DESPERATE BIG PHARMA PUSHING TO DOUBLE STATIN SALES

November 13, 2008

http://www.newswithviews.com:80/Richards/byron166.htm

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

November 12, 2008

NewsWithViews.com

In the face of overwhelming negative science the statin marketing machine

marches on, now suggesting that statins should be given to middle aged men and

women even though they don't have elevated cholesterol. Apparently there is a

critical mass of Big Pharma backed statin-pushers who have hoodwinked a nation

under the false pretense of cardiovascular health and are now ready to go for

the jugular. I have a few questions for any statin believers who happen to read

this article: " If statins are so great then why does your liver see them as a

poison that must be detoxified? Did your liver forget to read the American Heart

Association's press release? "

It is my opinion that statins do little more than put your cardiovascular system

in a wheelchair, especially when combined with other troublesome medications

like blood pressure pills. There is a reason that the more aggressively these

medications are used, especially with diabetics, the faster people die. It is a

sad commentary on modern medicine that their best efforts to promote quality of

cardiovascular health in the over 50 crowd is a collection of de-energizing and

de-pressurizing anti-survival medications that have the net result of treating

every person so managed as if they are Humpty Dumpty about ready to fall off a

cardiovascular cliff.

In the world of fast food medicine numbers on paper are far more important than

you, a dumbed down version of medicine suitable for most of those now practicing

the subject. Big Pharma's task of brainwashing the American public into this

system of health is getting progressively more difficult. The generation of

utterly brainwashed older Americans has almost been completely wiped out by

these drugs. Those in their 60s and 70s are a little bit smarter, but still far

too many are in a trance when their doctors speak. Those in their 50s are more

likely to protest, but only so far as to wish their doctors would incorporate

more natural and preventive solutions. The majority of Americans over 50 will

still jump off whatever bridge their doctor points to. Most of these

drug-popping people would laugh at how dumb anyone is for being in any cult, not

even able to see they are a part of the Big Pharma cult making tens of billions

in fraudulent profits every year.

Think about it for a minute. How did Eli Lilly have the money to buy ImClone for

6.5 billion dollars in cash during the worst financial meltdown in the history

of the United States? Answer: they stockpiled billions of dollars by defrauding

taxpayers with off label sales of dangerous brain meds like Zyprexa and

Cymbalta, preying on disadvantaged individuals (both old and young) and

collecting the money through Medicaid and Medicare at taxpayer expense (and

actually got themselves included in the bailout to keep this scam going

indefinitely). In this new world of nonsense, the Wall Street Journal reported

than ImClone, on paper, is worth more than General Motors! And ImClone sells

near worthless biotech cancer drugs that don't cure cancer but keep people alive

just long enough to bilk them of their entire life savings before they die

($30,000 for each 8 weeks of treatment). The Big Pharma motto is: Manage

symptoms, manage numbers, and never under any circumstances make someone healthy

so they don't need a drug.

The questionable practice of cardiovascular preventive medicine, fueled by false

" independent " groups like the American Heart Association, is a main power behind

the fraudulent promotion of the 20 billion-dollar-a-year statin racket.

Scientists around the country shake in their boots at the notion of stepping on

any statin toes with the truth. Not that they really have to worry, since almost

all major medical marketing magazines (otherwise known as scientific journals)

refuse to run any study counter to the statin propaganda for fear of losing

advertising dollars. Only in smaller journals from other countries can we see

any truth trying to poke its head up out of the sand.

With that brief background, let's have a look at the latest round of

misinformation coming from the American Heart Association and its friends. It's

that time of year, the annual meeting of the American Heart Association.

Missiles are shot at vitamin E, while trumpets blare as the statin red carpet

rolls out.

The Jupiter Study

This year's propaganda showpiece is the Jupiter study. Here is the official

party line, so elegantly reported by the New York Times: " A large new study

suggests that millions more people could benefit from taking the

cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins, even if they have low cholesterol,

because the drugs can significantly lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes

and death. The study, involving nearly 18,000 people worldwide, tested statin

treatment in men 50 and older and in women 60 and older who did not have high

cholesterol or histories of heart disease. What they did have was high levels of

a protein called high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP, which indicates

inflammation in the body. The study, presented Sunday at an American Heart

Association convention in New Orleans and published online in The New England

Journal of Medicine, found that the risk of heart attack was more than cut in

half for people who took statins. "

This sounds great, except the original risk in the study group was negligible.

The data actually means that 120 people would need to take Crestor for 2 years

to prevent 1 heart attack or stroke. At a cost of $3.45 a day, that's $300,000

for Big Pharma to stop one problem. Excuse me, but the only news here is the

potential bilking of taxpayers and insurance companies.

Crestor, the statin drug used in this study, is the most toxic of all statin

drugs. It works by overwhelming your liver's ability to clear it. A Public

Citizen petition to the FDA to have this drug removed from the market was

denied, as the current FDA is nothing more than a gatekeeper for Big Pharma

profits. Unless corpses are showing up in droves at their door (as with the

statin Baycol) the FDA looks the other way no matter what damage is being done.

The five-year Jupiter study was stopped after two years, under the pretense of

overwhelming success (normally studies are stopped because of adverse effects).

Since the side effects of any statin are progressive and cumulative over time,

it is likely that the real reason the study was stopped was to publish favorable

results before the predictable adverse side effects had time to manifest. Even

in this short two-year period there was a 20% increased risk for diabetes from

taking Crestor - a fact that was conveniently downplayed.

This study will be used to promote the sale of dangerous statin drugs to double

the current number taking them (which is now at 17 million). First a person will

need a test to see if they even have elevated CRP, which of course implies

someone pays for the test. The leader of the Jupiter study, Dr. Paul M. Ridker,

by some strange coincidence is the co-inventor of the CRP test. Does anyone

smell a financial rat?

Exercise Reduces CRP, Extends Life, and Doesn't Cost Anything

I'm all in favor of anyone reducing their inflammation level to enhance their

health. After all, life can rack up a lot of wear and tear. There is no one pill

that will fix the wear and tear in your life. You need adequate rejuvenating

sleep, good stress management skills, a healthy diet, and exercise. It is

actually a project to be healthy. The time you spend at it extends your life, so

the idea that you don't have enough time to do healthy behaviors is illogical.

The most effective way to lower your CRP is to be physically fit. Your aerobic

capacity is a direct predictor of your CRP level. The more aerobically fit you

are the lower your CRP. This is not only true for healthy people; it is true for

people with type II diabetes.

Aerobic exercise has been proven to extend your life, rejuvenate your heart,

reduce virtually all inflammatory diseases of aging - and it doesn't cost a

penny. Now why should society pay excessive money for statins for prevention

when all people need to do is get off their duffs and exercise? There is no

combination of cardiovascular drugs that can beat out aerobic fitness in any

study showing extension of quality life.

AHA Makes Sure to Attack Vitamin E

Big Pharma is always terrified that people will take vitamins that have

virtually no side effects and are a fraction of the cost, instead of their

extremely dangerous drugs. Thus, part of the Big Pharma agenda is to use the

American Heart Association meeting to not only promote statins but to directly

attack vitamin E and other antioxidants.

For example, back in 2004 when the statin powers wanted to endorse lowering LDL

cholesterol to abnormally low levels, they simultaneously promoted at their

yearly AHA meeting bogus science saying that vitamin E increased the risk of

death! (A complete fallacy.) Outside the AHA marketing meeting the chairman, Dr.

Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was holding a dog

and pony show press conference: " I spend all my time trying to tell patients why

they should not take vitamin E. Too often in terms of the supplements there's

very scant science. In this area, we have the science. Vitamin E doesn't work. "

He implored his captive audience of reporters to help him convince patients to

stop taking Vitamin E and take the " proven " drugs. The next day, all major media

ran the story telling consumers vitamin E was dangerous. Program effective.

Damage done.

This wonderful formula of success is once again in play, this time as the AHA

tries to convince people without high cholesterol to take statins. JAMA released

their " big " vitamin E study just in time for this week's AHA meeting. The study

shows that vitamin E and C don't help heart disease in a large group of doctors.

The vitamin E used in the study is a worthless synthetic produced from coal tar

by the German drug company BASF, not at all a quality natural vitamin E that

would do the job.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why these drug pushers are trying to

attack vitamin E and vitamin C. In the Jupiter study Crestor reduced CRP by 37%.

A daily dose of 1200 IU of natural vitamin E (not synthetic garbage from BASF)

reduces CRP by 32% and 1000 mg of vitamin C a day reduces CRP by 25%. It is also

known that when individuals try to lose weight on a higher fat/low carb diet

their CRP elevates from 25% - 40%. A combination of 1000 mg of C and 800 IU of

vitamin E not only prevents this increase of CRP during dieting; it reduces it

by 32%. Vitamins C and E are quite friendly to your liver, statins are not. And

the nutrients are far less costly than the drug.

While many Americans believe, like president-elect Obama, that health care is a

right, the reality is that no society can pay for drugs and services that do not

actually show true health as a result of the treatment. Unless the use of a

drug-based protocol can produce a cure and a return of health in a definable

period of time (meaning the drug is no longer needed), there should be no

obligation for society to be burdened with the costs of the fraudulent practice

of medicine. Doing so amounts to a Big Pharma con job, with billions of tax

payer dollars winding up in companies who have produced nothing of value.

Numbers on paper are meaningless. Quality of health and extended years of

quality life are the only products of value. It is time for Western Medicine to

put up or shut up.

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