Jay Smooth: The Hidden Truth About Hip-Hop Conspiracy Theories
I read that letter a few days ago and my only reaction was to think of Carl Sagan: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” but no evidence was given.
I think about this a lot.
*Sigh.* People don’t understand about “commercialized medicine.” They imagine fat CEOs with double-breasted suits sitting on top of the “big pharma” pile of money. Guess what? There’s no such thing as “big pharma.” There’s no coalition of pharmaceutical companies that pay people off when drugs don’t work like they should or that conspire with each other to make people sicker so they can sell more drugs. It’s a conspiracy theory, and it’s just as false as the moon hoax conspiracy.
Making money off of medicine is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us as a species. Now that we can recoup the insane costs of developing a drug, WE CAN DEVELOP DRUGS! It costs billions of dollars to take a drug from the beginning “isn’t this interesting” stage through development, through non-human testing, through clinical trials, through manufacturing all the way to making it available to the public. It’s insane. Trust me, I’ve spent the last six years or so studying it, because I thought I wanted to be part of it.
And guess what? Money is a big part of what pharmaceutical companies do, but it isn’t everything by a long shot. Every single person I’ve met who works or has worked for a drug developer like Abbott or Baxter has been incredibly empathetic, always thinking of the end user, the sick person. But it’s not just a kindness of heart. They put their money where their mouth is. Look at every single drug recall. They are usually initiated by the company that released the drug, meaning they just lost literal billions of dollars. Recalls are based on studies of the drug, and those studies are more often than not carried out and paid for by the company that made the drug. Do you get it? They create a product then continue look for ways it could be harmful. They’ve already pumped millions of dollars into clinical tests, they’ve already satisfied the FDA and they risk losing all the money that went into development and yet they continue to study the drug. THAT is responsibility, people.
The drug industry isn’t perfect; no one says it is. The drug industry has really messed things up now and again. That doesn’t mean that these companies are out to get you and your pretty dog too. Just because we understand the human body better doesn’t mean your emotions are being stolen. Remember, we also used to think the wind was spirits.
Really well said.
