CounterThink: FDA Vision Test




Of all the cartoons we've ever done on the FDA, this is the one that people seem to like the best. It addresses the issue of FDA conflicts of interest. The Food and Drug Administration, an agency that suffers under the hallucination that it protects the public from dangerous foods and drugs, has actually become the marketing department of Big Pharma. It actually takes money from drug companies in exchange for evaluating and approving their drugs, and the decisions concerning which drugs to approve almost always come down to a panel of "experts" who have strong financial ties to the very companies impacted by their decisions.

It's sort of like asking car companies to vote on what the federal automobile emissions standards should be. The decisions that do get made at the FDA almost always favor the profits of drug companies at the expense of public health. The situation is so bad that the FDA's efforts to reform itself involve things like limiting the level of corruption of drug panel experts so that they can only accept $50,000 / year from the drug companies instead of, say, $200,000 / year. They can still vote on the approval of the drugs, mind you, they just can't take more than $50,000 in bribes while doing so.

The idea of having NO conflicts of interest isn't even being considered by the FDA. It's unthinkable. But to normal (honest) people, eliminating conflicts of interest is a common sense concept. Politicians voting on bridge construction contracts shouldn't own the construction company. Cops who bust drug dealers shouldn't be dealing drugs themselves. A real estate agent who represents the seller of a house shouldn't simultaneously represent the buyer. You get the idea. And doctors who vote to approve drugs at the FDA shouldn't be on the payroll of the companies that profits from those drugs.

It only makes sense, right? But the FDA is blind to conflicts of interest. That's the point of this cartoon: the FDA Vision Test. I find this cartoon particularly hilarious because the top of the eye chart starts with the word "CON," and the Food and Drug Administration is, of course, a grand CON being perpetrated on the American people. What's the con? The idea that the FDA is doing anything whatsoever to actually protect the American public from overzealous food, drug and cosmetic companies who routinely poison consumers through the use of toxic chemicals and unsafe substances in their products.

Article courtesy of Mike Adams @ Natural News