Personalized Medicine: Are You Sacrificing Your Privacy? | Leah Wilson, J.D.

This medical surveillance system is next level. This information can be used by whomever needs it at whatever time. This would change privacy as we know it for everyone forever. The personalized medicine industry is now valued at $671 billion. What most moms don't know, there is an effort now to expand the heel prick to a whole DNA reading of your baby. Where choice is absolutely an illusion is if we give up our privacy.

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Fascinating question, because I just read, what, 2 weeks ago or so now, that the personalized medicine industry is now valued at $671 billion, and over the next 10 years, it's projected to be valued at $1.4 trillion. So I don't have to convince you or your listeners that this is the next frontier of the pharmaceutical profit industry. You know, it's a for-profit industry. Good for them. That's not, you know, anything that we need to be worried about. Like, they should make money off of their products. But looking at the dollars involved shows us that we need to be aware of where this is going. And personalized medicine, as you and I might think of it, is something like my doctor knows who I am and my doctor sees me as a whole being. And we take my history and my current circumstances into consideration when making medical decisions together. However, personalized medicine, this industry that's being built, is built around the human genome, and it's built around what could or could not be required of a parent based on their child's genetic screening at day one of life. And that's where We need to be aware that even the term personalized medicine, even though it sounds like the next best thing, depending on who is making those decisions and who has, who holds the power, could become weaponized and could become a bigger deal than the type of medical mandates we're even seeing today when it comes to vaccination.

Can you dive into that a little bit deeper? Because I actually got lost regarding that human genome part. Like, I guess I don't even understand what are they doing?

So have you heard of, or do you remember, um, the heel prick at birth? So a child will receive a heel prick at birth to see if they have, um, any, um, metabolic disorders that could be treated early in life. Do you remember?

Does that make sense? Yes, absolutely. I remember it. And we actually had a huge scare around it with our second child.

Parents have such unique journeys around getting positive screens from the newborn screen. And what most moms don't know is that the newborn screen The heel prick will happen to every child that's born in the United States unless mom knows that it's happening in advance and knows that she has the right to opt out. Because in all 50 states, it's a required process. In 3 states, it's criminal not to do it, so the mom would be charged with a misdemeanor. And in the 47 others, it will happen by default unless the parent opts out. So it's gonna happen unless they opt out based on religious exemption or something like that. So this newborn screen has historically been testing for metabolic disorders based on what's going on in your blood. Well, there is an effort now coming out of NIH, so the agency, um, under HHS for research, to expand the heel prick to a whole DNA reading of your baby. So that the doctor would be taking the whole genome sequence, which used to cost $100 million in 2007 and now just fell below $100 to do a whole genome sequence. I mean, tell me how that happened, right? So this whole genome sequence at birth in order to predict your child's lifespan, their disorders and diseases they will have, and then put them in a centralized surveillance system for compliance with how to treat those mutations or disorders, and then follow them through their entire life for outcomes. This medical surveillance system is next level. It's something that we have not yet embraced in the United States because we value privacy, and this would change privacy as we know it for everyone forever.

I'm getting— I mean, it makes me really scared. Because, you know, you already see how things are playing out. I think about what happened to those Canadian truckers, for example. They stopped getting funds because of the digital currency, right? Or their banking systems got locked out. So in this situation, are we talking about like, oh, if a kid has— if they don't get a certain vaccine that's based on their genome that the government has said fits this specific vaccine, that they could be barred or limited from activities, from schools, from society.

The good news is, you know, you said you're scared, and the good— and I don't ever like leaving anyone afraid because we're all about action. We're all about what, what can we do. We're not going to bring you from Stand for Health Freedom situations where our voice wouldn't matter. And here, friends, I truly believe that we can stop this if we get the word out, that we can stop this agenda in its tracks, that mandatory medicine should be a thing of the past even when it comes to this. And if mandatory medicine is a thing of the past, then this agenda would be severely injured. I mean, only people who want to do this would be doing it. I mean, if you want to volunteer your genetic contents, which a child can't do that. So heaven forbid I volunteer my child's genetic contents for a centralized surveillance system and they turn 19 and say, whoa, I cannot unconsent to this. Like, this is my life. It was chosen for me. And have you ever seen the movie Gattaca?

Yeah.

You only have to watch the first 15 minutes to know what it looks like to put a system like this in place, to base your credentials off of your genetic contents, not based on the skills that you have or how hard you're willing to work or who you married or your children. I mean, it would purely be based on a genetic reading to say what jobs you qualify for. And we don't have to extrapolate that far out to know That privacy is valuable. Our country was built on the notion that privacy will secure our freedoms, that if the government has to have a true and validated reason to intrude on our papers or contents or our body, heaven forbid, otherwise we get to keep what's private private. And when it comes to our DNA, there's nothing more private than that. Because Siri and, you know, the, the applications that you and I are listening on are not going to collect that information involuntarily, we're going to have to willingly give it up. And so that's where this intrusion is more severe than probably anything else we're looking at when it comes to privacy, is to put our genetic contents into a database that we cannot then undo, to say that these— this information can be used by whomever needs it at whatever time in whatever public health emergency or based on whatever philosophies are in place in an administration at any given time, that this is just too sensitive for Americans to willingly allow this to be built because of how it could be weaponized with our careers and insurance rates and mortgage rates and involuntary medical decision-making.

And to your point, taken at a time where we're incredibly vulnerable, right? You just had your, your child. I didn't know that, that prick, that you could say no to it. You know, how many parents know that?

Culturally, we have allowed the notion that certain medical decisions are not ours be a reality. Like, why is that a cultural reality? I speak to moms all the time who say, Leah, I had no clue that I could walk out of the doctor's office without getting the 7 shots that my 6-month-old needed. And I'm like, wait, what? And you know, they're like, well, my doctor said I had to get them, that this is what's required by the state. We need moms to know that that child is solely your responsibility, and that anything that happens with that child is still within your authority. And the institution's got to catch up. We're having a better time teaching the moms this reality, and more and more moms taking that authority back, and the institutions are lagging. They're still using the outdated methods of forcing. Interventions onto individuals and mothers. And that's where we have a lot of work to do, is helping those doctor encounters reflect our true value of individual decision-making.

So many of us don't really understand, well, what is medical freedom? So how would you define medical freedom?

No coercion ever within any medical decision. No coercion, no force. And that means that we have to have full information at time of medical decision, which means what happens if I do nothing? What happens if I do something? What are the long-term outcomes? Do we even know the long-term outcomes? Because the reality is with a lot of what we're dealing with pediatric care or this genetic issues we touched on a little bit, there's no long-term statistics. There's no long-term research that shows us. how a child who receives intervention fares against a child who does not receive the intervention. And a mom has to know that before making a decision. She just flat out has to know that we can't actually tell you what the long-term outcomes are because we don't yet know, or we may never know. When you're talking about genetic intervention, you're really basing the success of the intervention against the child that would've never received the intervention because it's personalized, it's specialized. You can't ever really say like, oh, this child would have been better off with or without the genetic intervention because you're testing it against that individual and their unknown future.

When we talk about vaccine intervention, people get so heated about this conversation and they, they feel that whatever their position is, either side, they passionately believe that you are either hurting your child if you are, or you're hurting your child if you don't. And I don't know how to really broach the topic with people, because this is clearly a part of medical freedom, the right to choose what is injected or put into your— you or your child, right? Let's talk about just that mindset, the dynamic. What is it built on? How do we navigate it together?

I think that it's a lot asking a parent to look at the vaccine decision, because that parent has most likely already made a vaccine decision. And they made that vaccine decision based on what they thought would be best for their child's life. So you're asking them to review something that could call into question how they cared for their most precious relationship on earth. And I understand that. I get it. And, you know, a lot of the moms that we work with, they made a decision and later regretted it and now have a story to tell. And that's where We have to understand that it's a reality that people are coerced or forced or pressured or just don't know that there is a decision to be made. And it's our job to help them understand that this is about a decision, not about whether a vaccine is good or bad for anyone or everyone, but simply that our freedom has to be intact so that when we approach the decision whether or not to give Hep B at day 1 of life to a newborn, That we can come forward with our own worldview, with our values, with our religious beliefs, and make a clear decision without it being influenced by anyone else's worldview or beliefs, because that's one of the dominant factors in making decisions about whether or not we intervene preventatively in a child's life with the pharmaceutical product. We have to build a big enough bridge. To allow people to look at why is this specific product on the market to begin with, and is this the best thing for my child? And that's it. Because there is freedom in knowing that the disease rates fell before the interventions were ever mandatory, and before the interventions even existed in a lot of situations. And knowing that. If you make your own decision about a vaccine, it's not going to reflect upon my child's disease rates or longevity. And once we have that freedom to understand that this truly is an individual decision, that we are allowed to assess this as an individual decision, then we can keep all options in place and we can keep freedom as broad as possible and civility squarely intact. You know, we're not going to lose our civility. to freedom when it comes to the free market with pharmaceutical decision-making. And once we can understand that, then parents can put their arms down and understand, yes, I am doing my absolute best with every single medical encounter to nurture my child and set them up for long-term success.

We have to be asking the questions like, whose agenda is it to push X, Y, or Z? Whose agenda is it to continue, or who benefits If we continue a certain narrative. I believe one of the hardest pieces for the parents who choose to not go with the norm is that then they are now set up because society accepts the norm. So now their kids, every time their kid goes to an activity, every time they enter a new school, there's all these hoops that have to be put through. And to your point, sometimes even doctors or people in a certain position will pressure you. to fulfill societal norms to then enter, you know, that space. It almost feels like it builds upon itself, you know, like you make one decision and now you're stuck in this loop of having to make 100 more decisions around that same topic. When I wish it was as clear as you're making it, where it's like, no, this is individual. This is your individual choice. Your choice doesn't affect my kid. So do what you need to do. But that's not how society is wired. It's true.

And the encouraging thing is when you look at polling today, because if you, you see what political issues have steam behind them. Where is the will of the voter? This— the issues on pediatric health and children's health outcomes are huge, and people want to see something different with them. Because of that conversation breaking open, the community of like-minded, freedom-loving people is ballooning like wildfire. The people are there to not form alliances because this isn't us versus them. But to navigate this with. I mean, we have people on the ground in every state who are fighting this good fight to make it clear that our kids are going to be as healthy as possible when parents are as involved as possible. I agree. It is frustrating when you're asked just one more time about vaccine status. And so one of our goals is to say, when is it appropriate or inappropriate for people to be asking about vaccine status? You know, people think that HIPAA protects you. Folks, HIPAA doesn't protect you. HIPAA only applies to the medical provider, the clearinghouse, or the insurance payer. Those are the only 3 people that are covered under that law. Everyone else, there, there can never be a violation of it because they're not governed by it. Privacy is ours for the taking. And who are we telling this information to? And we have to navigate that in a civil manner so that we don't feel like we're on our heels all the time. You know, that people just don't know. This information is not really their business. They just don't know that not everyone wants to make this decision. And I have to say, with my kids, you know, a lot of times, um, the administrator or even the assistant that you're corresponding with has no clue what your rights are until you tell them. And then they're like, oh, okay. Unfortunately, it's incumbent upon us to come forward. With an invitation to better understand the decisions we're making, not to convince them of the way we took, not at all. Like, we're not going to go around trying to convince the powers that be that our way is better, but that freedom that we do still have these rights and that we can make decisions to opt our children out of A, B, and C medical interventions, whether it's, you know, the obvious decision of vaccines or masking or participation in screenings. Um, You know, even suicide convocations for middle schoolers these days. I mean, your kid doesn't have to attend those things if you don't want seeds of darkness being planted in their head about how to view and handle mental health.

That's a whole other topic. I mean, we— my kids were at a school previously, an elementary school, where at the first meeting, you know, where all the kids and the parents are there, it was all about pronouns. And it was like my daughter was in kindergarten. And so what happened through grade kindergarten all the way to grade 3 or 4 was a confusion around pronouns and her thinking that she was a they/them. If she was, that's fine. But there was no— she was 3, you know what I mean? Or in 3rd grade or 2nd grade and just not understanding any of it. To your point, all this, this introduction to these things where the brain is not developed enough to understand the nuances is, is feeding the narrative.

As a parent, you know, personally, I've always taken the approach of whenever I can, I want to speak first. And that does a lot, you know, even with the human psyche. If you're speaking on sexuality to your children before their peers are, or their teachers are, or the institutions are, then you're the default authority. Oh, I learned about this from my mom. You know, I'd go back to my mom with questions, or that doesn't match what mom told me. I'm going to talk to her about that. A, we can't always do that. And then B, if you have the constant drip of something else being spoken, You know, you speak something often enough, it becomes truth. And that's just, once again, no matter how strong you are, how resolved you are, that's the human psyche. Once something's spoken so many times, it becomes a truth. I'm just so happy to see parents re-engaging in their children's health and in their children's education and recognizing that we cannot be replaced and we're not going to allow ourselves to be replaced by, by any institution.

I love that. And, there is something you say that vitality is a way of thinking. Is this along the same lines of what you mean when you say that?

You know, a couple years back, my husband and I decided within our different spheres, because I'm full-time in the advocacy world and policy world, and our family natural health center is where my husband spends his day-to-day, you know, educating patients and community members on healthcare. And, you know, their own health decisions. We said, you know what, there is such a growing desire for people to learn how to exit the medical system, exit conventional medicine, big medicine, medical industrial complex, and do something different. But they end up wandering around sort of ripe and vulnerable for every trend and hack and promise and marketing scheme that pops up. Because they just want something new. They want out and they want something new. They need a guide, a guide so that their backbone can be so strong and so resolved that they know how to make their medical decisions with confidence. They know how to use an expert as a resource, not as their authority over them. And they know what direction they're going with their health. They know how to identify that. So we're like, if people can understand This framework of thinking, then they don't have to wander around ripe for vulnerabilities. That's why we wrote the book Reclaim Vitality to teach the 3 principles of vitality. Like if what you want is to heal and that you believe that you were created in a way that you can heal and are healing continually, you know, that if you cut your arm right now, your body will go to work to repair that cut. That's also happening. With your kidneys and your liver and your heart and your brain. Like, your body goes to work to continually heal. And if you're someone that believes that, then how do you triage each and every potential medical intervention? And it's a way of thinking. It's not a, here's 1, 2, 3, ABC of how to do something. It's how do you take charge? How do you confidently step forward to grow and heal each day? Instead of harm and suffer each day.

It really, it's about reclaiming agency. Then it sounds like it's freedom.

It is, it's experiencing health freedom because of your agency and because you are well enough to value other things other than your health. If you're sick and suffering on a day-to-day basis, then it's hard to have any other value. than simply maintaining, maintaining your welfare or getting out of pain. And that's where true agency is restored is when we can learn to thrive and function and pursue healing in a way that allows us to value our freedom again.

To your point, so many people only start looking into these sorts of things when they are sick, when they are most vulnerable. And they're also most susceptible to people's suggestions. So how does someone navigate the knowledge around what path to take? Do you recommend they go internal? Is there specific sources externally?

You have to determine your philosophy first. You know, it's your worldview. It's, do you believe that you were born broken and deficient and dependent upon things, which, which some people do believe that. I mean, it might sound stupid coming out of my mouth because I don't believe that. And so maybe I'm not honoring that perspective enough. Um, or do you believe that you were born capable of healing, that you have a brilliant creator, and that these systems inside of us cannot be manipulated by man to the extent that we could overcome the good work that your body was already trying to do? We can only measure so many things within our body. So you measure something in your body and that measurement is off and you go trying to manipulate that one measurement. It's like, well, that measurement was off for a reason. So now that you're externally manipulating that, what is the cascade of effects to try to then make up for what it was doing anyway? Because the body is so smart that it will build circuits around what you stop it from doing. For example, reducing a fever. You reduce the fever, you short circuit that mechanism of your immune system, your body will try to overcome it and throw you into febrile seizures. Just shut down your body and reset what it was trying to reset to begin with. You know, I mean, that's a very rudimentary understanding of it, but those are the questions we have to ask. And that's what we go through in the first part of the book. It talks about the structure of conventional medicine and the shortcomings of conventional medicine. And then if someone wants to go further and read part 2 and part 3 of the book, then it dives into how to think differently, how to take your thoughts captive when you are sick or when you are caring for your child, or About your own health or your own truth. To your point, yes, it is a lot of internal work. It's a ton of internal work, but there are a lot of people who want to do it. I was told by my mentor when I first started Stand for Health Freedom, Leah, we're going to have to see half the population directly injured by the pharmaceutical industry before we make any headway. And I said, we can't accept that as a reality. It's just too much suffering. How can we stand by? Like, we got to get to people before they get injured. I think that COVID unfortunately escalated that timeline. You can hardly meet a person now that has not been let down by a medical intervention that put them on a path they did not want to be on. And that's why people's eyes are opening up right now to say, you know, I want something different for my kids. I want something different for myself in 10 years. And that generational change is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. Because when we teach our kids that they are free and that they are healing and that their genes are not their destiny, and that becomes reflexive to them, then they teach their kids too. And they teach their kids. Your Ancestral Podcast is a perfect example of that. I mean, those things in the native populations were reflexive and they did pass that knowledge down to the next generation. And we're going back. We're getting back to those traditional mechanisms of educating our children on what's true about their health so that their children can know the truth too.

So as a chef of 20+ years, I've always been about taste, but it was becoming a father that made me really start to think about function because I want my kids to thrive and I want to be around long enough to witness it. And it was when my daughter became ill, my wife and I, we struggled to get the right nutrients in her. It was a true wake-up call. That experience is why Pluck was created. So Pluck is a superfood seasoning made with 100% grass-fed beef organ meats blended with organic spices and herbs. The beautiful thing is it doesn't taste like organ meats. It just tastes like the seasoning you're already using, but better, because when you add it, you're adding these bioavailable nutrients that your body can actually use. If you can salt it, you can pluck it. Learn more at eatpluck.com. And save 15% off your first order using code EA15. Even though I know there are things we can do, I have to admit, I do feel discouraged more so than not.

That's fair. And I think it can be helpful to zero in on who are we fighting? You know, I don't, I don't even like to always use the word fight because really it's our stand. It's where are we going? What are we creating truly? But who's the opponent in this? Like, who are we quote unquote overcoming? And quite frankly, it's the government. I mean, we're not fighting everyone. What's happening here is that our government has captured agencies, agencies that are being controlled by the industry, and that should not be the case. The industry can do its job and go make profit and let the free market forces be at play, but the minute we have our government protecting certain industries, shutting down other industries, squashing out other industries making, you know, partnerships that artificially bolster certain options, that's when freedom is at stake. So in this fight for health freedom, we know that we need to make change within government in order to level the playing field so that you and I can make meaningful choices for ourselves and for our children.

It's such a great point. But, and I sometimes like where my brain goes is like, but isn't the government made up of humans? You know what I mean? It's like, how do we get the people that choose to go into these power, high-powered jobs to think differently?

The good thing is, yes, they are human. So they are also living the experiences that you and I are living. They are also seeing the people that are frustrated, that don't want to suffer anymore, that want different outcomes, and they cannot help but join this conversation, which is what we are seeing in our daily conversations. I mean, just for one small example, we run Vote for Health Freedom so that In your state, you can come to standforhealthfreedom.com or votehf.com to get your voter guide to know who's going to go to bat for us in office, who's going to stand up for these values. And we have more surveys than ever coming in because they want to be a part of this process. And what we do is we thoroughly vet these candidates and we engage with them where there is an education gap on any of the issues that are currently trending. And the responses that we're getting and the education that we're able to provide during the critical time of a race for reelection election or an initial election is crucial. So that's what you all are supporting, is that we are changing the minds and the hearts of the people making these decisions at every level of government.

One of the ways that the information is getting co-opted and/or the narrative is being made that a lot of people may not even realize is through search engines, through now AI. Where should someone look? I mean, I know an obvious answer might be to your website, but there's got to be More than that, right? There's got there's got to be something else that because I always say this, but I remember I don't know how many years it was now, maybe fifteen years ago. Whenever you did a search for anything medical online, Dr. McCullough came up every time. And then about ten years ago or something like that, you couldn't find him. He was on like page three or four. So clearly, even Google was co-opted. We know this for a fact. You know pharmaceutical and Google are in bed with each other. So where do people go? Like, how do we know where to find the information that's more neutral versus, uh, you know, in, in the bed of pharmaceutical?

You gotta go in person, you know what I mean? So it's like, if you— yes, votehf.com is going to help you know how to cast your ballot for health freedom. However, if you want to know where people stand on issues or how to find resources on issues, like, you show up to local political events. If it's within a 20-minute 30-minute radius of you and it's an event that you've been made aware of, go talk about what you care about. Find out what these other people care about. Like, come together on what your cares and concerns and values are. And, you know, just talk, build relationships. And outside of the political sphere and getting the right people in government, it's go to a Weston A. Price gathering, go to a church gathering, like show up in person to gather your resources and information and community connections because Yes, Google did flip a switch. I think it was the end of 2018 when Dr. Axe, Mercola, and GreenMedInfo all left the top of the search engines. 2018, overnight. And that's when Google made their collection of books no longer all the books, but their favorite books only. And ChatGPT and all of your favorite AI sources are going to do that too. Right now, it seems safe. It seems open source. However, it's going to come to a time when the digital resources that you're using will support those that own them. They will support the narrative of their favorite resources and what they want you to see and what they want you to experience, because people can shape your experiences by just the words that they tell you. And that's why it's important for us to have our own experiences and to show up in person. It's a powerful thing.

It's so interesting because the answer when people say, when I talk about food freedom and whatnot, is I say, well, go talk to your local farmer, like go talk to these people. So it's, Fascinating that the answer for the political side is the same in a sense.

It's a great example and we're fighting for that too. I mean, it's, uh, the decentralization of our food supply is common sense and it's starting to be readily embraced that yes, we should decentralize our food supply. You know what? We need to decentralize our information supply too. And that's why your community matters.

I do get caught up though when I think about The invisible stuff, the stuff that feels sometimes like we're pawns to billionaires' playgrounds. Like what's going on with the ticks right now, right? It's like, well, was this a genetically modified tick, you know, that's now making it so that people are sensitive or allergic to beef? Like, which is a bizarre thing, right? It's really weird when things like COVID or this tick or these kind of phenomena happen that have historically never happened the way they are now. It's challenging to not feel just like a pawn and to feel helpless. How do you recommend we find that agency to feel empowered? Like, what steps can we take to simply feel that we have power and that we have agency to take that next step despite what's going on in the news or what we're seeing, you know, what we're being told?

I would be disingenuous not to say that when I get up in the morning, I know that God is good and he is still on the throne. And that's what keeps me going is that he is not surprised by anything. And he did not, um, fall short when he created us to live in this world. So our resilience matters. Our resilience matters then when we were created, it matters today and it'll matter tomorrow. And that's why that's what's within our control to effect is our freedom and our resilience. And that's for everyone, not just for those who have accepted Christ or who live a Christian life, because if you jump off a building, gravity is true for everyone, you know? And so our resilience is true for everyone. I mean, the cut heals regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs. And so I want you to understand that the human body is capable of a lot, and we do live in a broken world, and we are mortal. When it breaks down, like, what does it mean to win? What does it mean to win at this game? And I think that, um, our focus is how we win. If we focus on freedom and we focus on resilience, then we have lived life. If we focus on the destruction and we focus on the enemy, then the enemy has won. And that's why when we come together in this and we decide to have a stronger focus, then, uh, it's gonna make waves for our future generations and our children. And at Stand for Health Freedom, we confront a lot of big topics, but we have one commitment to y'all, and that is that when we confront a topic, we have a way that your voice can make a difference. For example, right now we have made one of our battles ahead the spraying of our skies, you know, restore our clear skies. And that's a huge issue. It's where are the levers that we can make a difference in our lifetime on our air quality and what is happening with heavy metals in Uh, contaminants in our sky that affect our soil and water. The sharpest tool that we have right now is that we have filed a petition on your behalf to force the agencies to initiate rule changes through the FAA and the EPA on this issue. And if they don't respond correctly, then we file litigation to follow up with them not having a proper response to a petition for rule changing with the actors that have The biggest contribution in our clear skies. So those types of things are big issues. They can seem very overwhelming day to day when you walk out your door and you see the skies are checkerboard again, and you know that your water quality is changing and that we live in America, we're supposed to be able to depend on our water quality. But there are things we can do. Our focus is one of the things we can control. Just like we tell our kids every day, there's only 2 things you can control. It's your effort and your attitude. And that applies to us too, as moms and dads, that there's only a few things we can control in life, truly effort and attitude. And we are committed to making a difference on these issues.

So effort and attitude. And then is there something else beyond that? What, what is the next step after, after that?

My background situated me to better understand the political atmosphere in the policy world because I practice antitrust law. And to be frank with you, antitrust is probably at the root of a lot of what we're dealing with, because the government holding hands with industries that are allowing specific players to have to hold the keys, to hold the power, is a huge problem. That's what creates the captured agencies. So my background is in law, practicing law, and then decided to start the nonprofit when bad public health policies stopped us from continuing our mission as foster parents. It wasn't for me that I wanted change bad public health policy. It was for the foster kids that were sleeping on the floor at the office of Department of Child Services instead of in my safe and loving home that I was like, whoa, whoa, like, we have to change this. Public health cannot be harming the most vulnerable children that we have instead of properly supporting and protecting them. So that's why we came together and did something, did something to say if enough people know the truth, then bad public health policy will be put in its place. That's what we're seeing today with the rise of MAHA, is enough people know that we don't want our water contaminated, we don't want our farmland contaminated, we don't want our children overmedicated. And so it's forcing a change. It's forcing issues at the ballot box. It's forcing issues within doctors' offices. It's forcing issues within school systems and institutions of education. And we got to keep going because the battle might seem intense right now, but it's because we are gaining ground. And when we're gaining ground, the systems that are challenged don't like that, and they still have a lot of power when it comes to what information we're exposed to. So it's time to keep going, to keep showing up, to keep voting. You know, I've been telling people that you might think your vote does or does not matter, but it's not time to go home with your ball. It's time to keep showing up, keep making a difference, because our voices are changing things.

Hmm. Feels like there is an illusion of choice. And I think in a, in a way, your experience with the foster care system is what you're trying to raise the red flag and make changes around the genetic testing and how that could impact. 'Cause you're, it's all parallel, right? It's, it's all around how your choice around what you put in your kids should not necessarily affect you supporting foster kids, right? That your medical decisions don't mean you are a harmful person. They don't define who you are. Where do you see the illusion of choice, though, showing up in this modern healthcare? And if we don't do something about where the industry is going, will we even have a choice?

I mean, this goes back full circle to where we started our conversation with genetics and personalized medicine and surveillance. Because where choice is absolutely an illusion is if we give up our privacy. Because if the institutions and powers that be can have an opinion about the decision I make and about what opportunities I have based on that decision, then you're absolutely right, choice is an illusion. But if we protect our privacy, if we reinstate Americans as having a high value for privacy, then we can be more confident in the ground that we've already taken. I mean, we have changed 178 policies to dismantle the coercion and mandates. You know, that's what we're trying to— we're trying to chip away every way that we can with religious freedom, parental rights, informed consent, free speech, and privacy so that choice is not an illusion. Because if you read the documents that the government and industry have put together, it is exactly their plan to say, look, look, America, you still have an option. The choice is still yours. But if you want to do this, then you have to comply. That's called do to do. And we reject that wholeheartedly at Samba Health Freedom. We reject digital IDs. We reject the healthcare passport systems. Because that will lay the framework for do-to-do systems that reinforces choice only as an illusion.

How can the ordinary person influence policy?

We started Stand for Health Freedom to make that easy for you so that if you join standforhealthfreedom.com and you care about these issues of informed consent, then we will send you action alerts in your area. Based on your state you live in, the district you live in, or sometimes the whole US if it's a federal issue, where you can talk to the right person at the right time with the click of a button. And the reason we wanted to make this vigilance— so you're being vigilant if you're reading those call to actions, that's vigilance, that's advocacy. And the reason we wanted to make it possible for the ordinary person to be vigilant is because the grassroots greatest tool is the people. It's the people's voice. It's the strength in numbers. So even if you're out there holding a full-time job, raising multiple children, we make it easy for you to engage in that process of being vigilant, being vocal when you click to take action, and showing up to make sure that we can affect change. Because the media wants to say, look, the grassroots is at an impasse because they don't have the campaign contributions, or because they don't have the industry on their side, or that Fox News isn't covering their issues. But friends, that's not true. The grassroots movements main and most powerful tools have never been campaign contributions and mainstream media. It's always been the strength in numbers and the people's voice. And that's the recipe for success, where we have changed those 178 policies and where we have won those over 2,000 elections at this point in time for health freedoms. We're gonna— we're going, we're gonna keep going. And we invite anyone and everyone who wants to be a part of this grassroots movement to join us in this, to contribute so that we can keep putting out those calls to action, keep engaging with the people who are shepherding these policies through so that we can make sure that the people as the primary stakeholders are the ones who are being considered when the next public health decision is made.

I feel like community is really key to help bolster, you know, empowerment. And a lot of these, these discussions can't even be— well, they can, but they're not being had because people are afraid to share their opinion, you know, because they might get judged and/or ostracized for it. Right. And I know even like when we, when we moved to Massachusetts, I think we didn't have certain discussions around medical freedoms with some close friends, you know, some new close friends until maybe like 6 or 8 months into that friendship, you know, and it was very broached very gently. So, how do you recommend people find safety in numbers? Like, how do you recommend people, you know, find their community? Is that something your organization supports, or are there other resources?

Yes, we help connect people with their state partner, our state partner in your own state. I mean, if you want to volunteer, if you want to find meetups, if you want to find resources for that specific state, we absolutely are here to help with that. There is strength in knowing who else is in your community and in connecting, and we encourage you to go out and build relationships with anyone who shares some of your values. You know, we don't have to agree on everything as humans, but when you find a neighbor or a school family or a church family that shares some values with you, then it's just like any other relationship. You go into that and conversations will slowly come up, and people trust other people more than any other thing on the planet, and that is the power of the human voice. Is that when you build a relationship with someone— everything's based on relationships— then when you share an experience or an opinion with them, they can now consider that as viable. Whereas if they hear it from an opposing viewpoint on the mainstream news or even social media or at school, but if they hear it directly from a person they have a relationship with, it is now viable for them to consider as a resource to draw from or an experience to draw from. And that's why we got to keep going. We got to keep everywhere we go, we keep making relationships. Do not let the enemy convince you that you are isolated and that you have to stay isolated. Go out, make friends and build relationships.

Absolutely. I think about the Weston A. Price organization whenever I go to a Wise Traditions conference. That's probably the number one thing I hear is everyone says, oh, I feel Like I can let down my guard and I'm just now around a community of people that are like-minded, not the same. Not everyone thinks the same there, but like-minded and mostly in that they don't have to defend their position. They can just be in whatever choice they've made and no one is trying to change them, to contort them, to force them to think differently. I wish that more people coexisted in that reality more often where they didn't have to hide their true beliefs, that they didn't feel like if they said something they were going to be judged, or if they did something that they were going to be ostracized. So I really encourage everyone to reach, to click the links that we're going to put in for what you, for your organization, and to find community so that you can just start to feel safe in your body again. And And safe with your thoughts, you know, and, and be able to share them. Because, you know, the other thing we don't— most people don't even talk about is we get clarity on our ideas through talking, through talking about them. And if we're not talking about them, then how do we get clarity on them?

If you don't hear opposing views, how do you get clarity? I mean, we have to welcome them no matter how painful it can be, like welcoming conversation and understanding what all the factors are. And that's why we reduce things that, you know, all the policies and issues that we work on to one thing, and that is freedom. You know, it's the freedom for individuals to make a choice and for parents to make a choice at each and every point of intervention, pharmaceutically, medically, for your health. And if we can come together on that and respect a collection of ideas as viable, then we can move forward. together. And, um, I love that. I love that the wisdom that you share on this podcast and the reflection of understanding that sometimes the fastest way forward is to look back and learn from where we have been and what, what has worked well.

Well, thank you. And I'm just so grateful for your time today. I always like to close with the question, if you could wave a magic wand and bring back one ancestral practice, what would that be and why?

I mean, I guess broadly an ancestral practice of food as medicine that, you know, how many moms I talk to and they call me, they're like, we have respiratory issues. What do we do? We have skin issues. What do we do? We have this. What do we do? And it's like the first thing. And people think it's like kind of cute or supplementary, but how's your nutrition? What are you doing to heal right now? And it's, if we could respect again, that nutrition is one of the most powerful decisions that you can make. Then we wouldn't have to stay frustrated for nearly as long because my first advice is always, oh, your child's fighting infection. Cut all sugar, cut all grains for a few weeks. All of it. Don't even dabble with it. Quit cheating. It's not worth it. Like you want to heal, just heal. So I would say the magic wand would be food as medicine as an ancestral process.

Yeah. Well, I can definitely get behind that one.

It doesn't take any resources or magic or, you know, anything of that nature. And that's the beauty of pursuing resilience is you need less. It's so freeing. It's so freeing just to stop interfering and watch things resolve.

Yeah. Yeah. And to your point, you know, when in doubt, you just, you start to pull out the things, you know, whether it's you're feeling someone's toxic energy, then pull them out and pull out of their, that connection with them. If it's food, pull out the major allergens. Like we always have that agency to pull things out. I think The hardest piece is that, and this is ultimately what we were talking about this whole episode, is like, we just need transparency in what's in the things we are choosing. That's all. We just need that transparency so that we can make informed decisions on what's best for our families and ourselves. So truly appreciate you taking the time to amplify this, this message of advocacy and empowerment. We've already mentioned the website, but let's just state again, how can people get more information? How can they get involved? What's the best way for people to take the first step and to learn more about you and what you're and your husband are doing?

Yeah, stanfordhealthfreedom.com is probably the fastest way. And once you get there, you can plug in with our podcast so you can get information. We have a Substack where we're putting out regular information on current events or calls to action or interviews like this. So get involved with the Substack with The calls to action will come directly to your email box and the podcast. Those are some of the lowest hanging fruit and easiest ways to stay up on what we're doing. We're going to have so much more information coming for you guys regarding the genetic surveillance, because if we do our part to say no to this, I believe that we can stop this before it creates a veil of darkness like the vaccine agenda did for 4 decades before we made a dent.

Oh yes, let's, let's get that. Just stopped immediately. Oh my gosh. The agenda that we're stuck in, as you said, it just, it starts to permeate everyone's thoughts. And then, and then we don't even know where something started, where it stopped. We don't even know where to begin. We just know that, oh, I just believe XYZ, but I don't even know why I believe that. Right. It is, it just, it's like a disease that just keeps getting passed down generation to generation.

What do we allow to become reflexive for our kids, for our kids' kids? And the belief that we need to fix our genes. You know, I told my little guy, he heard me having a conversation about this and he was like, a genetically modified human? And I was like, exactly, buddy. That's exactly what it is. At the beginning of gene therapy, it was, they changed it from genetic modification to genetic therapy because it was much more palatable. To give your child or yourself a therapy than it was to treat yourself like an apple and be a GMO human instead of one that had its original genetic contents that were interacting with all of our environmental factors. So, I mean, that sounds heartless to say it that way, but if we want to confront the facts and the decisions that we're making, then we need to understand what it looks like to intentionally modify our DNA. for, to achieve quote unquote different outcomes in the future.

And that is what the goal is, is let's, let's all work towards creating different outcomes for this future than what some of these pharmaceutical companies are trying to dictate and oversee. So thank you so much, Leah. I feel like there's so much we didn't talk about. And, and so we'll have to probably, we'll probably have to revisit other topics later because there's It's such a deeper topic than what we were even able to go into, but I'm just so grateful for this piece. And I wish you continued passion for what you're doing, because I'm sure that you hit lots of bumps along the way where you feel discouraged. And I'm just, I'm just so glad that you are doing what you're doing.

Well, thank you so much. It's, it's a pleasure to be with you and your audience, and we've got work to do.

Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you. And thank you all for participating. You heard her, like, there, there are steps to take, and, and I really encourage you to take them. All the links will be in the show notes. So please, please take that step. This is so much bigger than just us individually. This is about the next generations and the generations after that. So we really need to support where we want our culture, where we want our world to go. And the time is now. So thank you and stay curious. Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links, and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com. That's eatpluck.com. And hey, if you know someone who'd get something out of this, share it with them too. Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.