The Leaflady has addressed this issue over many years, going back to the time about a decade ago when drugs were the fourth leading cause of death. Here is an update on this issue:
According to the latest government statistics from the Center for Disease Control, there are over 130 million drug prescriptions written in this country each year. Studies indicate that 90% of these prescriptions are unnecessary, or even worse, are causing great harm to the public health in the form of adverse drug reactions, prescription errors, and harmful side effects. Conservative research has shown that close to half a million people suffer adverse drug effects each year, that serious medication errors occur in over five (5%) percent of all prescriptions, and that one in four individuals using prescription medications will sustain observable side effects. Every year over 100,000 Americans die from adverse drug reactions.
Multi-billion dollar profit motives drive the pharmaceutical industry to expand its market of prescription-based revenue streams, regardless of the consequences to true health. Pharmaceutical sales reps and doctors are provided with lucrative rewards to generate ever greater numbers of prescriptions. These pecuniary rewards have created inherent conflicts of interest throughout the whole trillion-dollar health care delivery system.
The FDA, which should be protecting public health, has actually become the leading advocate for the pharmaceutical industry, and consistently approves drugs that have been proven to be unsafe and even deadly. The revolving door between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, the problem with former drug executives acting as government regulators, and how the unwary American public has been left with a hungry fox guarding the henhouse is now well known because of the efforts of Dr. David Graham. How and why the pharmaceutical industry, in tandem with the FDA, seeks to suppress, limit, and ban natural dietary supplements, and other methods of improving health, as competitive threats to their monopoly of patented drugs is a keen concern.
In current times modern medicine has become focused entirely on treating diseases through toxic medications instead of preventing the conditions that breed disease in the first place.
You have a stake in your health and in this issue. Act to keep your representatives and your doctors aware of these issues and call for accountability.
CHI has for years offered educational programs to medical professionals and general public on how to safely use natural approaches to health. Classes are available on-line and in your location, just contact us at www.leaflady.org for more information. Keep up-to-date by visiting our website, sign up for our newsletter and read our BLOG.