Clearing The Air

Pharmaceutical industry scams exposed

For years, pharmaceutical companies have courted America's doctors with an ever-growing intensity, showering them with billions of dollars' worth of gifts, consulting fees and trips to persuade them to prescribe their drugs...Whether they know it or not, "many doctors have been prescribing according to industry profits rather than the patient's needs," says Brody of the University of Texas.

The article then goes on to say:

But now, patient advocates and lawmakers are out to break up those relationships....

However, lawmakers seem unwilling to put an end to the pharmaceutical industry's influence in municipal court houses or state capitols. The number one source of funding to groups like the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Non-Smoker's Rights, AMA, etc. to lobby for smoking ban laws comes from Johnson & Johnson Company's private foundation the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Johnson and Johnson's subsidiary ALZA is the manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ......and now after the merger with Pfizer J & J now profits from Nicotrol sales.

Pharmaceutical nicotine product sales are a very profitable business, once you get lawmakers to pass smoking bans. Currently pharmaceutical nicotine sales account for $500+ million dollars in annual business, but Blue Cross of MN has reported that demand for nicotine patches tripled once smoking bans were implemented.

And finally if lawmakers would remove the special interests' influence peddling and falsified data, they would learn that secondhand smoke levels are 2.6 to 25,000 times SAFER than occupational workplace (OSHA) regulations.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

The hazard in allowing these special interests to dictate rent seeking laws, is clearly being felt in the economic community across the globe.

(thanks to Brenda Perks for bringing the AARP story to my attention)

posted by marcus aurelius @ 1:48 AM