The Early Show on CBS has quickly become one of the pharmaceutical company’s best shills. Dr. Emily Senay reported on the January 16th, 2007 show that bioidentical hormones shouldn’t be trusted as they were identical to the synthetic version put out by the trusted pharmaceutical industry. Sorry Emily, talk to a biochemist not paid by the industry to find out what the truth is. They are different and bioidentical is safer. They also put out a report about safety of supplements that is so twisted that you wonder who wrote the drivel and who they really get paid for. Did you know that more people died of eating charcoal briquettes that died of ephedra? We are not thinking of a ban of backyard cookouts but the government did ban the sale of ephedra. Makes you think.
Anti-Acids Are Bone Breakingly Bad – In a study published in the December 27th, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, people over the age of 50 who take antacids like Prilosec or Nexium for more than one year had a 2.6 times greater risk of breaking their hip than the general population. Both Zantec and Prilosec also increased the fracture rate but no where near what the other drugs known as PPIs (proton-pump inhibitors). This is the second powerful study that shows a very strong correlation between these popular antacids and bone fracture yet the outcry against them is minimal. Ban nutrients as being untested and potentially unsafe but when we see definitive data against a drug we shrug our shoulders and say “we don’t want to deny these drugs to people who benefit from them?” With benefits like that, who needs friends?
Have some doubts about my opinion? Did you know that CNN back in the 1980’s hired medical reporters and producers through an association with Bristol-Myers? Dartmouth University Medical School found that in a marketing campaign done by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, the media exaggerated the prevalence of the disease in question and they underreported the problems of over-diagnosis. There were conferences about Vioxx where no mention was made of the problems with the drug even after it was known publicly.
As soon as the media, like CBS and CNN begin to be honest with the public about their yearning for Big Pharma’s money and how they don’t report the whole story, then we can begin to trust them more. Until then, buyer beware, big time.
Sorry for the bad formating…here we go again.
Thanks for bringing this to non-CBS viewers attention.
CBS’s own audience does not agree with the story.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/15/opinion/polls/main2359664.shtml
IMO –
1. Did anyone count the number of pharmcuetical commericals during this broadcast?
2. This recent segment on herbal supplements is so biased. I’ve used St.
John’s Wort with great success, check out this article.
http://www.doctorstrust.com/article.html?id=3794
3. My mother was on several prescription drugs with a whole host of side effects. I just wonder if she wouldn’t still be alive today had she tried the alternative medicine route instead.
4. Dietary supplements have a great safety record, especially compared with other consumer goods, such as drugs and even other foods. Below are a few statistics that support this claim.
The truth is that dietary supplements are far safer than most common foods and drugs that consumers use without a second thought. Prescription drugs, for all the testing they go through and copious usage directions that are issued with them, are estimated to be one of the top five leading causes of death in the U.S. at more than 106,000 annually[Journal of the American Medical Association].
5. With the aging population of America, dietary supplements offer tremendous cost benefits. Check out the latest:
http://www.supplementinfo.org/anm/templates/?a=465&z=6
The link was eye opening and yet troubling. As with all things, being an informed consumer is top priority when it comes to dietary supplements. Respectively, I’ll “share” my recent experience with dietary supplements. In no way do I wish to negate the success of the previous posts. This may be winded, but “The Mark Schauss Blog is Never Boring.”
August of 2006, a friend came to my husband and me offering a supplement called liquid zeolite. She also wanted us to sell it. I had a hunch something was wrong when I heard “cancer cures, autism cures.” Coincidently, or not, I went to class the next day and as it turns out, a PhD at my college is a renowned published researcher regarding zeolites. His lecture confirmed my gut feeling. I expressed my concern to my husband, we decided we would not sign up, he took the drops for 5 months, I did not. I did my homework on this product, as I watched my “early 30’s husband” decline in health. Ironically, he wanted me to show him the exact proof and then some.
For every claim this company and distributers made, I looked to an alternate source, an independent source. I wasn’t surprised to find every piece of info provided was not supported in any capacity by science or research. Even the science provided by the “sellers” was not for liquid zeolite, not even the patent. I wondered how the company CEO/PhD could be the only one??? Was it possible that all other PhD’s in the world who went to college for 10-20 years could have made a mistake? Important point, it was no mistake, the seller/CEO/PhD, etc. is not a PhD at all. I checked with the medical board, checked every credential he claimed, and found not one piece of truth. Furthermore, I found (on FDA.gov) the CEO and his colleagues used to sell other miracle vitamins. Until the company was prosecuted and slapped with a class action lawsuit. I will end this paragraph with the only truthful piece of info provided by this company. A corporate address listed by the CEO. Unfortunately, it isn’t a big distribution warehouse or corporate office. It’s a big house, with a big pool, in a great neighborhood.
Normally, I wouldn’t need to research to this degree. But I felt this product triggered or contributed to the sudden decline in my husbands health. In short, he stopped using the drops, but not before he ended up in the hospital with half his colon removed. We may never know what happened but I found the dietary supplement business was just that….big business.
The FDA had a wealth of info as to the “why” on regulating dietary supplements. There are several dietary supplements that pose serious risks and even death. So whose the bad guy here? “Big Pharma,” the government, CBS? Is it the crooks who scam the buyer? I can’t answer that question, nor do I wish to try. I did my research as an informed responsible consumer. I looked at everything, not just one side, and made an informed choice. When it comes to dietary supplements and alternative medicines, it’s up to the individual to do the homework.
I think of Pascals Wager. Regulation of dietary supplements/no regulation, unproven alternatives/big pharma, MLM/PhD……I think I’ll bet on years of scientific research, approval and regulation before I’ll bet on MLM medicine.