How Evil Marketing Geniuses Confuse You
Mercola.com
Clinical trials funded by drug companies are more likely to report positive findings than those funded by nonprofit groups,
according to a new study.
Has Anything Changed?
Researchers at Harvard Medical School were following up earlier studies conducted in the 1990s,
which found similar results; they were checking to see if increased awareness and changed
academic oversight guidelines had improved matters.
Their study of more than 300 recent cardiovascular medicine trials, however, showed that
for-profit funded research still favors new drugs and techniques far more often than research
funded by other means.
A Bigger and Bigger Problem
Drug companies are paying for an ever-increasing portion of medical research; currently,
half of all studies are funded solely by for-profit sources.
Journal of the American Medical Association May 17, 2006; 295(19): 2270-2274
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Multi-national drug companies have enormous financial resources that can hire many evil
marketing geniuses. Clearly one of their most effective strategies is to scientifically
"legitimize" their products by funding and controlling the results of tests of their products
that are eventually published in peer-reviewed journals.
This is marvelously demonstrated with the evaluation of aspartame, which I review in my
upcoming book Sweet Deception. Earlier this year the NY Times published an excellent article
on Dr. Soffritti's research, which demonstrated a link between aspartame and cancers in rats.
The article provides the following astonishing details:
"In an analysis of 166 articles published in medical journals from 1980 to 1985, Dr. Ralph G.
Walton found that all 74 studies that were financed by the industry attested to aspartame's
safety.
Of the 92 independently funded articles, 84 identified adverse health effects. Whenever you
have studies that were not funded by the industry, some sort of problem is identified," said
Dr. Walton, adding that he has not looked at studies performed since 1985. "It's far too much
for it to be a coincidence."
So 100 percent of the studies funded by the manufacturer found aspartame to be safe and 91
percent of the independent studies found a problem. That summarizes the problem in a nutshell.
The current study out of Harvard showed that, of more than 200 trials conducted for new drugs,
about two-thirds of the non-independent funded studies recommended newer treatments, compared
to about 40 percent of strictly non-profit trials. And, among some 40 trials critiquing
cardiovascular devices, more than 82 percent of the studies funded by for-profits ruled in
favor of newer devices.
Often, when drug companies pay for research and clinical tests of new medicines, they simply
suppress or manipulate the results. Six years ago there was a marvelous editorial in the New
England Journal of Medicine clearly documenting this travesty. There are numerous cases of
articles whose publication was stopped, or whose content was altered by the funding company.
In one instance, a drug maker delayed publication of a study's results, and during the delay
secretly wrote a competing article on the same topic, which was favorable to the company's
viewpoint. In another case, a company vowed never again to fund the work of an investigator
who found adverse results.
Often, negative results simply aren't followed up with more studies, while any positive results
are repeated over and over. This is why we haven't heard enough about the recent drug debacles
beyond the ones reported in the UK and Japan.
Drug-industry-funded research is rife with other problems, as well. It inevitably results in a
shift of priorities in academic research from the public good to private commercial gain. The
drug industry is one of the largest and most powerful industries on the planet. They will use
everything in their power to maintain and expand their control and economic prominence; this
includes continuing to deceive you with falsified research or even the invention of new
"diseases."
Don't be fooled by their illusions: what they typically provide you is just a symptomatic
Band-Aid that will only further accelerate your path toward degeneration, allowing them to
sell you even more Band-Aids down the line. What you should be addressing -- and what they
won't address because it is not profitable -- are the underlying causes of your health issues.
If you want to further understand how corporations and government manipulate science and the
media by preying upon the public trust -- and how to protect yourself -- I highly recommend the
book "Trust Us, We're Experts."
One of the primary purposes of Mercola.com is to provide you with the insight to protect and
defend yourself from these major corporate interests (as well as the government they've
purchased) with practical and straightforward advice and suggestions on how to optimize your
body to find and prevent disease, reach your optimal weight, and live longer in the first place.
Before starting any self treatment Dr. Grisanti recommends that you consider consulting with a doctor trained in functional medicine. Visit www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com to find doctors thoroughly trained in functional medicine
Functional medicine embraces the totality of the regulatory functions of the body. It encompasses all of the biophysical, biochemical, enzymatic, endocrine, immunological, and bioenergetic regulatory capacities.
Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S.
