GOVERNMENT: IS IT FOR THE PEOPLE? 317may lead to drug development is funded by the National Institutes
of Health (ref. cited). It is usually only later, when the research
shows practical promise, that the drug companies become in-
volved. The industry also enjoys great tax advantages. Not only are
its research and development costs deductible, but so are its mas-
sive marketing expenses. The average tax rate of major u.s. indus-
tries from 1993 to 1996 was 27.3% of revenues. During the same
period the pharmaceutical industry was reportedly taxed at a rate
of only 16 .2% (ref. cited). Most important, the drug companies en-
joy seventeen-year government-granted monopolies on their new
drugs-that is, patent protection. Once a drug is patented, no one
else may sell it, and the drug company is free to charge whatever
the traffic will bear. 20
Our tax dollars are used to make the pharmaceutical industry more
profitable. One could argue that this is justified by gains in public
health, but the alarming fact is that this litany of research into drugs,
genes, devices and technology research will never cure our chronic dis-
eases. Our chronic diseases are largely the result of infinitely complex
assaults on our bodies resulting from eating bad food. No single chemi-
cal intervention will ever equal the power of consuming the healthiest
food. In addition, isolated chemicals in drug form can be very danger-
ous. The National Cancer Institute itself states, "What is clear is that
most of our current treatments will produce some measure of adver-
sity. "21 There is no danger to eating a healthy diet, and there are far
more benefits, including massive cost savings both on the front end of
preventing disease and on the back end of treating disease. So why is
our government ignoring the abundant scientific research supporting
a dietary approach in favor of largely ineffective, potentially dangerous
drug and device interventions?
PERSONAL ACCOUNTSIn terms of public nutrition policy, I want to leave you with one short sto-
ry that says so much about the government's priorities. One of my former
graduate students at Cornell, Antonia Demas (now Dr. Antonia Demas),
did her doctoral research in education by teaching a healthy food-and-nu-
trition-based curriculum^22 to elementary school kids and then integrating
those healthy foods into the school lunch program. She had been doing
this work as a volunteer mother in her children's schools for seventeen