Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Harpeau]

Dr. Fugh-Berman said "Drug representatives are paid to be nice to us as long as we cooperate, sustaining market share of targeted drugs, and limiting our continuing medical education lectures to messages that increase drug sales."

She claims the drug industry is happy to play the 'genial uncle' until physicians want to discuss subjects that are off-limits, such as the benefits of diet or exercise, or the relationship between medicine and pharmaceutical companies.

Medicine must shed both its docility and the corporate leash. Let us not be a lapdog to the pharmaceutical industry. Rather than sitting contentedly in our master's lap, let us turn around and bite something tender. Freedom calls.

A very interesting article. I've been saying the same thing for years! It's true for both the medical field and the psychiatric field as well.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/333/7576/1027?ijkey=g0spTSn4hbnro4G&keytype=ref

[Satori]

I think Monsanto is the most evil entity in the world today, and I'm deadly serious. They do all kinds of filthy stuff, but the thing that just totally blew my mind was that they design grain seeds that create crops that don't reproduce thier own seeds, forcing farmers to keep buying seeds every year, they patent the seeds, then when wind carries seeds into a farmers feild who is not using monsanto seeds, they move in, test the feild, and if there is even a trace of this identifyably different seed in the crop, they can confiscate it. This may not be exactly how it works, it was a while ago that I read this. But it blew my mind, and I just could not fathom how it was legal. It basically amounts to argicultural terrorism. They seem to have paid the right people so that what they are doing is legal, and it seems they are hell bent on being the SOLE provider of seeds in North America. The seeds are high priced, and genetically altered, when there is no need for them to be either. Crops with natural seeds produce enough seeds for the next crop naturally. They want to subvert this process and gain a strangle hold on agriculture.

If I'm wrong, please correct me. When I read this I was so stunned and angry. If I ever considered an act of terrorism it would be against Monsanto. They seem to be waging war on the population as it is.

[mindmetoo]

Those seeds that produce plants that don't produce seeds is rather scary. Agriculture is civilization. You can nuke or comet strike us back to the stone age but we'll always have agriculture and emerge again. But in the future, maybe not. Zoinks.

The baby formula industry also has a vested interest in getting into hospitals and getting women not to breast feed.

But c'mon no doctor can prescribe diet and exercise and keep a patient on it. Most doctors will immediately recommend to any patient to lose weight, get a better diet, cut down on drinking, and stop smoking. In modern society you don't need to visit a doctor to know that. How many listen?

Patients want the quick fix. Patients don't want to spend time eating less and walking more. So doctors will provide. Customers want bigger cup holders in cars. Car companies will provide. I don't, ultimately, see a difference.

[Harpeau]

Well, it's actually more about prescription drugs that the Pharms use to get rich quickly. Great if you're buying stock, but I really wonder how these people sleep at night.

As a counselor, I'm very hesitant to suggest visiting a psychiatrist because it seems that entering many of their offices means that meds are the order of the day. I just wish that they would take the profit and kickbacks out of the Medical industry and make it a bit more "objective"~ if that is possible. Bless the psychiatrist who doesn't just prescribe medications, but actually does his/her job with skill and compassion. Don't get me wrong, if Meds are helpful, then I'm all for them. I just want to see the pharmaceudical companies get out of the Medical industry. There is no room for them.

[mindmetoo]

[red dog]

[Harpeau]

Though I don't personally see the problem with genetically modified crops (remember, the onus is on the people who are against them to prove how they might be somehow harmful. The genetically modified crops that have come out so far seem to be above board, IMHO).

NB. I do agree with the rest of what you wrote. I guess it's hard for many of us to find true information when there is a vested interest in some higher ups to follow the money instead of truth. What is truth?!

[Satori]

I dont think we have to prove how the modified seeds are bad, they have to prove how they`re better. We are talking about a natural process that has worked fine for millenia. Why mess with that? There has to be something more than that they produce more crop per acre, as we already have a food surpless. I think the main reason for modification is to have an identifibly different seed, for the purpose described in my first post, to take over other farmers crops. Also, why build in the non ability to reproduce seeds except to be able to make more money from seed sales? Its evil.

[mindmetoo]

[red dog]

Regarding GMOs, labelling laws are part of the problem, at least in some countries such as Canada:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-01-05/news_story4.php

I see this mainly as an ecological and social justice issue, rather than a food safety issue. Satori made some very good points earlier in this thread, and John Robbins voiced similar concerns in his book The Food Revolution. It's pretty scary. In any event, consumers have the right to make informed choices about the products they buy and the agricultural practices they're supporting.

[red dog]

MM2, you make some good points, but IMO there's still room for a lot more emphasis on preventive health care ... by doctors, dietitians, the media, the government, etc. Smoking rates have declined (at least in Western countries) in response to sustained anti-smoking campaigns, and I think there could be more progress in other areas too. Bad habits are hard to change -- that's why people need support in changing. Look at this example to get an idea of how successful a diet-based approach can be:

http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm06autumn/diabetes.html

Also, I think I overstated my case earlier when I said rejecting mainstream approaches "ruined" the careers of Dr. McDougall and Dr. Esselstyn (the doctors Campbell wrote about in The China Study). It would have been more accurate to say they were pushed to the fringes of modern medicine and denied opportunities to make their programs available to more people -- not because of any underhanded dealings under the table, but because that defeatist mentality ("people don't really want to be healthy") is so deeply ingrained in the medical field.

Here's more about Esselstyn and McDougall:

http://www.heartattackproof.com/

http://www.drmcdougall.com

[some waygug-in]

Some interesting reading:

http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html

There is a lot more going on than you might think. The cases of fraud in the pharmeceutical industry are astounding.

Not to blame doctors, quite often doctors are being mislead by "salesmen" from the pharm companies who pose as "doctors"....
They push drugs for conditions that the drugs were never intended to treat, all the while trying to boost sales.

[red dog]

[Harpeau]

Good points have been made by everyone above, thank you! Thanks, also for the links.

A while ago, I was at a dinner and met a pharm salesperson. She talked about how her pharmeceudical company paid for and sent certain doctors who were handing out certain meds to their patience to Jeju Do for certain conferences, etc. The perks sounded very nice.

I hope that we can build up more awareness on this topic.

[some waygug-in]

Confessions of a Health care Hitman...

sounds interesting.

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/401