The Death of Celebrity Chef Michael Chiarello

Did anti-PEG antibodies from COVID-19 vaccination play a role?

Celebrity Chef Michael Chiarello has died at the age of 61. His sudden death was the result of an anaphylactic reaction. Nobody knows what he reacted to. His family reported that he had no known allergies. His doctors also stated Chef Chiarello had no known allergies.

Chef Chiarello was reportedly at home when the reaction occurred, and nobody knows what he was doing at the time. He was hospitalized for several days, receiving treatment for an anaphylactic reaction, before dying on October 6^th in the hospital.

The media reports are really focusing on food allergies and trying to educate the public about how serious this issue is. As this USA Today report states, quoting Dr. Rita Kachu:

Although most allergies arise in childhood, millions of adults go on to develop one or multiple allergies, even to foods or substances that they have safely been exposed to hundreds of times before… At least 15% of people with food allergies are first diagnosed in adulthood… More often, adults may experience a reaction to an allergen they outgrew during childhood but for various reasons, such as changes in their immune system or environment, the allergy comes back.

hmmm… What could have happened to change Michael Chiarello’s immune system? Well, one thing could be the COVID-19 shots, and the timing would be right, with the recent release of the updated boosters. What proof do we have that Chef Chiarello was vaccinated against COVID-19? Chef Chiarello was the owner of several different restaurants located in the Napa Valley and San Francisco. San Francisco was one of several U.S. cities to require proof of vaccination for dining, a mandate that ended on March 11, 2022. I think it’s safe to assume he took the COVID-19 shots. Whether or not he got a recent booster is something we may never know. If he didn’t, does that mean the shots have nothing to do with this? No. Read on…

As I was thinking about the death of Michael Chiarello, I remembered that way back in December 2020, the CDC posted a warning about Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) and Polysorbate 80.

When I first saw this warning from the CDC, I knew it was a BIG DEAL. I wrote about it on Facebook. I actually wrote about it several times between January 14th and January 20th, 2021, because it triggered my radar, and I went down the rabbit hole. Rather than trying to recount and re-write all of that information, here are some screen shots of those posts. Note: “This” in the first screen shot refers to the CDC’s notice, pictured above.

Note: Shawn Skelton was one of the first people I knew to come out publicly after being injured by the mRNA shot, which she took because she was working in a long-term care facility. Shawn lives in an area that is close to where I used to live, and we had a mutual friend, who put us in touch. I was able to verify that Shawn had been taking a medication that contained PEG 3350 for digestive issues, which she had been experiencing for a couple of months prior to getting the shot.

Note: I let it be known on Facebook that I was investigating the reactions. I was put in touch with several women who confirmed that they had previously been injected with lip fillers and other dermal fillers containing PEG prior to their COVID-19 vaccine reactions.

Note: This is FAR FROM a complete list, as you will see below. Keep reading…

For about a month after first learning of the CDC’s warning about PEG and Polysorbate 80, I was up to my eyeballs in research. The alarm bells were really going off. By February 19th, 2021, this is where my thoughts were going…

Continued text from the above Facebook post (February 19, 2021):

Triton X-100 is an excipient that is used in several vaccines, including high-dose flu shots given to people 65 and over every year in the U.S.

Triton X-100 is polyethylene oxide (PEO). The difference between PEO and PEG, according to the experts, is in the molecular weight. Some chemical experts say they are the same, with different names. Others say they are different and should not be synonymous. At any rate, they are close enough that it can be hypothesized with some degree of certainty that people who develop anti-PEG antibodies will also be at increased risk of severe allergic reaction to products that contain Triton X-100, and vice-versa.

This issue of anti-PEG antibodies, and what they mean for people when they are exposed to PEG, polysorbate, and Triton X-100 is extremely scary. A 2016 study looking at the incidence of anti-PEG antibodies found that 72% of people in the general population have the antibodies, and between 7-8% of people have anti-PEG antibodies that put them at greatly increased risk of anaphylaxis if they are exposed.

Experts in the field of lipid chemistry state that injection with PEG from the first shot may cause people to develop anti-PEG antibodies which put them at increased risk of anaphylaxis not only to the second injection of the series, but to other medications (oral and injected) and over-the-counter products to which they have never before had any allergic reaction.

As I have been thinking about this, I started thinking about the Childhood Schedule. And about Vitamin K injections given to infants within minutes of birth in the U.S.

I am very familiar with polysorbate and Triton X-100. They are both very frequent ingredients used in vaccines given to children. And adults.

The vitamin K shot given to infants within minutes of birth in the United States contains 10 mg. of Polysorbate 80. The second ingredient is 10 mg. of propylene glycol, which is another chemical compound that is very similar in structure to PEG.

As I pondered this, I got a very sick feeling in my gut.

I started thinking about the elderly population, many of whom are on multiple prescription and OTC medications, including very high usage of Miralax. Many of our elderly also receive yearly flu shots containing Triton X-100. Could this be one reason why we are seeing so many deaths in the elderly, shortly after being injected with the new shot? Did they already have antibodies that would cause them to have a severe reaction when injected with PEG?

And what about pregnant women who are receiving the shot? Surely, they are not being told that their growing babies may develop anti-PEG antibodies that may increase the risk of anaphylaxis or hyper-immune response when they are injected with vitamin K shot at birth.

Then I decided to take a look at the Excipient List (from the CDC). This is a list that tells you the substances that are used to make the shots that are licensed in the United States.

As I looked at the list, I started thinking about what will happen when this shot is approved for children. And my heart sank. I am having trouble typing this through the tears.

While there is part of me that realizes that this will be the undoing of the most corrupt industry in the history of the world, my heart breaks for the innocent lives that will be lost in the process.

EDITED to add information about the TB test, which is taken every year by literally everyone in healthcare, and which contains polysorbate 80.

Links for the information contained in the Facebook posts above:

Analysis of Pre-existing IgG and IgM Antibodies against Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) in the General Population

CDC Vaccine Excipient List

If you click on the link for the Excipient List and then look for how many vaccinations contain polysorbate 80 (Tween 80) or TritonX-100, you may be getting a sense of how sick I was feeling at that moment when I first did the very same thing. My heart sank.

As I was preparing to write this post for my Substack, I wanted to learn more about what was known about this issue of polysorbate 80 and PEG hypersensitivity, prior to the CDC’s warning, issued in December of 2020. In this journal article, published online December 14, 2018, the authors write:

The most common immediate hypersensitivity to macrogols is associated with PEG 3350, however the epidemiology, mechanisms and cross-reactivity are poorly understood. Thousands of medications contain either PEGs or structurally similar polysorbates.

In their study, the authors evaluated two cases in patients who had history of immediate hypersensitivity to PEG containing medications. They were looking to see if those patients also reacted to polysorbate 80. They did. The authors wrote:

Results: Skin and provocation testing demonstrated symptomatic reactivity in both cases to PEG 3350 and polysorbate 80. Plasma samples were positive for anti-PEG specific IgE and IgG antibodies only in cases and binding increased directly proportional to the molecular weight of PEG tested. FDA adverse event reports revealed 53 additional cases of possible PEG 3350 anaphylaxis.

Conclusions: Immediate hypersensitivity to PEG 3350 with cross-reactive polysorbate 80 hypersensitivity may be under recognized in clinical practice and can be detected with clinical skin testing. Our studies raise the possibility of an IgE mediated Type I hypersensitivity mechanism in some cases.

Continuing…

Many patients report repeated cutaneous exposures or local reactions to PEG-containing topical items prior to the onset of systemic reactions to high molecular weight PEG containing medications, suggesting a cutaneous mode of sensitization. Gastrointestinal sensitization has been theorized in PEG allergic patients with an impaired epithelial barrier. However, the scope to which macrogol hypersensitivity might be a problem in the United States and the mechanism for PEG and polysorbate reactions are not well understood. After encountering two cases of life threatening immediate hypersensitivity to macrogols in our clinic, we sought to further understand the mechanism and scope of immediate hypersensitivity to PEG.

So, we know that hypersensitivity to PEG can occur as a result of taking bowel prep solutions and medications for constipation, and that is more likely to happen if the lining of the gastrointestinal tract is damaged, as is often the case with older adults and children with developmental disabilities. We also know that hypersensitivity to PEG can occur from topical products put on the skin. What do you suppose might happen when PEG is injected directly into the muscle (as intended) or subcutaneously (below the tissue of the skin) by accident? As we know by now, it doesn’t just stay there. It disperses throughout the body and carries the mRNA code into the cells. Does anyone else see a potential problem here?

They certainly did, as this Letter to the Editor of the Wiley online journal reads:

On the first day of the UK vaccination campaign with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) vaccine, there were reports of 2 cases of anaphylaxis within minutes of administration of the Pfizer/BioNTech messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine and a third case of an allergic reaction not requiring adrenaline (epinephrine). This was alarming, as anaphylaxis to vaccines is rare, in the order of 1 case per million doses, ¹ and therefore likely to injure public confidence. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued precautionary advice restricting access to the vaccine, ² which was subsequently relaxed in line with the summary of product characteristics. The cause of these vaccine anaphylaxis cases is unclear, but polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a candidate allergen. ³ , ⁴ Here, we demonstrate for the first time that allergy to PEG can cause anaphylaxis to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

That didn’t take long to surface! Three cases of severe allergic reaction or anaphylaxis on the FIRST DAY of administration of the Pfizer COVID shot.

The unknown is how many serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis have happened since then, as a direct result of so much of the world’s population being injected with PEG in the COVID shots. What effect does NEW anti-PEG antibodies (from the shot) have on those people who have been taking medications containing PEG without any problem before? Is there any evidence that severe reactions to PEG and Polysorbate are increasing, since the rollout of the COVID shots? And what about delayed reactions? If people don’t have an immediate anaphylactic reaction, does that mean they’re in the clear?

Digging a little deeper I found this:

Although you can be allergic to an inactive ingredient in your medication, it is very rare. Allergy symptoms most often occur within one hour of taking the medication, but some reactions may occur hours, days, or weeks later. (source)

And in this write-up of the study discussed earlier, this article from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology states:

Each of the cases had positive skin testing and reproducible symptoms to products containing either polyethylene glycol 3350, polysorbate 80, or both. Compared to controls who had been exposed to polyethylene glycol 3350-containing bowel preparations without allergic reactions, both of the cases had significantly increased amounts of specific IgG and IgE antibodies which could bind specifically to polyethylene glycols.  The binding of these antibodies increased as the molecular weight of the polyethylene glycol increased, suggesting that higher molecular weight PEG products like PEG 3350 might be more likely to cause a reaction.  The authors found an average of 4 cases of anaphylaxis reported per year to the FDA from 2005-2017 where PEG 3350-containing bowel preparations or laxatives were the implicated culprit.  PEG 3350 is currently contained in 1155 FDA approved medications and can more commonly be found in film coated tablets, topical gels, and parenteral steroids. Polysorbate 80 is currently contained in 6821 FDA approved medications and can more commonly be found in film coated tablets, parenteral steroids, immunoglobulin replacement, and vaccines.

High molecular weight polyethylene glycols and polysorbates are common ingredients in a wide variety of medications, household products and industrial products which may provide a vehicle for sensitizing susceptible individuals.  Allergists and consumers should be aware that sensitization leading to an immediate hypersensitivity type allergy to polyether containing compounds such as polyethylene glycols and polysorbates can occur, and that such reactions may currently be under-recognized.  It remains to be determined the degree to which sensitized patients can react to medications which contain only tiny amounts of PEGs or polysorbates, compared to the much larger amounts contained in certain injectable drugs, oral colonoscopy preparations, and laxatives.

I am just going to include this little tidbit again for emphasis:

• PEG 3350 is currently contained in 1155 FDA approved medications

• and can more commonly be found in film coated tablets, topical gels, and parenteral steroids.

• Polysorbate 80 is currently contained in 6821 FDA approved medications

• and can more commonly be found in film coated tablets, parenteral steroids, immunoglobulin replacement, and vaccines.

The scope of the problem is enormous. Potentially enormous, at the very least.

Edited to add that polyethylene glycol (PEG) is also in vape cartidges used to vape nicotine and cannabis.

"In a very recent* August 2017 study, a team of researchers summarized the e-cigarette pulmonary toxicity by looking at human studies, animal models and cell culture studies. They described the field of research as rapidly evolving and identified research gaps and challenges, but warned that when heated to high temperatures, propylene glycol can break down into microscopic polymers that can cause damage to lung tissue.

Another 2017 study conducted at the Medical Marijuana Research Institute in Arizona, researchers looked at the byproducts produced when vaporizing cannabis oil. These popular cannabis thinning agents were studied:

Propylene glycol (PG or PPG)

Vegetable glycerin

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400

Medium chain triglycerides

These thinning agents were heated to 230°C (450°F), and scientists tested the resulting vapors to detect the presence of harmful compounds like formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein.

The results showed that polyethylene glycol 400 produced much higher acetaldehyde and formaldehyde byproducts than the other three agents. Heating of the thinning agent propylene glycol also produced significantly greater formaldehyde byproduct. Researchers concluded that individuals who vaporize cannabis oil utilizing these thinning agents may risk harmful exposures to the byproducts. (source)

Given that The authors found an average of 4 cases of anaphylaxis reported per year to the FDA from 2005-2017 where PEG 3350-containing bowel preparations or laxatives were the implicated culprit, I decided to see if I could find any evidence that serious adverse reactions to PEG 3350 and Polysorbate 80 are increasing. I have to admit here that I have never attempted to use the FDA’s Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) before. It’s different from the VAERS database that I am used to. I was not able to replicate quickly the exact search the authors mentioned above. I was able to look at the numbers for serious adverse events reported from PEG 3350 (in bowel prep solutions) and Polysorbate 80. Here are those numbers.

This graph shows that reports of serious adverse events to PEG 3350 in bowel prep solutions have increased greatly since the 2020 rollout of the COVID-19 shot.

This graph shows the same trend for reports of serious adverse reactions to Polysorbate 80, with reports going up considerably since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in December 2020.

It is important to note that even the most serious adverse reactions to medications are rarely reported, as this investigation from 2017 found:

Based on this sample of the best-documented adverse drug events, we estimate that approximately 1% of the serious injuries occurring are reported to FAERS,” the report states. “But the variability was large, ranging from fewer than 1 per thousand for some serious but frequent adverse events to a reporting rate of 7.6% for a rare but serious adverse effect of a newer drug receiving more post-market surveillance from the drug manufacturer.

It is also important to note that even if FAERS data captured 100% of the serious adverse events from FDA approved medications, it would still be a tiny fraction of the possible serious adverse events that may be occurring as a result of people being hypersensitized to PEG and polysorbate 80 and then taking a Tylenol. Or their medication (prescription or OTC) they have taken without problem for years. Or from eating a pickle. Or ice cream. Or any of the thousands of prepared foods that contain polysorbate 80. And those reactions will NEVER be associated with the COVID-19 shots.

And THAT is why we will likely never know what it was Michael Chiarello reacted to. The only way to know if the COVID-19 shots played a role in his death is to test for anti-PEG antibodies. And I’m betting the doctors involved never dreamed of doing so, because the COVID-19 vaccines are “SAFE and EFFECTIVE,” and to even question otherwise would be considered heresy.