Big Pharma company GlaxoSmithKline has been fined 400,000 pesos for killing 14 babies during a vaccine trial in Argentina between 2007 and 2008.
Good news? Well, at least they were caught! But one Argentinian peso is worth just $0.25 dollars - about 20p. So I make that to be just over £500 per life lost. No prosecution of GSK personnel responsible for conducting these trials. And the money - well - it is not even pocket money for GSK. (For a more local report see this).
So what is the value of human life? I wonder what my sentence would be if I had murdered 14 babies? A heavy fine?
Estimates about how many people Big Pharma kill each year vary amazingly. This article states that it kills just 106,000 deaths per year. This leaves me wondering at what point they stopped counting! But it is a difficult calculation to make - not least because when deaths occur the association with Pharma drugs is usually denied. But at least this article tries to show the extent of the fraud, the illegal sales activities, and the total fines that Big Pharma companies have been paying in the USA. It also states clearly that spending money on drugs does not lead to saving lives. Whilst spending more on drugs than any other nation, the USA is 49th in terms of life-expectancy.
Drugs are regularly being linked to disease and death. The diabetes drug, Actos, for instance is now being linked with cancer. Last year it was banned in France because it was found to cause bladder cancer. But this does not prevent drug companies selling it elsewhere - for as long as they can get away with it!
When medicine causes disease, or death, it is called Iatrogenesis - caused by doctors. This article explains that it is not just drugs that cause this in conventional medicine, but many other factors. It states that iatrogenesis cause approximately 225,000 deaths each years, making it the 3rd biggest killer in the USA.
In an attempt to assist us, this article picks out the 10 most dangerous Pharma drugs. But is it wise to do this? Highlighting these is only the tip of the iceberg of dangerous Big Pharma drugs, and what is needed is to highlight that they are all potentially dangerous to our health, and even to our lives. But it does point that that for the first time, in nearly a century, automobile accidents are not the leading cause of accidental death any more (according to the US National Center for Health Statistics). This prize now goes to Big Pharma drug companies!
Our experience with Pharma drugs now points to only one sensible conclusion; they are a danger to our health, and to life itself. And it is no good trying to apportion blame to just a few drugs. They are all heavily implicated. Any trying to decide which drugs are okay, and which are dangerous is no good. We just don't have the information - mainly because the drug companies refuse to tell us!
The British Medical Journal has actually complained about this practice! An amazing outbreak of honesty from them! Apparently, when there is evidence that a drug might work - Big Pharma publishes it. When they have evidence that it doesn't, or where there is evidence that it might cause problems, the evidence can be witheld. I have discussed this in an earlier blog - and raised some of the issues it raises (or should raise) for all of us.
It would seem that we never know quite what we are taking when offered Big Pharma drugs. The only information we are given is positive information, and this means that it is bogus information! Nor do doctors and GPs. Nor do the Drug Regulatory bodies.
There is no-one out there appears either able, or willing, to protect us from the consequences of conventional medicine, and Big Pharma drugs. Except ourselves, of course. And we must all begin to say:
Good news? Well, at least they were caught! But one Argentinian peso is worth just $0.25 dollars - about 20p. So I make that to be just over £500 per life lost. No prosecution of GSK personnel responsible for conducting these trials. And the money - well - it is not even pocket money for GSK. (For a more local report see this).
So what is the value of human life? I wonder what my sentence would be if I had murdered 14 babies? A heavy fine?
But life is cheap - at least when Pharmaceutical drugs are involved!
Estimates about how many people Big Pharma kill each year vary amazingly. This article states that it kills just 106,000 deaths per year. This leaves me wondering at what point they stopped counting! But it is a difficult calculation to make - not least because when deaths occur the association with Pharma drugs is usually denied. But at least this article tries to show the extent of the fraud, the illegal sales activities, and the total fines that Big Pharma companies have been paying in the USA. It also states clearly that spending money on drugs does not lead to saving lives. Whilst spending more on drugs than any other nation, the USA is 49th in terms of life-expectancy.
Drugs are regularly being linked to disease and death. The diabetes drug, Actos, for instance is now being linked with cancer. Last year it was banned in France because it was found to cause bladder cancer. But this does not prevent drug companies selling it elsewhere - for as long as they can get away with it!
When medicine causes disease, or death, it is called Iatrogenesis - caused by doctors. This article explains that it is not just drugs that cause this in conventional medicine, but many other factors. It states that iatrogenesis cause approximately 225,000 deaths each years, making it the 3rd biggest killer in the USA.
In an attempt to assist us, this article picks out the 10 most dangerous Pharma drugs. But is it wise to do this? Highlighting these is only the tip of the iceberg of dangerous Big Pharma drugs, and what is needed is to highlight that they are all potentially dangerous to our health, and even to our lives. But it does point that that for the first time, in nearly a century, automobile accidents are not the leading cause of accidental death any more (according to the US National Center for Health Statistics). This prize now goes to Big Pharma drug companies!
Our experience with Pharma drugs now points to only one sensible conclusion; they are a danger to our health, and to life itself. And it is no good trying to apportion blame to just a few drugs. They are all heavily implicated. Any trying to decide which drugs are okay, and which are dangerous is no good. We just don't have the information - mainly because the drug companies refuse to tell us!
The British Medical Journal has actually complained about this practice! An amazing outbreak of honesty from them! Apparently, when there is evidence that a drug might work - Big Pharma publishes it. When they have evidence that it doesn't, or where there is evidence that it might cause problems, the evidence can be witheld. I have discussed this in an earlier blog - and raised some of the issues it raises (or should raise) for all of us.
It would seem that we never know quite what we are taking when offered Big Pharma drugs. The only information we are given is positive information, and this means that it is bogus information! Nor do doctors and GPs. Nor do the Drug Regulatory bodies.
There is no-one out there appears either able, or willing, to protect us from the consequences of conventional medicine, and Big Pharma drugs. Except ourselves, of course. And we must all begin to say:
"NO" - "ENOUGH OF THIS" - "LIFE AND HEALTH IS TOO VALUABLE"