After watching the fantastic programme last night The Men Who Made Us Fat I was struck by the similarities in the care services. I am also reading Bad Science at the moment so may be a bit focused upon the interpretation of research data. I am reading this on my new eBook reader so do not consider myself to be out of touch with new technology or indeed research in the health care field. In fact I think that social networking has improved communication around health care sciences somewhat in that we can all share information much quicker now than ever before.
However, how information is shared became quite evident in the TV programme and leaves many unanswered questions. The narrator who was very good at explaining hard science in simple terms which is always a bonus, identified the conspiracy around the food industry and how it has influenced our health. The debate between the age old enemies of fat and sugar actually killing us was opened up to explore the dominant research hierarchy at its best, where the good old probability factor ( that fat or sugar was more likely to kill us) was dismissed by the food companies as being false for sugar, even though there is research evidence to say that it does us more harm.
Now I would not call myself a hard nosed researcher and being a nurse, I have a tendency to favour the softer more qualitative research methods but I was left wondering what if people had listened to the man who said it was sugar not fat that was killing us. What if the food industry were not allowed to dominate the market (and the World Health Organisation which really shocked me), just like the drug companies are allowed to dominate the health care service?
In our thirst for information are we all being force-fed facts that are more in the interests of the businessmen than in the interests of our health and more importantly who actually cares? While the care industry is constantly being reinvented by the politicians, isn’t it time that we woke up and smelt the coffee?
pabu46
June 15, 2012
I couldn’t agree more. How do we stop coming to these conclusions without feeling more powerless. ?We can’t fight multinationals, we have little hope of reaching and informing the majority because of high level of misinformation. The minute we develop a pioneering zeal , eyes glass over, we are doom merchants or conspiracy loonies. It makes me mad.
flonorth
June 15, 2012
I think the Southern Cross debacle amply illustrates the impact of profit orientated ‘big business’ on the care sector in Britain. The residualisation of wages and undermining of pay and employment conditions for the care workforce in order to maximise profit for commercial companies (often backed by venture capitalists wishing to make a quick return) is a national disgrace. We need to have a critical debate about this in the public arena so that people can make informed choices about what sort of care provision they want in future and how it should be funded.