HEALTH MYTHS EXPOSED
by
Shane Ellison, M.Sc.

At the very beginning of the book, Shane Ellison states these words of wisdom: ‘If a man values anything more than his health, he will eventually lose his health. The irony is that if it is comfort or wealth that he values more, he will eventually lose these too.’ Nothing is more important than our health – without it we do not have a life worth living. Everything stems from good health – happiness, good relationships, meaningful work and quality of life.

Ellison is an American medicinal chemist with a master’s degree in organic chemistry. He trained in drug design, yet decided not to pursue a career in corporate drug making and is dedicated to discovering and exposing the truth about the Federal Drugs Agency’s methods of approving pharmaceutical drugs in the USA. He says: ‘Without their bias for wealth not health, this book would not have been made possible. The bias would not exist if it were not for the encouragement and financial help of the pharmaceutical industry, who pocket billions of dollars every year from the suffering of others.’

We are told that prescription drugs tripled in the US between 1990 and 2001 to $140.6 billion dollars. On the basis of these figures, in a further 11 years time by 2012, the total will be an unbelievable $445.0 billion - startling statistics! Nevertheless, the US stands almost at the bottom of the top 13 richest countries in the world for the health of its citizens, ranking 12th. It seems as if the more that is spent on pharmaceutical drugs to improve health, the sicker people seem to get.

The simple question should be asked: ‘Are FDA approved drugs safe and effective?’ Ellison has learnt how to rigorously interpret scientific data and studied a plethora of medical journals, clinical studies and university research papers in order to answer this question for the consumer. He concludes from his research that the entire medical health industry was founded on deception and motivated by an ‘unquenchable thirst for profit’ by the pharmaceutical companies.

He states that not only is it a myth that FDA approved drugs are safe and effective but that many expensive prescription drugs were approved for release despite the fact that clinical trials had shown that they were unsafe. This has led millions of people to a life dependency on prescription drugs, usually adding more brand names to their intake in order to counteract the dangerous side effects of the original prescriptions.

Whilst revealing this truth, Ellison came up against blanket denial from the professionals with the most common argument being that he should look at the ‘big picture’ - that the benefits derived from FDA approved drugs justified the risk. Ellison’s own conclusion was that apart from ‘emergency medicine’, the majority of FDA approved drugs offered little benefit and were generally ineffective, stating that side effects and death rates among users were more devastating than for illicit drugs. (In fact homeopathy is the exception, working very fast as 'emergency medicine' in acute conditions).

Health Myths Exposed gives a history of the formation of the FDA in the days when people trusted its judgment. It goes on to discuss numerous instances of FDA approved drugs that later proved dangerous and how marketing and advertising played the biggest part in promoting medicines. For example, he states: ‘The popularity of Prozac is a result of marketing, not science.’ There have been over 20,000 reported suicides since Prozac was approved in 1987 and yet in 2003 this drug was recommended for use by children.

Misleading drug advertisements and the advice of medical reps are often the only source of education available for a doctor on the drugs that he prescribes. As a result of consumer advertising, America is consuming more drugs than any other country, comprising over 50% of total prescription drug use worldwide! People in the US are bombarded by drug advertising through magazines, television and radio. From 1962, advertising was the responsibility of the FDA but in 1997 the FDA handed this over to the pharmaceutical companies themselves!

Over half the experts hired by the FDA to advise the government on drug safety and effectiveness have direct financial relationships with the pharmaceutical companies. This includes helping a drug company invent a medicine, as well as serving on the FDA advisory committee to decide whether a drug is approved for human consumption.

Conflicts arise in the form of stock ownership and obtaining consulting fees or research grants from the drug industry. In the past these conflicts of interest have been declared but since 1992 it has been acceptable to keep them secret. It is now impossible to ascertain who exactly is serving in the FDA that stands to gain from drug approvals. Though federal law prohibits the FDA from using experts with financial conflicts of interest to decide whether certain medications should be approved, since 1998 this restriction has been waived 800 times! Rules have become so relaxed, that since 1997 with the passing of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act, a new drug’s approval need only be based on a single clinical trial!

Although 12 commonly prescribed FDA approved drugs were removed from the market after serious side effects, injuries and deaths had occurred between 1997 and 2001, this was not before those medicines had generated $5 billion in sales.

Reporting of actual side effects is extremely poor with only approximately 15% actually recorded and it is estimated that 2.2 million Americans are severely injured from FDA approved drugs and are either hospitalised or permanently disabled.

In addition the FDA does not require pharmaceutical companies to test newly released drugs for dangerous side effects on children, so many drugs are prescribed without knowing whether they are safe.

Ellison also blows wide open the fallacies behind medical ghostwriting. As long as ‘experts’ paid by the pharmaceutical companies continue to write favourable reviews and pharmaceutical companies conduct their own clinical studies, how is it possible to get unbiased, independent advice?! He also discusses ‘chequebook science’, where drug companies will sponsor their own drug research by paying university researchers to boost popularity of their drugs and in many cases will be encouraged to have financial interests.

The book points out how rare it is for medical doctors to be educated in nutritional medicine, their only training being in medical drugs. Doctors often dispute the value of nutritional supplements, branding them ineffective or dangerous. The whole situation of the absurdity of consumers having to fight for the right to use natural and safer alternatives to drugs is covered in this book, including a succinct summary of the political background.

Health Myths Exposed contains a wealth of vital information about micronutrient supplements which can prevent and even cure a wide variety of serious conditions. Many of these have been banned or suppressed from public knowledge, even though their effectiveness has been well documented for decades. This is because natural medicine cannot be patented by pharmaceutical companies and their use would seriously threaten profits.

The book further exposes the myths of the health benefits of vaccines and Ritalin for children, reporting the dangers that were already known before approval for sale was granted. It reveals the truth behind the marketing hype of a variety of modern pharmaceutical drugs, showing them to not only be ineffective at what they purport to do, but also blowing wide open the science supporting them.

Three chapters are devoted to putting to rest the myth that cholesterol causes heart disease and exactly why this cannot be so. There are very clear explanations showing that cholesterol merely acts as nature’s ‘band aid’ in repairing damage to the arteries which occurs during inflammation of the inner lining, known as atherosclerosis. Ellison points out that the claim that cholesterol levels should not be higher than 200 mg/dL, is as spurious as saying we should all have the same size feet or breasts – that one size should fit all. In fact studies show that in elderly people in particular, low cholesterol can actually cause heart disease and cancer. In addition, major clinical trials on cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) were only trialled on middle-aged men, and their effects were never studied on the elderly, women or children.

The last two chapters explain why ephedra should never have been banned and why dieting is not the cure for obesity. This chapter uncovers in detail the real reasons for obesity, how to beat it and what to take.

Health Myths Exposed is a meticulously researched and very well referenced book. It clearly and systematically sets out everything that is wrong with the medical health industry. This is an essential read for those who would prefer to look after their own health and wellbeing instead of becoming just another statistical guinea pig for the extortionate profits of Big Pharma.

ISBN: 1-4208-0027-2 (sc)
www.healthmyths.net

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