Selling Sickness: Teen Use of Diabetes Drug Triples In 5 Years
By Jon Herring
In ETR #1397, I wrote about how, 30 years ago, the then-head of Merck Pharmaceuticals openly spoke of his desire for his company’s products to be more like chewing gum - so they could "sell to everyone." Now that practically the entire population, young and old, seems to be on some form of prescription drug, his wish is coming true.
And the younger they start, the better Big Pharma likes it. A new study of more than 500,000 young people aged 10 to 19 shows that the use of drugs for insomnia in this age group has doubled since 2002.
Did you get that? Teens and preteens now need prescription pills to go to sleep at night. Perhaps this is somehow related to all the stimulants perfectly healthy kids are taking to combat the fictitious "attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD).
The same study shows that the number of teenage girls taking drugs for Type II diabetes has nearly tripled in just five years.
I don’t have to tell you how dangerous it is to put teenagers, whose bodies and brains are still developing, on long-term medication. Not to mention that our pill-happy culture is indoctrinating them to believe "there is always something wrong with you" and "there is always a pill that can help."
Type II diabetes is a condition related almost entirely to lifestyle choices. In almost every case, it is preventable and reversible. The solution is to engage in consistent physical exercise (high-intensity, brief-duration), to eat a diet rich in protein and healthy fats, and to limit consumption of grains, starches, and sweets.
Not quite as simple as taking a pill, I know. But those pills will never heal the underlying condition. And they are expensive. Tomorrow, you’ll learn that they could also be deadly.
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Polemics
"Polemics" (puh-LEM-iks) - from the Greek for "war" - is the art or practice of engaging in a controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine.
Example (as used by Caroline Elkins in a New York Times review of The Door of No Return by William St. Clair): "Sidestepping polemics and refusing to apportion blame, [St. Clair] demonstrates that the trade in slaves involved a web of Europeans and Africans."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2055, 05-30-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
In ETR #1397, I wrote about how, 30 years ago, the then-head of Merck Pharmaceuticals openly spoke of his desire for his company’s products to be more like chewing gum - so they could "sell to everyone." Now that practically the entire population, young and old, seems to be on some form of prescription drug, his wish is coming true.
And the younger they start, the better Big Pharma likes it. A new study of more than 500,000 young people aged 10 to 19 shows that the use of drugs for insomnia in this age group has doubled since 2002.
Did you get that? Teens and preteens now need prescription pills to go to sleep at night. Perhaps this is somehow related to all the stimulants perfectly healthy kids are taking to combat the fictitious "attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD).
The same study shows that the number of teenage girls taking drugs for Type II diabetes has nearly tripled in just five years.
I don’t have to tell you how dangerous it is to put teenagers, whose bodies and brains are still developing, on long-term medication. Not to mention that our pill-happy culture is indoctrinating them to believe "there is always something wrong with you" and "there is always a pill that can help."
Type II diabetes is a condition related almost entirely to lifestyle choices. In almost every case, it is preventable and reversible. The solution is to engage in consistent physical exercise (high-intensity, brief-duration), to eat a diet rich in protein and healthy fats, and to limit consumption of grains, starches, and sweets.
Not quite as simple as taking a pill, I know. But those pills will never heal the underlying condition. And they are expensive. Tomorrow, you’ll learn that they could also be deadly.
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Polemics
"Polemics" (puh-LEM-iks) - from the Greek for "war" - is the art or practice of engaging in a controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine.
Example (as used by Caroline Elkins in a New York Times review of The Door of No Return by William St. Clair): "Sidestepping polemics and refusing to apportion blame, [St. Clair] demonstrates that the trade in slaves involved a web of Europeans and Africans."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2055, 05-30-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
posted by Oak Stone at 7:21 PM
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