Changing a mind

@Campbellteaching Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This excellent scientific analysis of recent events continues in interview three of this series. Follow Dr. Craig on SubStack, https://drclarecraig.substack.com COVID, the untold story. So much more makes sense after this book and my first illuminating discussion with Dr. Craig. Get your copy in the UK here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Expired-untold-Dr-Clare-Craig/dp/1739344707

@Campbellteaching Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid Growing Evidence of Conflicts of Interest and Obdurate Groupthink in Medical Journals, Researchers Must Entertain Contrarian IdeasUploaded 16-08-25https://www.cureus.com/articles/336128-amid-growing-evidence-of-conflicts-of-interest-and-obdurate-groupthink-in-medical-journals-researchers-must-entertain-contrarian-ideas#!/Mainstream medicine, like other academic fields, is shaped by prevailing paradigms and the dominant narratives they create. Over the past half-century, these paradigms have increasingly reflected the growing commercial influence of the pharmaceutical industry. Dominant narratives are closely tied to groupthink, to which medical journals are often subject. In addition, more “prestigious” medical journals tend to have further financial conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry. These dynamics limit scientific progress by suppressing awareness of the iatrogenic aspects of industry products,and the benefits of alternative non-patentable and unpatentable medical products and therapeutic interventions. Journals need to adopt a more open policy to manuscripts that encompass contrarian perspectives to dominant narratives while still adhering to time-tested scientific values and methods.Thomas Kuhn (1962)https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo13179781.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactionScientific endeavour is subject to “paradigms” that restrict what ideas are considered validScientists and the peer-reviewed literature, influenced by groupthink processes as by dispassionate rationality. Science v “The Science”Groupthink theories can be vociferously held and enforced with brutal censorship, e.g.Nicolaus Copernicus (c, 1500)Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (c, 1860)Dismissed due to conflicts of interest. Considered a misinformation merchant in his own time, he is now an icon of medical science, innovation, and courage.During the past half-century, the profitability of large pharmaceutical companies has enabled them to dispense enormous financial investments into….research, universities, medical education, medical journals, political parties, drug regulators, medical colleges and associations, and supranational institutions such as the World Health Organization. They can create the medical groupthink consensus.Internal pharmaceutical industry documents released in litigation from criminal trials, where the industry has been fined $122 billion since 2000,have revealed companies invest in shaping narratives to dominate a particular medical field in favour of their products, understating harms and overstating benefits.Conflicts of interest now bedevil every level of pharmaceutical/medical science. Pharmaceutical companies tend to oversee the trials for their own productsLarge pharmaceutical companies provide the majority of funding to the regulators tasked with considering the evidence of clinical trials and granting or denying licensure.A few journal chief editors have stated that their publications are effectively part of Big Pharma’s marketing departmentshttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/182478https://www.bmj.com/content/326/7400/1202https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020138https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61019-2/fulltextEditors of major medical journals have received payments from large pharmaceutical companieshttps://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j4619Peer reviewers have also received paymentshttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2824834Pharmaceutical companies make payments to doctorshttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0004867412446494https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2816900Pharmaceutical product recalls, are numerous, but take years to be actionedhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Covid deaths down 90% in 2022Uploaded 13-11-22https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing---9-november-2022https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/media-resources/press-briefingsDirector-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus9,400 covid linked deaths last weekAlmost 90% less than in February of this year(February 2022, 75,000 a week, globally)We have come a long way, and this is definitely cause for optimism. But we continue to call on all governments, communities and individuals to remain vigilantAlmost 10,000 deaths a week is 10,000 too many for a disease that can be prevented and treatedWHO continues to urge caution, and we continue to urge everyone to be fully vaccinated – including getting your next dose if it’s due.https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/covid-19/information/transmission-protective-measuresGet all the recommended doses of COVID-19 vaccineKeep a safe distance from others, especially in closed spacesWhen indoors, open windows if possibleWear a mask if you’re or those around you are at high risk of severe illnessKeep hands cleanCover coughs and sneezesStay home when feeling unwelMaria Van Kerkhovesubstantial underestimate of the true circulation of the virusstill a pandemic, and it’s still circulating quite rampantly around the worldChina, moves towards realityhttps://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/983898?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=127834AR&impID=4860881&faf=1Shortening quarantine times, close contacts, inbound travellersSeven days down to 5Stop trying to identify "secondary" contactsLooking incrementalNational Health Commission (NHC)Optimising and adjusting prevention and control measuresNot laying flat10,535 new domestically transmitted cases for ThursdayONS release, 2nd November 2022https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwales/census2021unroundeddataOn Census Day, 21 March 2021, the size of the usual resident population in England and Wales was 59,597,54256,490,048 in England and 3,107,494 in Waleshttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/patients-registered-at-a-gp-practice-november-2022https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/patients-registered-at-a-gp-practice/november-2022https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/patients-registered-at-a-gp-practice/november-2022SoFive and a half more people registered with a GP than the total populationWe also know there are millions in England not registered with a GPProfessor Norman Fentonhttps://twitter.com/profnfenton/status/1591155275272261632/photo/1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices