Drug Advertising should not be allowed. In my book, Louis Pasteur Condemns Big Pharma, I propose a solution to this drug advertising problem. The following is a link to my book page on my website:
Louis Pasteur Condemns Big Pharma by Stephen Heartland
The following solution can be found in my Solutions section of my website:
16 Solutions for Healthcare Reform | Stephen Heartland
Solution #14. BAN CONSUMER DRUG AND VACCINE ADVERTISING.
There should be no direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of vaccines and/or drugs. DTC marketing and advertising of pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines are not in the public’s interest and should be made illegal.
When advertising dollars are at work, then TV stations, newspapers, medical journals, radio stations, and all other commercial media companies become pressured by these Big Pharma companies to displace truth with what will be most profitable to the media company, which means what will benefit their advertisers. The promotion of these products is often deceptive, and predominately shows potential benefits while discounting any adverse effects. Only the United States and New Zealand currently allow these types of ads. The other countries of the world had the foresight to realize that allowing Big Pharma to advertise their products would grant them too much power over us, which they could then abuse. Money which is currently used to promote drugs and vaccines increases the cost of these products, while at the same time limits the money available to do research for the safety of these products. Drug and vaccine advertising does not benefit the public welfare.
I recently reviewed and did a blog on a fantastic book, Wonder Drug, by Jennifer Vanderbes 2023. This book offered many examples of why we should implement Solution #14.
Here is the link to the review I recently did of this book:
In this blog I will delve into the ways that advertising money used by pharmaceutical companies allows these companies too great an influence in social media where people get their news and information. This advertising money buys too much power and influence over media companies which rely on ad money as their main source of revenue. Then these ads are used to sway public opinion and perception. The examples of these abuses of power come from the book Wonder Drug, which can be found here:
Amazon.com : wonder drug the secret history of thalidomide
- “On the heels of a 1933 book called 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics, Senator Royal S Copeland of New York, a former doctor and health commissioner, had introduced a measure to prohibit misleading advertising and grant the FDA greater regulatory powers… the FDA assembled an exhibit of… the greatest hits of dangerous quackery – a young woman blinded by eyelash dye, three Rhode Island sisters dead from using B&M balm, and the steel magnate whose skull was eaten away by Radithor… The press – whose relentless muckraking exposés had helped Wiley stir public support for the original 1906 bill – now depended heavily on drug advertising income and stayed mute. Everyone knew murky medicine was being sold: no one was ready to act.” Wonder Drug. Page 17-18.
When the drug makers gained control of the news media through advertising dollars, they were able to keep any bad news from being shown to the American people. They used their advertising dollars as leverage against any media company which was dependent upon advertising money. The news media became the minion of pharmaceutical companies.
- “… Drug firms, it turned out, planted promotional ‘articles’ in newspapers and magazines. Pfizer had even fabricated the names of eight supporting doctors in its antibiotic Sigmamycin’s sales materials.” Wonder Drug. Page 58.
As newspapers and magazines were being controlled by advertising money, then it became just another way to promote their products. All things are possible for those who control the purse strings.
- “… But a Saturday Review article about Dr. Henry Welch, head of the FDA’s antibiotics division, had placed the agency squarely in Kefauver’s crosshairs. Welch, it turned out, was double-dipping: While working at the FDA he was also a paid editor for two medical journals – Antibiotics and Chemotherapy and Antibiotic Medicine & Clinical Therapy – both heavily underwritten by pharmaceutical advertising… When a witness appeared before Kefauver’s committee to show that Welch’s ‘honorariums’ between 1953 and 1960 had totaled a jaw-dropping $287,142 (over $2 million in today’s dollars), Welch filed for retirement from the FDA.” Wonder Drug. Page 59.
None of these things have changed. There are conflicts of interest everywhere in the pharmaceutical industry. People in the regulatory agencies are supposed to be protecting and defending the health and safety of America’s citizens have been paid off by the drug companies. And when they retire from the regulatory agencies, they stroll through a magic doorway into a highly paid career as an editor for a medical journal or an officer in a drug firm. Advertising money carries too much power.
- “… when a neurologist was preparing to publish a paper on thalidomide-related nerve damage, company envoys tried to deter him. When the doctor stood his ground, the firm used a ‘friendly connection’ with the editor of Medizinische Welt to stall publication. In the meantime, the same journal… ran a paper praising Contergan’s (one trade name of thalidomide) ‘atoxicity’ and ‘lack of side effects after long use.’” Wonder Drug. Page 97.
When the drug companies control the ad money, negative news stories will be blocked and not allowed to run and stories praising these same drugs can run in their place. This process makes certain people are not told the truth, and the spread of dangerous and harmful drugs will end up hurting and/or killing more people as drug firms reap profits.
Besides doing drug tests with thalidomide in the United States, Merrell pharmaceuticals also had been selling another drug named triparanol (aka MER/29) which also had widespread reports of adverse effects. They were making over $1 million per day off this drug and didn’t want the gravy train to end.
- “… Despite the mass of complaints detailing the drug’s dangers, Merrell refused to withdraw it. More egregious: Merrell ran ads in seven major medical magazines touting the drug’s safety, without citing the reports of hair loss, skin thickening, and blindness.” Wonder Drug. Page 191.
This demonstrates the mindset of many of the drug makers. Keep the public in the dark, reap the profits in spite of knowing deaths and/or injuries their products are causing, and squeeze every penny of profit you can out of a drug. Drug advertising is the biggest aid in providing these companies with their ill-gotten gains. It does nothing to help maintain the health or the well-being of people.
- “… Early 1962 brought the enigmatic Sacklers to the stage. The three brothers – Mortimer, Arthur, and Raymond – had forged a highly integrated pharmaceutical operation that could develop drugs and then publish favorable research papers in their own medical journals.” Wonder Drug. Page 205.
Drug companies are still doing this very thing today. If they don’t possess their own medical journals, then they gain control of other journals through their advertising money which are more favorable to money than truth. None of this benefits the public at large. It only adds to the profit of the drug companies.
When evidence became completely clear to Frances Kelsey (FDA reviewer for thalidomide) that the company had harmed many people in the United States with its reckless trials, including pregnant women and their deformed babies, Merrell turned to their allies in the press to smooth things over and do damage control. Here is a prime example of how the company intentionally deceived the public to alter public opinion.
- “… Life even published an extensive statement from Merrell’s Carl Bunde, giving credence to the drug company’s spin: Bunde pretended that the firm had never asked doctors to use the drug for morning sickness… he omitted the fact that two hundred of Merrell’s trial doctors specialized in obstetrics and gynecology… Thanks to Life, Merrell’s fabricated defense reached almost seven million American households… The most memorable part of the Life spread were the photographs of the afflicted children… None of the children were American. And Life’s visuals would solidify for readers that thalidomide was a tragedy overseas… An exposé in the National Enquirer further cemented this idea…” Wonder Drug. Page 275-276.
For too long the press and news media have been puppets for those in power. The American people have routinely been deceived by this well-crafted mind control method. Again, where is the benefit of allowing drug advertising for the American people? Public opinion was altered. Merrell’s scandalous behavior turned into sympathy for the company.
- “… The mounting investigation played out quietly. The public still celebrated America’s escape from the thalidomide tragedy and believed Merrell to be blameless… The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that Merrell had been ‘catapulted unwillingly into a harsh international spotlight’ for merely trying to get a ‘seemingly supersafe’ sleeping pill approved.” Wonder Drug. Page 281.
Public image is important, especially to a drug company. They want us to know that we can trust them. Stories paid for by drug maker’s ad money helps protect drug company’s image.
- “An inspection of Merrell’s offices had also turned up evidence of the company’s efforts to downplay reports of side effects. Documents showed that the firm had intervened to delay publication of a research paper on thalidomide-related nerve damage.” Wonder Drug. Page 292.
The company and its advertising bought too much power. To be able to stop bad press about your company, and then only allow your side of the story to reach print is a clear example of the absolute power of pharmaceutical influence over the press and media.
In the end, Merrell pharmaceuticals was in court and found guilty.
- “… This marked the first time a drug firm was convicted of misleading the government about a product.” Wonder Drug. Page 295.
People died. Babies were deformed. Women lost their children in miscarriages. People suffered long term nerve damage. No one from Merrell pharmaceutical went to prison. The drug company only paid a small remuneration to those plaintiffs who came forward and won their cases. All those remaining who could not prove their cases were left without any help. Many of those fabricated positive news stories about the company still lingered, and soon the whole thalidomide story vanished from the public mind.
Conclusion: Drug advertising should be banned.
Drug advertising does the public no good. It gives those with money and power only more money and power which they can abuse. It perverts truth, brainwashes people with its repetition, and the result is that we tend to believe the drivel these ads have fed us over and over again. It does nothing to promote health of people or protect them from harm.