The freedom to say that 2 plus 2 make 4

"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
(George Orwell, 1984)

George Orwell's 1984 nightmare has become reality in pharmaceutical medicine. Industry selected academic "thought leaders" and government bureaucrats have become faceless drones for industry -- stripped of any ability to speak the truth.

Government agencies established to "Safeguard Public Health" (such as the MHRA and the FDA) increasingly resemble Orwell's "Ministry of Truth" (the bureaucracy responsible for perpetually revising historical documents). They routinely ignore violations of the usual safeguards of science (such as access of scientific authors to unmanipulated raw data), turn a blind eye to scientific fraud, have attempted to enact laws to protect pharmaceutical companies against litigation, and respond to probing questions with meaningless gobbledegook.

"We could make no greater mistake than to be lulled into a sense of false security by believing that some disembodied force called the government will act like a beneficent big brother and make certain that the special interests will not predominate. If the general welfare is to be protected, it will be protected by the actions of people, not the government."

-Dr. A. DALE CONSOLE, former medical director for drug giant ER Squibb (as quoted in Peretz Glazer and Migdal Glazer, ISBN 0465-09173-3)

This blog will serve to articulate these problems through a detailed personal travelogue involving dubious "collaborative" research with Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals in Sheffield. More importantly, it is about multifaceted and ham-handed attempts to suppress research misconduct, and about the responsibility of individuals to speak honestly and openly about matters of public interest.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth
becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell

You have to be an intellectual to believe such nonsense. No ordinary man could be such a fool.
George Orwell

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.
George Orwell

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