{"id":2364595,"date":"2025-01-21T11:09:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T16:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/?p=2364595"},"modified":"2025-01-21T12:54:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:54:29","slug":"the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma-and-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/2025\/01\/21\/the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma-and-government\/","title":{"rendered":"The Un-Merry-Go-Round of Media, Pharma, and Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma-and-government\/\">The Un-Merry-Go-Round of Media, Pharma, and Government<\/a><br \/>\nby <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/author\/lori-weintz\/\">Lori Weintz<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\">Brownstone Institute<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/play.ht\/embed\/?article_url=https:\/\/play.ht\/drafts\/VNtZn92Yxve7RsXivZySefxGa2k2\/d60hHgG5A&amp;voice=en-US-JennyNeural\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"90px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><em>A scientific journal on Tuesday retracted the March 2020 study that introduced the world to hydroxychloroquine early in the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 and confirmed that the attention was undeserved from the start\u2026The International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, which is owned by Elsevier and the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, issued a formal retraction.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/health\/2024\/12\/17\/hydroxychloroquine-study-covid-19-retracted-trump\/77051671007\/\">USA Today<\/a>, December 18, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, most people gave little thought to medical journals, pharmaceutical companies, and government regulatory agencies. Any passing thought was likely to involve the idea that medical journals were credible, helpful drugs were being developed, the taxpayer funded FDA was scrupulously testing for safety and effectiveness before approving products, and the media was doing its best to report both sides of every story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now we\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/tidal-waves-dont-discriminate\/\">know better<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-global-scandal\">A Global Scandal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The above referenced\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0article states that the study and its retraction are the \u201ccornerstone of a global scandal.\u201d That\u2019s true, but not for the reasons the reporter indicates. In fact,\u00a0<strong>the assault on Raoult is bold evidence that the forces which harmed the world\u2019s population during the Covid-19 pandemic continue to work unabated, at the expense of our health and well-being.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" type=\"text\/html\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups\" width=\"336\" height=\"550\" align=\"right\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%; margin:40px;\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?asin=B0CXDC4BVY&amp;preview=inline&amp;linkCode=kpe&amp;ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_8BN0TGYRC3MASWK836XX\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past we would have assumed the Journal knew what it was doing, that Raoult\u2019s study was deserving of revocation, and that\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0was providing balanced reporting on the situation. After all, what do most people know about medical research and studies? Even those in the medical field often rely on what they read in the professional journals to help stay up to date on the latest in medicine. The public expects media to be a check on corporate and government corruption, but we\u2019ve been betrayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-punishing-those-who-oppose-the-official-narrative\">Punishing Those Who Oppose the Official Narrative<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Didier Raoult\u2019s situation is emblematic of the rot that was revealed throughout the medical, media, and regulatory industries during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/strong>In relation to the retraction four years later of Raoult\u2019s hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) study, consider the following excerpt from my book,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mechanisms-Harm-Medicine-Time-Covid-19\/dp\/163069262X\">Mechanisms of Harm: Medicine in the Time of Covid-19<\/a>, published by Brownstone Institute in April of this year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Marseilles, France, Dr. Didier Raoult\u2019s team conducted a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/covexit.com\/professor-didier-raoult-releases-the-results-of-a-new-hydroxychloroquine-treatment-study-on-1061-patients\/\">study of 1,061 patients<\/a> treated for Covid with a combination of HCQ and azithromycin from March 3-April 9, 2020. The study reported, \u201cA good clinical outcome and virological cure was obtained in 973 patients within 10 days (91.7%).\u201d*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study further noted,\u00a0<strong>\u201cThe HCQ-AZ combination, when started immediately after diagnosis, is a safe and efficient treatment for COVID-19, with a mortality rate of 0.5%, in elderly patients. It avoids worsening and clears virus persistence and contagiosity in most cases.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A microbiological and clinical scientist, at the time of this study Raoult was the most highly-published infectious diseases expert in Europe, and was founder and head of the IHN Mediterranee research hospital, the premier infectious disease facility in France.\u00a0<strong>Raoult was familiar with earlier studies of HCQ as an infective inhibitor of coronavirus disease progression. His report was likely influential in the FDA\u2019s initial approval of HCQ for the treatment of Covid.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">HCQ was over-the-counter in France for decades before some behind-the-scenes\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenddemocracy.press\/why-france-is-hiding-a-cheap-and-tested-virus-cure\/\">political<\/a>\u00a0maneuvering led to its reclassification as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/jorf\/id\/JORFTEXT000041400024\">poisonous substance<\/a>\u201d in January 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>When Raoult released his findings in May 2020,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alexledsom\/2020\/05\/10\/hydroxychloroquinenumber-of-prescriptions-explode-in-france\/?sh=18c3fa7c180f\">prescriptions<\/a>\u00a0for HCQ went from an average of 50 per day to several hundred, and then even thousands. The French government\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alexledsom\/2020\/05\/26\/france-says-no-to-prescribing-hydroxychloroquine-after-lancet-study\/?sh=22618d0324b5\">quickly acted<\/a>\u00a0to recommend it not be prescribed for Covid except in clinical trials, in part based on the falsified\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.371.6527.331\">Surgisphere study<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raoult continued to have success using HCQ, combined with other drugs, as a treatment for Covid-19. From March 2020 through December 2021 Raoult conducted a retrospective cohort\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2023.04.03.23287649v1\">study<\/a>\u00a0of 30,423 Covid-19 patients.\u00a0<strong>A pre-print version of the study concluded that, \u201cHCQ prescribed early or late protects in part from COVID-19-related death.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would appear that Raoult poked a hornet\u2019s nest in conducting a routine study using routine drugs with decades\u2019 long safety profiles. After the pre-print of the study was published in March 2023, a group of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/europe\/20230528-french-researchers-slam-former-hospital-director-for-unauthorised-covid-trial\">French research bodies<\/a>\u00a0called for Raoult to be disciplined for the \u201csystematic prescription of medications as varied as hydroxychloroquine, zinc, ivermectin and azithromycin to patients suffering from Covid-19 without a solid pharmacological basis and lacking any proof of their effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just to review:\u00a0<strong>Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are on the World Health Organization\u2019s list of essential meds and have almost no side effects or interactions with other medications.\u00a0<\/strong>Zinc is an essential nutrient found in a variety of plant and animal foods and is available in pill form in any drug store. Azithromycin is an antibiotic widely prescribed for decades and is also a WHO essential medicine.\u00a0<strong>Multiple doctors and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19criticalcare.com\/studies\/\">hundreds of studies<\/a>\u00a0have found ample evidence that these and other off-label meds were effective in treating Covid patients.<\/strong>\u00a0Just what are these French research bodies so worried about?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-biased-media-leads-to-public-harm\">Biased Media Leads to Public Harm<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The information and links in the above excerpt from\u00a0<em>Mechanisms of Harm<\/em>\u00a0are all from publicly available sources, which reporters should be accessing when covering these types of news stories. Instead, too often Legacy media has a cozy relationship with Big Pharma advertising dollars, and government regulatory agencies. In the case of this USA Today article, it appears the reporter\u00a0<strong>took quotes and info given to him by those with an interest in discrediting Didier Raoult, without presenting the other side of the story, which means this particular\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>USA Today<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0article is more propaganda than news.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-hydroxychloroquine-is-safe-unless-given-in-toxic-doses\">Hydroxychloroquine Is Safe Unless Given in Toxic Doses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0article quotes the French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics saying that Raoult\u2019s paper \u201cconstituted a clear example of scientific misconduct\u2026to falsely present the drug as effective against Covid-19.\u201d\u00a0<strong>The society claims, without citing any evidence, that Raoult\u2019s work led to \u2018unwarranted risks to millions of people and potentially thousands of avoidable deaths.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hydroxychloroquine has been used for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccjm.org\/content\/85\/6\/459\">more than 60 years<\/a>\u00a0to treat malaria and other diseases, and has such a good safety profile that it is<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>routinely given to pregnant women and children. It is an over-the-counter medicine in many countries. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/those-published-17000-hydroxychloroquine-deaths-never-happened\/\">alleged \u201cserious side effects\u201d<\/a>\u00a0from HCQ only occur if the patient is overdosed<\/strong>, a fact that was established by the World Health Organization\u2019s consultant, H. Weniger, hired in 1979 to look at episodes of adult\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iris.who.int\/handle\/10665\/65773\">poisoning by chloroquine drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dr. Richard Urso,<\/strong>\u00a0another early proponent of using HCQ to treat Covid-19, stated,\u00a0<strong>\u201cThe whole political situation has driven the fear toward this drug.\u201d He explained that the safety profile for HCQ is safer than aspirin, Motrin, and Tylenol, but noted that the large clinical trials testing HCQ against Covid-19 were set up to fail. Dr. Urso said they \u201cused massive toxic doses and guess what they found out? When you use massive toxic doses, you get toxic results.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0He explained that HCQ concentrates in the lungs, which is where Covid-19 disease develops. Dr. Urso noted that combined with zinc, HCQ is highly effective as both a prophylaxis and early treatment of Covid-19 disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weintz, Lori. Mechanisms of Harm: Medicine in the Time of Covid-19 (p. 69). Brownstone Institute. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dr. Urso, Dr. Raoult, and many others, including Dr. Tony Fauci, knew at the beginning of the pandemic that hydroxychloroquine was a prime candidate for treating Covid-19.<\/strong>\u00a0A National Institutes of Health\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC1232869\/\">(NIH) study<\/a>\u00a0found in 2005 that chloroquine, a precursor to HCQ, was a \u201cpotent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread\u201d in cell culture studies. Chloroquine had also shown promise against MERS in vitro.\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0failed to mention this relevant history about HCQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-elsevier-and-compromised-medical-journals\">Elsevier and Compromised Medical Journals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0article exhibits an odd lack of curiosity about Elsevier, the part owner of the journal that retracted Raoult\u2019s study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wikipedia identifies\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Elsevier\">Elsevier<\/a>\u00a0as \u201ca Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content.\u201d The motto on Elsevier\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsevier.com\/\">webpage<\/a>\u00a0is \u201cFor the benefit of society,\u201d and states, \u201cWe help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve healthcare outcomes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However,\u00a0<strong>Elsevier is a multi-billion dollar for-profit company that owns many of the medical and scientific journals, and has been accused by multiple sources of having a negative impact on research sharing.<\/strong>\u00a0Its high subscription prices, and its support of organizations that wish to prohibit open-access to articles and studies, has led to paywalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>While abstracts are freely available, access to the full text of articles is often pay-per-view or by subscription, even for studies that were funded by public tax dollars. <\/strong>Elsevier has also created a situation where researchers are sometimes blocked from their own published work due to company policy on research and copyright.\u00a0<strong>Editorial boards of journals (often nonprofit) have resigned due to disputes with Elsevier over pricing, and librarians have boycotted Elsevier in response to pricing schemes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>While ignoring Elsevier\u2019s less than honorable business model, the\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>USA Today<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0article does note just 3 of the 18 authors of the retracted study agreed to withdraw it. Lead author Didier Raoult was not among the three, and apparently neither he, nor anyone who might share a counter perspective for the article, was interviewed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-hcq-was-approved-by-the-fda-to-treat-covid-19\">HCQ Was Approved by the FDA to Treat Covid-19<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0article states, \u201cIn 2020, then-President Donald Trump said he had been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7nkwE3didNo\">taking hydroxychloroquine<\/a>\u00a0to prevent a COVID-19 infection, despite warnings by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its effectiveness.\u201d However, in\u00a0<strong>May 2020 when Pres. Trump said he was taking HCQ, it was emergency use authorized by the FDA for treating Covid-19, and was being tested in several clinical trials.<\/strong>\u00a0It was not until June 15, 2020 that the FDA revoked its EUA approval for HCQ to treat Covid-19, stating \u201cthe known and potential benefits of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FDA cited concerns over \u201ccardiac adverse events and other potential serious side effects,\u201d and \u201crecent results from a large randomized clinical trial in hospitalized patients.\u201d As stated earlier serious side effects from HCQ would only result from overdose.\u00a0<strong>The details behind the sabotage of clinical trials testing HCQ as a treatment for Covid-19 can be found\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/hydroxychloroquine-hcq\/\">here<\/a>, but the short version<\/strong>\u00a0behind the motive is this: By the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/medical-devices\/covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices\/faqs-emergency-use-authorizations-euas-medical-devices-related-covid-19\">FDA\u2019s own rules<\/a>, under section 564 of the FD&#038;C Act, the FDA can only give Emergency Use Authorization to an experimental vaccine if there is no other effective treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>If Covid-19 could be treated effectively with already FDA-approved meds, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, there would be no legal justification to give Emergency Use Authorization to the Covid vaccines in development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weintz, Lori. Mechanisms of Harm: Medicine in the Time of Covid-19 (p. 74). Brownstone Institute. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An article like the\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0column referred to in this post is problematic not only because of what it says, but because of what it doesn\u2019t say. The real story is how already FDA approved drugs, which multiple doctors were finding effective at treating Covid-19, were sabotaged and suppressed to make way for highly profitable, poorly tested, ineffective, and harmful Emergency Use Authorized medications and vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conflicts-of-interest-at-the-fda-and-nih\">Conflicts of Interest at the FDA and NIH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is a need to separate Big Pharma and other third party dollars from being paid to regulatory agencies. A<strong>lmost half of the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/05\/why-is-the-fda-funded-in-part-by-the-companies-it-regulates-2\/\">budget<\/a>\u00a0comes from the pharmaceutical companies whose products the FDA approves and regulates.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In another conflict of interest,\u00a0<strong>National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists receive\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/non-profit-watchdog-uncovers-350-million-in-secret-payments-to-fauci-collins-others-at-nih-4454636\">royalties<\/a>\u00a0on product discoveries.\u00a0<\/strong>NIH is described on its website as \u201cthe nation\u2019s medical research agency,\u201d with billions of taxpayer dollars going toward research each year. A May 2022 report from government watchdog group Open the Books notes that, \u201cEssentially, taxpayer money funding NIH research benefits researchers employed by NIH because they are listed as patent inventors and therefore receive royalty payments from licensees.\u201d Open the Books estimates \u201cup to $350 million in royalties from third parties were paid to NIH scientists during the fiscal years between 2010 and 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Open the Books, notes,\u00a0<strong>\u201cWhen an NIH employee makes a discovery in their official capacity, the NIH owns the rights to any resulting patent. These patents are then licensed for commercial use to companies that could use them to bring products to market.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Open the Books states, \u201c[N]one of these payments are receiving any scrutiny whatsoever and to the extent that a company [is] making payments to either leadership or scientists, while also receiving grants&#8230;then that just on its face is a conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although separate agencies, both are under the umbrella of Health and Human Services, in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/crs.od.nih.gov\/CRSPublic\/View.aspx?Id=5574\">2010<\/a>\u00a0the NIH and FDA entered into a Joint Leadership Council Charter to facilitate \u201ccollaboration between NIH and FDA\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/science-research\/advancing-regulatory-science\/fda-nih-joint-leadership-council-charter\">noting<\/a>, \u201c<strong>The NIH and FDA \u201cshare a common goal of advancing public health by promoting the translation of basic and clinical research findings into medical products and therapies.\u00a0<\/strong>The agencies are complementary in their roles and functions\u2014NIH supports and conducts biomedical and behavioral research and FDA ensures the safety and effectiveness of medical and other products.\u201d That sounds good on paper, but as we\u2019ve experienced in the past five years, these agencies are not protecting the public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also the problem of the so-called revolving door between the FDA and pharmaceutical companies. For example,\u00a0<strong>nine out of the last 10\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/12\/14\/citing-multimillion-dollar-big-pharma-ties-sanders-vote-no-bidens-pick-fda-chief\">FDA commissioners<\/a>went on to work for the pharmaceutical industry or to serve on a prescription drug company\u2019s board of directors after leaving the FDA.\u00a0<\/strong>Then there is the reality of Big Pharma campaign contributions and lobbying to Congress.\u00a0<strong>Fully two thirds of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/feature\/prescription-politics\/federal-full-data-set\/\">Congress cashed a check<\/a>\u00a0from the pharmaceutical industry ahead of the 2020 election according to STAT news.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There aren\u2019t many articles on these topics in the mainstream media, because the system is largely corrupted. Big money and powerful forces are behind the drive to keep the current system in place. Take note of how often your program or news is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/pfizer-vaccination-ads-news-sponsorships-research\/\">brought to you by Pfizer<\/a>,\u201d or another drug company.\u00a0<strong>Consider the fact that only two countries in the world allow direct marketing of pharmaceuticals to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.harvard.edu\/medications\/do-not-get-sold-on-drug-advertising\">public<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the United States and New Zealand.<\/strong>\u00a0Big Pharma and pharma-related corporations have outsized influence over our media, the scientific and medical journals, and our government regulatory agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-time-to-shake-up-the-status-quo\">Time to Shake up the Status Quo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We need accountability, and a separation of Big Pharma money from the agencies that regulate medical research and pharmaceutical products. Also, it\u2019s time to put a stop to the myriad commercials that end with \u201cask your doctor about (fill in the blank).\u201d\u00a0<strong>If the Legacy media can\u2019t survive without Big Pharma advertising dollars, then it\u2019s time for a new media model.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the incoming Trump Administration, and the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as director of the Department of Health and Human Services, we have the chance for a desperately needed course correction.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Republished from the author&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontopicwithlori.com\/p\/the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma\">Substack<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma-and-government\/\">The Un-Merry-Go-Round of Media, Pharma, and Government<\/a><br \/>\nby <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/author\/lori-weintz\/\">Lori Weintz<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\">Brownstone Institute &#8211; Daily Economics, Policy, Public Health, Society<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"attribution\">The post <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/the-un-merry-go-round-of-media-pharma-and-government\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Un-Merry-Go-Round of Media, Pharma, and Government<\/a> was first published by <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Brownstone Institute<\/a>, and is republished under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Please support their efforts.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Un-Merry-Go-Round of Media, Pharma, and Government<br \/>\nby Lori Weintz at Brownstone Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":2364597,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2364595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2364595"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2364598,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364595\/revisions\/2364598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2364597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2364595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2364595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monetizemail.com\/magatoon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2364595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}