Blog

A selection of our writings from 2009 to the present. If you'd like to keep up to date with our latest posts, please subscribe below.

Can we trust the ABC and the FDA?

Hello and welcome to our 8th video in 8 weeks. Yes, we have a gazillion other things we could be doing with our time, but due to an acute lack of alternative voices and critique, here we are, with our cultural commentator hats on, spending hours and hours every week reading scientific papers, newspaper articles and reports, making videos detailing our findings.

In our latest video we examine two public institutions, the ABC in Australia and the FDA in the US, and ask the question: have we become so desensitised as a society that we no longer see conflicts of interest in plain sight?

Our references (in order of appearance)

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/pharmacy-fact-what-is-the-best-selling-prescription-drug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2dHQSj90-A
https://www.tonicmedianetwork.com.au/what-we-do/
https://mumbrella.com.au/tonic-media-network-successfully-spins-out-chemist2u-677337
https://chemist2u.com.au/
https://about.abc.net.au/correcting-the-record/abc-statement-on-dr-norman-swan/
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/12/abc-takes-down-catalyst-heart-disease-episodes-after-review-criticism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn2RAggNN8w
https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-fda-funded-in-part-by-the-companies-it-regulates-160444
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/fact-sheet-fda-glance#:%7E:text=Program%20Funding&text=About%2055%20percent%2C%20or%20%243.2,for%20by%20industry%20user%20fees
https://www.tga.gov.au/book-page/cost-recovery-model-12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Z_LhPMhkEdw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.vox.com/2015/9/24/9387987/fda-expedited-drug-approvals
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0122
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/07/if-drug-firms-take-public-funds-they-must-make-their-discoveries-available-to-all-covid-19
https://www.allsides.com/news/2021-12-08-1553/fda-says-it-now-needs-75-years-fully-release-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-data
https://pnhp.org/news/taking-back-the-fda/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz4aAJUTQ7s
https://www.statista.com/statistics/254341/pfizers-worldwide-viagra-revenues-since-2003/#:~:text=During%202019%2C%20Pfizer’s%20Lipitor%20generated,billion%20U.S.%20dollars%20in%202006
https://maryannedemasi.com/publications
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/data
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLcq2V7MuM4
https://www.news.com.au/sponsored/21nie29tklzrjj28/the-clever-startup-that-is-doing-away-with-queuing-at-the-pharmacy/index.html
https://www.vic.gov.au/behavioural-insights
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221475002100161X
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/vaccine.html

We wish you a happy solstice and holiday season, and look forward to bringing you more in the new year.

With love and thanks for your ongoing support,
Meg, Patrick, Woody and Zero

Omicron, fundamentalist politics & internment camps in the Australian Covid story compost

Well, it’s more ups and downs from the illness isle, Australia. In our latest video offering we foreground positive responses and expose political fundamentalism, we sing along with a well meaning choir and we offer, yet again, a completely alternative microbiome narrative to the unfolding police state dystopia that is Victoria.

References (in order of appearance):

https://artistasfamily.is/
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/10/3596
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n623
https://www.worldobesity.org/resources/resource-library/covid-19-and-obesity-the-2021-atlas
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-at-a-glance-2-october-2021
Life expectancy Australia (Google)
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/06/25/australian-data-answers-key-questions-about-covid19-mortality.html
https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/covid-19-mortality-1
The Guardian – Omicron variant first 2 cases
news.com WHO states omicron spreaders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwef0i8SCZ4&t=584s
https://www.who.int/health-topics/cardiovascular-diseases#tab=tab_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52S15-YJpxc&t=127s
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2114228
https://theathletic.com/2963733/2021/11/19/someone-collapses-football-pitch-every-four-days/
https://www.vicbar.com.au/news-events/media-release-%E2%80%93-victorian-bar-says-amendments-pandemic-bill-fall-short
https://www.multiplex.global/projects/centre-for-national-resilience/
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/is-the-mickleham-quarantine-facility-a-200-million-white-elephant-20211014-p58zxj.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGFdWcJU7-0&t=30s
https://gateway.icn.org.au/project/4766/centre-for-national-resilience-melbourne-project-quarantine-facility
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89CmMHcBtw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TFKkbj01NQ&t=921s

We hope this offering adds to your personal Covid compost and helps enable more nuanced conversations, which are the antidote to propaganda, shame-labelling and division. Signing off with love, Artist as Family.