‘blow that argument to smithereens’

The Sunday Herald, 3rd June 2018, had this report on its front page:

The Editor of the Herald gave a careful analysis of this and concluded:Naturally, in reading this report on the new Lobbying Register for the Scottish Parliament I found myself comparing the situation with regards to Sunshine legislation. Nearly 5 years on since I raised my petition, and 2 years on since the public were consulted there has been no such “modest progress” in relation to transparency of competing interests in NHS Scotland. Here, the Scottish Parliament has failed to hold the Scottish Government to account and the view of the Scottish people has not been respected.

In the UK, each year more than £40 million is paid to healthcare workers and academics by the Pharmaceutical industry to market their products. The Scottish Government has consistently maintained that this does not impact on Realistic Medicine. However robust, scientific studies have repeatedly found otherwise. We also have inquiries into the harms associated with Mesh implants and in relation to the potential for prescribed harm with antidepressants, both areas where the business of making money has been directly involved.