Leading entrepreneur reveals abuses of pharmaceutical industry

2020-09-08

In a video that’s gone viral, entrepreneur Marc Simoncini recounts his chilling conversation with a laboratory chief. A clip which exposes the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry.

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Marc Simoncini talks about the benefits of vitamins against cancer

A video clip widely-shared on social media

Born in 1963, Marc Simoncini is a French entrepreneur and founder of several companies including iFrance and Meetic. In 2020, he took part in the programme ‘Who wants to be my associate?’ (adapted from the British ‘Dragon’s Den’).

Following one candidate’s pitch (for a medical project), Simoncini recalled his troubling meeting with a pharmaceutical industry director :

- TRADUCTION SOUS LA VIDÉO -

Here’s a summary of what Marc Simoncini said:

You put me in a difficult position. I need to tell you a story … Twenty years ago, we wanted to find out whether giving vitamins and dietary supplements to children would reduce their risk of developing cancer in later years. For eight years, the children were given capsules – half received vitamins and the other half a placebo, in order to identify whether one group would go on to be less healthy than the other.

The chief executive goes on:

And I remember going to see the top director of the biggest laboratory in France to ask him for 150,000 francs (that’s around €23,000) to develop this study. He received me in his office in his pink silk socks – I’ll never forget it – and said to me “but why do you want me to prevent cancer in children when my job is to sell drugs once they’ve got it?"

Marc Simoncini concludes:

I never really got over that comment and I guess there’s a bunch of kids who’ve had cancer because they didn’t receive any vitamins.

This video clip has been widely shared on Facebook and other social media. The laboratory chief’s cynicism revealed by Simoncini has sparked outrage among many web-users.

The proven link between diet and cancer

Let’s take this opportunity to remember that numerous studies have shown that how we eat affects our risk of developing cancer: they include the many expert studies conducted by the National Institute of Cancer (INCa) in France, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). (1-3)

The main causes of avoidable cancer include those related to nutrition: alcohol, an unbalanced diet and obesity, (to which smoking and a lack of physical activity should be added). So it’s vitally important to watch what you put on your plate!

What should you eat to reduce your risk of getting cancer?

The golden rule is well-known: eat a balanced diet.

In particular, make sure you eat plant-source foods such as fruits and vegetables (4-7). They are generally high in vitamins, antioxidants and fibre and are thus a key part of the healthy, varied diet you need to help prevent cancer (8-9).

In addition, try to avoid processed foods (ready meals, tinned food ...) as well as eating too much red meat, cooked meats and sugar.

References

INCa/NACRe, « Nutrition et prévention primaire des cancers : actualisation des données », Rapport INCa, 2015
CIRC/INCa, « Les cancers attribuables au mode de vie et à l’environnement en France métropolitaine », Rapport CIRC, 2018
WCRF/AICR “Diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer : a global perspective. A summary of the third expert report”, Rapport WCRF, 2018
Oyebode O, Gordon-Dseagu V, Walker A, Mindell JS. Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause, cancer and CVD mortality: analysis of Health Survey for England data. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2014;68(9):856-862. doi:10.1136/jech-2013-203500
Ashfield-Watt PA, Welch AA, Day NE, Bingham SA. Is 'five-a-day' an effective way of increasing fruit and vegetable intakes?. Public Health Nutr. 2004;7(2):257-261. doi:10.1079/PHN2003524
Turati F, Rossi M, Pelucchi C, Levi F, La Vecchia C. Fruit and vegetables and cancer risk: a review of southern European studies. Br J Nutr. 2015;113 Suppl 2:S102-S110. doi:10.1017/S0007114515000148
Block G, Patterson B, Subar A. Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: a review of the epidemiological evidence. Nutr Cancer. 1992;18(1):1-29. doi:10.1080/01635589209514201
Menon S, Lu C, Menon R, Schwartz J, Guan Y. Effects of Antioxidants in Human Cancers: Differential Effects on Non-Coding Intronic RNA Expression. Antioxidants (Basel). 2016;5(1):1. Published 2016 Jan 4. doi:10.3390/antiox5010001
Carlsen MH, Halvorsen BL, Holte K, et al. The total antioxidant content of more than 3100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs and supplements used worldwide. Nutr J. 2010;9:3. Published 2010 Jan 22. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-9-3

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