How the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients...
We have been amazed lately at how many of our patients tell us that when they recently had their cholesterol checked it was normal or high normal.What shocked us is that their primary physicians want to put them on a statin drug to keep their cholesterol from getting higher?
The scare tactic must be working. All over the world people have spent more in recent years on cholesterol-lowering drugs than on any other drug. Sales now generate more than $25 billion per year! Lipitor itself brings in over $10 billion per year. With revenues this big, is the focus really on our health?
Advertising is huge! In fact, our country spends more on marketing drugs to medical doctors than it does on educating them. Why? In the book, Selling Sickness, Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels talk about Henry Gadsen chief executive of Merk Pharmaceutical company 30 years ago. He told Fortune magazine of his distress that the company's potential markets had been limited to sick people. He said he would rather Merk be more like Wrigley's chewing gum and make drugs for healthy people so he could then sell to everyone. Thirty years later his dream has come true.
Selling Sickness also uncovers the many financial ties that the drug companies have with researchers of cholesterol and other drugs. "Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a more rational debate about cholesterol, heart disease, or any other health problem is the simple fact that too many of the people we turn to for advice on such matters- our doctors- are tied to the markers of the drugs. Sometimes these ties involve several hundred thousands of dollars a year."
"Cholesterol does not cause heart disease" say Ron Rosedale, MD. "Inflammation does." Cholesterol is important, indeed vital, for health. It is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. Lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol also is a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol. Why then would we want to lower our cholesterol?
Rather than spend billions each year on marketing drugs, why not spend that money teaching people how to increase their health from the inside out through better nutrition and exercise? Instead statin drugs are recommended which cause even more problems.
If you or someone you know is being urged to take the following Statin Drugs... Lipitor, Lescol, Mevacor, Pravaschol, Zocor, Crestor... PLEASE LET THEM KNOW THE RISKS FIRST!
We have been amazed lately at how many of our patients tell us that when they recently had their cholesterol checked it was normal or high normal.What shocked us is that their primary physicians want to put them on a statin drug to keep their cholesterol from getting higher?
The scare tactic must be working. All over the world people have spent more in recent years on cholesterol-lowering drugs than on any other drug. Sales now generate more than $25 billion per year! Lipitor itself brings in over $10 billion per year. With revenues this big, is the focus really on our health?
Advertising is huge! In fact, our country spends more on marketing drugs to medical doctors than it does on educating them. Why? In the book, Selling Sickness, Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels talk about Henry Gadsen chief executive of Merk Pharmaceutical company 30 years ago. He told Fortune magazine of his distress that the company's potential markets had been limited to sick people. He said he would rather Merk be more like Wrigley's chewing gum and make drugs for healthy people so he could then sell to everyone. Thirty years later his dream has come true.
Selling Sickness also uncovers the many financial ties that the drug companies have with researchers of cholesterol and other drugs. "Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a more rational debate about cholesterol, heart disease, or any other health problem is the simple fact that too many of the people we turn to for advice on such matters- our doctors- are tied to the markers of the drugs. Sometimes these ties involve several hundred thousands of dollars a year."
"Cholesterol does not cause heart disease" say Ron Rosedale, MD. "Inflammation does." Cholesterol is important, indeed vital, for health. It is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. Lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol also is a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol. Why then would we want to lower our cholesterol?
Rather than spend billions each year on marketing drugs, why not spend that money teaching people how to increase their health from the inside out through better nutrition and exercise? Instead statin drugs are recommended which cause even more problems.
- Statin drugs cause cause severe muscle weakness and pain, even at low doses
- Statin drugs cause cognitive impairment and memory lose
- Statin drugs routinely cause cancer in laboratory animals and there is valid concern that they may do the same in humans
- Statin drugs have been linked to increase the risk of heart failure
If you or someone you know is being urged to take the following Statin Drugs... Lipitor, Lescol, Mevacor, Pravaschol, Zocor, Crestor... PLEASE LET THEM KNOW THE RISKS FIRST!
SAY NO TO DRUGS!
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