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These days, you only have to whore yourself out once to be fixed for life. Reaching the desired conclusion for money has corrupted so many fields that there is a serious credibility problem with anyone getting funded by entities that have oxen and fear their being gored. It has gotten so bad with the unholy alliance between politics and drug companies that many people have begun giving up paying attention to it altogether.

The way these studies are conducted might be unimpeachable and the conclusions with these particular tests (wherein the changes are said to be "insignificant" (on what basis?)) might be statistically supportable. However, this is one conclusion and not a Fact. Similar studies show that coffee|Brussels sprouts|dietary fiber|control of sodium intake is good | bad for you (related summary here), and reaching opposite conclusions shows either that experiments are not being repeated, or that the effects are not clear.

With Genetic Therapies at our door step, does America really need to artificially maintain a Pharmaceutical Industry? Wouldn't our time be better spent having University Researchers take publicly known data and start applying it to a Genetic Therapy Solutions? Rather that having Federal Funds channeled to be used as a crutch for the mercantile facade of pharmaceutical distribution, why not channel that money to University Researchers for Genetic Therapies? The FDA is more than capable of administering Logistics of these types of solutions. Personally, I think the Pharmaceutical Industries finest minds should maybe find more fulfillment elsewhere in life than advertising to minors, Vaginal Pleasure Cremes on TV.

But the facts speak of endemic corruption. There is a revolving door between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA (and other government agencies). A pattern of industry funding of perks for FDA officials has emerged.

Consider that low-level operatives in the drug industry being afraid of the FDA is not mutually exclusive with the FDA being bought off: for the same reason that mobsters are not sanguine about the police, even when many officers in the department are on the take.

I'm not making excuses for Linux. Fact is is marketing, which Linus distros do little of, has a big impact of what people buy. If advertizing, part of marketing, didn't have an impact then businesses would not spend a lot on it. And yes, businesses do spend a lot on marketing. pharmaceutical companies [pdf warning] spend more on marketing than on research.

Ubuntu is not as a good as a desktop operating system as Windows Vista. It's just not.

Ubuntu may not be good to you but it is to plenty of other users. And there are plenty who do not like Vista, if people liked it then OEMs would not offer a downgrade path from Vista to XP. It also offers competition, and without competition things hardly improve.

Falcon

Sure, like Vioxx or Seldane, right?

When you view the cash as the bottom line in the medical industry, you've got a problem.

Saw this quote in a doctor's office, and it seems to fit here:

http://www.pharmalot.com/2007/11/chantix-and-suicidal-behavior-the-numbers-please/
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/early_comm/varenicline.htm