TELLING IT LIKE IT IS-PUBLIC CITIZEN

All of us have been victims of having medicine prescribed for us that turned out to be wrong or useless. Some of us have been prescribed medication that was harmful. So, does it surprise you to know that 115 million people are hospitalized and more than 100,000 people die each year from largely preventable adverse reactions to drugs? I was stunned by that number. How can this be?  Plus, many of those drugs should not have been prescribed in the first place.
 This information comes from the Public Citizen Health Research Group April 2010 Vol. 26, No.4. Their website is: http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=183 
Public Citizen is a well respected non-profit organization that tells it like it is. I'm surprised at the amount of misinformation I get in emails from well meaning friends about diets, herbal treatments, food supplements, politics, and any number of subjects we are all common to. Sometimes I think we are an anti-scientific people. We will buy into anything that sounds plausible without thinking about the science of it. I'm guilty as well.  Reading Public Citizen's Newsletter helps me stay on top of things.

Public Citizen regularly publishes products that have been recalled such as dangerous toys, items that crack or break when used according to directions, fuel pumps that leak, drug labeling mix-ups, drugs that have missing ingredients in them, tools that don't work as described, good drugs and bad drugs, contraband drugs that have been diluted on the black market, etc. They provide a wealth of useful, in depth,  information on many subjects. A friend once told me, Mary, you are so smart. Not true. I read smart.

Some years back, our local newspaper, the Calaveras Enterprise,  made National news because they published the names of sex offenders in our county. Apparently, it had never been done before.

I guess my wish list is this:


Major newspapers should publish the amount of money each political candidate running for election receives from corporations in bold print on a corner of the front page. And  those who have not fully reported where they get their money.

They should publish products that don't meet standards.

They should publish untruths passed as truth from their major competition-the broadcast news.

I could go on and on what I think the most valuable function of a newspaper is. But then, we have an alternative, publications like Public Citizen that do not profit from advertising and contributions from leveraging corporations.

THE SUGAR IS THE DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

Its not bad enough when you get to Metamucil age, but its nuts to have to be a detective to figure out what the labels mean on the products we buy. Not in all cases, but, it is very annoying that the product, Equate Fiber Therapy on the front of the label reads, 100% natural psyllium husk fiber. Doesn't that suggest to you that 100% of the contents of this package, which is meant to "Equate" to Metamucil, the big brand, big seller, is psyllium husk? Heck no! Its major ingredient is sugar. In other words, to obey truth in advertising, it should be reading Sucrose, with added psyillium husk and polysorbate-80, the other item on the list of ingredients. So, just what is polysorbate-80? Well, according to the woman who answered the telephone at Accumed, the company that produces this product for distribution at WalMart, it is a substance that helps the husk to mix with water. And, you have to look carefully to find the company Accumed on the label, as well. What are they trying to hide? Oh! But what about the salt content not listed in the ingredients and, instead listed under "Other information?"
"Those salts are part of the manufacturing process," I was told. Oh, but not in the ingredients? Why, I asked, is there more sugar than husk in this product? Her answer: "To equate to Metamucil."
Oh, boy. She offered to have a company spokesperson call me within 72 hours. The call came within hours and I was told my complaint would be submitted to the label design committee, must be those dummies fault.
If you really want a product without all that sugar with 100% psyllium husk, choose Yerba Prima brand Whole Psyllium Husk. It has NO other ingredients and is available at Trader Joes and a number of other stores and health food stores. And, the company name is prominently printed on the label in big letters. I get a bit fieisty when I've been duped.