Top medical journal takes on big pharma

SMH. December 4, 2019
A leading medical journal is launching a global campaign to separate medicine from big pharma, linking industry influence to the pelvic mesh scandal that injured hundreds of women.
The BMJ says doctors are being unduly influenced by industry-sponsored education events and industry-funded trials for major drugs.

Those trials cannot be trusted, the journal's editor and a team of global healthcare leaders write in a scathing editorial published on Wednesday.

The "endemic financial entanglement with industry is distorting the production and use of healthcare evidence, causing harm to individuals and waste for health systems", they write.

They are calling for governments to start funding independent trials of new drugs and medical devices, rather than relying on industry-funded studies. Sponsored research is more likely to find a favourable result compared to independent research, studies show.

Alcohol causes most overall harm of any drug, says study

The Age  June 22, 2019
In the grips of his alcohol addiction, David Reichmann was told by his doctor that he would be dead within a year.
"I'd suffered two minor strokes, but it didn't stop me from going to hotels every night and drinking until stumps. Then I’d take a bottle of bourbon home with me," the 53-year-old Victorian father of two said.

He would keep a bottle of whiskey next to his bed, but if he couldn't afford spirits that week, he'd mix methylated spirits with soft drink.

“I couldn't keep down a morning coffee," he said. "I’d have to have alcohol to settle me for the day."

Alcohol causes the most overall harm to the Australian community, surpassing crystal methamphetamine (ice) and heroin, a new national study suggests.
The Australia-first study, funded by St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, examined 22 drugs and measured the risk to an individual and the damage to society as a whole.

As part of the study, 25 drug-harm experts – including frontline emergency service workers, police, addiction specialists, doctors and those working in the welfare and homeless sectors – ranked the drugs on a score of zero to 100, based on the damage they caused to users, including illness, injury and death.

They also examined the effects drugs have on users' families and the wider community, such as through  violence, crime, unemployment, economic costs and relationship breakdowns.
Alcohol was ranked by far the most damaging drug to the Australian community, scoring 77 out of 100, followed by crystal meth (66), heroin (58) and fentanyls (51).

As well as consuming about 23 standards drinks a day, Mr Reichmann would smoke cannabis and regularly use crystal meth and heroin. But alcohol was always the easiest drug to get.

America’s Health Care System Has Become One Of The World’s Largest Money Making Scams

 

The Economic Collapse

If the U.S. health care system was a country, it would have the fifth largest GDP on the entire planet.  At this point only the United States, China, Japan and Germany have a GDP that is larger than the 3.5 trillion dollar U.S. health care market.  If that sounds obscene to you, that is because it is obscene.  We should want people to be attracted to the health care industry because they truly want to help people that are suffering, but instead the primary reason why people are drawn to the health care industry these days is because of the giant mountains of money that are being made.  Like so many other things in our society, the health care industry is all about the pursuit of the almighty dollar, and that is just wrong.

In order to keep this giant money machine rolling, the health care industry has to do an enormous amount of marketing.  If you can believe it, a study that was just published found that at least 30 billion dollars a year is spent on such marketing.

Hoping to earn its share of the $3.5 trillion health care market, the medical industry is pouring more money than ever into advertising its products — from high-priced prescriptions to do-it-yourself genetic tests and unapproved stem cell treatments.
Spending on health care marketing nearly doubled from 1997 to 2016, soaring to at least $30 billion a year, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA.

This marketing takes many different forms, but perhaps the most obnoxious are the television ads that are endlessly hawking various pharmaceutical drugs.  If you watch much television, you certainly can’t miss them.  They always show vibrant, smiling, healthy people participating in various outdoor activities on bright, sunny days, and the inference is that if you want to be like those people you should take their drugs.  And the phrase “ask your doctor” is usually near the end of every ad…

As a result of all those ads, millions of Americans rush out to their doctors to ask about drugs that they do not need for diseases that they do not have.

And on January 1st, dozens of pharmaceutical manufacturers hit Americans with another annual round of massive price increases.

But everyone will just keep taking those drugs, because that is what the doctors are telling them to do.  But what most people never find out is that the pharmaceutical industry goes to great lengths to get those doctors to do what they want.  According to NBC News, the big drug companies are constantly “showering them with free food, drinks and speaking fees, as well as paying for them to travel to conferences”.

It is a legal form of bribery, and it works.

When you go to most doctors, they will only have two solutions to whatever problem you have – drugs or surgery.

And since nobody really likes to get cut open, and since drugs are usually the far less expensive choice, they are usually the preferred option.
Of course if doctors get off the path and start trying to get cute by proposing alternative solutions, they can get in big trouble really fast…

Health professionals in Arizona are warning those traveling to Mexico to be aware of possible contaminated 7Up beverages

Marcella Baietto, Sept. 22, 2017 PHOENIX — Health professionals in Arizona are warning those traveling to Mexico to be aware of possible contaminated 7Up beverages in the Mexicali area.

The contaminated soft drinks caused seven people to become ill and has killed one person, according to the Attorney General of Justice of the State of Baja California.

Mexicali is located about 240 miles from Phoenix and 124 miles from San Diego, just south of the California border and Interstate 8.

According to a Banner Health news release, medical toxicologists and physicians are on alert after reports surfaced that methamphetamine was found in 7Up drinks originating in Mexicali.

Baja California's Health Department officials said health authorities have removed the products from shelves. 

Chris Barnes, spokesman for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, reassured that no 7Up products in the United States have been contaminated. The company distributes 7Up in the United States.

"None of the 7Up products sold in the U.S. are affected by the issue being reported in Mexico," said Barnes. "Dr Pepper Snapple owns and licenses the 7Up brand only in the U.S. and its territories. We do not market, sell or distribute the brand internationally."

The Baja attorney general's office announced on its Facebook page that an investigation is underway in order to figure out how the drug made its way into the soda.

Dr. Daniel Brooks at Banner Health cautioned anyone traveling to Mexico. 

“It is important to check that the seal for any food and drink consumed is still intact and shows no signs of tampering,” Brooks said. 

Some side effects of drinking contaminated sodas are burning of the esophagus and stomach, vomiting and a fast or irregular heartbeat, according to Banner Health.

In July, the U.S. State Department alerted travelers to Mexico about possible tainted or counterfeit alcohol that could cause sickness and blacking out.

That warning came in the wake of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation surrounding a Wisconsin woman’s death that raised questions about drinks being served in all-inclusive resorts in Mexico.                   USA Today

Heroin epidemic so severe that many funeral homes can’t keep up with demand

By: Thomas Dishaw  March 11, 2017

Heroin has flourished in West Virginia over the past decade, especially since officials cracked down on prescription drugs. In 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate stood at 41.5 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country and nearly three times the national average.

This epidemic is now causing a strain on funeral homes as well as a state funded program that provides burial assistance for impoverished families. West Virginia’s “Indigent Burial Program” has existed for decades, but with the increase of heroin-related deaths, their resources are being depleted at a faster rate. And as overdoses rise many funeral homes are finding that they cannot keep up with the demand for services.

The Indigent Burial Program is a unique program because a majority of states don’t provide such services at the state level, and most of the ones that do, limit them to recipients of Medicaid, SNAP or other social programs for the poor. Frederick Kitchen, president of the West Virginia Funeral Directors Association, said the state Department of Human Services earmarks almost $2 million a year to help cover the burial costs for destitute individuals. The state offers funeral homes $1,250 per person to cover expenses in cases where the deceased has no funds nor anyone willing or able to pay the funeral costs. (RELATED: Get all the news Google is trying to hide from you at Censored.news)

The program has paid for so many burials for citizens who have died from drug overdoses that in 2014 they were out of money by June. In 2015, the program’s budget was completely drained by March. For this current fiscal year set to end in June, 1,508 burials have already been submitted for payment through the Indigent Burial Program, according to Allison Adler, a spokesperson for state DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch.     Read More

Cheese triggers the same part of the brain as hard drugs, say scientists

• Liz Connor, Monday 21 December 2015 

If you regularly find yourself hovering around the cheese board at the Christmas dinner table, helping yourself to seconds or thirds, there may be a scientific explanation as to why you’re unable to tear yourself away. 

Researchers from the University of Michigan have revealed that cheese contains a chemical found in addictive drugs.

Using the Yale Food Addiction Scale, designed to measure a person’s cravings, the study found that cheese is particularly moreish because it contains casein. 

The chemical, which is found in all dairy products, can trigger the brain’s opioid receptors, producing a feeling of euphoria linked to those of hard drug addiction. 

500 students were asked to complete a questionnaire to identify food cravings, as part of the study, with pizza topping the list as the most addictive food of all.

In addition, they found that the top-ranking foods on the addiction scale were those containing cheese. 

Scientists studying dairy products found that in milk, casein has a minuscule dosage. But producing a pound of cheese requires about 10 pounds of milk — with addictive casein coagulating the solid milk fats and separating them from the liquids.

As a result the super-strength chemical becomes concentrated when in solid dairy form, so you’ll get a higher hit of addictive casein by tucking into a cheese sandwich than you will in your morning bowl of cereal. 

Study author Erica Schulte said: "If properties of some foods are associated with addictive eating for some people, this may impact nutrition guidelines, as well as public policy initiatives such as marketing these foods to children."

Nicole Avena, a co-author on the study, said: "This is a first step towards identifying specific foods, and properties of foods, which can trigger this addictive response. 

"This could help change the way we approach obesity treatment. It may not be a simple matter of 'cutting back' on certain foods, but rather, adopting methods used to curtail smoking, drinking and drug use."

The news comes after it was revealed that the average person is estimated to eat around 35 pounds of cheese a year - suggesting that it really as addictive as research claims. 

No wonder the smelliest of Stiltons can have us reaching for the crackers by the handful.     Standard

59 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least one prescription drug

 By Michael Snyder, on November 3rd, 2015

If you have a health problem, even if it is just an imaginary one, some giant pharmaceutical company out there is probably making a pill for it.  According to shocking new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 59 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least one prescription drug, and 15 percent of all U.S. adults are on at least five prescription drugs.  These numbers have never been higher, and they tell us that the United States is the most drugged nation on the entire planet.  And it turns out that pushing these drugs on the American people is extremely profitable.  For instance, Americans spent 100 billion dollars on cancer drugs alone last year.  That isn’t “million” with an “m” – that is “billion” with a “b”.  The profits that some of these pharmaceutical companies are making are absolutely obscene, and it is our pain and suffering that is making them rich.
So why is prescription drug use rising so rapidly?  As noted above, 15 percent of us are now taking 5 or more of these drugs on a regular basis, but back in 1999 that number was sitting at just 8.2 percent.
This newly released report blames much of the problem on obesity…

The population is getting older, but that doesn’t explain it, Kantor said. The pattern looks more related to obesity, which is steadily rising, More than two-thirds of the adult U.S. population is overweight or obese, and many suffer the heart disease, diabetes and other metabolic disorders that go along with being too heavy.

And without a doubt, we have an epidemic of obesity in the United States.  The following facts on American obesity come from from my recent article entitled “America #1? 36 Facts That Prove That The United States Is An ‘Exceptional’ Nation“…
#1 According to a brand new report that was just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has the fattest population in the entire industrialized world by a wide margin.
#2 That same report from the OECD also found that we are number one in child obesity.  In fact, at 38 percent our rate of childhood obesity is even higher than our overall rate of obesity.
#3 According to USA Today, the obesity rate in the United States has more than doubled over the past 25 years.
But the truth is that obesity is only part of the story.  Drug use of all types is soaring, and commercials for the latest and greatest drugs seem to run around the clock on virtually every television network.  Here are some more specific numbers from this newly released report…

In the study, blood pressure drugs were among the most prescribed, increasing from 20% of adults in 1999-2000 to 27% in 2011-2012.
Statins increased from 6.9% to 17%; antidepressants increased from 6.8% 13%; antidiabetic drugs increased from 4.6% to 8.2%;and tranquilizers and sedatives increased from 4.2% to 6.1%.

The increase in the use of antidepressants really disturbs me.  They are often prescribed needlessly, and they can have some extremely negative side effects.
In particular, I think that it is important to mention that nearly every single mass shooter in the United States in recent years has been on antidepressants.  The mainstream media never talks about this connection because the pharmaceutical companies purchase gobs of advertising time from them.  But the reality of the matter is that these drugs can cause people to behave in extremely irrational ways.  Even the Mayo Clinic admits this…

Most antidepressants are generally safe, but the Food and Drug Administration requires that all antidepressants carry black box warnings, the strictest warnings for prescriptions. In some cases, children, teenagers and young adults under 25 may have an increase in suicidal thoughts or behavior when taking antidepressants, especially in the first few weeks after starting or when the dose is changed.

Of course that is a very watered down version of the truth, and if you start seriously digging into this you will soon discover a whole host of absolutely horrifying stories.
But the pharmaceutical companies are never going to stop what they are doing, because it is making them exceedingly wealthy.  As I mentioned above, Americans spent 100 billion dollars on cancer drugs last year, and the big drug firms love milking cancer patients for all that they are worth.  According to NBC News, two of the latest cancer drugs that have been developed “are priced at $12,500 a month“.
How do executives at those companies sleep at night?
They are getting rich from price gouging cancer patients.
How disgraceful is that?
Here are some more statistics about the drugging of America that come from one of my previous articles…
–According to the CDC, approximately 9 out of every 10 Americans that are at least 60 years old say that they have taken at least one prescription drug within the last month.
–There is an unintentional drug overdose death in the United States every 19 minutes.
–In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.
–According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.
–The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.
–Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants as children in Europe are.
–A shocking Government Accountability Office report discovered that approximately one-third of all foster children in the United States are on at least one psychiatric drug.
–A survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that more than 15 percent of all U.S. high school seniors abuse prescription drugs.
–Many of these antidepressants contain warnings that “suicidal thoughts” are one of the side effects that should be expected.  The suicide rate for Americans between the ages of 35 and 64 rose by close to 30 percent between 1999 and 2010.  The number of Americans that are killed by suicide now exceeds the number of Americans that die as a result of car accidents every year.
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