John D. Rockefeller used his oil money to buy a German pharmaceutical company (I.G. Farben, which later emerged as Bayer Pharmaceuticals). The pharmaceutical company was researching how to remove medicine from plants and obtain patents to sell the medicine.  Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie devised a plan of reward and punishment that discouraged the use of existing herbal remedies, and encouraged the use of his expensive patented medicine.  Rockefeller’s mantra was, “A pill for every ill”, and that mantra persists in medicine today. Doctors prescribe pills to treat symptoms, and more pills to treat symptoms caused by pills, without diagnosing the root causes of chronic diseases. Symptomatic treatment never cured a chronic disease. Understanding the root causes of chronic disease can prevent chronic disease, make the treatment of chronic diseases more effective, and allow for revolutionary new discoveries in the causes and treatment of chronic disease.