Another Nail in the Coffinn of BP's Reputation

[AgentAnia]

Yes, we already know Big Pharma is not the most praise-worthy industry, but this is a good read anyway, even if you don't need further convincing: BMJ Group blogs: BMJ » Blog Archive » Richard Smith: Is the pharmaceutical industry like the mafia?

So it’s not entirely fanciful to compare the drug industry to the mob, and the public, despite its enthusiasm for taking drugs, is sceptical about the drug industry. In a poll in Denmark the public ranked the drug industry second bottom of those in which they had confidence, and a US poll ranked the industry bottom with tobacco and oil companies. The doctor and author Ben Goldacre, in his book Bad Pharma raises the interesting thought that doctors have come to see as “normal” a relationship with the drug industry that the public will see as wholly unacceptable when they fully understand it. In Britain doctors might follow journalists, members of Parliament, and bankers into disgrace for failing to see how corrupt their ways have become. At the moment the public tends to trust doctors and distrust drug companies, but the trust could be rapidly lost.