The Untold Story of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie's Influence on American Medicine

The Untold Story of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie's Influence on American Medicine
I want to share a little history lesson with you that was a huge eye-opener for me. 


Y'all know who John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were? Let's start by saying they were REALLY RICH guys who earned tons of money by being ruthless businessmen. Rockefeller was an oil magnate, a robber baron, America’s first billionaire, and a natural-born monopolist. Carnegie was an industrialist (think: Pittsburgh and the steel industry), businessman, and philanthropist. 

By the turn of the 20th century, Rockefeller controlled 90% of all oil refineries in the U.S. through his company, Standard Oil, which was later broken up to become Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, etc. 

At the same time, around 1900, scientists discovered “petrochemicals” and the ability to create all kinds of chemicals from oil. For example, the first plastic — called Bakelite — was made from oil in 1907. Scientists were discovering various vitamins and guessed that many pharmaceutical drugs could be made from oil.

This was a wonderful opportunity for Rockefeller who saw the ability to monopolize the oil, chemical and the medical industries at the same time! The best thing (for him) about petrochemicals was that everything could be patented and sold for high profits. You can't patent plants. God owns that one. 😉

His biggest hurdle was the number of doctors that were practicing holistic medicine at the time. Natural/herbal medicines were very popular - probably because they worked, right? Rockefeller himself had said that homeopathy was "an aggressive and progressive step in medicine".

Rockefeller went to his buddy Andrew Carnegie and they teamed up and devised a scheme to not only discredit their natural competition, but to vilify it. Homeopathy and natural medicines were mocked and demonized. Doctors were even jailed.

They "philanthropically" gave money to colleges and institutions so that they would switch to teaching about pharmacological medicine. (Money talks and those "institutions of healing" sold out.)

They gave huge grants to scientists who would research plants, identify the substances in them that worked to heal diseases, and then synthetically recreate them in a lab (similar, not identical, mind you) - giving Rockefeller and Carnegie medicines to patent and sell. 

They controlled the course of American medicine with profit, not healing, as its driving force. 

I recently read a quote from a pharmacological industry insider who said that his responsibility was to his shareholders, not to any patients. 😥 I'm sad, but not one bit surprised. He is the product of the Rockefeller-Carnegie money-making scheme of some 100 years ago. 

Oh yeah, guess what Rockefeller used for his own health ailments (and he had many). . . Holistic Medicine. 

He lived to be 97.

PS. The American Cancer Society was created in 1913 by none other than John D. Rockefeller. 🤔

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