Big Pharma, Big $$

If you have a long, drawn-out, incurable but treatable disease, it's unfortunate for you but great for pharmaceutical companies. While you're suffering indefinitely, you're also buying expensive pharmaceutical drugs to make the disease "manageable."

"Managing" diseases is the trend in mainstream medicine, and it's the main message that pharmaceutical companies and the media market to consumers. "You have a mental disorder? That's okay. You can live a normal life, if you take these pills every day."

For years, the FDA has marched arm in arm with the American Dental Association and unflinchingly maintained the joint position that mercury fillings are perfectly safe, despite ever increasing evidence to the contrary. But on June 3rd, they finally broke ranks. However, before you give a big round of applause to the FDA, understand that their statement was not voluntary. It resulted from the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Mercury Policy Project, Mom's Against Mercury, Consumers for Dental Choice, et al. And although the statement itself was weak and highly qualified, it certainly represents a breaking of the ranks, and it absolutely signals the beginning of the end for amalgam fillings -- even if the ADA can't see it yet.

The idea of health freedom is one Americans likely never consider. Certain freedoms in this country are taken for granted -- like the freedoms of speech and religion -- so freedom to choose a method of health care seems a given. Unfortunately, recent cases have brought to the public's attention the startling truth that the government can (and does) make medical decisions for Americans, whether or not they agree.

In a stunning move being celebrated by anti-mercury activists, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added a respected mercury-free dentist to its Dental Products advisory panel. Facing unprecedented calls to abolish mercury fillings—including a lawsuit by Moms Against Mercury—the FDA has sought the expert input of Dr. Michael Fleming DDS. Dr. Fleming is a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), and will serve for three and one-half years as Consumer Representative on the panel. He will be responsible for representing consumer concerns before the Panel for any and all products used in dentistry.

It is becoming more and more apparent that psychiatric drugs drive people to not only perform violent acts on others, but also to take their own lives as well.

A recent article written by Steve Mitchell, United Press International’s Senior Medical Correspondent, states that "Two studies released Monday may bring further scrutiny upon the beleaguered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [SSRI] class of anti-depressants. One study suggests the drugs may increase the risk of severe violence, and the other indicates the drugs can have damaging effects on the environment."

According to a May 2006 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, side effects and "problems" with widely prescribed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) drugs send 3,100 people to the ER every year -- 80 percent of them children.

The United States is gaining a reputation around the world for raising children who go on school shooting rampages. Earlier this year, we had another one with 16-year-old Jeff Weiss, who went into his school on an Indian reservation and blew away 10 friends. And guess what? He was taking the antidepressant Prozac.