I watched Dark Water and it is about a chemical company getting away with poisoning people’s water. What do you guys think is it not familiar?
Good movie.
Yea, I think the film portrays one of many instances where corporations screw people over. This happens all the time, for all kinds of reasons -
- regulatory capture (2008 banking bailout, the opiate crisis, homeowners in California)
- diffuse losses, concentrated gains (pollution, global warming, tax preparation industry)
- poorly written or enforced regulation (Criminalizing LSD, unsafe/collapsing buildings)
- victims are not the customers (Bhopal disaster, lack of workplace safety)
- people want easy, quick satisfaction (fast food)
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I don’t see the similarities.
One is about dumping poison in drinking water.
The other is supplying people with a drug with adverse effects, but they chose themself to use it.
Doctors not giving the full extent of possible side effects is obviously not good. But in the other side I think people should research what they put in their bodies.
I don’t hold a grudge against big pharma or any doctor. I knew about possible side effects, but I didn’t quite understand how persistent they could be, mostly because of the lack of data on that end. This is why we need more research, not point fingers.
I took it from the late 90s when no sides were advised. It was portrayed as a safe drug. I have 4 pages of symptoms some of which are life changing and quite serious. I’ve lost so much and suffer intensely. Merck knew of the side profile yet buried them to protect sales as reported by Reuters. I did not make an informed choice. I am very angry with them and also put the loss of many lives firmly at their door. They were also embroiled in the Viox scandal which killed thousands of people. Sorry @Cbrandel I’m very passionate about this. If there was a treatment or some sort of acknowledgement id maybe feel differently.
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I understand you. And my post was a bit ignorant.
Being born in the 90’s and growing up on the internet with all the information avaliable does skew your perspective a bit.
Being from a older generation sure made it harder to gain information about this stuff. So you pretty much had to rely on your doctor.
Do you have any link to that Reuters article btw? I’d love to read it. I’m not surprised if they knew. Kind of remind me of Dupont with their Teflon.
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You shouldn’t hold any grudge against the doctor either way…Im a doctor and i took finasteride…Why? Becuz i read the studies and science and it was all purple…PFS is a rare disease if we like it or not, and that makes it very hard to be recognized
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I got the link for you https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-courts-secrecy-propecia/
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I’m surprised more people don’t know about the Reuters investigation. It’s very good journalism that dispels the biggest lie about PFS not being real, by proving that there was at least one man from their clinical trials who was persistently effected.
Also interesting that back then, Merck didn’t try to say he was delusional or psychosomatic. They entirely accepted this was a possible outcome of using finasteride.
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A urologist gave me avodart 14 years ago and wrote in my medical records that they discussed the risks of the medication with me . Complete lie . Zero discussion of risks with Dut
Luckily I did not get PFS from the 30 days on dut though . And if I did I would feel like I have a bone to pick with that urologist . That’s dishonest. And I do believe the Dut caused damage setting me up to get PFS from saw P 4 years later. But ultimately it was my decision to unnecessarily put saw P in my body that was in a body building supplement that did me in
Dark Waters dumping of forever chemicals and the PFS problem are pretty similar. The US and Western Europe, to a lesser extent, are deeply capitalist economies which are great at generating material wealth for its citizens but sometimes the financial incentives to pursue certain activities are so strong that culture or organizations get corrupted. People in these organizations don’t pay attention to the societal impacts of what they’re doing, they often have little reason to look into them if they don’t have to, and occasionally sociopaths take bribes to serve their needs over those they are supposed to be serving.
This is the nature of capitalism and it has advantages and disadvantages. Some people benefit much more than others and some get hurt much more than others. Similar problem with regulatory agencies, medical industry, legal system etc. They were designed to serve the interests of the people, human made systems will always be imperfect, and we are such a small number that slipped through a narrow crack that it will be awhile before we’re discovered.
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@Cbrandel no worries mate. I was one of the first to take this and therefore fully reliant on the leaflet which covered next to nothing it didn’t even explain that it was primarily for prostate cancer as I would have not taken it for that reason alone. Because I suffered from rheumatoid arthritis it mudied the waters. I visited my Dr because of the new unexplainable symptoms which were put down to personal stress which is often still the case today. I’m as much an internet user as anyone else but info about this god damn disease didn’t start to filter through until an increasing number of men started having problems. I continued to take the drug on and off for years it was during the last decade when things really started to fall apart emotionally etc “I’d already had test cancer but put that behind me” I started to look for answers elsewhere as I knew there was something seriously going on as more and more sides appeared. Nothing came up about Propecia on symptom searches alone and I wasn’t plugged into pharma/ corporate corruption and found anti establishment people quite negative. I was the opposite i believed in standards, regulations etc and even beat that drum would talk people around in the workplace etc and even distanced myself from such people. Which ironically is what some have since done to me When I finally joined up the dots 4 years ago I was absolutely shaken to the core. My health has deteriorated dramatically since as post fin has taken a massive toll. My eyes have been opened to some of what actually goes on in the name of profit, competition to get drugs to market. I thought thalidomide was a one off but casualities are an acceptable consequence in this industry. Doctors are not to blame but denying desperate sufferers and in the face of growing evidence is unacceptable. I don’t believe this condition is as rare as some think ive come across cases locally via word of mouth alone.An inability to diagnose medically and as a consequence having to learn to live with it will be more common place than we think. That was me for years I ended up here because I continued to take it. Repeated use has been established as a key in worsening of symptoms in some. There’ll also be others who won’t be hit until they come off for whatever reason after potentially years of use. How many went to the grave in ignorance like Robin Williams and Heath Ledger. Merck knew this was unsafe all along but I don’t think they fully realised how broad the damage was/is as it’s only after years that the picture is now fully developing. I expect prostate cancer guys are suffering too in lower number per ratio because of reduced testost levels but their complaints will be angled towards cancer complications. One day this will all come out when we will be exonerated. In the meantime it’s about getting this injustice out there and all of is playing a part in helping towards that.
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Interesting read, thank you.
Really sucks they didn’t publish all of Mercks data though.
I get such Deja vu to DuPont. There’s a nice documentary on it.
The legislation when it comes to novel chemicals are disgusting.
You can put something out without doing extensive research on it’s safety profile. Not before someone shows it dangerous will you have to withdraw it.
Should be the other way around. But on the other hand, that is how pharma works and it’s still no guarantee it’s safe.
Even though I love science, I strongly believe humankind was best off in the stone age. The amount of damage science has brought upon the world is almost uncomprehensible.
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