Wrongly Accused, Cholesterol Demands a New Trial

Like the drug ads say, the Vytorin scandal has two causes: (1) who your ancestors are, i.e., all the people at Merck and Schering-Plough who hid the study on its ineffectiveness for two years, and (2) what you eat, i.e., the fact that cholesterol levels may have little or nothing to do with heart disease.

Don't take my word for it. But do pay attention to the opinions of the experts.

In the Times today, the focus was on the broader scope of the scandal, i.e., whether cholesterol has been wrongly accused of evil. Gary Taubes raises some great questions in his opinion, "What’s Cholesterol Got to Do With It?" Midway through it he throws a devastating punch,

The truth is, we’ve always had reason to question the idea that cholesterol is an agent of disease. Indeed, what the Framingham researchers meant in 1977 when they described LDL cholesterol as a “marginal risk factor” is that a large proportion of people who suffer heart attacks have relatively low LDL cholesterol.

Although I am pleased that the broad issue is getting attention, I am disappointed that the nasty cover up by Merck and Schering-Plough has receded into the background.

I want to be able to entrust the pharma industry with protecting the health of my body and mind. Instead I now trust only that they will protect their own asses at any cost, legal or not legal, ethical or not ethical.