Int J Health Serv
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The Sugar Association, representing the U. S. sugar industry, is highly critical of a WHO report on guidelines for healthy eating, which suggests that sugar should account for no more than 10 percent of a healthy diet. ⋯ Secretary of Health and Human Services to use his influence to get the WHO report withdrawn. The WHO strongly rejects the sugar lobby's criticisms.
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Drug companies' quest for speedy results has led to a boom in trials based in developing countries, where ethical standards may be lax and the impoverished sick abundant. According to the U. ⋯ Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office, the number of researchers based outside the United States seeking new drug approvals has increased 16-fold over the last decade. In this article, a 1996 Pfizer trial in Nigeria--the subject of a controversial class-action suit--illustrates the dangers.
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The U. S. health care system is deteriorating in terms of decreasing access, increased costs, unacceptable quality, and poor system performance compared with health care systems in many other industrialized Western countries. Reform efforts to establish universal insurance coverage have been defeated on five occasions over the last century, largely through successful opposition by pro-market stakeholders in the status quo. ⋯ Six myths are identified here and defused by evidence: (1) "Everyone gets care anyhow;" (2) "We don't ration care in the United States"; (3) "The free market can resolve our problems in health care"; (4) "The U. S. health care system is basically healthy, so incremental change will address its problems;" (5) "The United States has the best health care system in the world"; and (6) "National health insurance is so unfeasible for political reasons that it should not be given serious consideration as a policy alternative." Incremental changes of the existing health care system have failed to resolve its underlying problems. Pressure is building again for system reform, which may become more feasible if a national debate can be focused on the public interest without distortion by myths and disinformation fueled by defending stakeholders.
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Can we still rely on the World Health Organization? It has not openly opposed the greed of the major global pharmaceutical companies, and its director-general, Gro Harlem Brundtland, has deferred to them.