Brigham Buhler: 50% of the FDA's funding comes from big pharma

" We talk about corporate capture, 50% of the FDA's funding comes from big pharma, 50%. But another big chunk comes from big food. And what a lot of people don't know is big food has to pay by the batch."

"So if I'm an executive at Kellogg's and I'm making these bright, colorful, addictive cereals that I can put into the marketplace and market to children in America, I just have to pay to play. I have to put together a study that shows at the right dosage that this is not causing harm to a patient population. And I self report that data to the FDA. And then the FDA charges you a fee per batch. And so every time a new batch of cereal comes out, the FDA is getting paid. And I go back to this is the incentive system that creates conflicts."

"You know, I'm here to it's a challenge. Like this is a real, real problem. And a group of bright and driven and motivated citizens got together and marched to Kellogg's a few weeks ago and made national news where they had a petition with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans that had signed asking Kellogg's for something very simple. Please just sell us what you're selling Europe. You have the ability, you have the manufacturing capabilities, you're already making these products."

"Please. just sell the American people the same less dangerous products that you're selling our Canadian and our European brothers and sisters. And Kellogg's had signs up in the windows, refused to accept the petitions. And this is where we said we can't wait on the Senate. We cannot wait on the government."

"The American people have to speak with their pocketbooks. You know, just hurting one of these big conglomerates profits by 3%. would be enough to probably bring them to their knees and force change. And the American people have that power."

"You know, we can work together to demand better, whether from big food, big pharma, big insurance, you know, a combined effort and a unified front. This is truly a human issue. And if we align and work together, it's an issue that we could solve pretty easily."