For decades, major tobacco companies have lied about the risks of smoking. A federal judge has now ruled that Big Tobacco engaged in decades of conspiracy and civil fraud, scoring a major victory for the Dept. of Justice, which sued tobacco firms seven years ago.
It has taken decades for this legal chess match to play out against Big Tobacco, and yet what we're witnessing today may foreshadow a nearly identical situation currently brewing: Big Pharma and its own racketeering behavior.
Consider the similarities between Big Tobacco and Big Pharma:
- Both are led by powerful corporations with heavy influence in Washington.
- Both sell products that were heavily pushed by doctors (yes, doctors once pushed cigarettes in TV and magazine advertisements).
- The products of both companies injure and kill huge numbers of people.
- The manufacturers of both products routinely deny their products cause any kind of harm.
- Both have been caught burying clinical trials, bribing doctors and distorting science to fit their marketing agendas.
- Both routinely engaged in anti-competitive practices designed to unfairly eliminate competing products imported from other countries.
- Both rely heavily on consumer advertising (cigarettes used to be advertised on television) to brainwash people into thinking their products are good for them.
- Both industries lack ethics or any real sense of value for human life, choosing to exploit lives in order to generate corporate profits.
- Both have been caught trying to intimidate and censor their own scientists who dared to go public with the truth about their products.
- Both engaged in deceptive advertising and marketing tactics.
- Both targeted young children in order to create a new generation of repeat customers.
The similarities are downright spooky. But one big difference is that Big Tobacco peaked many years ago and has been on the downward spiral ever since. Big Pharma's power and influence is still peaking, and the tide has not yet turned against it (although that is beginning to happen this year).
In time, Big Pharma executives will be charged with serious crimes and prosecuted by the Dept. of Justice, much like Big Tobacco today. States will sue to recover billions of dollars in health care costs caused by dangerous pharmaceuticals. Doctors will someday shun promoting pharmaceuticals just as they now shun cigarettes, and just like Big Tobacco, Big Pharma will look to foreign markets to push their drugs as the U.S. market dries up.
From one generation to the next, the years may change, but the scams of powerful corporations don't. It's always the same scam: Pushing dangerous products onto people who don't need them, promoted through false advertising and the corruption of gullible scientists and federal regulators. Big Pharma is the evil twin brother of Big Tobacco, and someday taking drugs for things like high cholesterol or "social anxiety disorder" will seem just as stupid as smoking cigarettes.
###
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams launched NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Email this article to a friend
Share this article on: 
Now Available from 
