"Diseasemongering"

A few years back, I was invited to speak to the 6th and 7th graders at our largest public middle school here, Workman Middle School. The topic I was to speak to them on was "sex".  They knew I was a pastor and I was completely free to share what God had to say about it all.

Wow. Was I shocked at the questions these kids asked me.  But the biggest shock was what came when the bell rang and I went with them to their "pill break".

"Pill break???", I asked the nurse.....I had never heard of such a thing. 

Well, picture a cafeteria 5 lines wide, 30 to 40 deep each, with nurses looking up each students "meds" in a book (ie, Ritalin was the big one....), then giving each a little cup with their pills in them. 

I was completely blown away.  The thought of this happening back when I was in gradeschool was incomprehensible. 

All that to say that though I am deeply thankful for modern medicine and the lives it saves, this was a living illustration to me of what the big pharmaceutical companies have done:  Create diseases to create a need to create new markets to create more profits.  All at the expense of the people.

It is called "Diseasemongering".

Of course we have all suspected such to be the case, but below I have pasted an article that now confirms it, out of one of the largest medical journals out there.  Sadly, some people I have known live their lives around taking medications.  They are taken up, taken down, with the drugs creating new complications.  The new complications require another drug.  And on and on it goes in a vicious, unmerciful cycle. 

Definitely food for thought, I would say......

PB

Drugs companies inventing diseases to boost their profits' By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent PHARMACEUTICAL companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today. The practice of “diseasemongering” by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine. The special issue, edited by David Henry, of Newcastle University in Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist, reports that conditions such as female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and “restless legs syndrome” have been promoted by companies hoping to sell more of their drugs. Other minor problems that are a normal part of life, such as symptoms of the menopause, are also becoming increasingly “medicalised”, while risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or osteoporosis are being presented as diseases in their own right, according to the editors. “Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm,” they say. “Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response.” Doctors, patients and support groups need to be more aware that pharmaceutical companies are taking this approach, and more research is needed into the changing ways in which conditions are presented, according to the writers. Disease-awareness campaigns are often funded by drug companies, and “more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health”, they say. Ordinary shyness is routinely presented as a social anxiety disorder and treated with antidepressants, while newly identified conditions such as “restless legs syndrome” — a constant urge to move one’s legs — are presented as being much more common than they really are.

Comments

[Stephen Robertson]

Gotta disagree with you on this one. Pharmaceuticals are one of the most regulated industries there is. These companies spend billons in R&D then few more billon getting their drugs approved by the FDA. Then they have seven years to make back those billons plus some profit before their patents are legally void. So legislation and red tape create a situation where the companies must get "creative" to remain profitable.

I am not saying they are blameless; the real issue though is the relationships between doctors and the pharm. companies. It’s not right when a doctor gets a trip to Vegas if he sells enough pills. If those kids were taking drugs they did not need, their doctors and ignorant parents are the only ones at fault.

I would much rather live in a society where the evil "BiGPharm" is allowed to make their huge profits on their life saving drugs than live under a government that regulated innovation into extinction. So they have ads to convince me I need a product I do not need. Burger King does this too; the beauty is that I have the ability to make my own decisions.

By the way, the "Natural Supplements" industry makes way more profit selling gel caps full of dirt. They are regulated by no one, and you can buy them at Walmart. I'd trust Pfizer over these guys any day.

[Ann Canterbury]

As a nursing student I am amazed at how much medication my patients are on. Today was a perfect example of how meds can interact. My patient is taking hormone replacement medication, one of the side effects is heart arrythmia, well she is on the telemetry floor with heart problems. She takes so many medications that when I went back to check on her she was totally out of it. Just sitting and staring at the wall. I've also noticed the side effects are sometimes worse then the original problem.

[Leah Flaton]

Wow, how sad is that...a 'pill break.' Children today are growing up thinking it's completely normal to take pills every day just so you can act balanced.

Not only do we have greedy pharmaceutical companies that turn everything into a disease, but now we also have a society that will not take personal responsibility for their actions. Because of these doctors and companies pushing new drugs, no longer do people accept the consquences of their choices and decisions...now it can be cured with a simple pill. I have heard that shoplifting is a disease, alcoholism and drug addiction are now diseases, the list goes on. Going even further, some "diseases" are simply ingrained behaviors and personality traits (such as shyness). But I digress...