One Reader "Smells a Corporate Agenda" in Public Citizen Armour Thyroid Scandal Coverage

A reader has written to me to express his concerns about my coverage of the Public Citizen Scandal. Read his strongly worded letter, and my response.

"Dear Mary -- Big money corporations have never been able corrupt Ralph Nader. He's been successfully protecting consumers for against deceitful, corrupt, thieving corporations for decades. As for thieving companies, drug companies are at the top of the list. Their business practices are despicable. Their TV commercials and trying to block us from buying drugs from Canada are just two examples. As far as I'm concerned, defending a drug company puts your credibility in question. I smell a corporate agenda in this article and it fires me up just like a telemarketer does."

* * * Mary's Response:

Well, certainly you've got full right to your opinions. But I have no corporate agenda -- in fact, in seven years, I've turned down the offers from numerous pharma companies to have various deals and relationships. I can't justify having that kind of relationship with my role as a patient advocate.

I am no fan of drug companies, as you can find by reading my website, as I have tackled numerous companies over the years!

But here, I am not defending a drug company, I am defending patient's right to OPTIONS! Public Citizen has condemned a drug that has been in use without incident for 100 years -- on the basis of outdated research, and their own opinions. And to defend that decision, they are passing out information that says Armour Thyroid is an over-the-counter non-prescription herbal supplement.

I'm not suggesting they're corrupt. I'm suggesting that they need to tighten up their science, do their homework, and stop spreading total fallacies, before they start making drastic calls for elimination of drugs. Truly, if they are willing to put out there and then stand behind the ersatz "Fact" that "Armour Thyroid is an over-the-counter non-prescription herbal supplement" are you confident that their facts are straight on other health issues?

They think they are doing the right thing, but they need to go back to the drawing board on this one and revisit the science, or they are doing a huge disservice to consumers.

If they show me the double-blind, peer-reviewed research they claim is essential for decisionmaking, and it says unequivocally that Armour thyroid is only given out by unscrupulous diet doctors as a weight loss drug, to people who have no thyroid conditions, then I'm behind them all the way -- get rid of Armour.

But they haven't.

And I know they can't, because that research doesn't exist. AND, because I know many wonderful, caring, scrupulous and even highly renowned physicians who prescribe Armour to people who have serum blood tests that show hypothyroidism. And some of those patients are even thin as a rail!

Ultimately, as someone who also has held Nader and Public Citizen in high regard in the past, I am experiencing sadness and disillusionment. Their bureaucratic reaction to this situation makes me sad to think that they may be going the way of all large bureaucracies -- protecting their image may have become more important to them than making sure the public gets the truth on this issue...

I just hope that they do the right thing on this issue.

Mary