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and continues today.

In 2006, the pharmaceutical industry spent $4.5 billion on marketing drugs to consumers.

It would seem that the days of breakthrough medical discoveries are gone. It is now all about profit-making.

The last major medical discovery was the polio vaccine. Dr. Jonas Salk made the discovery in 1955. For the last 50 years, the U.S. medical community and the drug industry have chosen to treat symptoms rather than the disease itself.

It is time for American consumers to ask tough questions. We must question our elected officials as well as our doctors, both benefit from the tremendous profits being raked in by the drug industry.

The drug sales reps provide office supplies, free lunches, tickets to sporting events and much more to doctors and their staff. Doctors in turn, almost always prescribe the newer, higher-priced drugs even if an older and cheaper drug will produce the same results.

Thanks to Congress, the time an exclusive patent (before a drug goes into generic production) is enjoyed by a drug manufacturer continues to lengthen. During the mid 1980's, companies retained their patent on new drugs for an average of eight years. By the late 1990's, that time had increased to more than 15 years. Of course, drug manufacturers are among the top contributors to U.S. lawmakers.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, between 1990-2008, the pharmaceutical industry gave $162,360,555 to members of Congress. Given this fact, it is unlikely that our elected representatives, both Republican and Democrat alike, will ever be willing to take on the pharmaceutical industry.

The Center for Responsive Politics keeps track of the amount of money received by individual members of Congress from various industries. What follows are the 2008 rankings for the top five recipients of both houses of Congress:

Senate:

1) Barack Obama (D-IL) $1,172,954

2) Hillary Clinton (D-NY) $588,860

3) John McCain (R-AZ) $530,813

4) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) $302,092

5) Max Baucus (D-MT) $277,664

House:

1) John Dingell (D-MI) $190,636

2) Charles Rangel (D-NY) $187,950

3)Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) $147,428

4) Anna Eschoo (D-CA) $145,698

5) Joe Barton (R-TX) $145,150

Elderly Americans, unable to afford their prescriptions have turned to purchasing their drugs from other countries such as Canada. The FDA of course, has been attempting to discourage U.S. patients from buying their drugs anywhere other than the U.S. The FDA claims that drugs imported from Canada are unsafe.

Despite FDA warnings, there has never been a single incident of a counterfeit drug being sent from Canada to a patient residing in the United States. The FDA claimed that the number of cases in which bogus drugs were mailed to U.S. citizens from other countries, tripled from 2000 to 2003. While that is actually true, the FDA failed to advertise the fact that reports of counterfeit imports only rose from six cases in 2000 to 22 in 2003.

Until U.S. drug prices become affordable once again, American consumers should be able to purchase drugs from Canada. Almost all goods now purchased by American consumers are manufactured overseas. Why not add prescription drugs to the list?

The drug reps depend on the doctors, who are then rewarded for their loyalty. The politicians and the drug manufacturers depend upon one another, the former for cash and the latter for protection.

As usual, the American consumer is at the bottom of the food-chain. Even when our lives hang in the balance.

In 2005 alone, Americans spent $200.7 billion on prescription drugs.

Learn more about this author, Dave Gibson.
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