We learned after the fact that last Saturday a Canadian television station rebroadcast an old story on Dr. Earl Mindell, FreeLife, and Himalayan Goji Juice. The program originally aired in January and the rebroadcast did not add any new information.
I have received several calls asking me, "What do you think?" My answer is simple: The Canadian television station got it wrong—again. In response to the original story, I sent out two detailed letters,
January 25, 2007 and
February 1, 2007, addressing many of the inaccurate and misleading statements in the show. The rebroadcast just repeated the same misstatements. I find it interesting that they would run this show again given that almost all the media attention we have received since they initially aired it, has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, last week, Himalayan Goji Juice was featured prominently on a popular Canadian morning TV show,
Breakfast TV, broadcast out of Winnipeg.
The thing that continues to surprise and disappoint us the most about their show is that the producers aired the program without ever speaking to anyone at FreeLife. Prior to them airing the initial broadcast, we invited them to bring their film crew to our corporate office in Phoenix, see our facilities and employees, and do an "on-camera" interview with us. Had they accepted our offer, we would have been able to correct many of their inaccurate and misleading statements. Our belief is that they ignored our requests to interview us in Phoenix because they knew if they were armed with the truth, they would have no story to run. It was purely a ratings game. It is ironic that a television program which holds itself out as an advocate for consumers actually made little effort to ensure the truth and accuracy of its program.
What is even more ironic is that last week, I reached out to the television host and asked to speak with her. My intention was not to be confrontational, but rather to help her understand and correct the inaccurate and misleading statements in her show. She refused to speak with me… just flat out refused with no explanation. I was not entirely surprised because this has been her approach from the beginning. She refuses to speak with any corporate employee of FreeLife. How any credible reporter can do a story on a company without speaking to anyone from the company headquarters stretches the imagination and is clearly a breach of journalistic responsibility and ethics. Instead, several days later, the show was rebroadcast.
A brief Google search on Wendy Mesley reveals that many others are equally frustrated with what they perceive as misleading, inaccurate, and biased stories.
For example, Margaret Wente, the widely respected columnist for Canada's largest national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail has written about Ms. Mesley's misleading and inaccurate stories. Ms. Wente is highly regarded in Canada and is the only journalist to have received the National Newspaper Award for column-writing twice. Here's a quote from an article she wrote about Ms. Mesley just last year:
"But her (Mesley's) journalism, in this case, is another matter. Chasing the Cancer Answer is stunningly simplistic. It peddles the biggest of the conspiracy-theory myths about cancer and its causes. It's full of misleading information and fear-mongering. It ignores a vast body of serious science. And it does a profound disservice to the public, many of whom rely on the public broadcaster for responsible and balanced journalism." (
http://www.cbcwatch.ca /?q=node/view/1879)/)
I want to emphasize a portion of Margret Wente's quote, as I believe it gets to the essence of Ms. Mesley's reporting style and is exactly what she did with her story on Himalayan Goji Juice:
"It's full of misleading information and fear-mongering. It ignores a vast body of serious science. And it does a profound disservice to the public, many of whom rely on the public broadcaster for responsible and balanced journalism."
Others have accused Ms. Mesley of violating numerous journalistic standards in her reporting including fairness, accuracy, and integrity. And even question whether "a serious intervention (is) in order for Mesley's anxious and angry addiction ..."
http://www.cbcwatch.ca/? q=node/view/1795.
In a letter from Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Mesley was again accused of giving misinformation: "... Canadians were left misinformed by only a partial telling of the story."
http://www.smoke-f ree.ca/pdf_1/WendyMesley.pdfYet others have called Mesley's reporting style "rage-based television trash!"
http://www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/2103While we don't enjoy spreading such information about anyone, we do believe you should know the facts about Ms. Mesley and that we are not the only ones who have experienced Ms. Mesley's unfair, inaccurate, and misleading reporting. The only rational conclusion one can come to is that her programs can't be taken seriously, nor can they be believed.
Although you can review my detailed responses to their program from
January 25, 2007 and
February 1, 2007, I did want to address two of their more inaccurate statements. First, the show goes to great length to discredit Dr. Mindell's educational background. This is just another example where Ms. Mesley did not do her homework, or more likely, decided to look the other way. Dr. Mindell received his pharmacy degree from North Dakota State University in 1963. She never once mentioned this in the program. In his 30s, while raising a family and working full-time, Dr. Mindell furthered his education and received a Ph.D. in nutrition, taking part-time classes from Pacific Western University. At that time, this was one of the only schools in the country that offered Ph.D's in nutrition. The Canadian show implies that Dr. Mindell's Ph.D. degree is not valid. I have a
letter, dated March 29, 2007, from the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocation Schools confirming that his degree is legal and valid. The letter states in part:
"Pacific Western University which opened in 1977 was granted authorization to operate as a California degree-granting institution by the State Department of Education. Among its programs was the PhD in Nutrition. The degree awarded to Dr. Mindell is legal and valid under the laws of the State of California.
Pacific Western University currently operates as an approved institution in California."
In March 2007, Dr. Mindell was inducted into the California Pharmacy Hall of Fame. This prestigious honour is particularly impressive given that more pharmacists live in California than in any other state in the nation.
Second, Ms. Mesley, attempted to discredit the nutritional value of our Himalayan Goji Juice. She is a journalist, not a trained health practitioner. However, dozens and dozens of trained health practitioners from around the world, including medical doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors and naturopaths are so impressed with Himalayan Goji Juice that they have made it the cornerstone of their nutritional program and recommend it to their patients, family members and friends. Some of these health practitioners are so passionate about Himalayan Goji Juice and impressed with their patients' results that they have become Marketing Executives and even closed their traditional practices to spread the good news of Himalayan Goji Juice around the world. It is our opinion that educated health practitioners are more qualified to judge the effectiveness of a nutritional product than a journalist with no training in the healing arts.
When we learned that they might be testing our product for several ingredients before the original show was aired in January, we informed them that although the goji berry and our Himalayan Goji Juice have a variety of naturally occurring nutrients, the research indicated that goji's unique polysaccharide molecules were the primary key for its amazing health maintenance properties. The polysaccharides are the reason people are getting phenomenal results with Himalayan Goji Juice and why we are the leader with over 90 percent of the goji juice market. They are also the reason we have had 14 consecutive quarters of record growth!
We explained in a letter to Ms. Mesley that as a result of our Spectral Signature analysis, we were able to standardize, maximize, and balance the polysaccharides in every serving of Himalayan Goji Juice. We even offered to show them how to test for the polysaccharides. They never responded and failed to even mention the word polysaccharide in the show, let alone test for them. As with most of the story, their report on the test results was 100 percent misleading.
We welcome media scrutiny into any aspect of our business but believe it should always be fair and balanced. We don't claim to be perfect or to know everything. The nutrition field is evolving, and we're working to remain at the forefront with research and other efforts. We also believe our perspective should be heard. And if CBC and others aren't willing to share it, we must take extra steps to tell our story. You will be pleased to know we are creating a new website that will highlight the true facts about FreeLife and Himalayan Goji Juice. This website will be up shortly, and we're confident it will be a valuable resource for you and others to use to access the latest facts on our company, our products, and our business opportunity.
In addition to creating the new website, we have also developed two newspapers which also clearly set forth the facts about FreeLife and Himalayan Goji Juice. These newspapers will be ready for sale in Canada on Thursday, April 26. The first newspaper is a four-page paper entitled Natural Health Today and exclusively addresses the benefits and science behind Himalayan Goji Juice. The second newspaper is a twelve-page paper entitled The Wellness Report and addresses the opportunities offered by both FreeLife and Himalayan Goji Juice.
Those are just a few things we're doing to tell our story and manage our good reputation. In coming weeks, we will tell you more about our plans to protect and grow this business.
As you know, Kevin and I will be visiting Canada during the week of May 14 on our
Co-Founders' Canadian Tour.
We are really looking forward to seeing all of you. Please come out, bring your organizations, and help us spread the good news about Himalayan Goji Juice throughout Canada.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support!
