OUT OF THE GARAGE AND INTO THE MEDICINE CABINET
BY: CLIFFORD M. SONNIE, M.D.
“All work and no play make’s Jack a dull boy.” Every so often I think it is good for the soul to read an article that doesn’t teach you anything and doesn’t make you so angry that you get a headache. Knowing this, I present a reprint of an article I found in my desk. It was written by a consumer advocate by the name of Mike Adams a half dozen years ago. I have taken some poetic license in this reproduction. If you’ve read it before I apologize and do not wish to waste your time. Read it again anyway. It’s funny. So my intention is for you to sit, read, smile, shake your head, laugh and then arise and face the world again. Dear God, must I??!!
What would the automobile industry look like if it was run like a pharmaceutical company?
- Your car would be marked up 3000% and cost $4.5 million.
- The same car could be purchased in Canada or Mexico for $5000.
- Automakers would lobby Congress to outlaw bicycles and airplanes just like the drug companies are trying to outlaw natural remedies, herbs and supplements.
- All auto imports would be banned. If you drove a Mitsubishi down from Canada you would be jailed.
- Cars with no airbags or safety features would be declared perfectly safe by the FDA.
- The FDA would focus their attention on the dangers of bicycles.
- Driver’s education programs would be cancelled.
- Consumers would be encouraged to buy new cars instead of repairing their old ones.
- Research studies showing that cars were dangerous would be buried and the research scientists would be banned from conducting research again.
- Automakers would petition Congress to ban lawsuits brought by persons injured in automobiles with no safety features. (Hey that sounds familiar. Something to do with the Swine Flu vaccine, I think).
- All government mandated labels listing the dangers of the automobile will be written in fine print with obligatory smudges and placed under the passenger’s seat.
- Driving certain cars will cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, dizziness, headache, insomnia, decreased libido and hair loss.
Car companies will offer new improved models each year which will be no different than the models 20 years ago except that now it offers satellite radio.
- Car companies will invent reason to entice you to buy multiple cars, when one would do, at the risk of either social or religious ridicule.
- Advertisements would show happy energetic people skiing through field of wheat and biking up Mt Fuji. They would not show that the cars break down constantly and stop working, locking inside without warning.
- Cars would be advertised with numerous extra features like sunroofs and butt warmers which will described as indispensible resulting in severe side effects and loss of consortium if not purchased.
Sorry, I actually included a couple of my own and I just couldn’t help it. No, you don’t need to attack your car dealer. Think about it. Anyway, as I have always said, the smart health care consumer is informed and aware. Now it is more important than ever.
Clifford M. Sonnie, M.D., M.P.H. is the physician at the Balance of Life Clinic