Tony Stephen and David Hardy not guilty because the company was entitled to the "defence of necessity." Judge Meagher also said "the harm avoided by continuing to sell the product was unquestionably greater than the harm inflicted on the regulatory process." "everyone who undertakes to do an act is under a legal duty to do it, if an omission to do the act may be dangerous to life" "The defendants could have been at risk of criminal prosecution if they stopped providing the supplement and providing the support program" "Claiming that they had to comply with a DIN regulation would not have provided them with any defence" against charges of negligence causing death if they had done what Health Canada told them. He found Health Canada "vexatious" and said "if the supplement became unavailable, symptoms associated with depression and bi-polar disorder, which would include aggressive behaviour, assaults, hospitalizations and suicides, would return."
What disturbs me the most, is that eventhough this happened during a period of liberal government, the Health Canada site has not been updated. A 19 page letter dated Aug. 8, 2006 was sent to Health Minister Tony Clement from Shawn Buckley (defense lawyer of Stephan and Hardy) asking for a public inquiry into the actions of Health Canada. He also included evidence of "abuse of process" and ignoring harm to Canadians. I guess just the fact that Truehope is still able to sell Empowerplus should be good enough. Dr. Bonnie Kaplan (who at the time was a psychologist from the University of Calgary, undergoing clinical trials on Empowerplus) said "The normalization of the mentally ill via nutrient supplementation has the potential to be the most significant breakthrough in the field of mental health since the beginning of time."
About a year later (and to this day), Health Canada is brushing off Empowerplus like it is "snake oil". So I sent an email to Health Canada asking them why out of the 20,000 people currently using this product (I was just guessing, LOL), how come there were only 9 people who had adverse effects. I asked them why they did not tell the 9 people who had adverse reactions, to get off the anti-depressants and stay on the empowerplus? Health Canada sent me back an email asking me how I knew that there were 20,000 people currently on this protocol. They also stated that Truehope's staff was not medically accredited and they were pretty sure that there were more people out there (besides the 9) who did not complain. Are they kidding me, I have never heard of anyone not complaining. Even with our new Conservative Government, I feel that the corruption at Health Canada is still residual (who are they protecting because it sure isn't the people). Whose pockets are being lined by the pharamaceutical companies at Health Canada?
Now that Bill C-51 has passed first reading in the Canadian House of Commons, that means that 75% of our natural health products will become illegal. Bill C-51 reads like a police state manual (almost like the FDA). It says that the State can seize the property of persons in the natural health product industry, including natural health practitioners, makers of natural health products, and retailers. Under the new law the State can seize without a reason, without a warrant, without limits to what can be seized, without time limitation, and without reporting the seizure to a Court. Owners will have to pay for the costs of the seizure, transport and storage of seized things, even if it turns out that there is not a safety risk. The state will still need to get a search warrant for someone's home, but if it's not a home, they do not need a warrant and can trespass on private property without liability. Small businesses are subject to the same maximum $5 million fines as large corporations. Directors, officers and agents of a company can now be personally charged for the misdeeds of the company.
Please send an email to your MP and tell them you are opposed to the police state powers, you want them to vote against Bill C-51 and you want your access to health products protected. Do something now before our access to natural health products becomes illegal.
Sheila

Empowerplus available at:

(BTW I am not affiliated in anyway to Empowerplus)