…for lying and cheating while marketing their toxic products

From the claims made by Pfizer, it would seem like their Centrum brand of vitamins works like a wonder drug and will take care of all of your problems. That’s because Centrum supports: “energy and immunity,” “heart health”, “eye health,” “breast health, “bone health” and “colon health.” According to the Reuters article (link below)

(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc, bowing to allegations of deceptive advertising lodged by a consumer watchdog group, has agreed to drop “breast health” and “colon health” claims from the labels of its widely used Centrum multivitamin supplements.

Although Pfizer said it disagreed with complaints lodged by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), it agreed to remove the claims from some Centrum product labels over the next six months and to withdraw them from websites and advertising within 30 days.

So, Pfizer gets off with a slap on the wrist—claiming that they were innocent. Glaxo, on the other hand, was not so lucky. They ended up pleading guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges and will pay a $3 billion fine. Of course, they rationalized that fine as just one of the costs of doing business. The Glaxo transgression got a lot more press during the past few weeks; including the Reuters article that stated:

GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) targeted the antidepressant Paxil to patients under age 18 when it was approved for adults only, and it pushed the drug Wellbutrin for uses it was not approved for, including weight loss and treatment of sexual dysfunction, according to an investigation led by the U.S. Justice Department.

Dr. Drew, the “most listened to doctor in America.”

Dr. Drew also implicated. In a separate Wall Street Journal article we learn that the popular radio doctor was on the take from Glaxo for praising Wellbutrin on his program. Wonder why he likes it so much? Actually there were several hundred thousand reasons.

In June 1999, popular radio personality Dr. Drew Pinsky used the airwaves to extol the virtues of GlaxoSmithKline GSK.LN +0.48% PLC’s antidepressant Wellbutrin, telling listeners he prescribes it and other medications to depressed patients because it “may enhance or at least not suppress sexual arousal” as much as other antidepressants do.

But one thing listeners didn’t know was that, two months before the program aired, Dr. Pinsky—who gained fame as “Dr. Drew” during years co-hosting a popular radio sex-advice show “Loveline”—received the second of two payments from Glaxo totaling $275,000 for “services for Wellbutrin.”

The Bottom Line. Our health care system is in a horrible mess. It’s bankrupting our nation and killing our people. Sadly, stories like these will continue until we teach people EXACTLY how to take charge of their own health. And somewhere along the line, we’ll need to turn our “disease care” system into a true “health promotion” system.

Although I don’t recommend you waste your time by reading the source articles for the above statements, I have provided them here for your convenience:

• Pfizer yanks breast, colon claims for Centrum vitamins | Reuters.
• GlaxoSmithKline settles healthcare fraud case for $3 billion | Reuters.
• Dr. Drew Received Glaxo Payments – WSJ.com.

Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

International. We’re now reaching people in over 100 countries. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter or get daily blog notices by “following” us in the top of the right-hand column. For occasional updates, join our periodic mailing list.

J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.

Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.

SHARE and rate this post below.

Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.

—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation