Dangers of Prescription Drugs
A Well Kept Secret-Until Now
LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE ADS
Notice how commercials quietly mask the dangers of prescription drugs. The ads show a person who has some kind of physical ailment or condition. Their doctor prescribes medication, they take it and soon they’re easily scaling high mountains. Then the smiling announcer adds a tag line. “Side effects may include nausea, dizziness, fainting and even death."
To read the possible side effects of your prescription drugs go to www.drugs.com. They have an A-Z index that lists every medication and every possible side effect.
Note: The following information is to raise your awareness, not necessarily to change your behavior. Do not stop taking prescription medicine unless you have first consulted with your personal physician.
SOME STARTLING STATISTICS
. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the US makes up almost 50% of the global market in prescription drugs.
. There is a at least one user of prescription drugs in 67% of American homes
. Prescription drug ads are banned everywhere except the United States and New Zealand
. In the US, painkillers, stimulants and other prescription medications are abused more than any other illicit drug except cannabis. (Reported by the International Narcotics Control Board, 2006)
. The number of disabilities, serious adverse reactions and deaths linked to prescription drugs nearly tripled between 1998 and 2005. These side effects came from over 1500 medications. The worst were pain medications, some immune-system drugs and antidepressants. How long they’ve been on the market makes no difference. Two-thirds of them have existed as long as the FDA. Over 11,000 adverse reactions were caused by the old standby, Estrogen (Archives of Internal Medicine)
. Medical treatment is the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.(Journal of the American Medical Association)
. Eight of the nine experts who wrote the latest cholesterol guidelines also serve as paid speakers, consultants or researchers to the world’s major drug companies.(Selling Sickness,Ray Moynihan,Alan Cassels)
. “Pharmaceutical companies exist to make a profit. They hire advertising companies to create a culture of disease and fear.”(Gary Rushkin, Executive Director of Commercial Alert, testifying before the FDA.)
. Reuter’s Business Insight report says,... “one of the chief selling strategies of the branding agencies is to make natural processes into medical conditions.”
MAKING PROGRESS
Western medicine has made great strides in treating diseases.
. Drug cocktails have kept AIDS patients alive and well for years.
. Organ transplants are almost commonplace and save lives.
. The diagnosis of many types of cancer is no longer a death sentence
But pharmaceutical companies are in the business of making money.Many of them hire advertising people to expand the market and elevate the importance of an unknown condition. Then they convince the public that the condition is bio-chemical. The only treatment is a new prescription drug.
The most notable of these conditions is Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, the name give to people who have trouble focusing. Drug companies saturated the children’s market with Ritalin. Now bored office workers are convinced they suffer from the same condition.
To date there has been no scientific evidence that adult ADD exists. However sales of the amphetamine based prescription have increased every year - and so have the side effects.
Other times the advertising agencies are hired to find a less embarrassing name for a condition.
. Men's sexual impotence, now known as Erectile Dysfunction or ED.
An otherwise healthy, middle-aged man would much rather tell the doctor “I think I have E. D.”, than go into his office with a complaint that he’ impotent.
. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is now IBS.
. People used to be called shy. Now the pharmaceutical companies tell use we could have Social Anxiety Disorder.
There Are Alternatives
You may be taking a medication that is keeping you healthy and alive. Continue to take your prescription drugs until your doctor advises you to stop. However, be an informed consumer. You are in charge of your own health. The three most important points to remember are:
1. Ask questions.
2. Ask questions.
3. Ask questions.
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