The corruption of academic medicine

Many doctors are genuinely puzzled why much of the general public does not trust what they say. For example, there’s the GOOP story. Gwyneth Paltrow sells lots of scientifically iffy wellness products on her website, and there’s many doctors and ‘health professionals’ frothing at the mouth trying to ‘debunk’ her theories. But, in the end, GOOP is selling millions of dollars of product. The public has voted with its money, and it chooses Gwyneth over the doctors. Why?
Then, there’s the anti-vaxxers/ vaccine controversy. Once again, celebrities like Jenny McCarthy claim that vaccines cause autism. Many doctors are frothing at the mouth and loudly ‘debunking’ these theories. Despite these protestations, we have occasional mumps outbreaks where children have not been properly vaccinated. Again, the public has voted with its children, and it chooses Jenny over the doctors. Once again, why?
Many doctors blame ignorance and the media for these phenomena, but this is simply a patronizing attitude. The truth is this. Many people simply do not believe doctors any more.
The answer is money
But why? The answer is $$$$. Simply, the public does not trust doctors because they know that many doctors, especially those in academic medicine and the universities are on the take. A terrific study from Dr. Vinay Prasad illustrates the problem precisely. He reviewed 37 ‘expert’ physicians who spoke on behalf of drug companies. Not surprisingly, they were all getting significant amounts of money from Big Pharma – a median of $39,316. These were not simply run-of-the-mill doctors either.
There is a clear correlation between the number of articles they had written (or been cited) and the amount of money received. This means that these ‘experts’ are those professors and doctors at all the best universities all over the world. These are the doctors that lecture other doctors and medical students. In general, the more prominent a physician, the more money he is taking from industry.
The sad part is that everybody recognizes the inherent conflict of interest. If a doctors is getting millions of dollars from a drug company, then there’s a good chance that his public opinion reflects this huge payment and is not an unbiased opinion. Further, doctors often try to hide this huge sponsorship from the public eye, making them far less believable.
Is sugar good for you?
For example, if LeBron James appears in a commercial for Sprite, we know that he is being paid for it. We aren’t exactly surprised if we find out that he probably rarely drinks sugary drinks, because, well, it’s bad for athletic performance and he’s not stupid. But LeBron never tries to hide his sponsorship, and may well be proud of it. That’s not the case with doctors. They try to obscure this fact everywhere they go.
Everybody and their grandmother knows that sugar is not good for you. Even if you think it is only empty calories (it’s way worse than that), you’d have to be kind of an idiot to believe that fructose should be ‘endorsed again’ as healthy. But here’s Sievenpiper saying exactly that.
But he’s a doctor, isn’t he? Well, he’s also massively on the take from the Corn Refiners Association. The National Post’s headline says it all “Canadian researcher have received hundreds of thousands from soft-drink makers and the sugar industry”. Sievenpiper has written 22 studies or opinions in the last 3 years that, surprise surprise, claim that sugar is not the culprit.
The statin controversy
Oh, but let’s look at Dr. Nissen’s payments from Big Pharma. According to ProPublica, Dr. Nissen had scored a cool $80,000 payday from drug firms last year. Nice. Oh, right, further he received money from 3 of the biggest drug firms (Amgen, Pfizer, and Astra Zeneca) on the planet to do research and write papers. Dr. Nissen hysterically claims that cults are scaring people away from life saving statins and that if we listened to them, everybody would die. Funny, Dr. Nissen seems to be engaging in a lot of fear mongering himself to scare people into taking their (highly-profitable) medications.
Is it true? Would people start dying in droves if they all stopped their statins? Well, this paper answers that question. In France, an intense statin controversy in 2013 drove discontinuations of that drug up by 50% compared to 2012 and 2011. Lots of people died as a result, right? Not at all.
No ‘Health Tragedy’ occurred despite the hysterical hand-wringing of doctors. There were 2000 LESS deaths in 2013. For heart disease deaths, there were 1200 LESS deaths. Yes, you read that correctly. There were less deaths when people stopped their medication. I can’t say that one resulted from the other, but certainly the predicted disaster never happened. Once again, people are predicting disaster, as they did when Dr. Demasi produced her brave documentary ‘Heart of the Matter’.
Of the 22 members of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, 20 received money from Big Pharma. The CCS is responsible for writing all kinds of guidelines that doctors follow in the treatment of heart disease. Yet 91% of the doctors writing these influential guidelines are directly in the pay of Big Pharma. Not surprisingly, these guidelines heartily endorse the liberal use of statins. It should be in the drinking water! The very people who should be safe-guarding the public have sold them out.
Then, there’s the money being funneled in things like the impressive sounding Canadian Heart Research Centre, with many University of Toronto professors. This is really just a money-laundering operation of the pharmaceuticals. All the big drug companies pour millions of dollars into this ‘Research Centre’ which produces thinly disguised infomercials aimed at your local physician.
Insulin for type 2 diabetes
For example, consider this program from a similar organization. “Insulin in Diabetes” How exciting. Too bad that there is not a single study in the history of mankind that shows that insulin in type 2 diabetes improves health outcomes. Since 90% of diabetes is type 2, then this title implies a complete lie – that insulin benefits type 2 diabetes.
But yet, here’s the physicians who have agreed to participate. Dr Zinman, professor, University of Toronto. Dr. Cheng, professor U of T. Dr. Gerstein, professor McMaster University. Dr. Perkins, professor U of T. Dr. Yale, professor, McGill. Virtually the heads of all the endocrine departments in the major universities of Canada.
Did they all decide to give up their Saturday to educate GPs. Hardly. They are each taking thousands of dollars home while promoting obesity inducing insulin. Not a single lecture of this 8 hour program is devoted to proper diet or exercise. Nope. Drugs, drugs, drugs is what pays the private school bills. They are taking money from a cabal of insulin profiteers to deliver a biased, thinly disguised sales message at the behest of their pharmaceutical overlords.
Drug companies can pay these sham research organizations to put on these events (infomercials) and pretend they are supporting ‘research’. Money successfully laundered. It’s an open secret amongst the doctors. We all know that these things are not free to organize. Everybody gets paid.
For the GPs attending, there is free breakfast, lunch and snack. They take this tainted and biased presentation to heart, believing they are learning about the most recent developments in the field. They then pass this propaganda on to their patients in good faith, but bad medicine.
Of course, Big Pharma has bankrolled the entire thing to the tune of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. And they know they are getting a good return on their investment. The Journal of Clinical Oncology published an article which shows that in oncology (cancer), payments to doctors results in up to a 78% increase rate of prescription of medications.
So, why is the general public so mistrusting of doctors? Well, the public would have to be crazy to trust us, given the money sloshing around the system. But the fault is our own. A great first step is disclosure, as done in the USA and there is a movement in Canada for this, too. But that’s not enough. The only way to restore trust is to stop all these payments altogether.
Honestly, is it really too much to ask that the ‘experts’ (American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Canadian Cardiovascular Society) that advise the public on the best drugs, the best diets do NOT take money from drug companies or food companies?
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As a person who kind of stumbled into these "boxes" accidentally several times, I had to learn about their existence more consciously than probably the vast majority of people.
Having learned them I just cannot abolish my way of thinking and thus making arbitrary connections immediately and decide later to weed them out or not.
Having this kind of mindset i have issues understanding why any doctor would even bother taking measurements even if that particular patient is known to have wildly different values when doing the test himself at home. That doctor shall not be surprised if i cannot take him very seriosly, even though it is probably not his fault.
...only if you're a prescriptivist. Otherwise either
word is okay to use. http://www.npr.org/2014/12/06/368712564/fewer-or-less-the-express-lan...
Have you looked at the package insert with all the "possible side-effects"?
On Mumps, MANY WHO GOT MUMPS WERE VACCINATED. The vaccine didn't work.
Then our environmental ministries are saying ANY mercury or aluminum is toxic, while they are used as preservatives in vaccines (Thimerasol). I have to evacuate the room if I break a CFL, but mercury is safe to inject directly in a newborn's blood stream?
Vaccines are just as big a business making the same $$$$ for Big Pharma as the statins, the type 2 diabetes drugs, and even worse, if a vaccine injures a child in the USA, there is NO RECOURSE - there is a VACCINE KANGAROO COURT instead of a judge and jury. Everyone knows there will be the one in ten-thousand that will have a bad reaction.
...she says, completely misunderstanding how
languages evolve. (...he says caringly.)
"One of Nissen's colleagues at the clinic, endocrinologist Adi Mehta, earned at least $202,600 from three companies. Mehta said in a statement that he feels "passionately" that such speaking educates his peers, the same rationale drug companies use to defend their reliance on practitioners. The prestigious clinic does not prohibit participation in pharma speakers' bureaus."
First, the mumps outbreaks you mention are for the most part among the vaccinated, not the unvaccinated. Example, the Arkansas outbreak mentioned in this article where 92 percent of the impacted had received 2 doses of MMR. https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/29/mumps-outbreaks/. So in other words, the damn vaccine doesn't work very well. Merck is actually in litigation now because they lied in their claims about the mumps vaccine efficacy.
Second, people don't choose Jenny McCarthy, she has very little to do with peoples choices in this matter. A large part of those that get accused of being "anti-vaccine" are in fact "ex-vaccinators", myself included. We did as the pediatrician said and saw the damage, woke up and changed our minds. Those of us that started studying this topic quickly find out that there are hundreds of studies that gives reason for concern about vaccines but it's not being discussed in main stream media. Here's a sample, look for yourself.
There is no science that shows vaccines cause Autism, except in all these government published studies which show vaccines cause Autism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878266/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25377033
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24995277
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12145534
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22099159
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3364648/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454560
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19106436
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3774468/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3697751/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21299355
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21907498
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17674242
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21993250
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15780490
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12933322
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16870260
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19043938
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24675092
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25198681
PLUS:
http://www.scribd.com/…/124-Research-Papers-Supporting-the-…
Vaccines caused autism here in this federal court case http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/…/opin…/ABELL.ZELLER073008.pdf
And here page 2 http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/…/CAMPBELL-SMITH.MOJABI-PROFF…
And here -
https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc…
Here are 83 cases reviewed by lawyers http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi…
Oh look here's a dead kid compensated https://ecf.cofc.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc…
If you ever need a lawyer http://www.mctlawyers.com/vaccine-injury/cases/
Here are 127 separate studies linking vaccines and autism. https://www.scribd.com/…/124-Research-Papers-Supporting-the…
Read this about Hannah Brusewitz case and how she was harmed by DTP
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/09-152
Supreme Court Unavoidably Unsafe
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf
A dose-response relationship between organic mercury exposure from thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25198681
Relative trends in hospitalizations and mortality among infants by the number of vaccine doses and age, based on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 1990-2010.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22531966
Is infant immunization a risk factor for childhood asthma or allergy?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9345669
Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170075/
Infection, vaccines and other environmental triggers of autoimmunity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16126512
DTP with or after measles vaccination is associated with increased in-hospital mortality in Guinea-Bissau.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17092614#
Measles outbreak in a vaccinated school population: epidemiology, chains of transmission and the role of vaccine failures.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1646939/
A positive association found between autism prevalence and childhood vaccination uptake across the U.S. population.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535
Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170
Abnormal measles-mumps-rubella antibodies and CNS autoimmunity in children with autism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12145534
The plausibility of a role for mercury in the etiology of autism: a cellular perspective
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173748/
Detection of RNA of Mumps Virus during an Outbreak in a Population with a High Level of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine Coverage
http://jcm.asm.org/content/46/3/1101.long
A case series of children with apparent mercury toxic encephalopathies manifesting with clinical symptoms of regressive autistic disorders.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17454560
Aluminum in the central nervous system (CNS): toxicity in humans and animals, vaccine adjuvants, and autoimmunity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23609067
Unvaccinated Children are Healthier
http://www.mednat.org/vaccini/dannivacc_study.pdf
Self-Organized Criticality Theory of Autoimmunity
http://www.plosone.org/.../10.1371/journal.pone.0008382
Combination MMRV vaccine linked with 2-fold risk of seizures
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub.../2010-06/kp-cmv062310.php
Impact of environmental factors on the prevalence of autistic disorder after 1979
http://www.ms.academicjournals.org/.../article1409245960...
Increased risk of noninfluenza respiratory virus infections associated with receipt of inactivated influenza vaccine.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22423139
Effectiveness of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in influenza-related hospitalization in children: a case-control study.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22525386
Speciation of methyl- and ethyl-mercury in hair of breastfed infants acutely exposed to thimerosal-containing vaccines.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21575620
Comparison of VAERS fetal-loss reports during three consecutive influenza seasons
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3888271/
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FDA concludes vaccines cause Autism
http://www.getcancercure.com/fda-announce-that-dtap-vaccin…/