Loading ...Featured Article THB UndercoverBig Pharma Gets Rich on Fear-Mongering
Why have so many people at the top levels of government reacted to the “swine flu” as if it were going to wipe out half of the population? Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:
- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in California to ensure state resources met the “health threat.”
- Governor Rick Perry did the same in Texas and also suspended high school sporting events until May 11.
- President Obama jumped on the bandwagon in late April asking Congress for an additional $1.5 billion in his supplemental budget to help fight the swine flu outbreak.
- Vice President Biden announced on TV that he advised his family to avoid confined places, airline travel, and riding the subway.
Yet according to a special report by Dr. Lisa Forgione published last week in Total Health Breakthroughs, this flu strain “is no worse than the seasonal flu that usually strikes every winter.” And in fact it may be nothing more than a late outbreak of the yearly seasonal flu.
The CDC is currently reporting there are only three confirmed deaths in the US from swine flu and 2618 total cases. Compare these numbers to the following: A Gallup Poll says more than 12 million people are ill from common flu strains on any given day in the US, and another 5,000 Americans die every year from foodborne illnesses like E. coli, Salmonella and Hepatitis A.1 In comparison, the latter statistics dwarf the number of people that have been affected by swine flu. Yet, we hear nothing about them.
So, what’s the reason for the worldwide hysteria about swine flu? Could it be that… fear keeps people tuned in to the mainstream media… terrified citizens are easier for governments to control and manipulate… fear is an effective marketing tool when there are enormous profits to be made? — in this case from flu vaccines and medications.
The current wave of fear mongering seems to fit all of the above.
According to Barry Glassner, author of The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things, there is a “fear industrial complex” at work making sure our fears stay at heightened levels. This network is composed of “politicians, activist groups and corporations that all sell us on the idea that they can provide safety from the very dangers they are scaring us about.”2
He adds, “Whenever somebody’s trying to scare us, the question is ‘Are they benefiting from it, and in what way?’ If they’re selling us a product, if they’re selling us their political campaign or their cause or whatever it is, we should ask how big is the danger, really? Is it big, is it small, or is it just that they stand to benefit by making us scared?”
Let’s look at some of the numbers that support Mr. Glassner’s opinion.
In 2008, pharmaceutical giant, Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, reported that sales fell 68% to about $527 million. In their Annual Report, they noted, “Due to a substantially reduced pandemic, stockpiling orders from governments and corporations” went down.3
Roche’s fortunes were on the upswing however by May 4, 2009 — company stock rose to $31.72 per share, a 4.34% increase. Perhaps knowing that good financial times were indeed ahead, Roche affiliate Chugai Pharmaceutical Company of Japan in their 2008 Annual Report, projected sales of Tamiflu to reach $536 million in 2009 thanks to government stockpiling — a remarkable increase of 530% from 2008.4 Fifty-one percent of Chugai is owned by Roche.
The other major flu drug stockpiled by the US government is Relenza, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Since the swine flu hype went “viral,” their stock is up 7.57% to $31.56 per share.3
It’s clear that certain parties have benefited handsomely from the swine flu hype. But now the question remains how many more times can the media, Big Pharma and the government cry wolf before we all stop listening?
Rest assured, the fear industrial complex will not take the blame when there is really a life-threatening contagious disease and no one takes it seriously. The ultimate responsibility will lie with each and every one of us.
So what do you do?
First and foremost you must stay as healthy as possible and then take sensible precautions to avoid contagious bacteria and viruses. And just as importantly, you must use your better judgment to discern fear mongering for profit from actual threats to your health.
The next time you think “they” are trying to manipulate you, consult with a healthcare professional you can trust who knows the facts and has nothing to gain from keeping you in fear. Remember, you don’t need to let “the powers that be” profit from your fears, nor should you take needless chances with your health.
We can beat them at their own game by remembering the wise words of Sir Francis Bacon, knowledge is power, and taking a proactive approach to your health is the key.
References
- www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/v-print/story/1022644.html
- http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2898636&page=1
- http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/national_world&id=6786340
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Tags: Barry Glassner, big pharma, CDC, fear, swine flu, Tamiflu
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Melanie, great article! I could not agree more. Every other patient that walked in my clinic over the last 3 weeks was worried about swine flu. I kept saying to patients and staff over and over “Its the flu”, and its even a mild version. It was interesting when I spoke with the lady at the state health dept. who was also overwhelmed she commented “I wish the media were giving this much attention to STDs, maybe we could solve a real problem. I would add for advice going back to my article yesterday, don’t buy the hype, live every minute, and stay healthy. You won’t have to worry about the flu.
Entered: May 13th, 2009 at 7:36 am. PermalinkI agree with the underlying premise of this article, but I would like to point out one thing. As is so often the case in this country we are ignoring history and simply hoping it does not repeat itself. The 1918 flu initially started out mild and affected small numbers of people. The people it affected were not the very young and elderly (those most vulnerable to seasonal/annual flu strains) but healthy people between 20 and 40 (those with strong, healthy immune systems). After the initial outbreak there were months of relative inactivity, followed by the massive outbreak that killed 40-50 million people worldwide.
Seasonal flu goes through antigenic drift, which is what causes small differences in the flu strains from one year to the next. Rarely the virus has an antigenic shift, which causes major differences in surface antigens. Shifts have happened 3 times in the past 100 years; in 1918, the late 1950’s and 1968. Each shift was followed by a major worldwide flu outbreak.
We are finishing Chapter 1 of this swine flu outbreak but the book is far from finished. After a few months this could come roaring back and then we could be in much more serious trouble, if history is any guide. It is too early to declare that this episode was simply overhyped and we are out of the woods. It would be very irresponsible to encourage people to let their guard down.
Mike Steffens, PharmD, RPh
Entered: May 13th, 2009 at 8:14 am. PermalinkThere is an entire industry with an innate economic interest to obstruct, suppress and discredit any information about the eradication of diseases. The pharmaceutical industry makes over one trillion dollars from selling drugs for ongoing diseases. These drugs may relieve symptoms, but they do not cure. We have to realize that the mission of this industry is to make money from ongoing diseases. The cure or eradication of a disease leads to the collapse of a multi-billion dollar market of pharmaceuticals.
Entered: May 13th, 2009 at 8:48 am. PermalinkI encourage you to read the key points about the nature of the pharmaceutical business and to think about each of them.* Now you will understand why we are bombarded with advertising campaigns by pharmaceutical companies wanting to make us believe that they are “Searching for Cures” “Striving for the Eradication of Disease” or “Increasing Life Expectancy” and other false promises. With these deceptive statements, the pharmaceutical industry has for decades been able to disguise the true nature of its business – maximum profit from ongoing diseases.
The Pharmaceutical “Business with Disease” Causes More Deaths than All the Wars of Mankind Combined
As a direct consequence of the pharmaceutical business, more people have died from preventable disease than in all wars of mankind combined.
* the website above is not mine and you will not be sold anything there. But please go and find out some more stunning facts about the whole current melting pot and who is really to blame.
GO Melanie Segala!! I like people who shoot from the hip and are not afraid to speak their minds.
As for the Flu….there used to be a saying in this country that we would elect a black President when pigs could fly. Well, they flu!
Entered: May 13th, 2009 at 9:07 am. PermalinkHi Mike Steffens,
Entered: May 13th, 2009 at 9:16 am. PermalinkIt was actually worse than you have said but read what Dr Mercola has to say about that ‘ancient rooster’: -
“Just a couple of months ago, scientists concluded that the 1918 flu pandemic that killed between 50-100 million people worldwide in a matter of 18 months — which all these worst case scenarios are built upon — was NOT due to the flu itself!
Instead, they discovered the real culprit was strep infections.
People with influenza often get what is known as a “super-infection” with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic would likely be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century, the researchers concluded.
Evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald,5 claim that a pandemic of this sort simply cannot happen, because in order for it to occur, the world has to change. Not the virus itself, but the world.
Paul Ewald goes on to explain that evolution in general is all about trade-offs, and in the evolution of infections the trade-off is between virulence and transmissibility.
What this means is that in order for a “bird flu” or “swine flu” to turn into a human pandemic, it has to find an environment that favors both deadly virulence and ease of transmission.
People living in squalor on the Western Front at the end of World War I generated such an environment, from which the epidemic of 1918 could arise. Likewise, crowded chicken farms, slaughterhouses, and jam-packed markets of eastern Asia provide another such environment, and that environment gave rise to the bird flu — a pathogen that both kills and spreads, in birds, but not in humans.”
PS Where do you think that $1.5 billion Obama called for was going? Right first time. That is a handy bit of pocket money for anyone’s business I would think. Hey!
PPS Did you get time to look at Dr Rath yet?
Excellent article. It’s ashame the way our own elected officials are trying to take advantage of us, either through their own ignorance, laziness, greed, or all three.
Entered: May 14th, 2009 at 2:25 am. PermalinkI do agree, each and every word writen in the article is true. ” Knowledge is Power” , sincerely this world needs correct knowledge, facts, sincere control and actions on rumours, fear spreading news specialy by the higher authorities. I wish ETR THB to convey these messages / news. It will be a true help of humans in these recession days.
Entered: May 14th, 2009 at 3:01 am. PermalinkThanks, Melanie, for the article. Those of us who understand the connection between the pharmaceutical company’s greed and the media’s need to create an upward spiral of fear have a responsibility to spread the truth. Our government will spend billions of dollars in an effort to stockpile ineffective flu drugs and to create another ineffective vaccine because we demand those actions. They could instead, with the cooperation of the same fear-mongering media, educate…this is what’s happening, this is what we are doing to contain, this is what you can do to prevent. Unfortunately, between the media and partisan politics, that kind of pro-active response is unlikely.
Entered: May 15th, 2009 at 4:01 pm. PermalinkMelanie, Melanie, Melanie…
I started to be encouraged by reading your article. Then I read it to conclusion. Your answer to the good American people was to do what?
“The next time you think “they” are trying to manipulate you, consult with a healthcare professional you can trust who knows the facts and has nothing to gain from keeping you in fear.”
Gee… since when does the healthcare profession have “nothing to gain from keeping us in fear”? Or sick for that matter?
Who supplies the health care professionals?
Let’s take this one step further! Has anyone bothered to take a look at the vast numbers of American people who actually DIE at the hand of their beloved and trusted “health care professionals” every year in this country?
I challenge you all to do a google search on “Doctors 3rd leading cause of death in USA” and see what pops up!
JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) - the most widely circulated medical periodical in the world, reports that US death toll annually is 225,000 per year due to iatrogenic causes. What does the word iatrogenic mean? This term is defined as induced in a patient by a physician’s activity, manor or therapy. Used especially of a complication of treatment.
And you, Melanie, suggest we go see our local doc! Great suggestion!
Locally, our hospital was recently reported in a USA Today article as having a 16.9% mortality rate. Shall I consider them to be a part of my trusted health care professionals? I’m so sure they have nothing to gain from my fear or sickness!
In the Vietnam war, which lasted from 1959 to 1975 (that’s 16 years!) we lost approximately 50,000 people. That averages out to 3125 deaths per year. This would mean that iatrogenic deaths are 72 times higher than deaths caused by the Vietnam war.
Statistics on the war in Iraq are even more staggering.
In terms of mortality rates, visiting a doctor at a hospital is roughly 300 times more life threatening to US citizens than it was to serve in Iraq as a soldier!
Another point to consider…
Was anybody listening when “they” said, “This is a trial run on a pandemic”? The “big one” is yet to come.
Have we so quickly forgotten the commands given to “get on the bus” when we’re told to? Hurricanes have been hitting in Texas for years, but now, when citizens are told to “bus up” they do it. Why? Because of what happened to the few who did not comply one time.
Never underestimate the efforts of a trial run.
And, in closing, have you forgotten the article YOU wrote only weeks ago about Baxter’s “accidentally” sending Avian Bird Flu virus to 18 countries?
Ahhh… but be sure to buy another book from ETR to assure your own healthy status! That’s always a reasonable solution. Reading always did make me feel, somehow… better!
Entered: May 16th, 2009 at 9:49 am. PermalinkConnie, Connie, Connie.
Not only did Melanie use THREE qualifiers - trusted, knowledgeable and impartial - but she was required by law to give a disclaimer. To have added “listen to me, not your doctor,” would have been irresponsible.
If you do not trust your doctor, then you should change doctors. Besides, the deaths “caused by medical professionals” are those that come to those at risk in the first place. Many of those deaths may only have been quickened by the “care” they were receiving. Hospitals are populated by people too sick to be healed at home, with inadequate infection control, and thus the potential for unintended consequences.
Entered: May 28th, 2009 at 7:48 am. PermalinkOh Henry!
Brilliant!
“Besides, the deaths “caused by medical professionals” are those that come to those at risk in the first place. Many of those deaths may only have been quickened by the “care” they were receiving. Hospitals are populated by people too sick to be healed at home, with inadequate infection control, and thus the potential for unintended consequences.”
Say what?
Just guessing, but it appears you did not take the time to read the Journal of American Medical Association’s own material! Even they didn’t try to make unnecessary deaths by doctors and hospitals look like something cats do in sandboxes and then cover it up!
Your statement suggests that never has a person died at the hands of a health professional who simply screwed up. Now… most of THB’s readers know better. We have all likely had personal life experiences that prove otherwise!
Thanks for the suggestion that if I don’t like my doctor I should simply find a different one. I would’ve never thought of that on my own!
It’s unfortunate that family practitioners are dropping like flies, and many communities have waiting lists to get in to see whoever happens to come into town next. Simply “switching doctors” is not always optional.
AARP magazines headlines read “Where have all the doctors gone?” not long ago, and mentioned doctors have to specialize these days in order to make their own ends meet.
Disclaimer? Did I miss something? Oh, I must have! I am still searching for those three qualifiers too - trusted, knowledgeable and impartial. Who made these determinations? Which 3 names are you referencing? I caught one… Sir Francis Bacon whose comment makes perfect sense: “Knowledge is power!” Which other two should I automatically consider impartial, trusted and knowledgeable?
Entered: May 29th, 2009 at 11:00 am. PermalinkOh… Henry? Just a couple more comments, then I’m done for today.
I certainly appreciate that you seem to enjoy my writing, as it is all you ever seem to respond to. Interesting.
Could it be you’re on staff? Another relative perhaps?
I’ve invested a ton of money into affiliates of ETR/THB and you can thank them for my thought provoking writing if you’d like to credit someone other than me.
In the meantime, I’m honored that I seem to be the only person that can raise a comeback out of you! Everybody is looking for that special “niche” in life!
I’ll be watching to see how you respond to my next entry… whenever or if ever that should happen.
Entered: May 29th, 2009 at 11:23 am. PermalinkExellent article.Even in India the fear is created,though it is required to take preventive measures,yet too much hype has been created regarding ’swine flu’
Entered: May 31st, 2009 at 8:52 am. Permalink