ICWA Weekly News 11-28-23
ICWA's Giving Tuesday request for donations; Cowlitz County Board of Health passes first Medical Freedom Resolution in WA; Huge award to Snohomish school employees for PCB exposure; radio show links.
By ICWA & Gerald Braude
In this issue:
A critical message from the directors of Informed Choice Washington
Breaking News: Cowlitz County passes Washington’s first medical freedom resolution
In toxic exposure case, Bayer is ordered to pay school employees $165 Million by a Washington court
Informed Life Radio Show links - interviews with Emma Sron of World Council for Health and Dr. Denise Sibley, co-author of Tennessee Ivermectin bill that is now law.
A Message from the ICWA Board of Directors
Before diving into today’s Weekly News article, please donate to Informed Choice Washington. We know you have a lot of requests and options on this Giving Tuesday (blame the 92nd Street Y in NYC for coming up with the idea in 2012), but please keep ICWA at the top of your holiday giving list.
Going into our eighth year, ICWA writes bills in Olympia, monitors public health agencies, and facilitates advocacy on legislation and policy. Some recent examples:
ICWA, with our partner Stand for Health Freedom, helped you and 33,000 others send letters in opposition to the Ministry of Truth/Domestic Violent Extremist bill HB 1333. It was stopped in its first committee, hopefully not to be pushed again in the 2024 short session starting on January 8th.
ICWA directors drafted, obtained legal advice, and gathered multiple sponsors for the companion bills HB 1610 and SB 5596 (2023) entitled “Restoring Trust in Public Health Through Consumer Protection.” The House version has bipartisan support making it the most likely to be heard in committee in 2024.
With ICWA’s consistent calls to action, the Board of Health’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) received tens of thousands of opposing comments in the spring of 2022 that helped sway them against Covid-19 shot requirements for Washington’s schoolchildren. ICWA also sent multiple technical rebuttal letters to the TAG evaluation criteria, making it more difficult for them to proceed. This victory has prevented countless injuries and maintained public school access for families across the state.
So, we ask for your continued support of our mission. Whether you are a loyal Weekly News reader, a busy parent who needs to know that Washington vaccine mandates and health laws are being watched, or a keyboard warrior ready to send letters to legislators, you’ll benefit from the work we do. You can donate one time, become a regular recurring donor, or Upgrade to a Paid subscription (look up^) of our Weekly News & Alerts on Substack. The pandemic may be fading away, yet we know we need to keep on guard and push back on public health overreach and restrictive legislation.
We sincerely thank you for standing with us as a unified force for medical freedom.
And finally, thank you so much to the many who have given and do give regularly. It’s making a difference as we head into 2024.
Cowlitz County Passes Washington’s First Medical Freedom Resolution
Perhaps the finest day for Washington’s fight for medical freedom in 2023 occurred last Tuesday morning, November 21, when the Cowlitz County Board of Health passed a medical freedom resolution for “The right to personal choice regarding the use of masks and vaccines during disease outbreaks.”
The resolution, which takes effect immediately, makes six main statements.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Cowlitz County Board of Health that:
Coercion and undue influence shall not be used to compel any individual to use a medical intervention.
Cowlitz County shall not force any individual person to put something 'onto' or 'into' an individual's body without informed consent of said individual and respect their right of refusal.
That the inalienable right to medical, religious, and conscientious exemption from any medical intervention requirement shall be considered.
That reasonable accommodation to the use of an exemption to a required medical intervention shall respect the full body of science regarding the intervention declined, the medical condition the intervention is meant to prevent, and naturally acquired protection.
That any Public Health Emergency of International Concern (P.H.E.I.C) should not be unilaterally imposed on our county.
Cowlitz County hereby affirms the right of its citizens to make personal choices regarding the use of masks and face coverings and vaccines, acknowledging the individuals' autonomous right to make health decisions based on their personal beliefs, circumstances, and discernment.
As you could expect, this resolution faced obstacles and naysayers over the three Board meetings in which it was presented for passage. Some members of the Cowlitz County Board of Health asked the county’s Corporation Counsel to review the proposed resolution for its legality. In response to the initial draft of the resolution, attorney David Berger strongly suggested that “shall” in point five should be changed to “should” to avoid confusion with a law or ordinance. He reiterated this suggestion during the October 31st meeting [at 0:48:20] and the chair and primary author of the resolution, Kelly Lane, agreed to the change even though it weakened the resolution’s effect.
The resolution considered during the November 21 resolution was made available to the public beforehand on pages two and three of the board meeting agenda posted on the Cowlitz BOH website.
The Medical Freedom resolution begins with fantastic rationale that other Washington counties can borrow and build on for their own resolutions or ordinances.
WHEREAS, WA State Law RCW 70.05.060 establishes the responsibility to supervise the preservation of the lives and health of people in COWLITZ county through the Cowlitz County Board of Health (B.O.H.); and
WHEREAS, the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners has previously passed Resolution #21-005 of January 12th, 2021 which was both uncontested and unanimous recognizing that citizens can make responsible decisions that don't need mandates; and
WHEREAS the four principles of medical ethics, being 1) respect for bodily autonomy, 2) beneficence, 3) nonmaleficence (Do No Harm), and 4) justice, and the tenets of informed consent are imperative in the practice of medicine and health care, and
WHEREAS, lock-downs, quarantines and mandates have proven harmful to children's mental health and education, while at the same time the infection fatality rate for COVID-19 was and is less than 1% in adults, and a fraction of that in children, and during all phases of the 'pandemic', 'COVID deaths' were skyrocketing even while influenza deaths completely disappeared from statistical data; and
WHEREAS, Citizens have expressed there is NO Constitutional authority to restrict individual unalienable human rights that are given to us by God and are protected in the 9th and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution; and
WHEREAS, there is no conclusive medical evidence that such mandates produced a demonstrable decrease in disease; and
WHEREAS, Cowlitz County and the state of Washington suffered immeasurable economic and societal harms as a result of Governor's proclamations that have been pursued in a non-uniform, unequal and arbitrary manner along with unfair mandates, restrictions and forced business closures have led to the destruction of commerce, jobs and livelihoods; and
WHEREAS, citizens have personal and practical recourse to choose their own guidelines to mitigate their personal risk of contagion with viruses, diseases or illnesses; and
WHEREAS, the children of state residents were denied access to appropriate education, for which taxes continue to be paid; and
WHEREAS, State and Federal mandates irreparably harmed millions of our precious Senior Citizens by the unnecessary use of lockdowns, restrictions and mask rules that isolated them from normal social interactions, basic caregiver access, and from their family and loved ones, causing a dramatic worsening of loneliness, stress, anxiety, and depression, increasing the risk for dementia and of death from all causes; and
WHEREAS, citizens have expressed that constitutional rights were violated through discrimination based on medical and vaccine status at the same time that federal and state health agencies failed to be transparent, forthright, and consistent in protecting medical freedom of the people of Cowlitz County;
County attorney Berger, along with the minority of public commenters and board members took issue with these ‘whereas’ statements along the way to their acceptance. Notably, the phrase “Citizens have expressed” was added to the fifth and eleventh statement since it would be difficult to prove each point absolutely.
Board chair Kelly Lane drafted the proposal and considered comments from many in the Cowlitz County community. It was first made public five days before the September 26 meeting. At the October 31 meeting, one board member criticized Chair Lane for giving the board members only five days to study it. But another board member was quick to remind everyone that there were actually five weeks during which they could study the initial resolution, rendering the complaint moot. [1:50:00]
In more drama during the Oct. 31st meeting, a dissenting board member made a motion to postpone voting on the resolution to the next meeting in November until all comments could be incorporated in the document, but the motion failed. However, due to the meeting running longer than expected, one of the board members left and the board ended up unanimously deciding to table the vote until the November meeting after all, when it was passed substantially in the form at the end of the October meeting.
Of the nine public comments on Halloween, two expressed concerns with the board’s proceedings with the resolution, two opposed the resolution - one stating that the board was “endorsing a conspiracy theory,” and the other arguing that it was redundant and divisive - while five supported the resolution. One supporter said, “I believe in God, and we have natural, inalienable rights. Yes, the sick should be quarantined and helped until they get better, but this should not be done to everybody.” Another resolution supporter said the FDA had listed the COVID-19 shots as experimental, and, therefore, the shots were in violation of the Nuremberg Code. Another supporter held up a copy of Robert F. Kennedy’s book The Real Anthony Fauci and encouraged all the board members to read it before they come to a decision on the resolution.
Bob Runnells, an Informed Choice Washington director who lives nearby, told the board:
We are interested and eager for this resolution to go forward. We’re happy that this county is considering it. I will offer some points that support some of the Whereas’s in this resolution. Overall, I think people are upset with what transpired and what was done as the response. The response that included lockdowns and forced vaccinations in order to keep your job that violated the things that were talked about today. Overall, were the mandates and state of emergency justified? There’s a statement in the resolution that talks about the one percent maximum fatality rate for the disease.
Bob then discussed a January 2023 systematic study (considered a very ‘high-powered’ study-of-studies) on the actual infection and fatality rates before the COVID-19 shot rollout. The study concluded the fatality rate was extremely low, lower even than for a typical seasonal flu.
As for the meeting’s discussion on masking, Bob added the following information:
Just this year, if we are going to play by the rules, we look at the CDC documents. They have reissued not an approval, but an emergency use authorization (EUA). The same Emergency Use Authorization for masks that they did in 2020. They have reissued that for 2023. Where it says “No descriptive printed matter in advertising and promotional material related to the use of these surgical masks (that’s the same blue stuff you see on almost everybody) may represent or suggest that such a product is safe or effective at prevention or treatment of COVID-19. So, taking note from another commenter today, the Nuremberg Code is put in place in the United States code to prevent any mandating of any of that, any shaming, any restrictions from public places. If we’re going to play by the rules, the EUA says…you cannot mandate the masks. You have to allow for declining and refusal. That was not done, and people were upset. I think, on balance, Cowlitz County people are upset that this happened, and they don’t want this to happen again.
Bob then discussed resolutions passed around the nation: ‘Now, if you continue with this resolution and iron out the finer points, you will not be alone. Other counties, county commission levels, not just the board of health, have approved similar medical freedom resolutions. Sarasota County, Florida, four times the size of Cowlitz County, they have approved a medical freedom resolution, similarly written. Washington County, Idaho... These things are moving forward, and I side with the commissioner that more information needs to be put on the web site so that these other perspectives can be shared.”
Bob then offered the following conclusions:
In balance with the other data that was shared, first by the guy who stormed out, about the deaths and basically yelling fire in a crowded theater (himself) as he walks out, that needs to be taken into perspective with the actual vaccine deaths that have been measured in the state. The state has on record 222 deaths from the vaccine. It’s in the VAERS report I have here... And so this needs to be taken on balance.
And for anybody who would still support mandated vaccines, I have to ask, if the vaccines work, the people who are vaccinated don’t have anything to worry about. Right? You can operate on a personal decision. You can go by the previous resolution passed by this commission. If the vaccines don’t work, and I have on record [former CDC directory] Rochelle Walensky saying they don’t stop transmission or infection, and they don’t work as intended, then at best, you have a personal choice. Other countries … are not recommending the COVID-19 shots, anymore. Again, I appreciate the resolution for where it’s headed. I think this would go far as the beginning steps to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and that our rights that should be inherent are respected.
Chair Lane reminded the meeting participants that they reviewed and debated the resolution over five weeks, in effect lamenting that they would wait until November to take a vote. Well, his wait was worth it, and the third time was a charm. While Chair Lane and like-minded commissioners could have rammed the resolution through, they did take on comments to make the statement more palatable to those opposed.
So, can the momentum of this resolution be carried on to other counties?
Bayer Ordered to Pay School Employees $165 Million by a Washington State Court in Latest PCB Lawsuit
A Washington state jury last week ordered chemical giant Bayer to pay $165 million to a group of Sky Valley Education Center employees who alleged they became seriously ill from polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that leaked from light fixtures made by the company, Reuters reported.
After nearly two months of trial and two weeks of deliberations, the jury on Nov. 20 found Monsanto spinoff Pharmacia LLC liable for selling PCBs without providing adequate warnings, which resulted in neurological injuries, endocrine disruption and cognitive impairment to the plaintiffs.
Please read the entire article on our affiliate site - Children’s Health Defense Washington.
November 24 Episode of Informed Life Radio – Notes and Links
Health Hour Guest: Emma Sron
Our 7 Favorite Food Synergy Combinations With Recipes to Try (worldcouncilforhealth.org)
The Breathe Better 21-Day Challenge (worldcouncilforhealth.org)
What is Proper Hydration and How Do I Achieve It? (worldcouncilforhealth.org)
Better Way Charter to print out and distribute: Better Way Charter (worldcouncilforhealth.org)
Thanks for the recap and to Arne for the link!!! Subbed!!