Drug panels loaded with docs on the make
Think your doc's concern about your cholesterol levels comes from a genuine interest in your health? Think again: It comes from a set of guidelines created by "experts" who were bought and paid for by the companies that make cholesterol meds.
A new look at 14 guidelines on cholesterol and diabetes finds that 52 percent of the 288 panelists who authored them had direct financial links to the drug industry -- including HALF of all panel chairs.
And the biggest conflicts of all were found on the most influential panels of all -- the guideline-writing committees of groups such as the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, where a whopping 69 percent of the members had financial links to drug makers.
But that's not exactly a shocker: Groups like the AHA and ADA rake in so much dough from Big Pharma that they're practically drug industry divisions themselves. Want proof? Go take a peek at the financial statements on their Web sites.
Bottom line here is that behind every wildly successful drug on the market there's a badly conflicted panel that was PAID to push it -- no matter how dangerous and unnecessary those drugs are.
And yes, they are unnecessary -- because your problem isn't high cholesterol. In fact, your cholesterol is almost certainly TOO LOW!
I know that sounds crazy, and your own doctor will throw you out of the exam room if you try to argue with him on that. But all he has to back him up are those crooked guidelines.
Me? I've got SCIENCE on my side, and I've laid it all out for you right here.
It's not just cholesterol and diabetes meds: The guidelines on everything from heart disease to cancer screenings have been written by "experts" rolling in industry money -- so you can always count on them to protect the industry's interests over yours.
That means it's more important than ever to find a doc who's not for sale -- but harder than ever to find one. If you're looking, I suggest you start your search by contacting the American College for Advancement in Medicine.