Christina Sarich – About a decade ago, a New York Times article said that it would cost $10 billion annually to provide clean, safe water to everyone in the world. This number was likely arrived at without considering free and low-cost energy which could help to desalinate or filter water, or the latest sustainable technologies which pull water right out of thin air.
According to data pulled from Pew Charitable Trusts, the pharmaceutical industry spends enough money on the face-to-face promotion of their drugs to provide clean water to the entire planet – $15 billion, to be exact, with an extra $12 billion and change spent on additional drug marketing schemes. This comparison proves an obvious logical fallacy promoted by the World Health Organization, the United Nations and Big Pharma – that we don’t have enough resources to take care of the health of the people on this planet.
783 million people currently live without access to clean water around the globe, according to the Water Project. The site also states that a whopping one in five deaths of children could be prevented simply by giving their families access to clean water that doesn’t contain a water-borne disease.
Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry spent a record-breaking $5.4 billion on direct-to-consumer advertisement, according to Kantar Media. It paid to try to convince people they need a drug for all their ills, including ones they don’t even feel or know about. Americans spent $457 billion on prescription drugs in 2015 – more than any other nation in the world. Without stating the obvious – if $10 billion could provide clean water to the masses, what could $457 billion do to improve the health of every citizen on planet earth, making them feel like they were respected, cared for, and living with at least their minimal needs as described by Maslow’s hierarchy.