NOVEMBER 21, 2008

THE INFINITE REACH OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: HAVE A PROZAC WITH YOUR CHEESEBURGER

Well it is not enough that pharma has spread its influence through the medical industrial complex, it looks like they also have infiltrated the medical media as well. The psychiatrist host of the National Public Radio show "The Infinite Mind", which deals with psychiatry and brain related topics, Fred Goodwin MD, was found to have taken more than $1.2 million in speaking fees from Glaxo since 2000 which was not disclosed on the show or to the producers of the show, in violation of NPR's policies. Some of the shows came out in support of the diagnosis of childhood bipolar disorder and against the idea that SSRI antidepressant medications can make you suicidal, showing evidence of bias in favor of pharma that is not consistent with the actual evidence. He also had as a guest on the show Peter Pitts who was introduced as a "Former FDA Commissioner" when in fact he was at the time working for a PR firm that had pharma companies as their clients, a fact that was not disclosed. Topic? SSRI antidepressants are safe and effective, and cannot make you have suicidal thoughts. [Not true, read the literature guys].

It makes you wonder, though. Why would anyone think that people wouldn't figure out that they were getting income from pharma when they are jetting all around the country giving talks? And didn't the psychiatrists listening to the talks wonder who was paying for all this?

Duh!

It really is sad but I guess we shouldn't expect much from a news service that was little more than a couple of people sitting around commenting on the news collected by others until the heiress of the McDonald's cheeseburger chain, Joan Kroc, dumped $200 million of her wealth onto NPR in one big fat donation.

McDonald's cheeseburger

It is a little known fact that that donation allowed them to mushroom (or should I say ballooned?) with new bureaus at multiple sites throughout the world. However to retain their image as the "people's news" they continued to have those stupid fundraising telethons where you have to listen to the mournful voice of the This American Life guy laying a guilt trip on us about donating. And you never hear them yacking about the pile they got from the cheeseburger queen. I guess maybe they feel a little guilty about that. We used to hear them give little announcements from Kaiser Permanente about how blueberries might prevent Alzheimer's Disease, so eat some blueberries. I wrote a blog about that making fun of them after which they stopped, although I don't know if they were one of the ten readers of my blog at that time, so I am not sure if it was in response to my scathing criticism of their idiotic public "health" service announcements.

I have some other public health service announcement suggestions they could use. How about, why don't you use a medicated stent for your coronary artery disease (CAD) so that you can be more likely to have a coronary artery clot off? Or why don't you take some Nexium with your Plavix so that you can increase your risk of heart attack? Or why don't you go cold turkey on your Paxil so you can become acutely suicidal? Or why don't you take Abilify so that you can feel like jumping out of your skin? Or why don't you take some Accutane for that zit so you can become depressed? Or take some Chantix to stop smoking, which can make you suicidal, so that you can stop wondering about whether or not your life will be cut prematurely short by cancer.

I could, of course, go on and on.

I personally would give more to NPR if they stopped sending me letters addressed to my first name with my wife's last name. How... de-testosterone-izing [I couldn't think of a good word so I had to make one up].

Here's some health news you won't hear on NPR. People who eat in fast food restaurants like McDonald's three or more times a week have a greater than 90% chance of developing heart disease or diabetes. The increase in diabetes world wide can be directly linked to the spread of McDonalds and similar fast food restaurants throughout the world. The increase in obesity related to reliance on fast food restaurant diets is predicted to lead to a decrease in life expectancy in the current century.

Thanks, guys!

On top of that eating that food can make you feel depressed, as evidenced by Morgan Spurlock in his film Super Size Me, when he ate nothing but McDonalds food for a month.

So the next time you pull yourself up to your cheeseburger, have a Prozac with it.

permanent link --

COMMENTS

Marilyn Mann wrote on November 22, 2008

Really liked this post. I went to the FIRM/Health Care Renewal meeting in Philadelphia. It was a bit inconclusive in terms of a plan of action, but some bloggers I have corresponded with were there and I enjoyed meeting them.

Stephany wrote on November 22, 2008

Great title of your article Doug, wow this stuff is going full blown lately isn’t it?

Stephany

http://bipolarsoupkitchen-stephany.blogspot.com/

soulful sepulcher blog

Jim wrote on November 22, 2008

Doug – I’ve thought for quite some time that NPR is an opaque organization – nobody seems to call them on it and just trusts that they are above board.

Keep up the good work.

Jim

N.A. wrote on November 22, 2008

I thought this blog was supposed to be a critique of meds. The coverage of NPR is unfair, cynical and, above all, poorly argued.

Dan Abshear wrote on November 26, 2008

As a pharmaceutical representative for ex big pharma drug corporations for a decade, this is what we did essentially with doctors, and their talks and dinners. As one typical rep, Id spend well over 50 thousand dollars a year for these events, which does

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