I had the rather bizarre experience recently in the waiting room of a clinic, while my Mother was getting a checkup. Not one, but TWO pharma sales reps giving spiels to two separate doctors. One took the medicalese gobbledygook approach, and the other took the personal relationship approach. It's creepy thinking that doctors are getting their drug information this way.

I'd rant further on my opinions, but if I keep up, I'll end up dragging this thread into A&E or something!

Edit: Having read the post that popped up just before mine, I think this thread is doomed to redistricting anyway, so here goes! (rant mode: ON)

1.) The Pharmaceutical Industry. These have gone wrong in so many ways due to the "for profit" nature of their business. Vaccine and Antibiotic research has gone by the wayside, since returns are too small to justify the investment in money and resources. Thus we are running out of antibiotics to throw at certain diseases. Meanwhile, pharma focuses on long term chronic conditions, where the name isn't "cure" or "prevent," but rather, is "control." They develop drugs that they know patients will take for long periods of time, or maybe the rest of their lives. Their research from that point on is to fund studies to expand the pool of people using these drugs. Honestly, sometimes I think Pharma resorts to the mindset of "we have this new drug, which seems to affect this, that, and the other symptom. Let's create a "This, that, and the other" syndrome, then say "if you have these symptoms, you may have This, That and The Other Syndrome! If so, we can help! Ask your Doctor about Wondorcillin, to control your TTtOS! warningwarningwarningwarning."

2.) Studies. Even without the funding, publishing, and methods questions. I don't place much trust in any study anymore. So much of what one study proves, another study disproves. Woody Allen's film, "Sleeper" came so hilariously close to the truth with it's "we now know these are good for you" scene. Coffee and Chocolate have indeed turned out to not be bad for one, with certain caveats. Also, it seems whole milk actually keeps one thinner than fat-removed milk. We all know how the whole butter thing turned out, with the replacements always being worse than the item they replace, while the item that was replaced turns out to have benefits that nobody knew about. I honestly now think that studies are just a way for people to go wrong with confidence.

I'd rant further, but I'm running out of steam, and losing my track of thought. Confusion and poor memory. Pharma probably has a drug for that. I should ask my Doctor...