I'm a six-year breast cancer survivor. I started out taking AstraZeneca's Tamoxifen. Yes they make that too. I was so sick the first year from the full dose and requested my ex-cancer doctor to reduce the drug or change it. She refused. I finally lowered the dose the next year and then again the third year.

Thanks to listening to my own body screaming that it was being poisoned by the drug, I ended up saving my life during post-chemo care. I have a new doctor now and he's terrific. He listens.

And I am now a diabetic with fatty liver disease no thanks to the Tamoxifen which destroys your liver while trying to "save" your life from cancer. However, I do not let this all stop me from pursuing my career as a sports photographer or as a woman athlete who, at 50 this year, plays baseball in Las Vegas with the men in the MSBL Vegas Valley Baseball League, 28+ age division.

Cancer can destroy the body but it cannot kill the heart. My own personal quote from January 17, 2001 when I had my double mastecomies.

I also take vitamin supplements because they work. I exercise and eat healthy foods as well. I plan on playing and coaching men's baseball until the cows come home sometime when I'm a lot older...

Doctors do a lot of good but even they are manipulated by the drug companies. So find a doctor who cares and do show him or her your support, your respect. They have a tough job of doing what's right and then being punished for it by the money-makers. But never give anyone on this planet your total blind loyality when it comes to your health or you will end up dead.

Preoccupation with 'research' can distract  from the bigger picture. We research the effect of isolated x, y and z molecules on cancer.  Then the effects of x/y combined. Then y/z.  And then x/z.  And then the effect of all three.  And then research all THAT research to make sure it was above board... all the while ignoring the fact that nature never gives x, y and/or z without several thousand other substances alongside.  This means that we'll NEVER, EVER get the research done to cover all the possible combinations and variables.

Now people spending their lives doing that kind of thing is fine and dandy. Other people using that research to create and sell synthetic versions of x, y and z is fine too. But (proudCanadian) to consider that process 'care' and worthy of my financial or energetic support is too much.

Because to my knowledge there is no single manufactured drug which does not have a negative side-effect.  Add to that the fact that those who have apparently benefitted from taking a drug are then dependent on the supplier for control of their symptoms (as distinct from eliminating of the cause of the disease) and... well, it ain't pretty.

Given that a business is obligated by law to do what it must to ensure it's own survival (see The Corporation), it means that there is a degree of legal protection for the dreadful stuff pharma companies do and create. They are legal persons who do not suffer the same legal consequences as you or I when they do or make something that harms an individual.  Legal persons who are intent upon controlling our ability to care for ourselves and stay out of their clutches (cf the intense lobbying behind the codex and growing efforts to have foods classified as medicines).

And I'm going to leave it at that before my blood pressure goes up too much...!

This is to proudCanadian: These articles aren't saying all in the pharmaceutical industry are bad people, but too many are being swept in the pro-drug rhetoric that as infected the mindset of too many in North America and around the world. Of course the pharmaceutical industry is a business and money must be made, but so many drugs, even if they show promise as a treatment also have harmful side effects. There really are several natural remedies out there with minimal side effects as long as they are (along with pharm drugs), taken wisely. You as a researcher may not have evil intent but there are those who are higher up who don't really care about human health and are more for the money. Not to blame good people like you, but those who have little regard in your industry or any other industry for human life do need to be held accountable for the large number of human lives who are damaged due to side effects from these drugs.

To sean: You are right about the side effects from the drugs. If drugs really helped more often without them, then there would be no reason for complaint and no reason for articles like this! Right on!

In response to ProudCanadian...

I did a research paper for my college medical ethics class on the ethical implications of direct-to-consumer advertising by drug companies. When rocks were uncovered, snakes kept crawling out. You, like most north Americans and many other westerners, believe exactly what the drug companies want you to believe. They do pay your salary! 

Drug companies may spend billions on research, but that's a mere drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of billions in profits they make AT OUR EXPENSE. Their testing is flawed, short-term, and skewed to produce the results they want. They cover-up adverse effects of their drugs (can you say VIOXX?). They have the FDA in their pockets (they do pay to have those drugs approved) so they can speed their products to market without doing any longer-term studies that would surely cut into those billion-dollar profits. And their advertising practices here in the U.S. are deceptive and manipulative, which is putting it mildly.

I do agree that a very few select drugs can be life-saving, but most aren't doing patients any favors by covering up symptoms and not treating the root cause of their problems. Until the drug companies become non-profits, I will never buy into the idea that their motives are altruistic and pure. For details, read the article at http://www.herbalconsultant.com/Ethics_Drug_Advertising.pdf.