Media should tackle the pill merchants

SOCIETY has relied on whistleblowers for decades to give us truth that corrupt scientists and company executives have kept hidden.

Asbestos, lead, thalidomide, sugar, radiation, salt, mercury dental fillings and, until relatively recently, even cigarettes were all given “safe” labels by scientists who were directly or indirectly in the pay of the seller.

Fortunately for humanity, the truth will out and now it’s the turn of the pharmaceutical industry to face a growing army of whistleblowers and victims – billion dollar legal fund or not.

There is far more evidence to show that some psychiatric pills can produce violent, suicidal and/or psychotic behaviour in people than there is to show that they have ever cured one single person of anything at all.

Several psychiatrists in the US have been formally charged with taking millions of dollars from Big Pharma to push their pills, legally or otherwise. Eli Lilly was fined €1.4 billion dollars – the largest fine in US history – until Pfizer was ordered to pay €2.3bn for similar malpractice in drug marketing earlier this year. How long do the more open-minded, “whole-person” psychiatrists such as American Dr Peter Breggin and Irishman Dr Michael Corry have to fight against the dangerous side-effects of many psychiatric pills.

Yes, they can occasionally help temporarily in a very limited number of cases but psychiatric pills have featured in random mass murders just as they have almost certainly caused many suicides.

It is well past time that the media joined in the fight to clean up psychiatry and its unhealthy relationship with Big Pharma. We need genuine mental health, not drugs, especially in these stressful times.

Dick Barton

Kevin Street

Tinahely

Co Wicklow