Reader Flora recommended Tucker Carlson’s interview with siblings Casey and Carrie Means, who gave up high-paying, prestigious careers because they could no longer tolerate profiting from a system that keeps Americans sick and ill.
The ground rules for interviews allowed Dr. Cayce to avoid promoting his book “Good Energy” (very well-received for its overall analysis and guidance, but also some complaints about its expensive biohack-esque products), and instead focused on the breakdown of the American diet and medical practice and the motivations that have led to it. Some notable facts include the fact that 50% of American children suffer from chronic diseases and the alarming increase in diseases that were once rare. It also explains how the food pyramid was a way to justify the consumption of sugar and highly processed foods, including school lunches, and how the specialization of medicine has prevented doctors from investigating the root causes of most illnesses. Carey emphasizes that both food and pharmaceutical industry executives are well aware of the damage their business models cause, but they shrug their shoulders as if they can’t do anything about it. But the cost is evident not only in poor health despite world-class spending, but also in the high suicide rate among doctors.
Finally, they note that many bad practices, including corruption, especially in research, could be eliminated by executive order. While it is highly unlikely that either of the presidential candidates would bring this hammer down on such a powerful industry, the executive order could also act as a cudgel to get these industries to abandon some of their worst practices.
In a bit of sync, the Financial Times today changed its top editorial position to Ultra-processed and fast foods are everywhere and they’re harming usMain sections:
Imagine a world where Tony the Tiger is caged, Ronald McDonald hangs up his clown shoes, and Colonel Sanders is court-martialed. A world where what are euphemistically called “unhealthy” foods are sold without hyperbole. A world without mascots grinning at Photoshopped burgers or whispering “Come on, try that” through the TV. If they can do it to the Marlboro Man, they can do it to cartoon tigers.
It took 50 years after the discovery of the link between smoking and lung cancer for tobacco advertising to be finally abolished in 2003 in the UK, and another 13 years for branded packaging to be abolished. The proposed ban on fast food advertising has had a similarly twisty past: it was debated for more than a decade, pushed by a Conservative prime minister and pushed back by the next, and is now one of the long list of challenges facing Labour ministers. Under the proposed ban, less-than-healthy products would not be advertised on TV before the turning point (9pm to 5.30am) and online 24/7 from next October.
This is not enough. As with tobacco, it is time for honest branding, or no branding at all, for fast food and ultra-processed foods. Obesity costs the NHS £6.5 billion a year and is the biggest cause of preventable cancer after smoking. One in four adults in England is obese. Even more shocking, a national survey this year found that one in four children who start primary school in England will be obese by the time they leave school, and likely to suffer from lifelong health problems. The inability to regulate brands and their colorful mascots harms young people more than anything else.
Over the past six months, there has been a flurry of reports about the threat and ubiquity of ultra-processed foods to our health, including items we might not have thought of as particularly bad, like pasta sauce and prepared meals.
Now, for the main event.
Casey Means was a Stanford graduate surgeon. Her brother Carrie was a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical and food industries. They both quit their jobs in horror when they realized how many people were being killed by the system they were part of. It’s an incredible story.
(0:54) Who is it? pic.twitter.com/1oIVLvPlAv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 16, 2024
