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My pick of the week.
A haunting song by someone I hope is soon to be a household name.
Listen to "Through the Dark".
This song appears on Alexi's newest CD, Toward the Sun. Order HERE.
Have a song, book, movie, poem, artist or article you'd like to recommend for future picks? Please be sure to let me know in the comments below. See my past picks.
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I wrote a post on this awhile back pointing y'all to an outside blog. Unfortunately, that blog is no longer live, so I did some digging and came up with my own library of funny, disturbing, and thought provoking vintage drug ads.
But has anything really changed? (See my Huff Post piece "Pharma: Still Chasing Skirts".) Because while all these ads take us for "chumps", if you take a close look, you'll see they're particularly insulting towards women. (And I'm not even overly sensitive to things, darnit.)
So please take a look and have a few laughs along the way. I'd also be honored to have you weigh in with your favorite.
Note: Be sure to check out the Quaalude ad…are they ‘quietly’ suggesting the doctor also take it? And what in the hell is up with the 'Stabilize the Epileptic' ad with the girl on the swing?? And how about the Shaun Cassidy look alike in the Midol ad? Okay then, enjoy.
Big Pharma...
Related:
Period got you down? Well there's a pill for that too...(hilarious)
"Side Effects" starring Katherine Heigl
Making the FDA a servant to us...
Pharma whistleblowers: From the big screen to today's headlines
Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety
Subscribe to "The Kathleen Show" podcasts Posted by Cari @ The Kathleen Show
This week on The Kathleen Show we're diving into those overlooked years of middle childhood—your last great opportunity to impact your kids' lives. It turns out that how we handle things during these ages (6 to 12), sets the stage for decision making during the rocky teen years (and beyond). Kathleen delivers a show guaranteed to make a positive impact on your relationship with your children. And here's who she's talking to:
John M. Drescher: Father, author and middle childhood expert, John explains what every parent should know about the pivotal years between toddler and teen. Here he shares his practical, loving approach to creating happy kids and well-adjusted teenagers. John wrote one of Kathleen's favorite parenting books, When Your Child is 6 To 12.Steve Moschkau: Father of two (and Kathleen's hubby!), Steve talks about the challenges and rewards of being a dad—investing as much time, love and energy possible into your kids. This is definitely one of Kathleen's most intimate (and funny!) interviews.
Related shows (available online or as a free Podcast):
Rabbi Shmuley: Child's play? Ha! Blunt advice about the fine art of rearing a good human being. Posted by Cari @ The Kathleen Show
So last week Kathleen had Woody Tasch on the show to talk about the Slow Money movement. Although Woody made many profound points (listen here), one of the big takeaways was: Invest your money in the small guys—the local farmers and food producers who are busting their butts each day to provide you and me with sustainable, quality fuel for our bodies.
And this is the month to do it. For September only (still a few days left, guys) you can become a member of Slow Food USA when you invest in, or rather donate any monetary amount you’re willing to contribute. If you haven't joined the organization already, this is a great time to put your new found Slow Money principles to work…for the good of our food system.
This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.
Related:
Kathleen’s interview with Woody Tasch
Do you own McDonald’s?
Food fight heats up
Real food rock stars
Posted by Cari @ The Kathleen Show
We get it. With work, working out, parenting, and marriage calling your name each day, you need the option of listening to the show on your terms—anywhere and anytime that fits your schedule.
Welcome to The Kathleen Show podcast.
Although the show is now officially on the air in eight states, no matter where you live, you can get the program delivered directly to your computer. Curl up with guests like the great Maya Angelou. Go for a run with Lance Armstrong’s personal coach, Chris Carmichael. Or grocery shop and cook dinner while Michael Pollan and Lisa Oz weigh in with amazing advice about the food we put into our bodies.
Could there be any better way to fill your cup?
Sign up now for The Kathleen Show podcast and never miss another thought-provoking topic or titillating guest again. Because you never know who you’ll get to spend time with next…
Kudos to Michael Pollan for having the %@$#s! to come out and say last Friday what most of us already know (if only we stopped to think about it). His New York Times op-ed, "Big Food vs. Big Insurance" is all about the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about during this health care debate...the role of the food industry. The industry subsidized by the government that pushes us to eat more processed crap—making us sick and driving the cost of health care with its contribution to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. (How many more products can they work cheap corn into?)
Fixing the food system—taking money away from industrialized ag and its emphasis on monocultures (like corn) and putting more money toward organic, local and real food production—could be the single biggest contribution to the health care crisis we can make. (Michael points out some interesting ironies as to how all of this may play out in the ‘market’ if reform does pass.)
This issue has been bugging me. A few weeks back, Howard Dean was a guest of mine on the show. He delivered a fantastic interview—making a great case for reform and the public health option. But when I asked him when the government was going to get the food industry lobbyists off of Capitol Hill, Dr. Dean effectively sidestepped the question.
That is what you have to love about Michael Pollan. He has a gentle, savvy, unrelenting way of making sure some of the most important issues of our time are exposed and do not go away. No sidestepping allowed.
This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.
If you liked this post, you might also like...
My interviews with:
Michael Pollan
Howard Dean
Curt Ellis
Previous Fight Back Friday posts:
Do you own McDonald's?
Netflix this: "King Corn"
Food fight heats up
Real food rock stars
(And a special announcement, Michael will be coming to my home base of Madison, WI at the end of the month for three days of food, fun, and rabble rousing. Here’s more info if you want to join the festivities.)
In order to understand the full impact the pharmaceutical industry has over our health care system, it is critical to know the multiple layers of influence:
1. Direct to Physician Promotion: There are 90-100,000 pharmaceutical sales reps pounding the pavement (having almost 1 million conversations per day) trying to coerce physicians to write more prescriptions of their drugs. Are these reps nurses or pharmacists? Do they possess any kind of science background? Typical reps are hired for their Ken and Barbie appearances and have more experience wining and dining and leading cheerleading squads than any form of medical experience. These reps are compensated and evaluated solely on their ability to sell more pills. Providing physicians with "free samples" of the newest drugs on the market is another effective marketing tool. Additionally over 70 percent of physician CME credits (continuing medical education) are funded by the pharmaceutical industry. Doctors are also employed by the industry as speakers, ghost writers of landmark studies, and consultants. All of this leads to an incredible conflict of interest with the medical community. (See "Side Effects" starring Katherine Heigl. Based on my decade selling pills.)2. Direct to Consumer Advertising: Our television sets, magazines, radio stations, and increasingly the internet are bombarded with beautiful and effective drug ads. "Effective" meaning they drive sales of the newest, most expensive, and often least proven drugs on the market. We as consumers are marching into our doctors’ offices in record numbers and demanding the latest and greatest pills on the market. These ads paint a beautiful Norman Rockwell life on the screen. They do a wonderful job of convincing us that we too can be this happy, this sexy, this beautiful if only we would take this pill. Overall, it is estimated that $30 billion dollars per year is spent on the marketing and advertising of prescription drugs (which is twice as much as what is spent on research and development). Who pays for this? We do in the form of exorbitant drug pricing.
3. Pharma Funding of the FDA: Due to PDUFA (Prescription Drug User Fee Act), the FDA is currently on the payroll of the drug industry. This act allows companies to pay fees to the FDA for speedy approval of their drugs, thus a large amount of the FDA funding comes directly from Big Pharma. This creates a significant conflict of interest as was bore out in the Vioxx debacle and puts into question whether the FDA can adequately be a watchdog of pharma and protect the American public. Following is a quote from Jerome Hoffman MD of UCLA from my documentary "Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety": "We have to have the clout and the influence and the organization to make it so that they can’t blithely go along making the FDA be something that has been widely and famously called a servant of the drug industry. We have to make it so the FDA is a servant to us."
4. Pharma Funding of the Research: Right now, 70 percent of all new drug research is funded by the pharmaceutical industry and 30 percent is government funded. With industry funding comes great control over the outcome of the data. Furthermore, study conclusions are often written by physicians hired by the drug company and published in major medical journals that take millions in drug advertising funds. These journals also receive funds for providing hundreds of thousands of "reprints" of favorable studies for the industry to distribute to physicians. But the reality is that the researchers themselves become financially beholden to the pharma company in question...their livelihoods depend on their ability to land the next big contract. This clouds their ability to deliver anything other than the results the company is seeking. Following is another great quote from Jerome Hoffman MD of UCLA: "Suffice it to say that when drug companies set the research agenda, do the research, design the research, have tremendous influence over the people who get to write it up, and in fact, have tremendous influence over the journals that publish it, then it’s not surprising that so much of what we think we know is tremendously distorted."
5. Largest Lobbying Group on Capitol Hill: Pharma has shown that another cost effective use of their money is to dominate Capitol Hill in order to get their way regarding key legislation. They are a large and powerful lobbying group who "reward" lawmakers if they vote in their favor. These rewards include, you guessed it, high paying jobs as lobbyists and consultants. A recent example of this is in regard to the Medicare’s prescription drug bill. See the excellent feature by 60 Minutes on this issue (link below).
Given the above, where can doctors and patients go to get unbiased information regarding prescription medication? Good question. One interim option is a division of Consumer Reports that shares 'best in class' as reviewed by an independent (from pharma money) body. In the meantime, we have dangerous drugs making their way to the market and a growing crisis in the attainability of affordable health care. All the while the pharma industry is pocketing enormous profits often at the expense of public health.
The information in this entry has been pared down in an effort to provide a concise summary. Following are additional resources:
"Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety" (you can now watch the entire film free online.)
"Side Effects" (Based on my decade selling pills. Starring Katherine Heigl and now available on DVD from Warner Bros.)
"peRx: Prescribing Evidence-based Therapies"
The Truth About the Drug Companies by Marcia Angell MD
Overdosed America by John Abramson MD
Powerful Medicines by Jerry Avorn MD
60 Minutes (great piece on lobbying influence)
Posted by Cari @ The Kathleen Show
This has been the year of films (and books) about our broken food system. But one not to be missed is “King Corn” by filmmakers Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney.
If you liked The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (who is also interviewed in "King Corn"), you'll love this film. These guys took what Pollan uncovered about corn to the big screen.
The film follows Curt and Ian (and their corn) on a crazy journey—from farm fields in Iowa through our industrialized food system and onto our kitchen tables. And what we get is a charming little film about what's wrong with how we farm and what we eat today (you guessed it...CORN!).
For more on this fantastic documentary and how corn became the backbone of our diets (and expanding waistlines), listen to Kathleen’s interview with Curt Ellis.
This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.
Previous Fight Back Friday entries:
Wow, if you’re in Pennsylvania there’s a good chance you’ll be able to tune into The Kathleen Show somewhere in that great state of yours real soon. We just got word that that WEEU-AM 830 in Reading, PA has picked up the show and will air Sundays at 6 p.m. (starting this weekend!).
We also just announced that we’re hitting the airwaves in Philly starting next Thursday, September 17 at 2 p.m.
So hey, if you’re in Pennsylvania, please check us out. And if you’re dying to get the show in your area, call your local radio station. It definitely helps. We’re now in 8 states, only 42 more to go…
But in the meantime, you can always listen online or subscribe to our free Podcast.
Read the full press release HERE.
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Just a few of our great guests on The Kathleen Show...
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