Still think the Multinational drug companies are on your side?

It struck me recently that there seems to be a lot of articles in the press attacking complementary therapies, especially homeopathy. And then I read that the BBC had removed information about complementary therapies from its website - so what's going on? Are the multinational drug companies worried about something?

Last year I remember an article about someone self-medicating chinese herbal medicine which resulted in kidney failure: naturally there was a big hoo ha in the press. But consider this; apart from the case above how many people died last year from; reiki, hypnotherapy, acupuncure, homeopathy or any holistic therapy you might care to mention? 500? 100? 50? keeping going down and stop when you get to a big fat zero. Can you imagine the fuss if just one person had died, it doesn't bare thinking about.

Now, if you are in North Bucks and want to win a free session (offer ends April 30th 2008) of Reiki, Hypnotherapy or eft what's your educated guess for how many people, on average, die each year due to adverse reactions to prescribed or over the counter medication?
10? more...........100 no keep going............. 1000, that's a lot isn't it but keep going some more....... 2500, still better keep going. The figure that will win you the treatment is a round figure, higher than 4000 but less than 6000.

If you really want to blow your mind then have a read of the following article, printed in the Guardian recently on how much the NHS has to spend because of adverse drug reaction: give me a good herbalist and a dose of reiki anyday...........

The NHS is spending nearly £2bn a year treating patients who have had an adverse reaction to drugs prescribed for them by doctors, according to new figures from the centre-left thinktank Compass.
The amount of money spent on hospital care for those given the wrong medicine or who have reacted badly to a drug could pay for 10,000 new midwives or easily cover the estimated cost of combating MRSA infections, says Compass.
The health minister Dawn Primarolo confirmed to the organisation that 6.5% of hospital admissions are a result of an adverse reaction. Total admissions in 2006 were 16 million, which means that 1,040,000 patients were there as a result of the drugs they were prescribed.
Compass bases its calculation on an average stay of eight days in hospital at a cost of £228 a day. That puts the annual NHS bill at £1,896,960,000 just for those admitted with ill-effects. It does not include those patients who had a bad reaction to their medicines while they were in hospital. If that cost were added in, the bill would top £2bn.
The new figures, which are substantially higher than any previous estimates, have been compiled as part of an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry, its relationship to public health and regulation. "It is increasingly apparent that the lack of effective regulation is costing the taxpayer, and in some cases is causing unnecessary suffering," said Zoe Gannon, who is leading the Compass investigation.
Scandals such as that over the arthritis painkiller Vioxx, which caused heart attacks, and the antidepressant Seroxat, which was found to increase the risk of suicidal thinking in young people, suggest that industry could do more, she said.
"The industry knew about these adverse drug reactions and chose not to accept the responsibility because its ultimate goal is to make a profit," she said. "From our perspective this £1.9bn figure is not completely reducible - we are going to have to accept some adverse drug reactions - but the sheer size of this figure is enormous. It is all about getting a balance between risk and benefit and we feel that the balance is wrong."
Drug companies have huge profit margins, she said - in excess of 14.3% against a business average of 4.6%. Yet the number of genuinely innovative medicines - as opposed to copies of those already on the market - is decreasing.
"The pharmaceutical industry has the upper hand in terms of research and development investment and is always promising the latest miracle drug but too often failing to deliver,"she added.
"Now is the time for a debate about costs and policies about which drugs the healthcare service can afford as people are paying infinitely higher prices - the drugs bill to the NHS now stands at £11bn - for increasingly marginal rewards and higher risk from adverse drug reactions."
Compass's investigation will question whether it is appropriate for the Department of Health to take the lead in relations with the pharmaceutical industry. It will also be calling for a review of progress since the 2005 report of the health select committee. Compass aims to publish its own report in the autumn.