December 4, 2002
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One of the bumper stickers on my car says “they’re lying.” Sometimes people see it and ask me who “they” are. I reply, pretty much everyone. The latest liars are Big Pharm. It seems that back in 1997, the feds let drug makers advertise directly to consumers on TV. Now a significant number of people are telling their doctors what to prescribe to them. I’m not sure that is such a good idea, being that most people are pretty stupid, probably somewhat more stupid than the average M.D. Even so, this might not be so bad, except that the druggies are lying in their commercials. So far, the feds have cited Schering, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Pfizer for lying through their corporate teeth about the efficacy and/or side effects of their products.
The feds say the ads are “misleading.” I say they are lies, damned lies. Is the gummint doing anything about it? Oh yeah–they recently changed the rules so that it would take a whole lot longer to nail these lying bastards than it used to. As a result, big corrupt drug companies can advertise any kind of lies and fantasy they want to, serene in the knowledge that by the time the feds try to make them stop lying, the ad campaign will have already run its course.
Comments (6)
This is the very reason I don’t take pills unless I’m dying. Most of the time, I think I’d be better off dead anyway. “They” are all liars indeed.
My 11 yr old loves to watch the drug commercials and point out all the stuff that is wrong with it. Also the fact that the side effects are way worse then the symptoms. Idiots. MAKE a great day!
you have to take into consideration the fact that most of the stupid people in this world would rather believe those lies than know the truth. sad.
I’m so glad I’m smarter than the average MD and about 9,993 others out of any given 10,000 suckers. There are ways in which it really pays to have brains.
I see nothing unusual here. Those who eat the standard American diet of bread and sugar and condiments just naturally
need American pills. And I notice they live fairly long but sick all the time and under a doctor’s care. Good for business.
I’ve been reading your blogs, thinking how interesting a person you are. Although there are some things I disagree with you on, you have good points. By the way, I got here from SuSu’s.
I am working on a blog that goes a little further with the drug (& chemical) company greedy practices. Put it this way, one pharmaceutical company researched a tropical plant in the 70s that they had PROVEN cures cancer! Even the National Cancer Institute knows about it. However, since they cannot patent bio-chemicals & were unable to synthesize the plant’s benefits, they have sat on the study results since 1976, leaving thousands to die from cancer (& other illnesses this plant can cure)! Our government supports the chemical & pharmaceutical companies, because they keep our stock markets afloat.