NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

11/10/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Ralph Nader brought his own brand of consumer activism to Northwestern State University, encouraging students and audience members to get involved in politics and their community.

Nader spoke at NSU as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.

"Many students say they aren't interested in politics, but if you're not turned on, it will turn on you," he said. "If people give up on themselves, they will assure a worse outcome, fulfilling a vicious cycle of disengagement and dropping out which means more of big business will be taken over by big government."

Nader was honored by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential Americans of the Twentieth Century. He has devoted his life to giving ordinary people the tools they need to defend themselves against corporate negligence and government indifference.

In 2000, Nader received three million votes as the Green Party's candidate for president, saying both the Democratic and Republican parties were too close to major corporations.

"The people must be the masters, and the corporations must be the servants, not the other way around," he said. "The only thing that will overcome organized money is organized people."

Nader said this country doesn't need a government that uses the flag as a gag, telling its people to "Shut up and shop."

"That's what we did after 9/11."

'The ultimate patriot is working to make the country better," he said.

Among his targets were pharmaceutical companies, who he said benefit from taxpayer research at no cost and mining companies, who use public land for 19th century prices.

"Drug companies are selling Taxol and AZT which were developed by the National Institutes of Health for thousands of dollars," said Nader. "Three quarters of anti-cancer drugs were funded and tested by the taxpayers and given away to companies under monopoly agreement. They can charge whatever they want and the government doesn't get any money. And if the patients can't pay, Medicaid will pay the bill."

According to Nader, U.S. consumers pay the highest drug costs in the world. Part of that reason is that pharmaceutical companies spend millions on political lobbying and currying favor with physicians. He also said that the major drug companies have no interest in medicines that can cure diseases that afflict a relatively small number of people. Their interest is in lifestyle drugs, such as Viagra, or other medicines that must be taken each day, he said.

According to Nader, mining companies are still allowed to use an 1872 federal law that allows them to lease government land for $5 an acre. One Canadian company spent $30,000 to lease government land with minerals worth approximately $9 billion.

In 1965, Nader took on the auto industry with his book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," a shocking expose' of the disregard carmakers held for the safety of their customers. The Senate hearing into Nader's accusations and the life-saving motor vehicle safety laws that resulted catapulted Nader into the public sphere.

"The more I learned the angrier I got," said Nader. "The concept of padded dash boards went back to Roman times, but they weren't used on automobiles. Sharp edges such as hood ornaments or tail fins were merely ornamental but cost lives. The motor vehicle safety laws passed in 1966 saved one million lives and diminished the severity of millions of injuries."

Nader also called upon elected officials, especially those in Congress to post their voting records for constituents to see. He said only 10 members of Congress have their voting records easily accessible.

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