Almost all foods are labelled as to content. So... if people are buying them, they must like the taste. As time goes on we find out the effects of what we do.
The Romans had lead problems, their water pipes used lead and their cups had lead in them.
The pharmaceutical industry does not have a lock on us or anyone else. There is no hidden agenda, the reason that pharmaceutical companies get profit is because they are the best game in town.
If there was a better treatment or cure for MS, we would hear about it. The medical research industry is extremely diverse. It is made up of
1. Independent researchers who get research money from charitable foundations, like the Cancer Society and MS fundraisers and cancer Fundraisers, ever hear of Jerry's kids?;
2. Researchers who get funding from colleges;
3. Researchers who get money from the Government;
4. Various socialist countries around the world in a dozen different governments perform limited research;
5. There are also researchers who get money from pharmaceutical companies.
The Phds who perform all this medical research are on the whole an independent fortune and fame seeking group. They are looking for a breakthrough and if they suspect they have a breakthrough everyone hears all about it.
There are a dozen or more things in the pipeline for potential improvements in the treatment of MS. There are a dozen or so research groups looking into myelin regeneration.
I want the continued medical progress. These new drugs are imperfect, but they are the best we can do at this time.
Yes, that's what I said.
The problem is not that our society is governed by pursuit of profit, but by pursuit of profit unbridled by conscience. Notice I said conscience, not government.
The pharmaceutical industry does not have a lock on us or anyone else. There is no hidden agenda, the reason that pharmaceutical companies get profit is because they are the best game in town.
Often true, not always true. Once they have to please shareholders, and compete with marketers for other companies, other things besides efficacy (such as ROGI hurdle) come into effect. Read this as: if the government makes you jump through *too many* human clinical trials to prevent another thalidomide, you pretty much have to either
a) go for blockbuster drugs to recoup your costs
b) go for "off-label" uses of the drugs
c) scavenge from other drugs coming off of patent
d) move clinical studies etc. to the third world to shave costs
e) cheat
In the meantime, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" : and there isn't anything *THAT* lucrative about actually going ahead and eating the way your grandmother nagged you to; and it isn't sexy enough to fund a lot of new research either.
Cheers!