Book Review: No More Tears
Here’s my review of No More Tears by Gardiner Harris. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it or plan to read it. Then see today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.
No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris is a book that will open your eyes to the routine and outright duplicitous practices of one of the best-known, frequently trusted, and largest pharmaceutical companies known today. It will shock you and make you rage and cry and scoff, and then some. By the time you’re done reading it, you will want to tell everyone all about it, as you will feel deeply and ethically obligated to do so.
First, it should be said that this book is chock-full of resources and personal accounts that are expertly organized and disclosed, allowing it to flow like a novel with a dense and complex plot that slowly unravels as you continue reading it. It begins with the origin story of Johnson & Johnson in the late 1880s then follows each one of their blockbuster and well-marketed products as they become embroiled in failed clinical trials and botched studies, lawsuits, cover-ups, and growing public distrust.
The amount of research and resources included in this book is jaw-dropping. You will learn about how J&J products like baby powder, Tylenol, Procrit, Risperdal, Duragesic, Ortha Evra, ProLift, along with other medical devices and implants, have caused serious chronic health ailments and injury, even death in many instances, via hard-to-put-down excerpts from studies, legal and personal testimonies, internal documents, memos, emails, and more. Each chapter ends up making a case that is compelling and easy to follow due to this copious amount of research and how it is laid out in this book. Honestly, this book is so thorough that it’s hard to believe it didn’t include every page of material about this subject matter that exists.
Each chapter exposes J&J’s well-documented illicit practices and ‘icky’ company culture, shedding a bright light on how they routinely push out products to market that they know are incomplete, harmful, deadly, or at best woefully overpriced and or ineffective. And they do this by strategically working to corrupt medical science research and reporting, medical practitioners and prescribers, nonprofit advocacy organizations, and entire government agencies. In my opinion, this book ultimately proves, without a reasonable doubt, that J&J does whatever it takes to widen their profit margins, no matter what, regardless of who gets hurt or dies in the process.
Most of all, I appreciated the personal accounts and quotes of former patients, medical professionals, researchers, and pharmaceutical reps in this book, as it made the case against J&J more vivid and real. While the book does include a lot of statistics, medical jargon, and studies, it always veers back to what’s most important: all the people who have died and suffered due to J&J’s abhorrent, unethical, and deeply inhumane business practices.
I would recommend this book to readers who want to learn more about the pharmaceutical industry and the pitfalls of a mostly unregulated privatized healthcare system that primarily relies on illegal deeds (or deeds that should be illegal) and human exploitation to exist.
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Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: Pharmaceutical Rep
Write a scandalous scene from the perspective of a pharmaceutical rep who is out to dinner with a new prospective client.
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