Institutionalized Murder
MV Courage

Pharmakeia or pharmakon? Mercury laced flu shots, dental amalgam, thimerosal, warfarin, digitalis, and pharmaceutical synthetics are considered medicine while natural herbs and essential oils are thought of as mere potions or even sorcery by the FDA and traditional pharmacology business commonly referred to as Big Pharma. Big Pharma, derived from PhRMA-the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is worth roughly around 300 billion US dollars and wields enormous influence over modern Western medicine, insurance, litigation, government, and health with leverage from huge profits and about 3,000 paid lobbyists. Harvard Business School Professor William George asked, “Is the role of leading large pharmaceutical companies to discover lifesaving drugs or to make money for shareholders through financial engineering?” Pfitzer made a bid to buy AstraZeneca and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International takeover bid for Allergan have monetary gains of lower tax liabilities and another income stream. Biopharmaceutical companies are expensive to run under high risk-only significant profits will guarantee solvency. Clinical trials and drug development are chosen by the significant profit margin and medical breakthrough. For example, aspirin has been a generic drug since 1919 with a cost less than $6.00 for a year supply and may improve survival and reduce the recurrence of some cancers. But running clinical trials to prove or disprove the benefits of aspirin in cancer treatment will not produce a monetary return of investment leaving investors with no interest to invest in a pharmaceutical company without a high return of investment.

Mercury
Mercury is still used in FDA approved flu shots and dental amalgam. Is it safe? Clinical trials and scientific evidence suggest that it is poisonous and has no medicinal benefit to the human body. Dental amalgam is a filling material, known as silver fillings, for teeth containing 43 to 54 percent mercury. Silver in the fillings is a very small, minor percentage of the silver fillings marketed by dentists.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found little scientific evidence that mercury in dental amalgam is dangerous or a health risk. In 2004, a new report entitled Review and Analysis of the Literature on the Potential Adverse Health Effects of Dental Amalgam by the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support a correlation between dental amalgam exposure and kidney or cognitive dysfunction; neurodegenerative disease, specifically Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease; or autoimmune disease, including multiple sclerosis. The European Commission Health and Consumers found that mercury in dental amalgam can release small amounts of mercury in the body breathing in mercury vapor and by swallowing mercury leaching from the tooth fillings or small pieces that break from the filling release the mercury inside the gut. Workplace exposure on a long-term and regular basis will affect the central nervous system, kidneys, and cause inflammation of the gums. High exposure to mercury will produce bronchitis and pneumonia. Other than an allergic reactions in some patients, dental amalgam is found to be an effective, strong, durable and economical tooth filling that will outlast other materials.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency found that the health effects of mercury occur when it is breathed as a vapor where it can be absorbed through the lungs. These exposures can occur when elemental mercury is spilled or products that contain elemental mercury break and expose mercury to the air, particularly in warm or poorly-ventilated indoor spaces. The symptoms of mercury poisoning are tremors, emotional changes, nervousness, insomnia, neuromuscular changes, headaches, and changes in nerve responses. Higher exposures may cause kidney damage, respiratory failure and death. Mercury poisonings are caused from unsafe fish, not dental amalgam.
Thimerosal, containing about 50% mercury by weight, is a widely used preservative in flu vaccines. It is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate. Ethylmercury is an organomercurial that does not bioaccumulates like methylmercury making it less toxic to the human body. Big pharma finds that thimerosal meets the requirements as a preservative by preventing growth of fungi and killing pathogens. Many research studies into the effects of safe doses of ethylmercury in vaccinations have claimed that the levels are safe; however, as a precautionary measure, the Public Health Service, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the CDC, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the American Academy of Pediatrics urged vaccine manufacturers to reduce or eliminate thimerosal in vaccines as soon as possible (CDC 1999) and (CDC 2000). Today there are two flu vaccines available, one containing thimerosal and one without. Warfarin, digitalis, and pharmaceutical synthetics Warfarin, also known as Coumadin, is a rat poison and the most widely used anticoagulant. During the 1920s, many cattle in the United States and Canada became inflicted with a disease characterized by fatal bleeding. Sweet clove was found to have a hemorrhagic factor that reduces prothrombin, an essential blood clotting mechanism in the blood. In 1948, the synthesis of warfarin led to an FDA approved rodenticide in 1952. In 1954, warfarin, named after WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) and–arin from coumarin was approved for human consumption as a therapeutic blood thinner. One of warfarin’s biggest success is its effectiveness in preventing embolic strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, its narrow therapeutic index also makes it the number three on the list of drugs implicated for hospital treatment of adverse effects. Digitalis, the purple foxglove, digitalis purpurea, is an effective cardio-active drug. It is a steroid that exerts specific action on the cardiac muscles. The plant has been used by gypsies and other healers as a remedy for heart problems for many years. The discovery for its use by a medical doctor started in 18th century Scotland by Dr. William Withering. In 1775, one of his patients came to him with a very bad heart condition. Unable to help, his patient went instead to a local gypsy and took a secret herbal remedy and promptly became well. Dr. Withering found the gypsy and finally convinced her for the herbal remedy’s active ingredient, purple foxglove.
Since the dark ages, the extract of this plant was used as a poison for the mediaeval 'trial by ordeal', and also used as an external application for the healing of wounds. Dr. Withering used various formulations of digitalis plant extracts on 163 patients. The dried, powdered leaf produced amazingly and successful results. He introduced its use officially in 1785 and today digitalis is the best treatment to control heart rate by increasing the intensity of the heart muscle contractions and diminishing the rate. Similar to Coumadin, digitalis is also toxic. The FDA approved its use in 1998; however big Pharma does not promote its use due to the promotion of other newly patented drugs. Natural remedies in herbs and essential oils has been used heavily in Egypt, China, ancient Rome and Greece, the Arabian Empire, and Europe during the Dark Ages and Renaissance for medicine, beauty, religion, aromatherapy, and in some cases, as a very valuable form of exchange. Today, many people are also healed and find the more natural remedies and beauty treatments better than a list of chemicals, synthetics, and diluted toxic ingredients with study results. The FDA does not regulate natural herbs and oils and little or no research is conducted to prove or disprove a use for a specific treatment. The purpose and results of the natural substances is not supported by Big Pharma and modern medicine leaving the actual results and use to be determined by marketing and personal testimony. The selectivity and profit of pharmaceutical companies determines what actually is worth the cost associated to run a study and what is not. Is the control on health a form of institutionalized murder by the government and big Pharma? Prescriptions based on study protocol by pharmaceutical companies controls health care leaving out other options that may improve or save a life. So what is the Pharmakeia and what is the pharmakon and who determines it?

SOURCES http://www.lsro.org/presentation_files/amalgam/amalgam_pressrelease.pdf http://www.toxicteeth.org/mercuryFillings.aspx http://ec.europa.eu/health/opinions/en/dental-amalgam/l-3/4-health-effects-amalgams.htm#2p0 http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228#thi

Br J Clin Pharmacol. Nov 2006; 62(5): 509–511., Warfarin: almost 60 years old and still causing problems
, British Pharmacology Society. Downloaded November 20, 2014: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1885167/