• Chapter 16: Conspiracy to Have Everyone Taking Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs
• Chapter 17: The Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Drugs and the New Recommendations

Chapter Excerpts

Only 30-40% of people with blocked arteries and heart disease have elevated blood cholesterol levels, and posed the logical question: "How do you explain the other 60 to 70 %?"

The level at which LDL cholesterol is considered normal has continually been influenced by pharmaceutical companies, who pull the financial strings of research grants that keep medical schools and medical organizations running. The lower they can establish the level at which LDL cholesterol is considered normal, the more people automatically become victims of the dreaded disease of "high cholesterol."

The fact is eight of the nine panel members making the new LDL cholesterol recommendations were being paid by the statin-producing pharmaceutical companies. The panelists did not disclose their financial conflict of interest.

Chapter References

• 17: Rafai N, Ridker P. Inflammatory markers and coronary heart disease. Curr Opin Lipidol 2002 Aug; 13(4):383-389.
• 18: Albert C, et al. Prospective study of C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and plasma lipid levels as predictors of sudden cardiac death. Circulation 2002 Jun 4; 105 (22):2595-2599.
• 19: Bermudez E, Ridker P. C-reactive protein, statins, and the primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Prev Cardiol 2002 Winter; 5(1):42-46.
• 20: Blake C, Ridker P. Inflammatory mechanisms in atherosclerosis: from laboratory evidence to clinical application. Ital Heart J 2001 Nov; 2(11):796-800.
• 21: Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Bairey Merz CN, Brewer HB, Clark LT, Hunninghake DB, Pasternak RC, Smith SC, Stone NJ; for the Coordinating Committee of the National Cholesterol Education Program. Implications of Recent Clinical Trials for the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines. Circulation 2004 110:227-239.

• Chapter 14: "Doctors Would Not Recommend Cholesterol-lowering Drugs if they Were Not Good for Us, Right?"
• Chapter 15: Medical Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Scientific Medicine

Chapter Excerpts

Most doctors are not "in" on the cholesterol conspiracy. They are just as much victims to it as is the public. Doctors are only doing what they learn both directly and indirectly from the pharmaceutical companies.

What the American public did not know, however, was that the tobacco industry funded and supported most of the latest and "up-to-date" research about the "safety" of cigarette smoking. This is not unlike today’s pharmaceutical companies funding the latest and most "upto-date" research regarding the "safety" of their drugs.

According to the medical experts, the medical research, with the American Cancer Society and the "all-powerful, all-knowing" American Medical Association concurring, the world now knew without any doubt that not only was cigarette smoking unharmful, but that it actually helped reduce lung cancer.

An ABC report noted that a survey of clinical trials revealed that when drug companies did not fund a study, favorable results regarding a drug were found only 50 percent of the time. In studies funded by drug companies, favorable results about the drugs were reported an amazing 90% of the time.

The amount of money the pharmaceutical companies give to colleges and universities to obtain the results they want is staggering, and it is getting worse.

Chapter References

• 12: Tobacco Timeline. http://www.tobacco.org.
• 13: Weiner J. Smoking and Cancer: The Cigarette Papers: How the Industry is Trying to Smoke Us All. The Nation, January 1, 1996 11-18.
• 14: World Health Organization, Press Release Bulletin #9, Dec. 17, 2001.
• 15: Angell M. Is academic medicine for sale? N Engl J Med. 2000 May 18; 342(20):1516-1518.
• 16: Crossen C. Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact in America. 1996. Touchstone Books.