Slightly OT, but the whole concept of the "evilness" of Big Pharma is perhaps more of an American thing, with your private healthcare and TV drug adverts. Apart from things like toothpaste and ibuprofen, we are not targeted directly by these companies in the same way perhaps you are in America. This could explain why Americans are more wary of these big companies?
In England where we have the NHS, you tend to just go with the advice of your doctor. They are there to help you, not make money off you, and have no real reason to start giving you unnecessary drugs/treatments. "Big Pharma" has to go through the NHS where hopefully qualified people will judge whether a drug is suitable for patients and there is evidence to support its use.
Now we have had the whole MMR scare which has resulted in measles breakouts, but the attitude was more that the MMR jab was being pushed because it was cheaper, rather than some evil conspiracy theory type thing. No government is going to spend money on something expensive and useless. We mostly leave the insane stuff up to the Americans, though with the internet it does seem to be creeping in a bit more.
In England where we have the NHS, you tend to just go with the advice of your doctor. They are there to help you, not make money off you, and have no real reason to start giving you unnecessary drugs/treatments. "Big Pharma" has to go through the NHS where hopefully qualified people will judge whether a drug is suitable for patients and there is evidence to support its use.
Now we have had the whole MMR scare which has resulted in measles breakouts, but the attitude was more that the MMR jab was being pushed because it was cheaper, rather than some evil conspiracy theory type thing. No government is going to spend money on something expensive and useless. We mostly leave the insane stuff up to the Americans, though with the internet it does seem to be creeping in a bit more.
