Journalists warn of helping drug giants 'market disease'

[Guest guest]

Journalists warn of helping drug giants 'market disease'

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Mike Shanahan

6 October 2004

Source: SciDev.Net

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews & itemid=1644 & language=1

 

[MONTREAL] Science journalists have accused drug companies of issuing

misleading information to inflate perceptions of disease threats and

maximise profits from drug sales, and have called for greater

journalistic scrutiny of the companies' activities.

 

Speaking at the 4th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) today

(5 October), freelance journalist and author Ray Moynihan warned that

journalists risk being used as promotional tools. Instead, said

Moynihan, journalists should be reporting on the pharmaceutical

companies' tactics.

 

But the conference also heard that for many science journalists in

developing countries, big companies are an important source of access to

the stories they cover — whether they accept the companies' public

relations material or not.

 

Reading examples of text from press releases issued by major

pharmaceutical companies, Moynihan said the information issued can be

" grossly misleading " , intended to elevate public perceptions of risk

without having a scientific basis to do so.

 

" The marketing of illness is the story of our times, " said Moynihan.

" [Journalists should] be used less, and report more on these strategies. "

 

At the same meeting, Pauline Dakin, a radio health journalist, echoed

Moynihan's concerns and described the checklist of questions she asks

when reporting on drug developments.

 

Dakin stressed to fellow journalists the importance of assessing the

need for a drug before reporting on it. She highlighted 'cure',

'dramatic' and 'breakthrough' as words journalists should be especially

wary of in drug company press releases.

 

Moynihan told SciDev.Net that there is a need for research into the

tactics drug companies use for media relations in developing countries.

 

" I suspect the growing middle class elites are being targeted in the

same way in developing countries, " Moynihan told SciDev.Net.

 

Tamar Kahn, a science journalist from the South African newspaper

Business Day and SciDev.Net correspondent, highlighted the dilemma

facing journalists in developing countries whose employers have limited

budgets for travel.

 

Kahn described how companies involved in mining or genetically modified

crops offer journalists paid trips to report on their activities. " If we

say no, we stay in the office, " said Kahn. " If yes, are we complicit?

Should we admit it? "

 

Moynihan was adamant. " It's time we should say no to those trips, " he said.

 

" We see billions spent on a product with negligible benefits for health,

when those billions could be invested in products from the South, " said

Moynihan. " That's the opportunity cost of marketing disease. "

 

The meeting heard calls for the WCSJ to develop a code of conduct for

reporting on drugs. Jens Degett of the European Science Foundation said

he formerly spent four years in the 'spin section' of a multinational

drug company and thought " guidelines would be very healthy " .

 

A member of the WCSJ fundraising committee confirmed that companies

including GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Frosst Canada had helped fund the

event, but that their contribution amounted to " small dollars " .