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Does Your Doctor Think for Himself ?
(Lions Teaching Wolves
and Coyotes How to Care for Lambs)
By Darrell Stoddard (My comments below are in red
type :)
"Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and
I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
On March 21, 2007,
New York Times printed an article by GARDINER HARRIS and JANET ROBERTS about
doctors ties to pharmaceutical companies. It is one of the best examples
of investigative reporting that I've seen. Thank God for a free press.
Quoting from the middle of the article about doctors who have
a vested interest in prescribing drugs:"…..This list of top doctors
in Minnesota (who have ties to pharmaceutical companies) includes Dr. Richard
Grimm of the Berman Center for Outcomes and Clinical Research in Minneapolis,
who has twice served on government-sponsored hypertension panels that create
guidelines about when to prescribe blood pressure pills. Last year, he served
on a National Kidney Foundation panel that wrote guidelines about when kidney
patients should be given cholesterol pills.
(The American Heart Association now recommends that all
diabetics be put on cholesterol lowering statin drugs no matter what their
cholesterol levels are. This seems more than foolish to me (like fighting
fire with gasoline) because both diabetes and statin drugs can cause kidney
failure and death.)
Between 1997 and 2005, Dr. Grimm earned more than $798,000 from drug companies,
according to records. In 2003 alone, Pfizer paid Dr. Grimm more than $231,000.
Pfizer markets Lipitor, a cholesterol drug that last year had $12.9 billion
in sales, more than any other drug in the world. It also markets Norvasc,
a hypertension drug that last year had $4.9 billion in sales. Guidelines
that suggest greater use of these drugs would be a huge boon to Pfizer.
"Drug companies
are like lions," Dr. Grimm said of his sponsored talks. "For lions, it's
their nature to kill zebras and eat them. For drug companies, it's their
nature to make money. They're not really trying to improve anybody's health
except if it makes them money."
"On your side (Dr. Grim speaking of himself), you're making a bit
of money, but you're also trying to educate the doctors. And in my view,
the doctors need a lot of educating."
My Response: There is something terribly wrong with this picture, worse than
"putting the fox in charge of the hen house." It is a Lion for "a bit of
money" ($231,000 in a year) teaching wolves and coyotes (that “need a lot
of educating”) how to take care of lambs. And we are all led like lambs to
the slaughter.
Pharmaceutical
companies have the best spokesmen and consultants that money can buy. (Such
as Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart)
The information from Minnesota is
only the tip of the ice berg – one state out of fifty. You have learned about
this because of Minnesota law. In nearly all other states the information
about doctor's ties to the pharmaceutical industry is hidden from the public.
Read On: The information
is from just Minnesota (continuing to quote from the New York Times story
in black type): "Minnesota, the first of a handful of states to pass
a law requiring drug makers to disclose payments to doctors. The Minnesota
records are a window on the widespread financial ties between pharmaceutical
companies and the doctors who prescribe and recommend their products. Patient
advocacy groups and many doctors themselves have long complained that drug
companies exert undue influence on doctors, but the extent of such payments
has been hard to quantify.
The Minnesota records begin in
1997. From then through 2005, drug makers paid more than 5,500 doctors,
nurses and other health care workers in the state at least $57 million.
Another $40 million went to clinics, research centers and other organizations.
More than 20 percent of the state's licensed physicians received money. The
median payment per consultant was $1,000; more than 100 people received
more than $100,000 (In just one state).
Doctors receive money
typically in return for delivering lectures about drugs to other doctors.
Some of the doctors receiving the most money sit on committees that prepare
guidelines instructing doctors nationwide about when to use medicines."
The good news is, there are hundreds of dedicated doctors
and scientists that have not sold their integrity and their birthright for
a "mess of pottage;" doctors who can think for themselves and whose judgment
is not compromised by ties to the pharmaceutical industry; doctors that do
not just do and say what the pharmaceutical companies want them to do and
say, doctors that do not accept the lipid, saturated fat, cholesterol hypothesis
of heart disease. They are doctors and scientists that either totally reject
statin drug use or believe statins should be used only for a very select
number of patients.
To learn who these doctors and scientists are, search Google for "THINCS"
(make sure you spell it with a C) for a list of 77 of the top scientists
and doctors in the world who are "cholesterol skeptics" and who question the
widespread use of statin drugs.
These scholars and those following, lead the world in understanding the causes
and prevention of heart disease. Their scientific credentials are
equal to any of the doctors who are recommending and prescribing statin drugs.
See their studies below (not bought and paid for by pharmaceutical companies)
to understand how modern medicine could be so totally and profoundly wrong
about preventing heart disease with cholesterol lowering statin drugs.
References:
The Great Cholesterol Scam by Duane Graveline, M.D. at:
http://www.spacedoc.net/cholesterol_scam.html
The Oiling of America by Mary Enig, Phd, and Sally Fallon at:
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/oiling.html
The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, M.D., Ph.d. at:
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth1.htm
Cholesterol is NOT the Cause of Heart Disease By Ron Rosedale, M.D. at:
http://www.mercola.com/2005/may/28/cholesterol_heart.htm
The Dangers of Statin Drugs: What You Haven't Been Told about Cholesterol-Lowering
Medication by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD at:
http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/statin.html
A Major Cause of Cancer and Heart Disease Your Doctor, Dentist, or Chiropractor
Does Not Want You To Know by Darrell Stoddard at:
http://healpain.net/articles/can-alert.html
Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer and Ischemic
Heart Disease by John Gofman, M.D., Ph.D.
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/RMP/execsummP.html
Cholesterol Drug Pain Warning by Darrell Stoddard http://www.healpain.net/articles/statins.html
Stopping the Number One Killer and Why Our 44 Year Old Son Died http://www.healpain.net/articles/No1Killer.html
Killer in The Grocery Store by Darrell Stoddard http://www.healpain.net/articles/Killer%20in%20GS.html
Finally, see the book Heart Revolution: The Extraordinary Discovery That
Finally Laid the Cholesterol Myth to Rest and Put Good Food Back on the Table
, by Kilmer
McCully, MD.
Knowing the above about paid research by pharmaceutical companies, can we
trust any research paid for to sell a drug? A well known Neurologist
(who thinks for himself) on Long Island told me that “double-blind placebo
controlled studies to sell a drug is just modern medicines way of perpetuating
fraud.
Like the children
of Israel, we can look up to the brazen serpent on the rod and to those whose
information is free, and who have no vested interest, and whose influence
has not been bought; or we can listen to the multi million dollar ads of
the pharmaceutical companies and their paid consultants and pawns. The choice
is yours. I close by repeating again the quote from Dr, Grimm who knows
whereof he speaks. No one could say it better:
"Drug companies are like lions," Dr. Grimm said of his
sponsored talks. "For lions, it's their nature to kill zebras and eat them.
For drug companies, it's their nature to make money. They're not really
trying to improve anybody's health except if it makes them money."
(If your doctor has prescribed a statin
drug, you must ask the questions, “Is he thinking for himself? Is he
a paid consultant; or is he only a pawn, doing and saying exactly what the
pharmaceutical companies want him to do and say?”)
Darrell Stoddard, Founder - Pain Research Institute http://www.healpain.net
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