WARNING!
This is an older article that may not reflect Dr. Mercola’s current view on this topic. Use our search engine to find Dr. Mercola’s latest position on any health topic.
By Dr. Mercola
It’s been nearly 15 years since we started this journey together, when, in 1997, I combined my two primary passions in life ― health and technology― and made it my mission to share exciting new developments in natural health with you.
Thanks to you, this site has become the world’s No. 1-ranked Natural Health web site for the last seven years, and is now approaching nearly two million subscribers.
My motivation has always been to help make you as healthy as you can possibly be by sharing knowledge and simple tools that allow you to Take Control of Your Health. This involves:
- Providing up to date natural health information, research and resources, and
- Exposing corporate, government, and mass media propaganda that diverts you away from what is truly best for your health
Mercola.com is funded by me personally, and therefore, I am not handcuffed to any advertisers, silent partners or corporate parents. This gives me the freedom to report the facts as I see them, and base my recommendations on the available research and input from experts, without having to appease advertisers with conflicting interests.
When I offer or recommend products, I do so because I have actively researched them and find they are the best in that category for your health. I ignore substandard products, and products not directly pertinent to your health, regardless of any potential financial upside. I have a top-notch research- and development team to help me in this process.
Through the years the interest for products has grown into a full-fledged online store with well-researched and independently tested health products of the highest quality. Profit generated from the sale of my products goes right back into maintaining and building a better site and providing you with more free tools, videos, special reports, and in-depth articles.
About My Background
For those of you who are unfamiliar with my background, I was trained and am licensed as an osteopathic physician, also known as a DO. DOs are,similar to MDs; they can prescribe medication and perform surgery in all 50 states. DOs and MDs have similar training requiring four years of study in the basic and clinical sciences, and the successful completion of licensing exams.
For 25 years I treated over 25,000 patients and have loads of real world clinical experience to base my comments on how to avoid drugs and surgery using inexpensive natural approaches. I was also a paid speaker for a major drug company when I first started out so I have been to the dark side, and know firsthand how it works..
I am also board-certified in family medicine and served as the chairman of the family medicine department at St. Alexius Medical Center. I am trained in both traditional and natural medicine.
Believe it or not, when I opened my practice in 1985, my philosophy was very traditional. Like most doctors, I focused on treating people’s symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of their illness, so I prescribed drugs most of the time. I was even paid to lecture other doctors about the benefits of hormone replacement therapy. However, my interest in exercise and natural health grew, and in the early 90’s, I became increasingly focused on finding more natural ways to treat my patients.
A bit to my surprise, I quickly discovered I had much greater success getting people healthy this way, compared to the drug therapies I’d prescribed in the past.
By the time I quit seeing patients in order to dedicate my time to this newsletter, I’d already helped tens of thousands of patients address their health problems. I decided I could leverage my insights and help educate many more people on how to take back control of their health through this newsletter than I ever could seeing patients one-by-one. It was a decision I’ve never regretted, and I’m continually gratified by letters and feedback from readers who report feeling better than they’ve ever felt before as a result of their implementing the lifestyle changes.
In November 2009, I was named the top Ultimate Wellness Game Changer by the Huffington Post, an honor that celebrates “100 innovators, visionaries, and leaders in 10 categories who are harnessing the power of new media to reshape their fields and change the world.” Huffington Post readers voted me to the top to receive this special award. Two of my books, The Great Bird Flu Hoax and The No-Grain Diet, have also gone on to become New York Times Bestsellers.
Milestones Along the Way...
We’ve made many changes at Mercola.com since our humble beginnings in 1997. We’ve gone from sending out a newsletter once a week, to providing in-depth articles on a daily basis, and over the years we’ve helped pave the way in demanding transparency in FDA actions, and exposed the realities of how many health programs are intricately tied to Big Pharma, and the revolving doors existing between government and big industries and corporations like Monsanto and Merck.
We’ve reached tremendous milestones during this 15-year journey, and have consistently shared the news well before the mainstream. Examples of topics we’ve been frontrunners of include:
- Exposing the swine flu pandemic for the hoax that it was. That article ended up being among the top five pages viewed on the entire internet the day we posted it, and it crashed all our servers.
- Exposing Merck’s drug, Vioxx, for the killer that it was, years before major media started reporting it. I actually issued the first public warning about Vioxx while it was still in clinical trials—a year before it became available by prescription.
- Warning about the emergence of statin drugs, which I stated were an accident waiting to happen. My first warnings were issued 11 years ago, in 2001. Fast-forward to a decade later and the truth of this has become quite evident, and the dangers of statins are now well-documented.
- I’ve long warned of the dangers of routine mammograms, and in the past couple of years, a number of studies have emerged showing that mammograms appear to do more harm than good, and are not, in fact, saving women’s lives.
- Educating about the health benefits of vitamin D and safe sun exposure, and the many benefits of astaxanthin
Health Liberty
Last year we founded the Health Liberty initiative, with a call for you to join me in standing up for your right to control your health. Today, government and Big Pharma, as well as other multinational corporations like Monsanto, want to take away that right. With our new Health Liberty initiative, we’ve let government and public health agencies know that our bodies belong to us.
The government does not own our bodies, and we don’t want―or need―mandates or Big Brother operatives working hand-in-hand with huge corporations dictating our lives. To that end, through the Health Liberty Initiative, I let you know, last year, that I’m putting my money where my mouth is with an investment of a minimum of a million dollars toward several major health liberty goals:
- To abolish the use of mercury in dentistry.
- To get the toxic poison fluoride removed from our water systems.
- To provide an objective voice of common sense that is lacking from the media and public health officials and educate the public about vaccines; to demand the right to informed consent when it comes to vaccines, and to insist on the freedom to choose whether or not we even want to be vaccinated.
- To fight for the right to know and the labeling of genetically engineered foods.
You’ve been a huge help in this last project. Many of you responded to our call for donations to the Money Bomb Against Monsanto, and your donations will help carry on the fight for the labeling of genetically modified foods in California. We believe the California ballot initiative will have the same effect as an FDA regulation when it is passed this November, and be the beginning of the end of genetically engineered foods in the US.
This is one of the most important, if not the most important health freedom project we’ve embarked on since I started this site and I thank you for being part of it.
The movement to demand labeling of genetically modified foods in the U.S. is an absolute necessity. We need to label these foods just like they are labeled in other countries. India, for example, just decided to label genetically modified foods as of January of next year. The Millions Against Monsanto was a start. We are fighting for the right to know what's in our food.
My Deepest Thanks to YOU!
Because of your loyal support, we’ve slowly but surely awakened the world to the false promises of the fatally flawed conventional medical view, which claims disease is best treated with drugs, and that the government knows what’s best for your health and should be allowed to dictate your health options.
That model is a prescription for disaster for personal health and freedom.
The truth is, it’s health that counts―and the freedom to choose health over treating symptoms of disease will always be our goal. So it’s with great excitement and hope for the future that I promise you my team and I will continue educating and creating awareness to allow you to make your own informed health choices.
Most of all, after 15 years, I am really excited to see the community that has been created, and I want to personally thank YOU for being here and continuing to be part of the revolution that succeeds when we can All TRULY take control of our own health.
15th Anniversary Special
Many of the changes to this web site have occurred in response to requests and suggestions from you, and I encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts and ideas for how to make it even better as we move forward.
For example, my online store grew in response to your requests for an easy and safe method to purchase high quality health products over the Internet that have been carefully vetted and independently tested. Mercola.com evolved to give you just that―an online health products store that you can trust. In the next few weeks we will announce yet another significant partnership and milestone that will make your online shopping even more convenient.
To celebrate these first 15 years together, we’re extending a special Anniversary offer to all of you. Just spend $50 or more in our online store beginning August 2, and ending at midnight on August 8, and receive 15% off your entire order. Retail Customers must enter Promotional Code 15ANNIV to recieve the discount. Premier Customers must enter Promotional Code PRM15YR to receive the discount. (Please note that this sale does not apply to wholesale customers.)