Putin Slams Big Pharma and Fast Food Companies – Is He Right?

It's not often that a power-hungry dictator is partly right about what's good for the people in his country. But Putin may be on to something here:

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the pharmaceutical industry and big food corporations are threatening the lives of Russia's citizens...

According to the report, Putin believes that "we as a species have the choice to continue to develop our bodies and brains in a healthy upward trajectory, or we can follow the Western example of recent decades and intentionally poison our population with genetically altered food, pharmaceuticals, vaccinations, and fast food that should be classified as a dangerous, addictive drug.

Australian National Review: Putin Slams Big Pharma and GMO Foods

The good and the bad

I have a few objections. I believe most commonly used vaccinations have far fewer side effects than the often terrible diseases they protect against. And I don't think new genes are dangerous per se, it's more a question of what the result is on the food. Changing the properties of our food can become a problem.

When it comes to overmedication based on distorted "science" from the very companies that sell the drugs this dictator is quite right though. We are poisoning a large part of the Western population.

Just one single example: ten percent of the US population is on antidepressants (SSRIs), addictive brain drugs of doubtful benefit that are often very hard to get off. As they do not even help with normal depressions - the most common use - it is safe to say they are wildly overprescribed.

When it comes to poisoning by the fast food industry, just look at the majority of the population in Western countries being obese or overweight. Obviously the majority of the population did not suddenly decide to become lazy gluttons, nor did we all mutate, so this is an environmental problem. It is ultimately caused by our food environment, i.e. the food industry as well as non-helpful or even harmful government and expert guidance.

Perhaps it takes an outsider to see the obvious problems in our society.