I’m asking for your moral support on this story, because there are times in journalism when we must be extremely mindful of balancing the public’s need to know the truth with respect for the privacy of those involved. So I ask you this serious question: What would you do in my situation?

Article by Mike Adams

What would you do if you had a very large audience of health conscious consumers and the ability to tell millions of people about something really, really important? What would you do if you then found out that the founder of a well known superfood manufacturer and retail brand had died almost six months ago, most likely stemming from the fact that many of his products were loaded with concerning levels of heavy metals such as arsenic and lead?

And what would you do if the company continued on but didn’t tell its customers that the founder died, pretending like the founder was still alive even though he most likely died from complications relating to the toxicity of his own products? (See the astonishing transcript of our phone calls with this company below…)

What would you do if you called the company several times, asking for a statement from their founder, and they insisted he was still alive but “unavailable” for comment? But in the mean time, you already found and confirmed the death record for that same person?

What would you do if that same company attacked you as a “rumor” spreader and posted documents calling you a liar for telling the truth about their products?

And finally, what would you do if you knew that tens of thousands of people were taking those products right now, and you also knew that those products contain alarmingly high levels of toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium and aluminum?

I’m calling for this company to come clean… or I’ll release the details myself

I’ve pondered these ethical questions at length, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to release the name of the deceased founder in this article. Instead, I’m going to call on the company itself to come clean on all this, and if they don’t, then I’m going to release the details later… because the public has a right to know (but I want to give the company an opportunity to announce this in their own way, out of respect for the deceased, who accomplished a tremendous amount of public education on the subject of health and nutrition).

This is a company whose sales are largely contingent upon the almost super-human health claims of the founder and formulator… a person well under 50 years of age who died nearly six months ago from kidney cancer, according to my sources. That information is clearly relevant, and it is just astonishing to me that a superfood company would engage in a massive cover-up of the founder’s death, all in a Hillary Clinton-style campaign of deception and denials. They even claim on their web site that any talk about this death is nothing but a rumor, and they have a special “rumor email” set up for fans to report more “rumors” so they can keep lying to the public.

This is NOT the kind of transparency we all demand from so-called “clean” superfood companies who are supposed to tell the truth.

Here’s the information I’m willing to release so far, without divulging the name of this person or the company he founded

Here’s what I can tell you so far while respecting the privacy of the deceased and his family. I hope you understand that I am trying to protect the privacy of this person while granting the company an opportunity to do the right thing and acknowledge all this in their own way. This company’s customers have a right to know that the founder and formulator who sold them all these products did not survive past the age of 46… (it’s highly relevant and a matter of public safety).

This person was a very public, extremely well known formulator and promoter of raw foods, vegan lifestyles and superfoods. His products are still sold everywhere at retail and at various in-person festivals and events. I’ve interviewed him in the past, and his videos are all over Youtube. Over the years, he offered a tremendous amount of very useful information to the public, through numerous books, videos, public appearances and so on.

His company has been in trouble before over heavy metals, and the operators of the business have been extremely deceptive in the past about hiding this information from the public. They were hit very hard a little over a year ago with a nationwide recall related to the heavy metals content of their products. This recall put them in a rather dire financial situation.

The founder died at age 46, so he wasn’t very old. Those who were close to him told Natural News that he died from kidney cancer. We have already obtained proof of his death through publicly available death records.

You can’t find the death records of this person by using the name you know him by. That was actually a stage name. His real name is almost entirely unknown by the public. The death record under his real name is readily available online. Once you attain his real name, all the rest is just a matter of public record.

He passed away in March of 2016, and the company he founded and ran decided to conceal this information from the public, almost certainly as a scheme to keep the money flowing in from product sales. Obviously, if news of the manner of his death were made public, the company might lose credibility with its own customers. So the company’s current operators apparently made a truly bizarre and wildly unethical decision to hide this death from their own customers.

(Just f’ing WOW… what do you even say to something like that?)

As a result, this company’s products continue to sell very well, even though some of the products contain levels of toxic heavy metals that are very high compared to most other superfoods. In my mind, I am personally convinced that these heavy metals strongly contributed to the death of the founder. Another source tells me that the personal stress from the forced product recall may have also played a role in his cancer condition.

This person aggressively talked about how his products PREVENTED cancer. That was the strong emphasis of his public talks. In my view, this is almost certainly why his death is being covered up. Personally, I feel very sorry for anyone who dies of cancer, and I have no intention of mocking this person for his mistakes, suffering or physical death. I wish him love and peace in whatever existence there is after this world, but we must be honest in acknowledging that the heavy metals in his products may be right now contributing to cancers in other people, too. It’s a harsh truth, but it must be stated out of concern for the many thousands of people who still purchase and consume his many popular products.

What gravely concerns me is the idea that this company’s products are continuing to expose consumers to heavy metals across the country and around the world, all while the death of the founder has been covered up and apparently lied about for nearly six months.

The product line is a premium priced line that almost everybody is convinced is incredibly pure, clean and super amazing. And that’s also highly disturbing, because it just goes to prove that even a highly contaminated product line that’s loaded with heavy metals can be perceived by the public as ultra-clean, pure and powerful. (This is why I run my ICP-MS laboratory and test everything I sell for heavy metals. I will NOT sell products to the public unless I can verify they are clean first.)

Legitimate questions we must all ask

You probably share some of my very serious and legitimate questions about all this:

Why didn’t the company share the news about the death of its founder with the public? Why have they chosen to engage in a massive cover-up instead of telling the truth?

What caused the death of the founder? Once the name of this company comes out, will they also lie to us about the cause of death?

Why does this company not seem to care about transparency with its own customers? Has the almighty dollar become so supreme in their minds that they are willing to compromise their ethics just to keep the money train running?

Will this company now go public and admit its founder has died, or will they call all this a “Mike Adams rumor” and continue to pretend their founder is still alive?

How much longer will the company’s current operators keep playing “Weekend at Bernie’s” and try to trick the public into thinking their founder is still alive?

What was their long term plan, exactly, about the questions that would obviously arise when no one had heard from the founder for a year? Two years? Five years? Were they planning on keeping up this Big Lie for years on end?

Exactly how is this company going to wage a character assassination attack against me personally for being the only person in this industry with enough honesty and courage to actually warn the public about all this? My punishment for telling the truth has always been to be vilified by the f—tards living in denial. I can’t wait to see how they’re all going to make this somehow MY fault… trust me, that’s coming any day now.

As all this explodes, remember one thing: You read it here first on Natural News. I take no joy in bringing you this story, by the way. But I have a moral and ethical responsibility to do so. And there’s no question that Natural News has the kind of courage to publish real, honest news that nobody else will even touch. All the customers of this company have the right to know when the founder passes on. And they deserve honest answers, not an organized conspiracy cover-up from the company itself.

Transcripts of our phone calls with the company

NOTE: The names of the receptionists have been changed to protect their privacy.

FIRST PHONE CALL:

NN: Hi I was hoping to speak with Dr. ———–…

Cris: He’s not available. How can I help you?

NN: I am a writer with naturalnews.com. We recently put out an article on Dr. ———-‘s ———- product. I was hoping to get a comment from him.

Cris: Oh, well Dr. ———– doesn’t own the company anymore. I can get you the email of someone you can contact to reach out to the new owner.

NN: Oh ok, did Dr. ——— just hand over the company or did him and (owner) make a deal?

Cris: I’m not sure.

NN: Well, we’ve worked with Dr. ———- in the past and we were just wondering why we haven’t heard from him in awhile? Or why he hasn’t appeared anywhere in awhile?

Cris: Dr. ———- stepped down to live a more private life… I think to maybe even write a book or spend time with his family.

NN: Well, how long ago was this? And when did (name) take over?

Cris: A couple months ago. I think 4 or 5 months.

NN: Well we had an anonymous tip that Dr. ——— may have passed away… would you care to comment?

Cris: No I don’t want to comment at this time.

NN: Ok thank you for your time. have a nice day.

SECOND PHONE CALL:

Cris: Thanks for calling ————– this is Cris, how may I assist you today?

NN: Yes I was hoping to speak to Dr. ———– please.

(long pause and big exhale before answering)

Cris: Dr. ———- is not in the office.

NN: Okay is there a way I could contact him on his direct line or an email address please?

Cris: Dr. ———— is no longer the CEO, we have a new CEO.
…
NN: Okay, wonderful. Dr. ———– no longer involved with (company name)?

Cris: He’s no longer the CEO.

NN: Is he still involved? Because we were looking to hopefully get a comment from him.

Cris: I’m pretty sure his involvement, I know that they’re still following his ideas and the things that he wanted to implement, but –pause — I would recommend — pause — speaking with the CEO with further information about Dr. ———- for further information.

NN: Well, we did some work with Dr. ———– in the past though and we just wanted to get some comments on products that he had put out in the past…

Cris: yes

NN: So if I contact (other person), will he be able to get me in contact with Dr. ———-?

— long pause —

Cris: Possibly… possibly, I’m not sure.

NN: Okay. Well, is there an email address for Dr. ———- so I could send something to him as well as Chris?

Cris: We don’t have an email for Dr. ————-.

NN: Alright, well I appreciate your help then, thank you so much.

Cris: You’re welcome, sir, thanks for calling (company name) you have a great day.

THIRD PHONE CALL:

Bill: Thank you for calling (company name).

NN: Hi I was hoping to speak with Dr. ———— please.

Bill: Thank you sir, he is no longer with ————. Is there someone else I can direct you to?

NN: I was hoping to get a comment from Dr. ———— about a product he put out in the past. Is he still involved with (company name)?

Bill: No he is moving on to other products… projects rather …ummm (pause) is there anything in particular I can address with you or get you in touch with a product specialist?

NN: Is there any way we can get in contact with Dr. ————-?

Bill: No he asked not to be contacted with issues like this…

Email from the company’s national sales manager

Received 9/13/2016:

To answer your question regarding Dr. ———–, after 25 years of hard work and dedication, Dr. ———— actually stepped down as a burnt-out CEO in 2015 to go off grid, write books, and pursue other goals. (CEO name) is a longtime friend of Dr. ————– and was asked to take over because he has high integrity and can be trusted to run everything to meet Dr. —————-‘s high standards.
– National Sales Manager

My comments on the phone transcripts

So what you are witnessing here is a company that’s pretending their founder didn’t die.

This is a group of people who all claim to be about honesty, transparency, healing, health and high vibration. And they are all involved in a death cover-up conspiracy to deceive the world.

Just WOW. I ask you: Is this the proper way to honor the life work of this individual who passed away? To cover up his death and not even give people a chance to attend his funeral?

If I had been purchasing these products, and if I believed all the claims of the founder, and I’d been putting this stuff into my body year after year, I’d feel pretty betrayed about all this. And I would sure wonder about all the “high integrity” and “high standards” claims this company keeps touting all over its website.

My questions to YOU

How do YOU feel about all this?

Do you believe I should have kept my mouth shut and participated in the cover-up? (Gosh, I hope not…)

Do you feel I’ve balanced the public interest with protecting the privacy of this person, or do you think I should have named the person and the company?

I also have laboratory tests for many products made by the company. Do you think I should now release those lab test results?

I am genuinely interested in your take on all this, because there’s a lot at stake here in terms of public health.

I hope I’ve made a responsible, ethical choice to go public with the details you’re seeing in this article. It is not my intention to mock or shame anyone, and I hope the person I’m talking about here rests in peace and is remembered fondly for his significant contributions to public awareness about health and nutrition.

He’s the only one who refused to bow down to the Prop 65 lawyers. He refused to pay the lawyers, and he refused to put the cancer sticker on his products, and it f—ing killed him. – Industry source, 9/13/2016, in a voice call to Natural News.