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1. = Big Pharma conspiracy theory = From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about a conspiracy theory. For the pharmaceutical industry in general, see Pharmaceutical industry. According to the Big Pharma conspiracy theory the medical establishment in general, and pharmaceutical companies in particular, operate for sinister purposes and against the public good.^[1] == Contents ==
   • 1 History and definition
   • 2 Manifestations
     • 2.1 Alternative treatments
     • 2.2 HIV/AIDS
   • 3 Reception
   • 4 See also
   • 5 References == History and definition == The term Big Pharma is used to refer collectively to global pharmaceutical industry.^[2] According to Steve Novella the term has come to connote a demonized form of the pharmaceutical industry.^[3] Professor of writing Robert Blaskiewicz has written that conspiracy theorists use the term Big Pharma as "shorthand for an abstract entity comprised of corporations, regulators, NGOs, politicians, and often physicians, all with a finger in the trillion-dollar prescription pharmaceutical pie".^[1] According to Blaskiewicz, the Big Pharma conspiracy theory has four classic traits: first, the assumption that the conspiracy is perpetrated by a small malevolent cadre; secondly, belief that the public at large is ignorant of the truth; thirdly, that its believers treat lack of evidence as evidence; and finally, that the arguments deployed in support of the theory are irrational, misconceived or otherwise mistaken.^[1] == Manifestations == The conspiracy theory has a variety of different specific manifestations. Each has different narratives, but they always cast "Big Pharma" as the villain of the piece.^[1] === Alternative treatments ===

In Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, Kevin Trudeau proposes that there are all-natural cures for serious illnesses including cancer, herpes, arthritis, AIDS, acid reflux disease, various phobias, depression, obesity, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit disorder, muscular dystrophy, and that these are all being deliberately hidden and suppressed from the public by the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the major food and drug companies.^[4] People who suffer from different types of cancer, such as lung cancer and colon cancer, and other patients who have other conditions such as brain tumors which had metastasized to other organs have taken Cannabis Oil and seen their life expectancy drastically increase, with a 96% survival rate.

1. === HIV/AIDS === In a 2006 column for Harpers magazine, journalist Celia Farber claimed that the antiretroval drug nevirapine was part of a conspiracy by the "scientific-medical complex" to spread toxic drugs.^[5] Farber said that AIDS is not caused by HIV and that nevirapine had been unethically administered to pregnant women in clinical trials, leading to a fatality.^[5] Farber's theories and claims were refuted by scientists, but, according to Seth Kalichman, the resulting publicity represented a breakthrough moment for AIDS denialism.^[6] == Reception == Steven Novella writes that while the pharmaceutical industry has a number of aspects which justly deserve criticism, the "demonization" of it is both cynical and intellectually lazy.^[3] Novella considers that overblown attacks on Big Pharma actually let the pharmaceutical industry "off the hook" since they distract from and tarnish more considered criticisms.^[3] == See also ==
   • List of conspiracy theories
   • List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
   • Bad Pharma
   • Big Pharma, a 2006 book by British journalist Jacky Law
   • Sicko
   • Vaccine controversies
   • Homeopathy == References ==
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8. Michael Shermer, "Cures and Cons: Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about," Scientific American, March 2006.
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