The number of people on cholesterol meds has gone from absurd to ridiculous, with a new survey showing a quarter of all Americans aged 45 and up now taking statins.
But instead of slamming the brakes on this out-of-control drug experiment, they're hitting the accelerator--with the CDC, World Health Organization and even Big Media suddenly and simultaneously making a new push to get more people on these meds.
You can't tell me this isn't being coordinated somewhere.
CDC in statin push
Here's how your tax dollars are being wasted now: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is pushing to get practically everyone onto statins.
In a new report, the CDC says 1 in 3 U.S. adults has high cholesterol... but since only 48 percent of cholesterol patients are actually treated for it, there's an opportunity to sell meds to the remaining 52 percent.
"The leading preventable cause and leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease," says Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, and he's right about that.
Too bad he didn't quit while he was ahead.
"And the leading causes of that include high blood pressure and high cholesterol," he added.
Sorry, but cholesterol isn't a cause of anything. Your body actually needs its cholesterol--and even when it does reach levels where it's too high, it's not a cause... just a symptom.
The real cause of heart disease is a diet loaded with sugar, fast food and frozen meals.
But why point that out when it's so much easier to just sell meds?
WHO's on first?
Next up, the World Health Organization--which claims too many people in some countries have undiagnosed cholesterol problems... while too many people in other countries are diagnosed, but not treated.
The study in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization calls cholesterol a "disease of affluence," and finds that as more countries enter the middle class, more people end up with this "disease."
But again, cholesterol isn't a disease--and if people are getting sick as they get wealthy, it's because their newfound income is being sent to Coca-Cola and McDonald's.
Case in point: Mexico.
The Bulletin lauds the country for getting 58 percent of all high-cholesterol patients on statins, but fails to point out that heart disease rates there are climbing in spite of it.
One report last year found that the heart disease rate in Mexico doubled between 1970 and 2000--and it's showing no sign of letting up.
So much for statins.
Puff daddy
The fact that the WHO report was badly flawed didn't stop Time magazine from getting in on the act, using it as the basis of the most incredible puff piece I've ever seen in a major media publication.
The article makes a plea right in the headline: "System Failure: Countries Too Slow to Identify and Treat High Cholesterol."
But the real failure here is editorial control: The article is such a blatant push for drugs that I have to wonder if the billions Big Pharma spends on marketing bought something a little more than a two-page advertisement.
Time even calls the supposedly low number of people on statins "depressing" while not even mentioning the landmark new study from the Cochrane Collaboration that found these drugs do little to nothing for most of the people who take them.
And it completely avoids any mention of the risks linked to statins, which include severe and debilitating muscle pain, cataracts, liver and kidney problems, memory loss and more.
Why now?
I wish I could say all of these reports are just well-meaning but misguided attempts to improve public health.
But when you look at the bigger picture here, it's hard not to see sinister clouds forming. Statin patents are expiring, and some of the best-selling drugs in the world will soon face generic competition.
This is Big Pharma's last chance to earn a few billion more from some of its leading drugs... and you can take it to the bank that they're going to make the most of it.
And that means you can expect to see a lot more of these kinds of reports in the coming weeks and months.
On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls
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