New Diseases, New Drugs, Same Old Record Profits
A recent AlterNet posting bears a chilling title: “How the Drug Companies Want Us to Be Sick.” Multinational pharmaceutical corporations have a dream, and it isn’t one they gleaned from Martin Luther King.
Their dream: at least one disease and more than one prescription drug for every American. There is so much marketing and selling of sickness that the phrase “disease mongering” has been coined to refer to the marketing of diseases and their matching drug solutions. Dr. Richard Lippin, an occupational health physician, predicts we’ll see the “disease” label applied to anything and everything to do with pain, fatigue, or feeling stressed. He reasons that there will be an attempt to market to the baby boomers desperate to avoid aging and death. Also, thanks to the very real problems we face globally, anxiety and depression will continue to rise. Good news for the antidepressant manufacturers, bad news for unsuspecting consumers.
Recently, “big pharma” was given a green light by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, and they’ve unleashed a veritable tsunami of drug ads swamping American television screens with the message, “Ask your doctor…,” — and believe me, we’re asking.
With these ads and other complementary marketing techniques, drug makers are redefining the parameters of “normal” health. And they’re convincing more and more of us that we’re in need of drugs to cure or control a rapidly expanding list of pharmaceutically targeted ailments. Suddenly, for example, we learn that what was once an acceptable blood pressure or blood cholesterol level is now in the “unhealthy” range. But, we’re oh-so-relieved to learn, help is available, in the form of drugs whose lists of side effects — even when rattled off at breakneck speed — eat up huge chunks of airtime in their commercials.
These newly revised standards, by the way, are unsupported by independent scientific research. Take the revived barrage of warnings about cholesterol levels. Fact is, tests for homocysteine and C-reactive protein are better indicators of heart disease risk than are measurements of cholesterol, but the former are rarely ordered. And, guess why? Controlling these risk factors doesn’t involve a pharmaceutical solution, but relies instead on vitamin supplementation and lifestyle changes. But, oops, there’s not enough profit down that path.
In reality, many of the diseases — old and new — commonly treated with pharmaceuticals are the compound result of unhealthy lifestyle factors including stress, lack of exercise, processed foods, and an ecosystem out of balance. It’s the sickening of America, and it really is sickening.
So, what do I recommend? By all means, ask your doctor. But not about drugs and diseases. Ask about dietary changes, about exercise, about supplements. Ask how you can change your life and start taking control of your health, your choices, and your dream.
Their dream: at least one disease and more than one prescription drug for every American. There is so much marketing and selling of sickness that the phrase “disease mongering” has been coined to refer to the marketing of diseases and their matching drug solutions. Dr. Richard Lippin, an occupational health physician, predicts we’ll see the “disease” label applied to anything and everything to do with pain, fatigue, or feeling stressed. He reasons that there will be an attempt to market to the baby boomers desperate to avoid aging and death. Also, thanks to the very real problems we face globally, anxiety and depression will continue to rise. Good news for the antidepressant manufacturers, bad news for unsuspecting consumers.
Recently, “big pharma” was given a green light by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, and they’ve unleashed a veritable tsunami of drug ads swamping American television screens with the message, “Ask your doctor…,” — and believe me, we’re asking.
With these ads and other complementary marketing techniques, drug makers are redefining the parameters of “normal” health. And they’re convincing more and more of us that we’re in need of drugs to cure or control a rapidly expanding list of pharmaceutically targeted ailments. Suddenly, for example, we learn that what was once an acceptable blood pressure or blood cholesterol level is now in the “unhealthy” range. But, we’re oh-so-relieved to learn, help is available, in the form of drugs whose lists of side effects — even when rattled off at breakneck speed — eat up huge chunks of airtime in their commercials.
These newly revised standards, by the way, are unsupported by independent scientific research. Take the revived barrage of warnings about cholesterol levels. Fact is, tests for homocysteine and C-reactive protein are better indicators of heart disease risk than are measurements of cholesterol, but the former are rarely ordered. And, guess why? Controlling these risk factors doesn’t involve a pharmaceutical solution, but relies instead on vitamin supplementation and lifestyle changes. But, oops, there’s not enough profit down that path.
In reality, many of the diseases — old and new — commonly treated with pharmaceuticals are the compound result of unhealthy lifestyle factors including stress, lack of exercise, processed foods, and an ecosystem out of balance. It’s the sickening of America, and it really is sickening.
So, what do I recommend? By all means, ask your doctor. But not about drugs and diseases. Ask about dietary changes, about exercise, about supplements. Ask how you can change your life and start taking control of your health, your choices, and your dream.
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