click here for the article.

great commentary on the state of health in America.  The study mentioned about exercise being just as effective as drugs is found here.

a funny clip to brighten your day.

Chicago, IL, -  A New study published by the Institute of Better Health claims to have finally found the common denominator of all diseases.  “It’s oxygen” says Dr. Rude, the lead researcher.  “We decided to take a step back and really examine disease from a scientific point of view.  After years of research and countless grants, we think we’ve found the problem.”  Dr. Rude and his team are preparing to present their findings at next weeks Longevity Symposium sponsored by the Fast Food Owners Association of America. 

“We are going to change the way we view diseases” Dr. Rude eagerly proclaimed.  “What is really exciting is that it seems by somehow developing an alternative way to breath, we will be able to combat diseases such as heart disease, cancer and even diabetes”. 

Every second, 1.8 people die and according to Dr. Rude and his study, he may be able to stop that all together.  “Can you imagine living in a world where oxygen can no longer hurt anyone?” he asks. 

When asked how he began to view Oxygen as the culprit, Dr. Rude responded, “We all know antioxidants are important.  Four years into the study, i was coming down with a cold and decided to take Vitamin C.  It was then that it hit me.  We wouldn’t even need to take antioxidants if there was no oxygen.  From there the whole thing just took off.  Besides, aliens don’t breath oxygen, and they don’t get sick.”

Since the release of his study, most of the scientific world has been buzzing.  “I think Dr. Rude is on to something here” states Dr. Manchester, Chief Researcher for the CDC.  However, not all in the scientific community is cheering.  Big Pharma has already launched a lawsuit claiming that Oxygen is not the cause of all diseases, cholesterol is. 

Dr. Rude is also in the process of securing more grant money for further study.  “Another few hundred million dollars is all we are asking for.  We are talking about the end of disease.  Tax payers definitely won’t mind footing the bill.”

While most physicians may not even realize it, turns out there is a reason why doctors are able to hand out free samples to their patients. 

Remember this ad?  This story may be older, but it is worth remembering.

Pfizer, the makers of the the world’s best selling drug, Lipitor, has come under fire for using Dr. Robert Jarvik as a celebrity pitchman.  When you watch the ad above, right off the bat you get the impression that Dr. Jarvik is a prescribing physician who recommends Lipitor to his patients.  However, it turns out that he is a medical scientist, not a physician who is liscenced to prescribe in any state.  As a result, Dr. Jarvik has made many appearances trying to downplay the controversy.  Finally, due to pressure from the U.S. House Committee on energy and Commerce, Pfizer pulled the ad.  In the end, Dr. Jarvik was paid 1.35 million for his role in the ads, all the while Pfizer spent 258 million on Lipitor ads between January 2006 and September 2007.

Does all this have a negative effect on Pfizer?  Third quarter sales last year hit 3.3 billion!  Up 15% from the same period the year before.  Pfizer has to make as much money on Lipitor as it can in the next few years.  Their patent protection runs out in 2010.

Look at the slogan written on a board in the caption photo of this article.  “Don’t get bitten by the flu bug.  Get a flu shot“.  Now that is false advertising.  In what seems like a yearly event, the CDC reports that this years flu season was the worst in three years and that the flu shot essentially didn’t work.  When are we going to stop calling the flu shot science?  i like the term used in the article - Educated guess.  I think this would be a better slogan. “Don’t get bitten by the flu bug.  Get a flu shot, we’re pretty sure that we might have possibly guessed right this year.  If not, you probably won’t get the flu anyways and we will take the credit for that.”

If it isn’t fraud, then what is it?  Once again big pharma is at it again.  This time a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association says that a practice known as ghostwriting is compromising the integrety of research papers.  In a nutshell, ghostwriting is as follows; Big pharma does research on their own drug.  Big pharma writes research paper on their own drug.  Big pharma then pays academic researcher to take credit for work done.  Why would big pharma do this?  It adds credibility.  It looks much better when an “independant” study is done, people are more inclined to believe the results.

My question is as follows;  We know that big pharma has been known to fix study numbers.  We know that big pharma has delayed unfavorable results from being published.  We know that big pharma uses ghostwriting to add credibility.  We know that studies are occasionally compromised by professional human lab rats.  If we know all of this, what don’t we know?  You can be sure for every bad deed that we hear about that big pharma does to make more money, you can be sure that actions are done that we never ever hear about.  Now run off and ask your doctor if “drug X” may be right for you.

Here is an interesting story on CNN about milk.  The article tells us that we are not drinking enough milk, the effects of hormones in milk have been inconclusive and calcium from milk is good for bones.   blah, blah, blah.  The article was written by the good folks at cooking light magazine.  Cooking light magazine is owned and operated by Southern Progress Corp.  Southern Progress Corp. is a subsidiary of Time Inc. and Time Warner Inc.  Of course, Time Warner Inc. is the owner of CNN and CNN.com.  It is also known that the dairy farmers pay a certain amount per gallon of milk produced and the money is used for advertisement of dairy.  In California alone, over 22 million a year is collected and spent on marketing dairy. 

How much money do you think the milk industry spends a year advertising with Time Warner Inc.?  An article like this on CNN stinks of “you scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours” and once again the consumer is misled.

This shocking story is found here.