Your perceived arrogance of scientists obviously comes from the fact that we actually do know what we are talking about and we base our decisions on facts, not what we read in the popular press. As far as you judging me for not winning the 8^th grade spelling bee, feel free to criticize my scientific work rather than my ability to spell…look up ‘jeffy’ at www.pubmed.gov, read a few of my papers and give me your opinion…I’m sure it will enlighten me.

Of course there are people with huge egos in any profession and at every level of education. I have met pompous academics and scientists, arrogant cops, and self-important convenience store managers. However, you seem to suggest that all people who are highly educated have inflated egos. Perhaps you question your own level of education? Again, I just don’t believe that you really know any of these people on a personal level that you criticize. You mention that you ‘know’ people who work at OSU and some research institute…well bully for you. What types of discussions have you had with them? If you had ever taken the time to speak with them, you would have learned that they are not after patents…this is a fundamental difference between academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Academics publish and publicly post the results of their publicly funded research in order to achieve tenure and additional funding. Patents are a corollary objective to anyone in academia. You also demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the purpose of patents by pointing out that the supplement and nutriceutical industry doesn’t patent their products. Of course they don’t…this would require that they actually research something and develop something useful and novel. Any idiot can put wheatgrass in capsule form, make unsubstantiated claims that it is good for you, and sell it to you at a high price. If you really believe that the CEOs of these companies are any more noble than those at Pfizer, I really feel sorry for you. I could continue to explain away your other illogical statements, but what would the purpose be? You are interested in vilifying the pharmaceutical industry and biological scientists at any costs. There is nothing that I could say that would convince you otherwise. In conclusion, I certainly respect your right to live your life as you see fit, I just hope you don’t push your views onto others. By the way, pops, what’s a 78 rpm record?

Well, Enzo, if your frame of reference is a 78 rpm record, I’d say you’ve got about 50 years of catching up to do…I’m beginning to comprehend your lack of understanding of modern science. As for your pejorative comments, I’d say they make you look like you are on the defensive and more like a cornered, wounded animal facing a hunter with a shotgun than a confident factotum. As for your ‘dummy’ comment and questioning my educational credentials, I must say I expected a little bit more from a sesquipedalian intellectual like yourself.

Why do you have such difficulty in grasping the idea that there are harmful and beneficial compounds that exist in nature as well as in the pharmacy? Let’s return to my example of Taxol: Somebody invested huge amounts of time and money to study this natural compound, learn that it is a beneficial chemotherapeutic agent due to its ability to inhibit microtubule polymerization, and to learn to synthesize it in the lab. Would you rather people hack down the rare Pacific Yew and chew it up to treat their cancer? What happens when the plant no longer exists? What is so evil about attempting to recover the R&D costs that went into synthesizing this natural compound (and eliminating the need to destroy forests)?

My biggest problem with you, however, is this: You have no first-hand knowledge of anything that you have stated in this discussion. You do not understand the pharmacology or toxicology of either natural products or pharmaceuticals. You have never worked in the pharmaceutical industry. I, on the other hand, am recognized as an expert in this area by both scientists and the popular press. Somewhere, in your twisted logic, you have the idea that you can teach me about my area of expertise…and then you have the audacity to call ME arrogant and bloviated. You claim that you come to this site to learn, that you are looking to acquire new knowledge every day? All I see is that you come here to mock that which you don’t understand. You spout off ignorant propaganda without researching it yourself…you read it on a website or in the newspaper and take it as true and then proclaim yourself an expert...ready to enlighten those of us who know more than you. You have looked out the window of the airplane and seen that the world is flat…you then join up with a group of other flat-earthers and congratulate yourselves on your wisdom and mock the geophysicists who say that the earth is round. Again, you think that I am the arrogant one here?