Concerning Health Care Costs

• The number of fully industrialized countries other than the U.S. that do not guarantee minimum health care to every single citizen - 0

• U.S. rank among nations in per capita expenditure for medical care - 1st

• U.S. rank among nations in medical malpractice suits - 1st

• U.S. rank among nations in infant mortality - 25th

• Percentage of nations in Western Europe whose infant mortality rates are lower than in the U.S. - 100%

• Percentage of birth attended by midwives in Western Europe - 75%

• Percentage of births attended by midwives in the U.S. - 4%

• Average cost of a midwife-attended birth in the U.S. - $1,200

• Average cost of physician-attended birth in the U.S. - $4,200

• Health care savings obtainable annually by using midwifery care for 75% of pregnancies in the U.S. - $8.5 billion

• Average cost of a cesarean birth in a U.S. hospital - $8,000

• U.S. cesarean rate in for-profit hospitals compared with nonprofit hospitals - nearly double

Concerning The Cancer Industry

• Percentage of cancer patients whose lives are predictably saved by chemotherapy - 3%
• Conclusive evidence for the vast majority of cancers that chemotherapy exerts any positive influence on survival or quality of life - none

• Percentage of oncologists who said if they developed cancer they would not participate in chemotherapy trials because of the “ineffectiveness of it and its unacceptable toxicity” - 75%

• Percentage of people with cancer in the U.S. who receive chemotherapy - 75%

• Company that accounts for nearly half of the chemotherapy sales in the world - Bristol-Meyers Squibb

• Chairman of the board, Bristol-Meyers Squibb - Richard L. Gelb

• Richard L. Gelb’s other job - vice chairman, board of overseers, board of managers,
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

• Director, Ivax, Inc. (a prominent chemotherapy company) - Samuel Broder

• Samuel Broder’s other job (until 1995) - executive director, National Cancer Institute.

Concerning Tobacco And The AMA

• Year it was learned that 96.5% of patients with lung cancer had been smokers - 1950

• Year the U.S. surgeon general announced that smoking caused not only lung cancer but also heart disease and emphysema and was costing the country tens of billions of dollars a year in health care costs - 1964

• Public statement by AMA president Edward R. Annis in 1964 regarding surgeon general’s report - “The AMA is not opposed to smoking and tobacco”

• Position of the AMA when the American Cancer Society, Public Health Service, and Federal Trade Commission supported health warnings on cigarette packages - opposition

• Year the AMA Member Retirement Fund was discovered to have millions of dollars invested in tobacco securities - 1981

• Year the New England Journal of Medicine published a special article analyzing the campaign contributions made by the AMA to congressional candidates - 1994

• Conclusion of the New England Journal of Medicine report - the AMA gave significantly more money to legislators supporting tobacco-export promotion than those who opposed it

Concerning People Making Health Care Decisions For You

• World’s largest private cancer treatment and research center - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

• Chairman, Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s board of overseers, board of managers - John S. Reed

• John S. Reed’s other job - director, Philip Morris

• Health insurance companies heavily invested in tobacco stocks - Travelers, Prudential, Cigna, MetLife, Aetna

• How much health insurance companies typically pay for a heart patient’s bypass surgery - $30,000

• How much health insurance companies typically pay for a patient’s balloon angioplasty - $7,500

• How much health insurance companies typically pay for a heart patient’s nutrition and stress- management education - $150

• How much health insurance companies pay for teaching a well person how to eat well, stay healthy, and prevent heart disease - $0

Concerning Kids & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Primary treatment for U.S. schoolchildren diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - Ritalin

• Potential side effects from Ritalin - anxiety, hair loss, convulsions, nausea, insomnia, headaches, weight loss, slowed growth, compulsive nervous behavior

• Number of well-designed studies in which Ritalin has been shown to enhance long-term learning - 0

• Percentage of hyperactive children who improved when artificial colorings. flavorings, and sugar were eliminated from their diet - 79%

• American Academy of Pediatrics position on medication and drug treatment of children with ADHD - endorsement

• Number of words about nutrition in American Academy of Pediatrics position paper on ADHD - 0

• Sponsors of American Academy of Pediatrics nutrition video for children - the Sugar Association, Inc. and the National Live Stock and Meat Board

• In a fact sheet promoted by the American Dietetic Association that focuses on ADHD, “Questions Most Frequently Asked about Hyperactivity,” answer given to the question “Is there a dietary relationship to hyperactivity? Should I restrict certain foods from my child’s diet? - No

• Source of fact sheet promoted by American Dietetic Association - the Sugar Association, Inc.



From the book: Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Health, ©1996 by John Robbins. Reprinted by permission of H.J. Kramer, P.O. Box 1082, Tiburon, California, 94920. (Reprint, Body Mind Spirit Magazine, Special Issue 1997)