“Big Pharma” consists of the giant pharmaceutical companies which dominate the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. The total government fines given out to U.S. drug companies for 2012 was reported to be 6.6 billion dollars, more than double the amount of fines for 2011. Is it any wonder that this country can’t get health care costs under control? People of the U.S. pay these fines, ultimately, every time they use drugs from these abusive companies.
A record amount of $3.3 billion was charged on July 02, 2012, against GlaxoSmithKline. They pled guilty and were fined for misuse of the drugs, Paxil (paroxetine for depression), Wellbutrin (buproprion for depression) and Avandia (rosiglitazone for diabetes). Pfizer was fined for $2.3 billion in 2011. The fines were for pushing the use of drugs for young people and for indications for which the drugs are not approved. Also, the companies were overcharging the government through health programs such as Medicaid, bribes to agents of foreign governments, etc.
Most of what doctors know about drugs comes from pharmaceutical representatives, and 50% of what the representatives say is wrong. Since patients understand about 50% of what the doctor says, the result is that 25% of what the patients know or understand about their medications is correct. Is it any wonder that the results of our national health system are so poor? (About 50% of high blood pressure is poorly controlled, 43% of diabetes is poorly controlled, and 80% of high cholesterol is poorly controlled.*)
There is a different kind of health care that’s less violent to our bodies, less expensive, and has been around for a long time. Ayurvedic medicine has been in existence for 6,000 years. The herbs of Ayurveda are powerful, and their benefits are being verified today by scientific medicine. The same is true for Chinese medicines. Homeopathic medicine offers great benefits without side effects. Herbal medicine has been practiced for a long time. Also, scientific medicine does extensive research on chemicals from the natural world, which offers great promise to health care.
NOTE: *It is interesting that the patients with diabetes or hypertension do better in general under the care of nurse practitioners compared to doctors.
Summary #792. nutrientmedicine 01.
