Twelve Black Code Monkeys

The notorious Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), who leaked the private medical records of diet guru Dr. Robert C. Atkins, finally released a statement about the recent criticism from many camps regarding their actions, and talk of lawsuits and criminal investigations.

The statement is an example of the slipperiness to which those familiar with PCRM have become accustomed. Somehow becauce these were not autopsy reports per se but rather “brief notes from an external inspection,” it somehow makes it perfectly ok to disseminate these private records?

Because Atkins publicized his own good health while he was alive to validate his diet, but then opted (or rather his wife opted) not to release further records, this somehow gives PCRM the right to make these records public? Somehow I don’t believe a court will see it that way.

I’m especially amazed by this segway:

“Recently, a physician sent PCRM a copy of some medical examiner’s notes related to Dr. Atkins’ death…Reporters picked up on the story; they wondered whether the Atkins organization had distorted Atkins’ health profile in order to make the diet appear safe…Although PCRM had not requested or received the report from the medical examiner, we became the principal media contact about it.”

Media Contact? You’ve got to be kidding me! Did the media just come to the conclusion that PCRM had this information out of the blue? The media, PCRM seems to be saying, is psychic. No, PCRM gave these records to the media. Of course they can’t seem to come out and say this because they are by nature a deceptive organization. From this press release PCRM makes out as if they played little role in the whole matter. They were simply acting as an innocent, even passive “contact.”

At least they finally come clean at the end of the piece when they say:

“If the new revelations about Dr. Atkins’ cardiac problems end the charade that fatty, high-cholesterol foods can give us an “extraordinarily healthy cardiovascular system” and have no health consequences—and if the emergence of the truth can prevent further deaths and illnesses—then the public health may have been served at last.”

In other words, the bottom line is that to them the end (discrediting the Atkins diet) justifies any means. The Atkins diet after all promotes the consumption of animal products, which the PCRM by definition is against in any way whatsoever. Their position is that every one of us should be eating vegan diet where no meat, dairy, eggs, or fish are consumed. It doesn’t even matter to them if these things are obtained in a humane way. To them, simply the act of using animals as food is inhumane. This “ends justify the means” mindset is the same one that extremists the world over have adopted in their crusades. Veronica Atkins, Dr. Atkins’ widow, recently called PCRM the “vegetarian Taliban.” Although this is very loaded and over the top, somehow I’m starting to see links in that they are both extremist groups where the end always justify whatever means necessary. Top-ranking officers of PCRM have likened those who kill animals for food to Nazis killing people in concentration camps, so somehow the retort by Atkins’ widow does not seem altogether out of place…

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