Posted on 03/29/2008 1:37:17 PM PDT by Mount Athos
Contract R&D for forty years, here. Check out CBD and the SBIR RFQ's. Follow-on funding depends on Phase I successes. Nobody gets paid for percieved failure.
For evidence of Research Prostitution one need look no further than "Global Warming".
Your opinion on "Global Warming" doesn't make it junk science.
Outcome based science short circuits the Scientfic Method by undermining objectivity. When contrary views seem to have difficulty getting published as easily as those which support foreordained results, in any field, objectivity is suspect. Add massive amounts of money to the mix, and human nature takes over.
That's why I retired. Ethical indigestion.
Ok. I guess my main problem is the "greedy pharmaceuticals" thing sounds exactly like the jabber I hear all the time from the loony left guy I carpool with. Could be that pure R&D can be full of crap.
Haha, well put.
Much R&D is noble, honestly, and the Evil Drug Companies have saved millions of lives. We look back on the "Titanic Era" and the Roaring Twenties, etc. as being glamorous, but forget that getting a splinter could be a death sentence, and Flu epidemics killied millions.
But the funding processes have built-in problems that some people exploit. Just recently, one of the pharmaceutical companies was publicly called on the carpet for suppressing adverse test results for a medication, and this was not the first time for such. Of course, the Trial Lawyers are circling like sharks, and when it settles, the Evil Drug Companies will be charging more for prescriptions.
My take on the Statin issue is that there are biological reasons as to why the liver has (Been Designed)(Evolved) to work the way it does. To suddenly decide to switch off some synthesis pathways on the basis of the Helsinki Study, and by so doing, create a multibillion Dollar industry, is something I think would set off alarm bells in any reasonable person.
“Anyone who reads this study and concludes they should stop taking statins (unless their LDL is in the range indicated) may be DEAD WRONG.”
They had better be taking COQ10 if they are taking statins, something that your Dr. usually won’t bother to tell you.
Agreed and I certainly do. 50 mg/day, which is what my budget allows, may not be enough.
But be careful about how much you take and be vigilant of muscle aches. Statin drugs interfere with the natural pathways of CoQ10 generation or utilization. CoQ10 is used by every cell in the body in energy production, and it is my understanding the original Merck patent application included CoQ10 supplementation. But of course I am sure it was too expensive and cut into profits so that got dropped. Muscle pain is a symptom of CoQ10 depletion, and is dangerous.
Personally I don't take statins even though my total cholesterol is around 240, and my HDL is low at 39. But a recent complete heart evaluation found no blockages what so ever at 65 years.
The gold standard in drugs is does it prolong life? To my knowledge, statin drugs have never been shown to prolong life. Now we have evidence they may shorten life.
If you want to evaluate your chances of dying, get your Lp(a) level checked. This is a component of cholesterol called Lipoprotein(a) You have to ask for this test, it is NOT included in a normal blood profile. Recent studies published in the NEJM, showed that the lowest quintile vs the highest quintile was a 300% greater chance of death from all causes.
The level you want is definitely under 30, preferably under 22. Mine was unmeasurable and my wife's was 11. It can be reduced using a cheap over the counter amino acid called lysine, 1-2 grams a day. Lysine sops it up basically. And Vitamin C builds collagen to repair your arteries properly Hell of a lot cheaper than Lipitor, I take both of them regularly.
Thank you for the information. I have heard about the muscle aches with Lipator. I am pretty sure we have also had the test for lipoproteins. ( can not remember the numbers)
Yup. Lysine, Proline, and Vitamin C.
The Pauling protocol. He proved it and patented it.
Lecithin is also supposed to be very effective because as a natural emulsifier, it tends to dissolve and dislodge fats from the arteries.
Exactly. The medical community is being dragged into his camp over time, resisting it with all their collective financial might.
Just another story today in my paper about the worthlessness of Vytorin. The study results the manufacturers hid for two years. It did all the good things it was supposed to do using conventional medical theory, reduce LDL, reduce triglycerides, and even reduce CRP but it did nothing at all to reduce plaque.
People who believe in doctors have only to look at the H. Pylori issue. When Australians proved ulcers were bacterially created, the medical community here ignored it for 10 years while they sold and promoted and, I believe, obtained kickbacks selling acid reducing drugs in the U.S. They only grudgingly backed off after cleaning the table of the remaining loose change.
Believing that heart disease is a disease of inadequate Vitamin C would cost the medical establishment untold billions since it can't be patented. I believe that out best hope for real medical breakthroughs are the Australians, they are not so corrupted. At least not yet.
The test is for Lipoprotein(a) specifically, the (a) is important.
I've been telling my husband that for years, but he insists he needs the Lipitor and the Zetia and Cartia XT and coumadin because his doctor prescribed the whole mess.
Carolyn
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