The news is a study in mania. I’m reminded of the science of gambling. There’s some ratio of winning vs. losing that casinos have discovered where you can still lose more money than you win, but you’re given just enough incentive to keep trying–over and over and over.
Of course, as a health practitioner, I follow “health news” which involves both the politics and business of health. It’s such a rollercoaster!
The Upside
On one hand, many cities and counties in the state of New York–as well as the FDA–have decided to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants. In fact, the FDA has stated they want trans fats as near to being eradicated from the American food supply as possible.
Let’s put aside the whole counter-argument involving the “nanny state” and personal freedom. For the record, I think that argument makes a lot of sense. People should be able to choose from all options. If they make a bad choice, it’s on them. Who is the government to dictate how we live our lives? I get it.
But on the other hand, this is amazing! These artificial trans fats have been so destructive to the health of the American people, one can absolutely understand why we’d want them out of our food supply.
Food companies use them for so many nefarious reasons: to develop addictions in their customers, to mimic healthier ingredients while cutting costs to themselves, etc. They market their poison to children, those ignorant about what is and what is not healthy, the impoverished and more. It’s a sad state of affairs. And I for one would have no problem living in a country where trans fats were nearly non-existent.
The Downside
In an attempt to maximize profits on the backs of suffering Americans, pharmaceutical giant, Aspen Pharmacare, schemed to literally destroy stocks of cancer drugs so as to reduce supply and hike up their prices by 4,000%.
It’s a similar story to the now-infamous Epipen scandal wherein the company Mylan hiked prices for this life-saving device from $30 to $600 while the company’s executives took more than $300 million in bonuses. Or the time that weasely CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli, bought the patent for an AIDS medication, Daraprim, and raised the price from $13.50/pill to $750/pill.
The Epipen and Daraprim scandals were investigated by political bodies and, in both cases, disciplinary action was taken and the prices were lowered. Aspen Pharmacare is quite a new scandal, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens there. However, these are famous cases that make the news, cause a stir throughout society and politicians take action because it gets them headlines and makes them seem like they care about the sick, impoverished and downtrodden–which they do if it helps them get re-elected.
The Real Issue
Do we blame political divisiveness? It could take some of the heat for sure. Do we blame a culture that enables large corporations to prioritize profits over people? That probably has some merit. But I heard a wise man say once that, “Even if the things in your life aren’t your fault, they are most definitely your responsibility.”
It’s unlikely there would be a trans fat/heart disease crisis if people educated themselves and made healthier decisions. If people took better care of their immune system and did a better job of avoiding toxins and antibiotics, we’d have this insane epidemic of extreme allergies much more under control. If we didn’t rely on pharmaceutical companies, literally putting our lives in their hands at every turn, we would laugh them out of town if they raised prices to this degree. (Seriously, imagine Walmart raising the price of lawn chairs from $15 to $900 overnight. People would just shake their heads and sit on a tree stump instead.) But that’s the culture WE HAVE DECIDED to create for ourselves.
Imagine a world where everyone’s health is considered their own responsibility. The health care crisis would disappear. The stranglehold pharmaceutical companies and food companies have on society would would disappear. A lot of political divisiveness would disappear. A lot of disease would disappear.
That’s the kind of world I’m trying to help create. Join me and we can do it together.
