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Is Big Pharma doing us all in?
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Anonymous
| I am getting really paranoid about pharmaceutical companies. There are reports various drugs are ending up in our drinking water and soil. We are told so many drugs are safe and non addictive only to find out they aren't safe and they are addictive. They fund studies and contribute to politicians and I highly doubt it's for the better good of society. Am I too paranoid? I know countless people's lives have changed due to the better because of legal drugs, but I wonder how many of us are suffering the consequences od the influence of Big Pharma? |
Anonymous
| I think you meant to post this on mothering.com |
Anonymous
OP drugs are showing up in our drinking water because they are not being disposed of properly. There are communities that are trying to get better about this and have safe disposal programs but you really have to seek them out. It is not a conspiracy to get us "hooked" on drugs. Many common drugs are really not addictive. I have no desire to raid my parents' medicine cabinets to grab my dad's cholesterol and hypertension meds, and my mom's cream she applies since menopause. Oy. |
Anonymous
I thought the drugs, especially antibiotics, are showing up in our drinking water because we consume so much of them and it comes out in our urine and enters the water system. Water/sewage treatment plants are not a able to filter the drugs out. |
Anonymous
| Right, I've read that it's improper disposal (by people using them) AND that the drugs come through our urine and enter water through water treatment plants. |
Anonymous
|
Absolutely drugs are excreted in urine. Absolutely they are pervasive. As with many things, it is a cost benefit analysis that must be done. Are the drugs worth it? If they are keeping mom alive, absolutely. But should and can they be safer? Yes. It's a constant battle. And don't forget that drugs are overprescribed. Abx when an infection would do just as well to run its course, and drugs to manage cholesterol when the patient is taking no steps to change diet, lifestyle, exercise... It's a complex issue. Patients are complicit, too. We all want the magic pill to make us "better."
That said, obviously drugs are really important. When I had blood poisoning, I would have died without Cipro. Nasty drug, but it saved my life. Everything is a balance. |
Anonymous
| "What have the Romans ever done for us?!?!?" |
Anonymous
| Big Pharma doesn't care about anything but making money. |
Anonymous
| There were articles a few years back that talked about birth control pill runoff in the drinking water. |
Anonymous
|
Don't forget that an ungodly amount of antibiotics are used on livestock on factory farms. Something like 70%-85% of all antibiotics (29 million pounds in 2009) are used on factory farms.
The runoff from these farms pollutes our water supply. Also, the antibiotics used create superbugs -- things like MRSA and other drug-resistant bacteria. There's so much more wrong with the pharmaceutical companies than just pushing drugs on people. If you're buying factory-farmed meat, you're indirectly affecting the pollution, antibiotic resistance, and health issues tied to its production. Even though meat from the farmer's market costs more, I feel way better about buying it, than about saving $3/lb to buy toxic shit produced by Smithfield, et al. |
Anonymous
\derail fail/ 
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Anonymous
| Finding fish with both sexes in the Chesapeake doesn't even scare the gov't or industry enough to do something about it. |
Anonymous
|
Yes, I hate big Phrma.
I hate the antibiotics they make that cleared up my son's ear infection last week. I hate the medicines for rheumatoid arthritis that make my sister's life a million times better. I hate the birth control pills they developed that allowed me to delay children until I was ready. |
Anonymous
I hate the antibiotics that make children systemic with yeast, making them more susceptible to cancer, including my first son. I hate medicines for arthritis that have been pulled from the shelves only AFTER thousands of people have suffered and died. I hate addictive pain killers that cause heart conditions and killed my mother. I hate vaccines most of all which have stollen 1 in 58 boys, including my second son. Yeah, big pharma sucks....and most people are suckered into thinking it's so good for them. Got my wake-up call!! |
Anonymous
| I hate the negative effects of Big Pharma and I love the benefits we have all accrued because of it. |