You may be familiar with Greg Critser who wrote the book Fat Land, reviewed on my Web site some two years ago. He's attacking the conventional and fatally flawed health care paradigm once again in his newest book, Generation Rx.
Much of his op-ed column (see free link below) takes the mega-drug companies to task in much the same way as I do here daily. The interesting theme worth taking away from this piece is news of the latest marketing strategy the pharmaceuticals are using to keep the world addicted to their useless, and often, toxic products: Persistence and compliance.
Such programs, Critser says, are joint ventures between drug companies and HMOs in the form of phone calls or e-mails from "health counselors" -- better known to the rest of the world as telemarketers -- to remind consumers to refill their prescriptions, even when they don't need to or even should.
And who's paying for all that marketing slight-of-hand that's overmedicating the world? That's right, folks, you are...
That said, you can take steps to begin optimizing your health and lessen your dependence on expensive and potentially toxic drugs today, with all the free tools available on my Web site. A good place to start: Learn how you can retool your diet to fight and prevent disease by eating foods better suited for your body's unique nutritional type with my free test.
Los Angeles Times November 20, 2005