783,936 Americans die needlessly every year as a result of conventional medicine mistakes.

783,936.

Let's put that number into perspective:

That's about 650,000 more people than die in America each year from accidents. That's over 200,000 more people than die from cancer. That's 770,000 more people than die from AIDS. That's 200,000 more people than die from coronary heart disease. That's well over 600,000 more people than die from strokes.

That means that the American medical system is the leading cause of death in America today.

About 2.4 million people die from all causes in America each year. So this means that about one in three deaths in this country are the responsibility of the American medical system. One in three.

It makes sense when you know the facts. Some 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed each year. Another 8.9 million people will be unnecessarily hospitalized during the same period. And, 2.2 million of those people will have adverse drug reactions in the hospital to the medications they are prescribed. The number of unnecessarily prescribed drugs is astronomical; it runs into the tens of millions annually for antibiotics alone.

Using drugs to treat illness and unnecessary medical and surgical procedures is the driving force behind all of this. It's not hard to understand why; the industries that make the drugs and medical technologies wish to continue to sell them.

They use their financial clout to influence what is taught in medical schools, what techniques are used in hospitals, and what drugs are prescribed and how often, all to maximize their profits. That, of course, means selling the most drugs and medical equipment possible, even if they are unnecessary -- even if they are actually deadly.

If medicine instead focused on proper diet, regular exercise, and other sensible and free lifestyle changes, vast numbers of Americans would no longer need or want to purchase the drugs the pharmaceutical industry desperately wishes to continue to sell.

People feel concern about many kinds of danger. They worry about terrorism, traffic accidents and crime. The risks of all of these pale into insignificance compared to the risks of conventional medicine. People would do well to worry more about that, and move away from a constant diet of drugs, and toward treating themselves naturally and safely with diet and exercise.