Side Effects. Oh those blessed money making side effects!!!!!

Well, it could probably be said that every drug out there, even the most innocuous ones like aspirin, have side effects.  I don't think willow bark has any, but then it is pretty hard to get accurate and specific doses and effects from drinking willow bark tea.  Plus it tastes like crap.  Aspirin on the other hand, has specific effects, relieves pain, swelling, fever, and causes intestinal and stomach problems, thins the blood as well as Reye's syndrome.  So, there must be a happy medium, take aspirin when needed for the benefits, not too long to avoid the nasty problems.  That is unless one of the side effects are what you really want, like thinning the blood.  I've talked about it here before, I take a baby aspirin every day because it is almost as effective as Plavix, but six hundred times cheaper and without the HUGE risk of death and other nasty side effects that the prescription med has. In fact, Plavix really only works when taken with an aspirin every day, so the reality is that Plavix by itself probably doesn't do much of anything at all, other than cause a few deaths and disabilities here and there. 

I did not even know that Plavix would even help my condition if it weren't for the huge numbers of DTC (Direct to Consumer) ads for the anticlotting drug that filled magazines and TV shows.  Anymore, that's how most drugs are gotten into the hands of the end consumers.  (I could say patients, but that is probably not exactly correct)  People see ads for cures for all sorts of diseases on the TV.  The Big Pharma companies WANT consumers to think that they are sick, then go to the doctor and ask for a prescription.  This method of selling your product works quite well, Big Pharma now spends nearly 6 times as much on marketing than they do on research for new drugs.  And they tell us about all the diseases we have that we did not know about until it was pointed out to us on Prime Time how heartburn was a serious threat to our health, if your legs fall asleep there are pills for that, if you think you might be depressed then there are pills for that, and that those pills can be greatly augmented by other pills, that acne can be cured with a pill, that gout can be cured with a pill, if you have dry eyes then you can take a pill, if you don't want to eat right then you can take a pill, and finally, that laughing out loud was a neurological problem, and there is a pill to cure that as well.  (Not kidding about the last one ((PsuedoBulbar Affect))

As a race, we are sicker than we thought, and the cool thing is, insurance pays for you to try it all.

You might just get lucky, with enough pills going into you, there is a possibility that enough side effects might cover whatever your problem might be.  And you have to believe it, side effects abound in the medication industry.  That's the reason that we have drugs to begin with.  Finding a chemical or combination of compounds and seeing what it does within the human body.  And as so often happens, after giving to to humans, finding out other things that it does.   And if at all possible, capitalizing on those, side effects.  Let's look at one fun drug in particular.  Cyclosporin.  This is a drug that for many decades was the drug of choice to suppress the immune system so that organs from one human could be transplanted into a different human.  Cyclosporin has a lot of nasty side effects, like making your hair fall out, or unusual growth of hair in places, making you susceptible to infections and in many cases unable to fight infections and therefore dying, dizziness in a big way, uncontrolled thirst, numbness, tingling, loss of appetite, and the big one, making your eyes water like crazy.  WOW!  Okay. here's a drug that has a very specialized market, transplant patients.  It helps the body fight the natural tendency to reject a new kidney or heart or whatever.  But now, a side effect that the manufacturer can capitalize on, dry eyes.  WOO HOO!  Surely there must be a lot more people out there with dry eyes that have insurance, and therefore will want this rather nasty stuff to make their eyes water.  SURELY THERE MUST BE!  If not, advertise on TV and TELL the consumers watching that they NEED a drug that has proven itself to have extremely noxious side effects (like unable to fight off infections like TB or pneumonia and then dying) in order to moisten their eyes.

Everything out there for us to get a script from our docs started out as a side effect for a drug.  Some, very few, the intended effect is the real deal and what they planned.  Most, are side effects and should be used with caution.  Sometime when sitting in front of TV, take a moment and actually listen to what the announcer tells you might possibly happen to you if your take their drug.  In almost every case, there is a huge number of serious problems possible.  Remember, the desired effect is generally only one of the things that will happen to your body when you take any drug.  Assess the risk before you take any of their money making pills. 

the First Death has been recorded, how long before it affects the world population?

When I was told I had MRSA, I was sent to an infectious disease specialist and was told that there were specific antibiotics that would kill off the specific strain of bacteria living in my sinuses.  They knew this because they cultured the MRSA and then they tested a variety of antibiotics on the cultures.  Then they stuck a PICC line in my arm and hooked antibiotics to it three times a day for a month.  I had diarrhea for a month.  I still have MRSA as well, modern medical techniques didn't seem to work the way they thought they would.  Even  though they told me they would cure me, they gave me a pamphlet that detailed how to live with MRSA.  A "Guide" on how to live with an infectious disease for which there was no cure and how to safely interact with others in your life and not spread the disease to anyone else. 

The medical profession's back up plan and attempt to immunize themselves from lawsuits.

Unless you live in a cave or are a teen or post teen entranced with the antics of Hollywood foolishness, you probably have heard about antibiotic resistant bacteria. There have been a few mentions on the mainstream news media.  A few.  Not nearly enough in my opinion.  Some of the things I have seen are the reminders that if you have the flu, or flu like symptoms, an antibiotic will not have any effect against a virus.  Taking antibiotics needlessly is one of the causes of the epidemic of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the world today.  (And of course you can take Tamiflu, but that's another story all together. (Tamiflu)  I cringe whenever I hear that statement.  It might have some basis in truth, however the reality of the problems is Modern Meat, and how animals are raised in CAFO's (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) wherein the conditions are so horrific and unsanitary that processors must feed huge amounts of antibiotics to the animals in an effort to reduce diseases and deaths in the operations.  Fully 80% of the antibiotics manufactured in this country are feed to cattle and other animals for human consumption.  And then humans eat the carcasses that contain residues of antibiotics.  This is why all the antibiotic resistant bacteria have come into existence.  You are eating low doses of antibiotics daily, and bacteria have developed immunity to those antibiotics.  When introduced into mainstream medical environments, those with a little immunity, grow colonies that have a lot of immunity.  Thus, MRSA and other forms of bacteria that the modern world is having a tough time coping with. 

In November of this year, a man died in New Zealand from an infection of Actinomycetes bacteria growing in his brain that he caught after brain surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage.  Named KPC-Oxa 48, this strain of bacteria is totally unaffected by every known antibiotic that modern science has created.  You probably didn't hear about that on "The View" or "TMZ Live".  You won't either, at least until important people, hollywood do-nothings, become infected and die.  Then, it will be all over the news.  But so far, one guy, in a hospital in New Zealand, a place where most adults could not even tell you which hemisphere it occupies; has died from exposure and infection from a bacteria that potentially could mean the end of mankind.  The unfortunate part of this is that MOST people in the world have this belief that Modern Medicine will save them and the miracles that the medical profession perform daily will continue to allow them to live happy carefree lives, eat at McD's, enjoy Coke, and Kentucky Fried offerings and never have to worry about some guy dying a world away.  It is of course, a fantasy.  Modern Medicine is the number one cause of death in America today.  Those in the medical profession are barely able to keep their selves out of lawsuits for all the harm they do, curing anyone is secondary to covering their asses. (Modern Medicine)

I guess I could now explain that any sort of belief that Big Pharma will swoop in and produce new antibiotics that will save the world.  However I don't think that will happen.  Big Pharma is more concerned with making new drugs to make money.  Pushing new drugs through the approval process with little or falsified testing has gotten a few of them into hot water, but let's remember that it is always "after the fact".  Making a new antibiotic that will cure what will soon become a worldwide epidemic is of little interest to Big Pharma, the governments of the world will require them to produce it and distribute it pretty much free of charge, or at least free of profit anyway.  Not a lot of incentive there.  And besides, it's only one death so far. 

One death.  Who accepts the blame for it?  No one will.  But in reality, it is each and every one of us that caused it.  If we stopped eating the Modern Meats that is produced for us, then Big Agribusiness would stop producing the stuff in the horrific unsanitary manner they do. It all starts with one person saying no.    

NO!

America Has MAGIC BEANS For SALE, (health wealth and long life in a pill)

Lipozene has been clinically proven to melt away belly fat, and with NO dieting or exercise.  If you sprinkle Sensa on your food everyday you will lose weight without exercise or dieting.  Quick Trim, Dr. Oz Diet Pills, Belly Off, Bliss Fat Girl Slim, Nature's Secret, and, well, tons of Magic Beans and Snake Oil for sale on the internet, on TV, in every magazine and in every store.  They all contain their own "Patented" formula of Snake Oil, a revolutionary concoction that is guaranteed to make you lose weight, get sexy, look like the twenty year old models and all with no effort on your part.  Magic Beans indeed by any definition.  And they work too.  Look at how many varieties there are on the market.  Look at how slick the expensive advertising is for the products.  And look at sales of weight loss supplements have soared to over 1.5 BILLION dollars annually. And that doesn't even include sales of weight loss food categories such as Kellog's Special K cereal, ready to eat meals from Jenny Craig and others, and nutrition bars, that are regularly advertised as weight loss Magic Beans.  Depending on who you believe, sources estimate that the entire weight loss food and supplement industry is from 20 to 40 BILLION Dollars annually.  That includes everything from weight loss pills to ready to eat meals to group therapy diet plans to food sprinkles.  It doesn't take into consideration the other 20 or so billion attributable to diet books and weight loss seminars and weekend retreats and celebrity promotions and gym memberships. 

They must work, people keep buying their crap.  And Special K cereal flies off the grocery store shelves. 

Special K is one of the worst offenders of the group, read the ingredients, it's nearly 13% sugar.  And it has no fiber at all.  NONE!!!!!  I think that pretty much all of the medical world agrees now that fiber is an important part of every dietary plan.  And no sugar should be as well.

And all of the vitamins are added in as supplements.  And again, let's remember that the FDA states that the values used for nutritional labeling need to be within 20% of actual values.  (CFR 21.101.9 (c) )  Manufacturers regularly use the upper 20 for good stuff, and the lower 20 for the bad. Given that fact, it's possible that the wonderful Make you Skinny just by eating wonderful breakfast cereal every day Special K could in fact be as high as 18 or 19 percent plain old Genetically Modified Sugar Beet processed white sugar.  Scary, but Cheerios are just as bad for you.  And your kids.  And as more and more research is coming out that shows the link between sugar consumption and heart disease, these products are showing up to not be the Magic Beans that they are claimed to be.  Advertised to be heart healthy, Cheerios are anything but.  Well, I think it would be safe to say that most everything from the BIG AGRI-GIANT Food manufacturers and processors are NOT what they claim them to be. 

Well, with the exception of them being giant money machines to the wall street do-nothings, that's the only claim that appears to have any truth to it.  "Buy our stock, we turn crap into profits and everyone benefits!"  Well, everyone but the consumers benefits.  I guess that's why over the past couple decades or so the leaders of our country as well as those in power at Monsanto, (possibly other companies as well, no one has yet verified it) all eat organic food.  One, they can afford it, and two, they know it's better and non-toxic. 

But back to the magic beans hypothesis.  How do these things work?  What magic component, which specific pathway or control process within the human anatomy that any of these specific weight loss product manufacturers have discovered and are claiming to capitalize on, do their specific products work with?  And how is it that modern medicine, of which the entire industry does an EXCEPTIONAL job of capitalizing on anything they can make money on, has not done so?  Logical inference tells us that no such Magic Bean or Snake Oil exists.  If the AMA and Big Pharma aren't making money on a magic weight loss product, then it doesn't exist.  And Americans WANT those Magic Beans and Snake Oil.  Americans BELIEVE in the magic of modern medicine, modern pharmacology and modern food processing techniques and products.  Americans absolutely BELIEVE in fairy tales and Magic Beans.  Americans WANT to eat canola laced high fat high sugar cookies right along with their HFCS soda (or worse, aspartame soda) their chips and processed meat and white bread and all the other crap that comprises the Standard American Diet; and then they want the modern Magic Beans of Big Business to save them from the excesses of which they have indulged and their savior to be in the form of a pill or tasty sugary breakfast cereal that cures their ills, makes them fit and fabulous, and with no pain or problems.  In short, Americans WANT Magic Beans.  The sad fact of the matter is that Big Pharma, Big Food, and even the AMA promise all Americans what they want.  And make tons of money giving it to them, even though none of it works.  They do a good job of selling us Snake Oil.  And Americans keep going back for more and more of it.  In 2010 it is estimated that Americans spent 310 BILLION dollars on prescription drugs, and another 107 BILLION dollars on over the counter drugs.  And for the same year, food for home consumption was 617 Billion, and processed food through away from home sales was 557 Billion.

What this means is that Americans spend 1.17 Trillion dollars on food, and 418 Billion dollars on cures for the problems that all that processed food causes.  And just to put it all into perspective, of that Trillion dollars in food sales, only about 58 billion is fresh produce. 

If Americans want Magic Beans, they do exist.  Right there in the produce section of your supermarket.  Fresh, raw and fermented are the Magic Beans that Americans need right now.  The more unprocessed your diet, the greater the chances for you to lose weight, avoid long term degenerative diseases and have a long healthy life.  It won't make you look like the 20 year old models on the Snake Oil commercials, but it will help you get there.  

Responses to my Critics. At least to those that take the time to email their personal objections to what they consider, my drivel.

December 2, I wrote an entry into my blog here entitled, Superiority.  I received a few emails about it.  Some telling me that I can't read an abstract from an introduction and then claim to have knowledge about what the article is about.  Actually, that is sort of the point of an abstract, to quantify into one paragraph what the entire 16 articles and some 200 odd pages of text deal with.  And the conclusions based on the research.  It's true, I did not spend the hundred bucks for a twenty-four hour purchase of the symposium.  I did not need to.  Each and every article includes an exceptionally well written and cognizant paragraph that specifically tells me in way way way fewer words, what the entire treatise is about.  If those people that wrote to me would like to spend the money and after doing so determine that the body of each article does in fact contain information and conclusions NOT detailed in the abstract, then I will in fact print a retraction.

However, I doubt that will happen. 

People everywhere are the same.  They like the status quo, they like to have the media spoon feed them the pablum of information sweetened with their daily dose of mindless Hollywood drivel and never ever get fed any information that will in fact tell them that the world is not in fact glorious and their lives are wondrous and if they ever get sick, then the medical industry with their hard working doctors that have all had rigorous training will sit down with them and discuss with them individually what the best course of treatments are that will care for their specific ailments and they know within their hearts that with the best of recommendations for medications given to them by their healthcare professionals they will fill their prescription and receive a treatment that is guaranteed to be well tested, safe, free of side effects, manufactured under the strictest controls possible and will in fact work as a panacea for them and all will be well and good. 

Even fairy tales don't have endings like that.  Certainly reality doesn't.  The plain fact of the matter is that the daily TV news, where it is estimated that over 90% of the Americans that have any knowledge of current events receive that information, has never ever reported anything about the criminal activities of Big Pharma.  And there has been a lot.  As reported here previously, thirty billion bucks in fines, in just the last ten years.  None of which was reported on mainstream TV, except a couple times on 60 minutes.  You will see cutesy series dramas about how overworked interns and residents are in their quest to receive their medical credentials.  They laugh a lot, and put condoms on bananas, but you will never hear the truth about how overworked they truly are because interns and residents working 100 to 140 hours a week save the hospitals money, and the safety of patients is always secondary to money.  Doctor shows always seem to perpetuate the myth that doctors pay attention to their patients and work hard to determine what are the root causes of any patient's symptoms.  The truth is, that doctors are not taught how to CURE any disease, they are in fact taught to write prescriptions that are in line with their AMA doctrine that drugs cure symptoms.  Never do they cure diseases.  That is also secondary, if they cured you, then you wouldn't need the doctor anymore. 

The absolute biggest crime against humanity is GERD.  The Big Pharma companies have created a specific disease from heartburn.  And created a drug to treat it, without actually knowing the specific actions within the human body that cause the desired effects that they now are able to market to consumers as a real disease.  The truth is that most people taking PPI's to control their heartburn are slowly having their digestive system compromised and they are losing the ability to digest the foods that they eat.  They don't tell you that in the commercials though do they?  GERD is serious, it is very rare, most people with heartburn are overweight or consume alcohol in excess and/or smoke.  Or have a very very poor diet.  All of which are easy cures, but no doctor in America will tell a patient this, instead they are all on the AMA path towards what they are told, and never what is right.  And all to the destruction of the livelihood of the citizens.  At this point, we don't have any idea what will happen down the road to the 40 million or so people that take over the counter PPIs or other prescription ones that are stronger, and yet for which the manufacturers still have no idea why they perform what they do.  The only thing they do know, is that long term use affects the ability of the stomach to excrete acids in the manner in which it was designed to do.  You will never see that on TV, it doesn't perpetuate the Disneyland concept of wondrous joy that the rulers of our country, big businesses, want us to perceive. 

So, with all that said, sorry to the three people that wrote such scathing and critical emails to me.  It was almost as if I was married again for a moment.  Sigh, good thing I'm not, the ex, like readers, are yesterday's old news. 

The world surprises me at times. Growth in the food industry.

I get a lot of industry magazines.  A lot.  There are a lot of them out there.  Lots of ads for the latest technology, the latest food additives that mask flavors of other additives, a lot of stuff.  And articles about how the world of food is changing, how companies are dealing with the problems in the marketplace.  And the occasional story about what some business did to escape fines or jail time for deeds they have done, or rather allegedly did.  This week, I got another rag, from Sosland Publishing.  This one is "the State of the Industry" and it contains a lot of information.  It divides up the food industry into specific categories and then gives information on the leaders in each category.  By company, and by product.  Then there is information as to volume of sales, and the big one, this year's percent of increase or decrease in sales for each company and product.  And this is where the surprises come. 

Breads, breakfast cereals and other grain based foods, beverages, dairy, processed foods frozen and others, canned soups, and yes, even burger places.  There is a lot about meat as well, but none of that pertains to what I found to be exciting in the reports.The really big, and I mean REALLY BIG news is that most of the categories are still dominated by the giants of their industries in total sales, but the thing is, they all seem to be slipping.  All of the giants lost sales.  The big winners, all of the natural food companies.  Huge growth in many cases.  Double digits.  And even Campbell's 100% Natural soup grew an amazing 232%.  Of course that's offset by the 256% increase in sales of their Scooby-Doo soups.  Jeez, marketing still is king.  But overall, most of the big guys lost sales, the natural guys gained impressive amounts. 

I just had to give this info to the internet.  It is vindication that American consumers might just actually using their brain matter to determine what they need to put into their bodies. 

Superiority

The dregs of society ruled the world back in the 20's here in America.  Bootleggers, mob bosses, ruled the underworld and took their cut of all of the crime from prostitution to theft rings and robberies to protection and numbers.  Same thing is happening today, Drug cartels are made up of men that control the drug trade through fear, intimidation and money.  Both groups are people that have an overly developed sense of entitlement and superiority.  That's what it takes to become a drug lord or Mafia boss, superiority over and above those minions that serve them, and especially over those that they cater to.  And the biggest part, is total disrespect for the laws that govern their actions and their ability to make money in the manner in which they perceive to be a necessary part of life, as they are providing a service, and a product, however illegal and damaging that product is to the humans that want it.  And lastly, they have little regard for human life, the utilization of weaponry and explosives isn't just popular movie fodder, but all part of the reality of drug and organized crime life.

And now we have a new, legal group of mafia types that control what we think we need.  Prescription drugs.  The product may be legal, the industry may be legalized, but the methods for marketing and the methods followed for regulatory approval show the true nature of the leaders, the kingpin CEOs of these corporate criminal organizations.  And, just like their underworld counterparts, these leaders have little regard for human lives even though the stated purpose of their entire industry is to help the human condition through the discovery of new medicines and the manufacturing of quality products that are safe, wholesome and effective against a whole host of diseases and symptoms.

What a crock.  The drug industry is overcome with fraud and corruption.  When things get bad, and I mean they have to be REALLY BAD, then and only then does the FDA step in and exercise its power and authority and attempt to regulate the industry.  In the last ten years, fines against the big drug companies have totaled over THIRTY BILLION dollars.  Fines for marketing drugs for purposes not approved for, falsifying data in order to receive approval for questionable drugs, and for giving kickbacks and bribing doctors to write prescriptions for specific drugs.  And even though these giant corporations have been caught doing these illegal activities in the past, they keep doing them at the direction of the leaders of the industry.  The CEOs that are part of the elite Mafia style group that believe themselves to be above the law, and probably are.  We HAVE to remember that since 1992, the FDA has the power to put the leaders of drug companies in JAIL for their actions.  And yet, even though they fine them, billions of dollars, not a single one has found their freedom removed.  And yet thousands of citizens have either died or been seriously injured, many with extremely debilitating side effects.  And the illegal tactics continue.  And no one has been jailed.  Thousands have died.  But then again, on the flip side, billions of dollars in profits have made a lot of people rich.  Some of them have been government regulators.  And all it would seem, have little regard for human life.

The drug industry in America is unique.  Regulated, sort of, and price protected.  But the government that has shown itself to have the best interests of the industry that gives them money over and above the citizens that the are sworn to protect.  It's all pretty shady. The somewhat prestigious industry periodical "the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics" just recently published their latest issue that just happened to include a symposium on the Big Pharma industry giants here in America.  Or perhaps we should refer to ourselves as "AmeREAMica" cause these guys show us just exactly how we, citizens and consumers of the drug industry, are getting REAMED.   This quote is from the abstract of just the introduction to the article,
"Today, the goals of pharmaceutical policy and medical practice are often undermined due to institutional corruption — that is, widespread or systemic practices, usually legal, that undermine an institution's objectives or integrity. In this symposium, 16 articles investigate the corruption of pharmaceutical policy, each taking a different look at the sources of corruption, how it occurs, and what is corrupted. We will see that the pharmaceutical industry's own purposes are often undermined. Furthermore, pharmaceutical industry funding of election campaigns and lobbying skews the legislative process that sets pharmaceutical policy. Moreover, certain practices have corrupted medical research, the production of medical knowledge, the practice of medicine, drug safety, the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of the pharmaceutical market, and the trustworthiness of patient advocacy organizations."   (journal article)

I thought I was the only one that saw how corrupt our government as well as the industry leaders that control the government all are.  Wow, I guess not, I'm just one of a whole lot of people that see the reality of what is going on.  This article details how the corruption of just one industry, the pharmaceutical industry, has leveraged itself into the workings and the actual legislation and workings of our government.  It isn't just me, a lot of people, smart people, people with degrees of higher learning, are all starting to look at the criminal activity of our lawmakers, and those that control them, corporate mafia types.

Don't get in the way of the spray of bullets, those in power will do anything to stay there.  And we all know that to them, our lives are meaningless.