What a surprise! Your lovely Big Pharma has been alleged to have been caught lying, cheating, stealing and killing on a massive scale.

The huge American company Merck is alleged to have been indulging in massive fraud by issuing fake research made up by journalists from it's own in house staff and passing it off as peer reviewed studies by independent scientists. Using these fake reviews they engaged in a massive “campaign of deception” to promote Vioxx, a drug that has caused over 100,000 heart attacks and well over 50,000 deaths!

Lawsuits filed by victims of this fraud reveal that it appears Merck used its own staff as reviewers and then paid fees (bribes) to University researchers to pin their name to Merck’s in-house research. This scheme made the studies appear independent and unbiased, allowing them to carry more apparent credibility to FDA officials, doctors and other scientists.

This alleged fraud was conducted to boost the apparent scientific credibility of the studies backing Vioxx, a drug that has caused well over 100,000 heart attacks and likely killed well over 50,000 Americans according to Senate testimony by the FDA's own senior drug safety researcher Dr. David Graham.

Vioxx earned Merck $2.3 billion in 2003 alone, and was one of the most lucrative drugs ever sold by any company. But since 2004, when some of the real dangers of the drug became known, a tremendous amount of evidence leading to fraud has surfaced.

It is alleged that Merck deliberately lied about the dangers of the drug, misrepresented the results of scientific studies, deceived the FDA to win drug approval, knowingly covered up evidence of the drug's dangers, and now it seems Merck even conducted a deliberate campaign of deceptive ghostwriting designed to attach independent-sounding names to in-house studies that were essentially pro-Vioxx promotional pieces disguised as scientific reports.

If these allegations prove to be true, and the evidence is overwhelming that they are, the threat to Americans' health from Merck far outweighs any threat to national security by terrorists.

Consider this: The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed just under 5,000 Americans. Yet just one drug from Merck has killed over 50,000 (and that's a conservative estimate). That's more than ten times the number of Americans killed in our current war on terrorism!

If you are waiting to see Merck’s management arrested and jailed for the murder of 50,000 Americans, don’t hold your breath. In America it seems that we have the best justice money can buy. Only people who don’t have enough money to afford a good lawyer go to jail for such things.

What's interesting about this latest revelation of alleged Merck fraud is that the documents revealing the depth of this fraud were only made public due to lawsuits filed by citizens who claim they were harmed by Merck's drugs.

What is even more disturbing, is that the television media that profits most from drug advertising has completely failed to cover this incredible story. Only the print media has covered the deception. Of course, given that 40% of our nation’s children are high-school dropouts and half of the other 60% can’t read or write at a third grade level, few Americans are aware of the problem.

This stands in stark contrast to the massive anti-supplement, anti-water, anti-health-food propaganda orchestrated on television during the last several weeks by these same pharmaceutical giants!

Using phony meta-studies that pose as scientific research the pharmaceutical companies have issued “press-releases” widely proliferated on television from supposedly independent sources that discredit about every common-sense health practice people can follow.

By getting people to avoid sunshine out of fear of cancer they boost sales of anti-depressant drugs. By getting people to avoid anti-oxidants they boost sales of pharmaceuticals used to treat cancer. By getting people to drink soda instead of water they boost sales of anti-arthritic drugs, anti-inflammatories, medicines for acid-reflux and more. By discrediting the use of water treatment and promoting the fluoridation of water they get to sell more heart medications, and drugs designed to treat a variety of hormonal and skeletal problems, as well as cancer.

All this happens because the FDA, the American media, our medical schools, and professional organizations like the AMA are not doing their job. Cozy relationships between drug giants and these organizations mean that those American consumers who rely on either government or health-care providers for their safety are left defenseless.

But no worries – your health insurance will take care of you – if you are one of the few Americans who can afford it. Of course we must remember, they won’t pay for wellness related expenses. They only pay for medical bills that happen after you get the cancer, heart-disease, and other major illnesses that are the result of what you have been encouraged to eat, drink, and the highly profitable synthetic chemicals you have been told to take as medicines. Who wins in this scheme? It is Big Pharma - of course. What a deal they have going!

And don’t count on the television newsmedia for straight information. In case you haven’t noticed, the airwaves are drenched with clever ads for drugs. Networks are not going to jeopardize that income stream for the sake of a little unbiased reporting. After all, how long has it been since you have seen some unbiased reporting about anything - whether or not it means profits.

Alas, what is an honest American citizen to do? God forbid we have to return to the days when we depended upon ourselves and not government to take care of us.

Once more we are reminded of the truth of the ancient wisdom known as Ho’ala Huna.

“The person with the consequences IS the person with the responsibility and, the person with the responsibility IS the person with the authority.”

What this means is that those who give their power away to others in the hope of finding safety are those who have the most to fear.

Another Ho’ala Huna saying is in order here.

“Belief is necessary only for that which is not real. That which is Real can be recognized, and it works – reliably and flawlessly.”

In other words a little common sense goes a long way.