If the FDA is unable to police the generic drug market that makes up 80% of our nation’s prescriptions, how can they expect us to believe our family is safe from this massive fraud?

Are you taking a generic drug?

If you aren’t convinced about the risk of taking pharmaceuticals of any kind for any reason.  Here is another layer to the argument that drugs are dangerous and healthy living is the best way to avoid unnecessary risk.  We used to think the risks were all spelled out for us on the warning label or the television commercial, it turns out the greatest risk is completely unknown and far more dangerous and likely than the ones listed for you.

In the shocking new book, Bottle of Lies, by investigative journalist Katherine Eban, she reveals how unprotected Americans are from generic drugs manufactured by companies submitting fraudulent documents to the FDA.  And the FDA is helpless to stop it.

“The term generic has now become synonymous with counterfeit”

Have you ever seen a counterfeit Rolex watch sold for $25 on the streets of NYC?  Now, imagine the same level of counterfeiting of your prescription medication.  The difference is, the Rolex company or the Swiss watchmaker’s association would never inspect and endorse the counterfeit watch as being authentic.  Generic medications have the full consent and inspection by the FDA – telling you it’s just as good as the real thing.  However, the term generic has now become synonymous with counterfeit, according to the former head of the FDA.  I know what you are thinking, drug manufacturing is the most regulated, inspected industry that exists.  I believed that too.  Even with those regulations, the list of known side effects is massive for every drug, including over the counter medications.

What changed?

In the last 10-15 years, we moved the generic drug manufacturing industry overseas. Just like everything else, “made in India” and “made in China” became the norm.  This started in the mid 2000’s when the Bush administration saw that if they offered FDA clearance of drugs manufactured in India, we could make anti-HIV drugs for $1 day and save the continent of Africa from an AIDS epidemic.  It worked, and a new industry was born – overseas drug manufacturing.  If they could make generic drugs for Africa, why not for Americans too?  Reduce the cost of everything! Or, so we thought…maybe we moved too quickly.  We shouldn’t forget why it’s so expensive to manufacture drugs in the USA.

Historical perspective

In the 1950’s a drug called Thalidomide was used to ease the symptoms of nausea in pregnant women.  This drug caused birth defects, babies were born with permanently deformed limbs.  This launched the modern era of the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration).  The FDA enforced rules and regulations for drug manufacturing that made us safe from unnecessary harm.  The regulations are why it can cost over $1 Billion to bring a new drug to market.

In order to encourage that kind of investment, the drug manufacturer can apply for a patent that prevents anyone else from selling a knockoff or a copy of the drug for seven years allowing the company that risked $1Billion, to make a profit.

After seven years, any drug company can reverse engineer the original drug and make something very similar to sell.  This is called a “generic drug”, and it can be sold at a much cheaper price as long as it meets certain criteria.  Afterall, we depend on the generic drug market to bring down healthcare costs.  As you can imagine, with all of the rising costs of healthcare over recent years, there has been pressure on politicians to make it easier for Americans to get cheap “effective” drugs.

Not made in the U.S.A

This brings us back to the mid 2000’s and success in Africa.  The pressure was on, and the idea seemed like a good one. All we needed was the FDA to do their inspections and enforce their standards to drug factories 13,000 miles away.  What could go wrong?  Everything could go wrong and it did.   The details can be found in Katherine Eban’s book and the numerous interviews she has done in the podcasting world.

The take home point is, the medical industry we have been trained to trust is not as trustworthy as we have given them credit for.  Our lives are at risk because of it.

What should we do about it?

Put yourself in a situation where you do not need a prescription for anything.  Simple concept, “don’t get sick”.  If you do get sick or require medical care it should be almost always acute and very temporary.  If you have to take medications for the rest of your life you are by definition ‘unhealthy’ and at exponentially greater risk of more and more interventions.

There is nothing more predictive of success in any aspect of your life, not just health,  than making changes to your daily routine  that are more consistent with your genetics.

1. FOOD: Dial in your food choices (what you eat, when you eat), stop counting calories, its not always about how much you eat.
2. SLEEP: Optimize sleep.  Sleep hygiene is the most important type of hygiene.  Here is profound FACT (not opinion), lack of sleep causes Alzheimers.  .
3. EXERCISE:  Move your body (exercise)  in the context of strength, flexibility, aerobic fitness and posture (stability).  Don’t overthink it, and don’t over do it.  Most people have an exaggerated idea of  how much they need to do and either over do it or avoid exercise altogether because its too much to commit to..
4. STRESS: Your emotional state and how your body adapts to stress.  Notice I did not say the elimination of stress, just be better at adapting to stress.

We all need systems. (better way of saying self control)

No one likes the term ‘control’.  The truth is if you don’t control your behavior, your behavior will eventually be controlled by your doctors and your ailments.

The 4 categories mentioned above require habits to improve and change.  Habits reflect systems (rules that guide behaviour), and systems are the best way to have a  successful outcome.  Rules are necessary in a modern world where your survival is no longer dependent on your ability to hunt, gather and defend yourself (our genetic traits), instead our survival and our children’s survival and thrival are dependent on navigating a modern world where excesses are everywhere and never before seen in human history.

Please share this article with anyone you feel may want to know more, leave comments or ask questions.  Thank you.