There was an interesting point here about the health insurance industry taking on the food industry because of the hit to the insurers' bottom line under a new bill where folks cannot be dropped or denied due to pre-existing conditions. It might turn into a war of industries though...because pharma makes a heck of a lot of money from us eating crap.
Side note: The first time I hit play on this video, a McDonald's ad played first. Ha!
(And if you're new to the show and this blog, here is my interview with Michael Pollan. One of our most popular ever.)
"New Coke mini: Now with 36% less death!" is brilliant, funny and disturbingly dead on. An argument could be made that it should be required reading in every college and high school throughout the country.
As for Mark Morford? On his more conservative days, he pushes the boundaries as a PG-13 writer. Every other day, he tiptoes into R and beyond. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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.
(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.)
By now, many of you have heard the name John Kopchinski, the former drug rep who blew the lid on Pfizer’s “appalling” sales tactics for the pain drug Bextra. Because of John and other whistleblowers, Pfizer will now pay $2.3 billion (the largest pharma settlement ever for misleading marketing) for illegally promoting Bextra and other medicines for unapproved uses.
"At Pfizer I was expected to increase profits at all costs, even when sales meant endangering lives."
These words should shock you. But unfortunately, they’re not new…
Kathleen has been sharing a similar message since she walked away from big pharma several years ago and went on to make three films on these exact issues, including Side Effectsstarring Katherine Heigl and Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety. (In fact, in Side Effects, Katherine Heigl plays the very whistleblower we’re seeing play out right now in the headlines. The film is "fiction", but closely based on Kathleen’s decade pushing pills for big pharma.)
Our team knows first-hand what it’s like to take on big pharma (and the cold sweats that can come with the territory), but the more the industry’s dark side can be brought to light, the better off we all are.
Help shed some light on this issue and encourage family and friends to think twice and ask great questions before popping that next pill. Please check out and share these related resources:
My answer to this dirty little question was dead wrong.
"Do you own McDonald's?" I was at a lecture when the very first words out of the speaker's mouth, was this question. The audience bristled with indignant silence for we were a group of passionate, organic rousing-soil praising-local promoting-animal lovers. In the silence that followed the question, you could almost hear everyone's thoughts... Well of course I don't own McDonald's. Because I'm against processed foods. Because I care about the environment. Because I am pro organics and local food. Because I am against industrialized meat production and the horrific treatment of workers and animals that come with it. Because I'm trying to push back against the rising obesity epidemic. Because I understand the high price that comes with cheap food. Because the world does not need another damn plastic Happy Meal toy to fill the landfills and clog our waterways. Next question: "Do you own mutual funds? Please raise your hands if you do." Blank look, extended pause. And then... Almost every hand in the room raised. And a collective "gulp".
It was this series of questions and the resulting sickening realization that I did own McDonald's (a lot of it—in various places, but mostly my retirement account) that led me to set aside my fear of flying and book a flight to the Slow Money national conference in Santa Fe next week. Slow Money is a new way of looking at where we invest our dollars—with a theme of "investing as if food, farms, and fertility mattered". The experience that day spoke to me to me so deeply (okay sliced right through my soul) that I researched each share and dumped my funds. I realized I could no longer walk the path of talking as if this stuff was important to me but not put my money where my mouth, heart or brain was. More than anything, I wanted a return on investment that would let me sleep at night.
Whether you're a farmer, foodie, investor, or anyone who cares about the sustainability of the planet I encourage you to come join me in Santa Fe next week. There is a way out of the global mess that industrialization has caused, but it's going to take each of us being very intentional about where we spend and place our bucks. Footnote: McDonald's was the example given, but you could insert just about any corporate giant that is taking more than it is giving from people, animals and the planet.
This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.
I've been getting asked this question a lot lately. As a mom, consumer health advocate, and former pharma pill pusher my gut screams for more information. What are all the ingredients in the vaccine? (Does it contain mercury?) What are both the short and long term side effects? (Are the benefits worth the risk?) Where/how are doctors getting their info about the vaccine? (Who gets rich if my kids get this shot?)
And so, as in the past, I found myself turning to Dr. Bob Sears for advice. At his Website you'll find answers and questions—many similar to my own—about H1N1, as well as many other vaccines. You'll also find a voice of reason—a doctor who doesn't pretend to have all the answers. Because if there's anything I've learned in my twenty years of working in health care, it's that doctors are human and medicine is never black or white (no matter how many double-blinded-funded-by-pharma studies you review). In fact, things get downright dangerous when we fail to ask good questions and hand over decisions regarding our families' medical care. I know that the verdict of whether or not to vaccinate this fall will be stomach wrenching for many of us moms and dads; but I have faith that if you visit Dr. Bob's site, you'll make an informed and empowered choice. And what an amazing example to set for our kids.
Some of you may have seen the shocking texting while driving video that Kathleen posted here last week (and if you didn’t, watch it now…especially if you’re a parent).
As a follow up to this critical topic, Kathleen talked with Yolanda Cade from AAA about the realities of what’s going on when we take our eyes off the road for “just a second” to send a quick message. And if you have teens, this interview will really hit home.
Yolanda shares startling stats, sad stories and no BS advice to motorists and parents for how to share in the responsibility of keeping our roads safe. Priority number one...let’s make “no texting” a condition for allowing our kids (and ourselves) to drive.
Listen to this important interview and please share the link with your family and friends.
And to help drive this message home, download posters at TxtResponsibly.org.
If you have not seen last week's article in TIME magazine "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food", I encourage you to dig in and then share it with everyone you know. Because the beauty of this piece is that it's not just for us 'foodies' who already have a decent understanding of the problems surrounding the crap we're shoveling into our mouths.
This article can cross the divide to those who do not know and previously did not think or care about these issues. And that's possible due to the sheer brilliance of Bryan Walsh's writing. He has tackled a mountain (health, safety, environment, worker/animal cruelty, and sustainability) and powerfully and succinctly made his points. (And that's just the opening paragraph.) The reader has no time to be distracted by round about introductions or politics or wondering if he/she really cares about this issue because the words and information are so direct—so unavoidable.
And although there's no doubt Walsh owes his knowledge to the masters who came before him (Sinclair, Schlosser, Pollan), the addition of his pen to this cause might be just what is needed to light a fire with the masses. For more great resources about where food comes from, check out my interviews with the following:
Curt Ellis producer of "King Corn" (a fantastic documentary based on Pollan's work).
Rory Freedman author of Skinny Bitch. (The book is not what it seems, is not for everyone, but definitely offers a unique opportunity to reach those outside the choir.)
Kathy Freston author of Quantum Wellness. (I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but Kathy—and Rory—use different and effective ways to get us thinking about what industrialized agriculture is doing to animals, people, and our planet.)
This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.
(And a special shout out to Rob Smart of ProFood for bringing the TIME article to my attention. He's always a great resource for sustainable food info.)
The baton is now in your hands. Please share this post via email, Tweet, Stumble, Digg or your personal blog.
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I'm a filmmaker, writer, and talk radio host. After a decade of schlepping drugs for big pharma, I finally got the ovaries to walk away from my career as a pill pusher and share what I knew on the big screen. I wrote and directed the feature film Side Effects (starring Katherine Heigl) as well as...(Read full bio)
The making of Side Effects starring Katherine Heigl
