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Forbidden Knowledge: A Self-Advocate's Guide to Managing Your Prescription Drugs

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Terence Young exposes the pharmaceutical industry secrets and cultural myths that thwart our safe use of prescription drugs.… Everyone should read it before their next visit to a doctor. ― DR. NANCY OLIVIERI, MD, physician and professor

When it comes to drug safety, Big Pharma holds all the power, and it’s time for patients to take it back.

Tens of millions of patients in North America take prescription drugs, but the safety of these drugs is often based on medical myths. We are led to believe that if a medication isn’t safe, the government would never allow it on the market and that doctors would never prescribe a drug that isn’t proven effective. Who controls these narratives? And do they always have the best interests of patients in mind?

In an in-depth study of the enormous influence the pharmaceutical industry has over our health, drug safety advocate Terence Young explores how those with the most to gain financially are also those who wield all the power in health care ― and withhold the knowledge that is critical to the safety of patients.

Forbidden Knowledge reveals the truth you need to know about prescription drugs and what to do about it. It will empower you to partner with your doctor to talk openly and plainly about medications to help avoid serious adverse drug reactions. This is your survival guide to Big Pharma.

376 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2023

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Terence H. Young

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415 reviews2 followers
May 18, 2023
I appreciate all the information shared, but the editor could’ve improved the text much more.

I think the strongest chapter is Chapter 14 - Prescripticide and sadly, the weakest is Chapter 17 - A Call for Reform which felt too quickly put together.

I saw a number of repetitions from chapter to chapter which could’ve been better handled.

The author is Canadian and a former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), yet the book makes you feel like the US and Canada are one country. I would’ve preferred a discussion centered on Canada and how US systems affect the approval and sales of pharmaceutical.

Even though the Canadian discovery of insulin was discussed, there is no mention of the catastrophic closure of the lab where insulin was discovered and the sale of the company to foreign interests. This put Canada on the vulnerable path of needing to pay too much for vaccines it couldn’t produce, as we saw with the recent pandemic. Was it because it was due to the influence of a Conservative PM?

Because the author enjoys mentioning (twice) that a Liberal PM watered down a Bill brought forth by the author when he was an MP. Yet he seems devoted to his Conservative PM even though he didn’t support his original Private Members Bill to create an independent Canadian Drug Agency in 2009, or its different reiterations until 2015?

I didn’t like how politics tainted the important information this book contained and believe the Call for Reform chapter might’ve been weakened because of them.
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