The Health Jerk
Part Six: Pharmaceutical Companies and Health
OK, so far we have talked about FDA and other Government departments and Family doctors and specialists. Let's move our focus.
Let's talk about pharmaceutical companies. I mentioned earlier that the FDA, or one of the government's alphabet soup departments, is making companies reveal more about the side effects of their products. This is required on the labels and in the ads either audio or video.
This has made for some hilarious commercials on TV. I guess they would not be funny if you had the disease or were taking the drug, but when the voice over begins the conditions for success and the possible side effects, you must smile just a little.
There is one, I believe it is a product to reduce high cholesterol, that sums it all up for me. There is that nice, life is wonderful visual and audio and then the almost sultry voice does the voice over with:
If you drink lots of water, maintain a healthy diet and gets lots of
exercise, then XXXX will help you reduce your cholesterol. Gee do
you think. If we could get 50% of the population to follow the
'water, diet and exercise' advice, then I would be willing to bet the
mortgage that we would have a lot of out of work doctors and no more
waiting lists in hospitals.
Have you ever been in the doctor's office when the pharmaceutical representative visits? When I was an engineer, the visiting salespersons never looked like that. The drug rep, she never waits to see the doctor. Now that's at the local level. But what is truly amazing is the lobby in Washington DC.
The pharmaceutical lobby is very lucrative but I am at a loss as to
what they are protecting. With the research and testing costs for
new products, I do not think anyone can move into that industry.
As I said earlier, product introduction cost is measured in tens of
millions of dollars. Who else can afford to play but the existing
cartel, excuse me, companies?
All of the above is interesting and perhaps humorous, but the next item is truly evil. Think about all the resources that are expended to create all of those drugs, over the counter and prescription, which you see at the pharmacy, which are advertised on TV, on radio and in the print media. Think about the focus of the research. Think about the focus of the drugs.
How many drugs actually cure a disease?
Pharmaceutical companies want you as a customer for life.
Insulin treats a condition, it does not cure diabetes.
Dozens of serious pain killers, do that, they kill the pain of
arthritis, or rheumatism, or lupus or XXXX, they do not cure anything.
Our medical research aims at symptoms, not cures. It aims to mollify discomfort and pain. Relieve the symptom, use the drug. Cure, why? I know our society is based on instant gratification. Fix my problem now. But just imagine if someone actually tried to cure something. Or please be still my heart, perhaps prevent something.
Someone told me that the medical establishment in China is reimbursed differently than we reward our medical doctors in the USA. In China, the doctors are paid to keep their patients well, their compensation is based on how many patients are healthy, not how many are sick. Interesting paradigm shift. Focus on prevention and then you won't need to treat the symptoms or cure the disease. What a novel idea. Not really. Although the rest of the world is far behind the USA as far as modern facilities for both treatment and research, much of the rest of the world either always did or has shifted the health emphasis to 'prevention based medicine'.
The American Medical System is amazingly efficient when dealing with trauma. If you break your leg, then this is the country to do it in. But despite tremendous expenditures, the American Medical System is ranked very poorly for the treatment of chronic diseases.
We do not cure diseases, we treat them.
We do not prevent diseases, we diagnose them.
We are becoming a country of people who are dependent on over the counter and prescription drugs just to get through the day. We need something to unplug the congestion, stop the cough, give us energy, calm us down, speed up our metabolism, slow down our metabolism, thin our blood, supply our hormones, boost our immune system and so on and so on. No one is ever going to just drink water, eat properly and exercise. They might become healthy.
That can't happen, the economy would go to Hell in a Hand Basket. Next we will look at the Dietary Supplement or Nutritional Product Suppliers.
Later sheep.