| The
Science of Deceit - Part 1
By Hesh
Goldstein
The mainstream media regularly
reports on the "dangers" of
herbal remedies and supplements. But what is the reported
number of people who have died from using herbs and supplements?
According to the FDA, between 1993 and 1998, federal, state
and local agencies reported a total of 184 deaths, most
of which were associated with weight loss formulas.
Compare that to the reported number of people who die in
hospitals because of the side effects of properly prescribed
pharmaceutical drugs: more than 100,000 or so. You can add
to that the number of patients killed in hospitals because
of "medical errors": another 100,000 or so.
These statistics are from the Journal of the American Medical
Association. This means that the ordained guardians, the
self designated deities of our health kill as many people
every week as died in the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Here are some truths about the "scientific" testing
of pharmaceutical drugs that you are probably not aware of.
Did you know that the research information contained in the
Physicians' Desk Reference, the pharmaceutical bible used
by M.D.s, is supplied by the drug manufacturers themselves?
Did you know that the FDA approves drugs not by actually
doing the testing, but simply by reviewing studies submitted
by the drug manufacturers? Did you know that a drug manufacturer
needs to submit only two studies showing satisfactory results
to get a drug approved by the FDA - - even if there are even
more studies showing the drug causes adverse reactions in
an unacceptably high number of cases?
Did you know that most of the articles discussing the efficacy
of drugs that are published in medical journals are studies
paid for by the drug manufacturer? And often, as the New
York Times reported last summer, the academic scientists
listed as lead authors are often just "window dressing",
to lend credibility to papers that are really the work of
drug companies. The academic scientists' main role in such
studies is to recruit patients and administer experimental
treatments. The scientists or their universities are paid
for this "work".
And did you know that a study conducted by USA Today found
that more than half of the experts hired to advise the government
on the safety and effectiveness of medicine had a direct
financial interest in the drug or topic they were asked to
evaluate? An analysis of financial conflicts of interest
at 159 FDA advisory committee meetings from 1/1/98 through
6/30/00 , found that at 92% of the meetings, at least one
member had a financial conflict of interest, while at 55%
of meetings, half or more of the FDA advisors had conflicts
of interest. These conflicts included helping a pharmaceutical
company develop a medicine, then serving on an FDA advisory
committee that judges the drug.
Stay tuned!
Hesh Goldstein is the
moderator of “Health
Talk”, a weekly radio show on K-108 radio
(1080 on the AM dial), that airs on Saturday morning
from 8am to 9am .
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