This documentary is highly educational. It speaks volumes of factual information however, addresses only the tip of a monstrous and flagitious iceberg of deceit and greed. "Big Bucks, Big Pharma" pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in in some instances, even created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry's marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and further, works in tandem with promotion to doctors. Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment. Ultimately, This documentary SHOULD challenge everyone to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a "for-profit" industry for our health and well-being.
In it, you will watch candid interviews with Dr. Marcia Angell (Dept. of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Former Editor New England Journal of Medicine), Dr. Bob Goodman (Columbia University Medical Center; Founder, No Free Lunch), Gene Carbona (Former Pharmaceutical Industry Insider and Current Executive Director of Sales, The Medical Letter), Katharine Greider (Journalist; Author, The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers,), Dr. Elizabeth Preston (Dept. of Communication, Westfield State College), and Dr. Larry Sasich (Public Citizen Health Research Group)
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Comments: 7
Talk about a PONZI scheme!!
This is just so wrong and needs to be stopped.
When I see these BS ads, I either MUTE them out or TURN THE CHANNEL.
Also, I NEVER come to my doctor about some drug ads I saw on TV, only because I know what these ads are for.
If the flu season goes according to schedule, the vaccine industrial complex will be poised to join Wall Street for record year rip-off profits. We will also likely witness huge Pharma executive bonuses and perhaps gold-plated toilets? Even if the CDC statisticians’ crystal ball used to forecast rampant swine flu infections turns into a complete bust, which would only be one more added to many other failed flu predictions all the way back to 1976,it will nevertheless be a very profitable failure as was the economic collapse for the banking cartel. The vaccine industry has now received orders in the range of 3 billion doses during the course of the coming flu season. The World Health Organization would like to vaccinate two thirds (4 billion) of the global community, and the US alone is spending $2 billion to stockpile the nation with upwards to 250 million doses.
In the US, such huge profits could never be accomplished without a dynamic, marketing initiative to convince Americans that vaccines, for one, will keep them protected and alive. THE PUBLIC RELATIONS MACHINE FOR VACCINE COMPLEX
For any company's bottom line, new products, marketing, advertising, and promotions are king. With deep pockets comes better means of brainwashing techniques to entice and motivate the consumer to buy one product over another for a company’s market supremacy and/or increased profit margins. There’s nothing wrong with that and necessary for all companies to satisfy their stock holders and stay in business. However, when it comes to public health, doctors have a fiduciary and moral responsibility to be held to a higher standard; otherwise the Hippocratic Oath (to do NO harm) should otherwise be called the oath of a hypocrite and wealth builder at any cost. The next time you see your doctor ask him if he took the Hippocratic Oath. They haven’t been required to do so for a long time.
Empower yourself in knowledge of the facts and choose wisely. Eating well, exercising, and in addition to other liquids, drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day, having a positive attitude in the knowledge that the alternative will drag you down, will do more for you than any hyped-up perceived magic pill. Most drugs should be a last resort.