Medical Research Spending Report
I just reviewed a report published by the National Institute of Health on the billions of dollars spent on research for treatments of various health conditions. I am beyond myself! No wonder our healthcare system is in crisis. It makes me so angry to see these numbers knowing that most of the money goes to health conditions that can be preventable if people committed to certain lifestyle changes. We have to stop justifying the millions spent in the name of disease or job security for so many researchers. We need to shift the focus to prevention and early interventions that are based on a different model of health, one that focus on individual accountability, education and use of natural approaches. I cannot help to wonder what are all these researchers hoping to achieve or find. More medications? Arent'we an overmedicated society already?
DISEASE (NIH)-RESEARCH BUDGET
HIV/AIDS research -- 2.9 billion.
Substance abuse research -- 1.76 2 billion.
Drug abuse (NIDA only) -- 1 billion.
Obesity research -- 664 million.
Alcoholism research -- 452 million.
Depression research -- 402 million
Tobacco research -- 311 million.
Sexually transmitted diseases 245 million.
Food safety research -- 244 million.
Arthritis -- 232 million.
Sleep research -- 225 million.
Multiple sclerosis research -- 169 million
Parkinson's disease research-- 152 million.
Youth violent research -- 115 million.
Pneumonia research -- 93 million.
Infertility research -- 73 million.
Crohn's disease research-- 51 million.
ALS research -- 43 million.
Suicide research -- 39 million
Teenage Pregnancy research -- 21 million
http://report.nih.gov/rcdc/categories/
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I have to agree with you here, CV.
The fact that we're spending over 300 million dollars on "tobacco research" has me shaking my head. Researching what? That cigarettes kill? Surely this money can find a better home?
I understand that addiction can be crippling and is not always a person's "fault" (although personal responsibility is almost always a factor) but spending 2 billion dollars on that and only 150 million on Parkinson's or MS is unjustifiable.
Politics are definitely at work here.