A 1996 paper in Oncologist title “Beware the Medical-Industrial Complex” speaks to my concerns about where we are rapidly drifting in nutrition, health, medicine and science in general.
". we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex." Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953-1961). Farewell Address, January 17, 1961. If Ike were with us today, he might well expand his views on power and influence to include modern American medicine.”(1)
I would argue that both are strongly with us today. In some cases the military industrial complex is obvious, overt and clunky. The medical industrial complex is far more cunning and covert. Working in the background to create dependence, to discredit centuries of remedies based on an admittedly anecdotal understanding of the human body and its cellular biochemistry but nonetheless effective and to ultimately put profits before people and even health.
This is our current paradigm.
The physician has a decision to make…and those decisions are being made now as we speak. “…physicians must ultimately evaluate objectively, despite lush advertisements from companies with obvious vested interests, and authoritative testimonials from biased investigators who presumably believe in their own work to the point of straining credulity and denying common sense.”(1)
Another important point is humility. I talk ad nauseam about this topic because I think it is critical to the future health of the species. We have no way of knowing what we don’t know and to pretend anything less is reckless and irresponsible. Does that mean we do not try and push boundaries? Absolutely not. However, it is HOW we proceed that future generations will judge us harshly on. To that point we have failed at a catastrophic level in the year 2020 and beyond.
“Today's technology is vastly ahead of our biologic understanding of malignant cells.”(1)
“The effects of gene manipulation on patient outcome, if any, are likely to be found only in the setting of combined modality therapy.”(1)
We turned our back on precision medicine, which was written about in the medical literature as late as 2018, in the blink of an eye in favor of a one size fits all approach. Why? Because one size fits all is an easy windfall for companies who are awarded the ability to create such products. Precision medicine is nuanced and likely will utilize combinations therapies. Drugs with limited profit margins because patents have run out and even nutraceuticals. Once upon a time there was a choice and even a coexistence of homeopathic and allopathic medicine. This all changed with the famed Flexner report in the year 1910. This is a sorted tale that deserves volumes of its own because of its dramatic impact on our lives today and yet few even know the name Abraham Flexner.
Fear is the tactic of choice of any entity looking to force its will on the people. Look at the war on meat which is designed to mislead you on claims of climate change and heart disease all in an effort to keep you from one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. Quite literally a food we were designed to eat. All of this is in favor of forcing us into lab based foods that corporations control. You see food sovereignty and personal autonomy is the only defense we have against these corporations looking to control every aspect of your life.
I will close with this quote from the paper…”We work against a clever, tenacious adversary - both in the clinic and in the corporate board room. It is our responsibility to tout our accomplishments, admit our failures, and provide progressively better basic and clinical research with an eye toward future improvements in outcome. We must not be seen as yet another special interest come to drink at the well of public spending, but as advocates for the public good. If we fail to become important to those who control medical spending, we will be unable to make any important long-term contribution to those who matter most - our patients.”(1)
To this I would add that the point missed in this paper is that corporations don’t do anything that is not almost exclusively in their own interest. This interest is often at odds with that of public health. This is the moment where god doctors must take a leap of faith and branch out of this failing paradigm and you as an individual must reward those practitioners who remove themselves from the medical industrial complex.
Take control of your health!
I am doing my best to create a space for people to come together in the real world and do just that. Don’t forget to look at the upcoming Oct 2022 retreat details on the perpetualhealth.co home page and begin your health journey or learn some new techniques if you are already on your way. At this moment in time human connection to a tribe is critical and that is what Perpetual Health is all about!
Thank you for being with me!
References
1. Stevens CW, Glatstein E. Beware the Medical-Industrial Complex. Oncologist. 1996;1(4):IV-V.