AN OVERDOSED AMERICA

[Guest guest]

I took this from another e-mail group and I am showing it here

because it gives

us a very good look at the corruption that allows medical evidence to

be

suppressed which shows why a substance such as aspartame unsafe and

pushes to

the forefront " junk science " which claims that it is safe.

 

*********************

FYI:

 

This is an excerpt from the introduction of the book, Overdosed

America, by

Dr. John Abramson. He is an M.D. who has " said it like it is " in this

book

and lectures. His expose' of the scandalous activities of the

pharmaceutical industry is something most physicians will not talk

about,

and many of them with good reason. You can visit his website at:

http://www.overdosedamerica.com/

 

 

Excerpts From Overdosed America

Introduction

Just before I left my practice to write this book, one of my longtime

patients, Mrs. Francis, came in for a visit. I always enjoyed seeing

Mrs.

Francis, a widow then in her mid-eighties. Her greeting was warm and

her

presence made the exam room feel comfortable - an oasis in the midst

of

daily time pressures, multiple tasks, and complex patient challenges.

During

this visit, Mrs. Francis asked why I was leaving. This wasn't just a

casual

question, nor did I feel that she was prying. Over the years, we had

enjoyed

many conversations, and I felt as if she genuinely wanted to

understand what

had gone into my decision. I did my best to explain.

 

I told her that over the last few years a profound shift had been

taking

place in the culture of American medicine. I explained that tests

unlikely

to improve patient care were being routinely ordered and expensive

drugs

that had not been shown to be any more effective or safer than the

older

drugs they were replacing were being routinely prescribed. I told her

that

the research I had been doing at night and on weekends was confirming

my

sense that much of the scientific evidence on which we doctors rely

to guide

our clinical decisions was being commercially spun, or worse; and

that many

of the articles published in even the most respected medical journals

seemed

more life infomercials whose purpose as to promote their sponsors'

products

rather than to search for the best ways to improve people's health.

 

I told her that many of my patients were being drawn in by the growing

number of drug ads and medical news stories; that patients were

increasingly

arriving for their visits with a firm (if not fixed) idea of the

outcome

they wanted instead of the expectation that the best medical care

would

emerge from open discussion of their symptoms, concerns, and exam and

then

mutual consideration of the options. I told her that when I tried to

refocus

patients on interventions proved to be safe and effective, many were

reacting as if I were purposely trying to withhold the best treatment,

making me choose between providing the best care and yielding to their

demands in order to maintain the healing potential of our

relationship.

Finally, I told her that I had come to the conclusion that the best

way I

could help people to achieve better health was to find out what the

scientific evidence really shows and explain this to the public - in

much

the same way that she and I had talked over the years - and to other

medical

professionals.

 

That was the best answer I could give Mrs. Francis at the time. I

wasn't

sure what I was going to find when I turned my full attention to these

issues. But it was becoming clear that American medicine was like a

runaway

train picking up speed, fueled by the commercially generated belief

that

ever-increasing medical spending is necessary to achieve good health.

It was

also becoming clear that the train's brakes were failing. It seemed

to me

that, despite a few clear and brave voices, there was no effective

counterbalance to the influence of commercially sponsored research.

Nor was

there even a way to determine whether all this expensive new care

actually

led to better health. And it as also clear that this crisis would

soon come

to a head when the burden of relentlessly increasing medical costs

became

more than many Americans could bear.

 

What I found over the next two and a half years of researching the

research

is a scandal in medical science that is at least the equivalent of

any of

the recent corporate scandals that have shaken Americans' confidence

in the

integrity of the corporate and financial worlds. Rigging medical

studies,

misrepresenting research results published in even the most

influential

medical journals, and withholding the findings of whole studies that

don't

come out in a sponsor's favor have all become the accepted norm in

commercially sponsored medical research. To keep the lid sealed on

this

corruption of medical science - and to ensure its translation into

medical

practice - there is a complex web of corporate influences that

includes

disempowered regulatory agencies, commercially sponsored medical

education,

brilliant advertising, expensive public relations campaigns, and

manipulation of free media coverage. And last, but not least, are the

financial ties between many of the most trusted medical experts and

the

medical industry.

 

Excerpted from Overdosed America. Copyright ?© 2004 by John Abramson,

M.D.

All rights reserved. Harpercollins Publishers.

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If you or someone you know

drinks diet soda check out the

Aspartame Victims Support Group at

http://presidiotex.com/aspartame