The Drugging Of Americans and Medical Industry Greed
Is America over medicated?
Is the FDA more interested in Americans' health, safety, & well being or the billions of dollars it receives annually from the pharmaceutical companies to approve new drugs & keep current drugs on the market?
Please read the following list of disturbing facts & statistics & decide for yourself.
- Based on a 2002 survey, 46% of Americans use at least one prescription drug daily.
- Total number of prescriptions filled in 2001: 3.1 billion
- Total cost of prescriptions in 2001: $132 billion
- Projected cost of prescriptions in 2014: $414 billion
- Percentage of incoming undergraduates using psychotropic, mind-altering drugs: 40%
- From 1992 - 2003, the abuse of psychotropic drugs grew at twice the rate of marijuana abuse; five times that of cocaine abuse; & 60 times that of heroin abuse.
- 20% of recently approved prescription drugs have serious, life threatening side effects.
- 90% of authors of clinical practice guidelines received research funding from, or acted as consultants to drug companies.
- Medical doctors, psychiatrists, & all those licensed by the government who can "legally" prescribe drugs are paid huge monetary incentives by the pharmaceutical industry to write prescriptions of their drugs. Those doctors & other professionals who choose financial incentives over a patients well being & health should be defined as "legal drug pushers" contributing to the overmedicating of America for profit.
- Percentage increase from 1985 - 1999 in stimulant psychotropic drugs prescribed to children: 327%
- Percentage increase from 1991 - 2000 in stimulant psychotropic drugs prescribed to preschoolers between 2 & 4 years of age: 50%
- The number of antidepressants prescribed annually for children under 19: 11 million
- The number of children diagnosed with "ADD/ADHD" & drugged in 1985: 500,000
- The number of children diagnosed with "ADD/ADHD" & drugged today: approximately 6 million
- CHADD (Children and Adults with ADD) received over $700,000 in 2001 from pharmaceutical companies to promote & market their drugs.
- CHADD refers to the 1999 Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health when citing ADHD as a neurobiological disorder, yet the Surgeon General's report, the DSM-IV, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guideline for ADHD, do not confirm or state that ADHD is a "neurobiological" disorder. In fact, the Surgeon General provided no conclusive evidence to support this theory—a fact CHADD neglects to mention on its website.
- The epidemic use of psychotropic drugs started many years ago. In 1965, approximately 58 million new prescriptions & 108 million refills were written for psychotropic drugs. This accounted for 14% of all prescriptions written that year.
- Percentage of Americans taking anti-allergy medications who may not even have allergies: 65%
- The number of signs advertising the drug Claritin in Newark International Airport lobbies: 75
- The amount spent by Merck Pharmaceutical to advertise the drug Vioxx in 2001: $161 million
- The total number of advertising violations issued by the FDA for misleading drug ads from 1997 - 2001: 88; Amount of fines levied for such violations: $0
- US direct-to-consumer drug ad spending soared to $2.49 billion in 2001 up from $859 million in 1997.
- Number of Americans annually who request & receive a prescription for a specific drug after seeing a commercial for it: 8.5 million
- Estimated prescriptions of Paxil in 2002: 37 million
- Amount spent on lobbying by pharmaceutical companies from 1996 - 2002: $500 million
- The number of former congressmen now serving as lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry: 24
- The approximate total number of lobbyists: 600; Their average annual income: $300,000 - $400,000
- The amount of direct contributions from the drug industry to the 2002 political campaign: $20 million; Percentage that went to Republicans: 75%
- Seven drugs recalled by the FDA between 1993 & 2000 after reports of death & severe side effects exceeded $5 billion in sales before being withdrawn.
- The major stockholders of the pharmaceutical industry: FDA workers, FTC workers, Congressmen, & the CEO's of the pharmaceutical companies.
- The Annual cost of prescription drug errors: $100 billion
- A natural herbal cure was found for diabetes. The amount paid to the person that discovered it to not market or announce the cure: $30 million
- Out of the last 20 FDA commissioners, upon leaving the FDA, the number who went to work directly for the pharmaceutical industry: 12
- The approximate number of Americans that die annually from FDA approved drugs: 125,000
- The approximate number of Americans that die annually from Aspirin use: 2,000
- The percentage of FDA workers who are paid directly through funding from the pharmaceutical industry: 55% at an average of $1.2 billion annually
- The FDA passed a law stating that only a "drug" can cure a disease therefore; farms, orchards, or any company promoting fruit as beneficial to your health were threatened with violations & the confiscation & destruction of their products. Their "cherries" for example were not approved as a new drug by the FDA & were not declared as "safe & effective". The average cost to get a "new drug" approved: $800 million. Sound unbelievable? Actual FDA letter sent to a farm marketing cherries as a natural remedy.
- In 2004 approximately 12,000 Texas Foster Children each received 21 prescriptions of psychotropic drugs totally more than $29 million.
- According to a recent study, up to 20% of all prescriptions written are for "off-label" use not approved by the FDA & with no support from scientific studies.
- According to a recent study, 96% of all "off-label" psychiatric drug prescriptions lacked scientific support.
- 25% of 239 patients consuming Vioxx had heart attacks within the first 13 days of being on the drug. Vioxx was pulled from the market on September 30th, 2004.
- The amount of money the pharmaceutical industry & the FDA would loose if Americans turned to natural cures (vitamins, minerals, herbs, fruit, etc.) instead of prescription drugs: trillions!
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Disclaimer: The information posted on this website is for educational purposes only. We are not licensed Medical Doctors & do not intend to substitute the advice of professionals. The information presented is based on our opinions on the benefits of alternative treatment vs. drugging for treatment. Some of our sources include websites of licensed Medical Doctors & websites of others sharing our opinions. Any mention on this site of alternative treatment & healing through natural remedies, organic or herbal, have not been evaluated by the FDA. Again, some information on this site is based solely on personal experiences & personal opinions & is protected under Free Speech.
