Chapter 17: Big Medicine: Whose Health Are They Protecting?
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GOVERNMENT: IS IT FOR THE PEOPLE? 317 may lead to drug development is funded by the National Institutes of Health (ref cited) It is usually only later, when the research shows practical promise, that the drug companies become involved The industry also enjoys great tax advantages Not only are its research and development costs deductible, but so are its massive marketing expenses The average tax rate of major u.s industries from 1993 to 1996 was 27.3% of revenues During the same period the pharmaceutical industry was reportedly taxed at a rate of only 16.2% (ref cited) Most important, the drug companies enjoy seventeen-year government-granted monopolies on their new drugs-that is, patent protection Once a drug is patented, no one else may sell it, and the drug company is free to charge whatever the traffic will bear.20 Our tax dollars are used to make the pharmaceutical industry more profitable One could argue that this is justified by gains in public health, but the alarming fact is that this litany of research into drugs, genes, devices and technology research will never cure our chronic diseases Our chronic diseases are largely the result of infinitely complex assaults on our bodies resulting from eating bad food No single chemical intervention will ever equal the power of consuming the healthiest food In addition, isolated chemicals in drug form can be very dangerous The National Cancer Institute itself states, "What is clear is that most of our current treatments will produce some measure of adversity "21 There is no danger to eating a healthy diet, and there are far more benefits, including massive cost savings both on the front end of preventing disease and on the back end of treating disease So why is our government ignoring the abundant scientific research supporting a dietary approach in favor of largely ineffective, potentially dangerous drug and device interventions? PERSONAL ACCOUNTS In terms of public nutrition policy, I want to leave you with one short story that says so much about the government's priorities One of my former graduate students at Cornell, Antonia Demas (now Dr Antonia Demas) , did her doctoral research in education by teaching a healthy food-and-nutrition-based curriculum22 to elementary school kids and then integrating those healthy foods into the school lunch program She had been doing this work as a volunteer mother in her children's schools for seventeen 318 THE CHINA STUDY years prior to her graduate studies I was her advisor for the nutrition part of her dissertation research The U.s Department of Agriculture administers the school lunch program to 28 million children, largely relying on an inventory of government-subsidized foods The government program, as it now stands, uses mostly animal-based products and even requires that participating schools make available cow's milk At the local level, this usually means that consumption of milk is mandatory Dr Demas's innovative research on the school lunch program was a great success; children loved the learning style and were excited to eat the healthy foods when they went through the lunch line The children then convinced their parents to eat the healthy food at home Dr Demas's program won national awards for the "most creative implementation of the dietary gUidelines" and "excellence in nutrition education." The program has proven to be of interest to more than 300 school lunch and behavioral rehabilitation programs around the U.S., including schools in areas as widely dispersed as Hawaii, Florida, Indiana, New England, California and New Mexico In this effort, Dr Demas has organized a nonprofit foundation (Food Studies Institute, Trumansburg, New York) and written a curriculum ("Food is Elementary") And here's the kicker: Dr Demas's program is entirely plant-based I had the opportunity to go to Washington and talk with Dr Eileen Kennedy, who, at the time, was the director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion at the USDA Dr Kennedy was deeply involved both in the school lunch program and the dietary guidelines committee, on which it was revealed that she had ties to the dairy industry She is now the Deputy Undersecretary for the USDA's Research, Education and Economics division The topic of our discussion was Dr Demas's innovative school lunch program and how it was garnering national attention At the end of this discussion, I said to her, "You know, that program is entirely plant-based." She looked at me, wagged her finger as if I were being a bad boy, and said, "We can't have that." I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to health, government is not for the people; it IS for the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of the people It is a systemic problem where industry, academia and government combine to determine the health of this country Industry provides funding for public health reports, and academic leaders with industry ties play key roles in developing them A revolving door exists between government jobs and industry GOVERNMENT: IS IT FOR THE PEOPLE? 319 jobs, and government research funding goes to the development of drugs and devices instead of healthy nutrition It is a system built by people who play their isolated parts, oftentimes unaware of the top decision makers and their ulterior motivations The system is a waste of taxpayer money and is profoundly damaging to our health 11 Big Medicine: Whose Health Are They Protecting? r L WHEN IS THE LAST TIME that you went to the doctor and he or she told you what to eat or what not to eat? You've probably never had that experience But the vast majority of Americans will fall prey to one of the chronic diseases of affluence discussed in Part II, and, as you have seen, there is a wealth of published research that suggests these diseases are a result of poor nutrition, not poor genes or bad luck So why doesn't the medical system take nutrition seriously? Four words: money, ego, power and control While it is unfair to generalize about individual doctors, it is safe to say that the system they work in, the system that currently takes responsibility for promoting the health of Americans, is failing us No one knows this better than the tiny minority of doctors who treat their patients from a nutritional perspective Two of the most prominent doctors in this minority have spent many years emphasizing diet and health, both in public within their profession and in private with their patients They have had exceptionally impressive results protecting their patients' health These two doctors are Caldwell B Esselstyn, Jr., whose work I discussed in chapter five, and John McDougall, an internist My son Tom and I sat down with these men recently to discuss their experience advocating a whole foods, plant-based diet in the medical setting 321 322 THE CHINA STUDY DR SPROUTS Long before our country was founded, Dutch pioneers had settled in the Hudson Valley north of New York City One of these settler families were the Esselstyns They started farming a plot of land in 1675 Nine generations later, that farm still belongs to the Esselstyn family Dr Esselstyn and his wife Ann own the several-hundred-acre Hudson Valley farm, just over two hours north of New York City They spent the summer of 2003 living in the country, working the farm, growing a garden, hosting their kids and grandkids and enjoying a more relaxed life than what they're used to in Cleveland, Ohio Ess and Ann have a modest house: a large, rectangular, converted storage building The simplicity of it belies the fact that this is one of the oldest family farms in America Only upon closer inspection does it become apparent that there is something unusual about this place Hanging on the wall is a framed certificate from New York State given to the Esselstyn family in recognition of their family farm, a farm that has now seen parts of five different centuries Nearby an oar hangs on the wall It is the oar Ess used in 1955 as an oarsman at Yale, when Yale beat Harvard by five seconds Ess explains he has three other oars: two from beating Harvard in other years, and one for winning the gold medal in the Olympics with the Yale crew in 1956 Downstairs, there is an exceptionally old photograph of Ess's great great grandfather on the farm Around the corner there's an impressivelooking museum-style schematic of the Esselstyn family tree, and on the other end of the hall, there's a large black and white picture of Ess's father standing in front of a microphone, exchanging comments with John F Kennedy during a White House address Despite its humble appearance, it is very clear that this is a place with a distinguished history After touring the farm on a tractor, we sat down with Ess and asked him about his past After graduating from Yale, he was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St George's Hospital in London He remembers fondly some of his most influential mentors: Dr George Crile, Jr., Dr Turnbull and Dr Brook Dr Crile, a giant at the Cleveland Clinic, eventually became Ess's father-in-law upon Ess's marriage to Ann Dr Crile was a man of exceptional accomplishment, playing a courageous, leading role in questioning the macabre surgery called "radical mastectomy."l Dr Turnbull and Dr Brook were also renowned ... on the school lunch program was a great success; children loved the learning style and were excited to eat the healthy foods when they went through the lunch line The children then convinced their... winning the gold medal in the Olympics with the Yale crew in 1956 Downstairs, there is an exceptionally old photograph of Ess's great great grandfather on the farm Around the corner there's an... that." I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to health, government is not for the people; it IS for the food industry and the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of the people It is