Dr. Shawn’s Blog

Michael Medved and Conspiracy Theories

August 26, 2010 on 6:25 am | In General Posts | No Comments

I enjoy listening to Michael Medved’s weekly radio show where he invites callers to share their latest conspiracy theories.

This week a caller reiterated a common theory: a cure for cancer has been discovered but pharmaceutical companies and the media are preventing the public from knowing about the cure.

Michael Medved pointed out that it would be almost impossible to keep such a finding secret, as the discoverer of a cure for cancer or a similar disease would be sitting on information that would make him biIlions of dollars.
While I do agree with Michael that someone who discovers a cure or effective treatment for diseases such as cancer would do anything to get that information into the public’s hand, first-hand experience with the media has convinced me that it’s not quite as easy to do as it sounds.

For example, there’s a wonderful pet supplement made by MVP Laboratories called Cholodin. This supplement is useful in treating pets with a variety of diseases; research has shown it is particularly effective in treating cognitive disorder (Alzheimer’s disease) in our dogs and cats. Clinical experience has shown users of the product that it may even prevent Alzheimer’s disease in many pets if started prior to the development of clinical signs. Yet I’d bet that most pet owners have never heard about this product, even though it’s been on the market for over 30 years!

Why? While I’m not going to join the callers to Michael Medved’s show and claim any conspiracy, I find it interesting that the media has refused to report on this wonderful supplement despite being sent press releases by myself (I did much of the research on the product) and others. Even Michael Medved has refused to air a segment on the topic despite receiving a press release showing the benefits of Cholodin.

I don’t know the reason the media consistently refuses to air positive findings on natural therapies but yet thinks nothing of hosting representatives from the pharmaceutical industry any time a discovery is made showing the benefit of a conventional medication. I certainly do know that the pharmaceutical industry spends millions if not billions of dollars in media advertising, whereas makers of natural supplements, lacking the funding pharmaceutical companies have, rarely have the same resources to spend on media advertising.

It’s unfortunate that therapies that can help our pets and us often don’t make it on a radio talk show, the evening news, or in the pages of national magazines and newspapers simply because they are “natural” rather than “conventional” medications. Is there a conspiracy? I’ll let you decide that, while I continue to send press releases to Michael Medved and others showing the benefits of any therapy that can help improve the lives of our beloved four-legged family members.