dras knowledge

Friday, April 11, 2003

How come the AMA doesn't have a position statement on Marxism?

Many professional medical organizations publish position statements in support of routine vaccination based on the simple fact that they prevent disease and death, but depend on "herd immunity" to be truly effective in preventing epidemics in a society.

I do think there's something just not right with the chiropractor associations using a political rather than medical argument for being Anti-vaccination, exclaming in formal position statements that nothing should be compulsory. Well, nothing is said by the other medical organizations about vaccines being compulsory, at least without explaining the plain facts of science as to why. So, here we have a professional medical organization ignoring the medical science and essentially destroying the intent thereof by trying to change the whole issue into a political argument. When I want to know about "freedom of choice" I go straight to a chiropractic position statement. Hey, how come the AMA doesn't publish a position statement on Marxism?

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

The making of a disease

This journalist authored commentary in the BMJ offers some perceptions into the driving factors in today's medicine. The topic example is a little uncomfortable, and is not the point for posting. Many conditions for which a specific drug treats, that a specific drug-maker markets, will have a similar scenerio.
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7379/45

Summary points
Researchers with close ties to drug companies are defining and classifying a new medical disorder at company sponsored meetings
The corporate sponsored definitions of "female sexual dysfunction" are being criticised as misleading and potentially dangerous
Commonly cited prevalence estimates, which indicate that 43% of women have "female sexual dysfunction," are described as exaggerated and are being questioned by leading researchers
Controversy surrounds current attempts to medicalise sexual problems and establish "normative data" for a range of physiological measurements of female sexual response
The role of drug companies in the construction of new conditions, disorders, and diseases needs more public scrutiny