[MC_USA] 'Disease Mongering', What is IT ?

[Guest guest]

> Wayne Fugitt <wfugitt

> Sun, 24 Oct 2004 00:11:30 -0500

> [MC_USA] 'Disease Mongering', What is IT ?

>

>

> McAlvany Health Alert Update

> October 23, 2004

>

> Doctors' Body Accuses Drug Firms of 'Disease

> Mongering'

>

>

> The Royal College of General Practitioners has

> accused drug

> companies of " disease-mongering " in order to boost

> sales.

>

> The college, whose members include many of Britain's

> 37,000 GPs,

> says the pharmaceutical industry is taking the

> National Health

> Service to the brink of collapse by encouraging

> unnecessary

> prescribing of costly drugs.

>

> In evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, the college

> accuses the

> companies of over-playing the dangers of conditions

> such as mild

> depression or slightly raised blood pressure.

>

> Dr Maureen Baker, the college's honorary secretary,

> wants the Commons

> health inquiry to investigate the companies'

> practices.

>

> " It would be fruitful to look into the increase in

> disease-mongering

> by them, " she told The Sunday Telegraph.

>

> " It is very much in the interest of the

> pharmaceutical industry to

> draw a line that includes as large a population as

> possible within

> the 'ill' category. The bigger this group is, the

> more drugs they

> can sell. If current trends continue, publicly

> funded health-care

> systems will be at risk of financial collapse with

> huge cost to

> society as a whole. "

>

> The college lists hypertension, high cholesterol,

> osteoporosis,

> anxiety and depression as examples of common

> conditions that, in

> mild forms, are often inappropriately treated with

> drugs.

>

> Richard Ley, a spokesman for the Association of the

> British

> Pharmaceutical Industry, said: " It seems odd for

> this criticism to

> come from the Royal College of all organizations,

> because a decision

> on when and how to treat a patient is the doctor's. "

>

> Dr Baker, however, questioned the impartiality of

> treatment

> guidelines from bodies of specialist doctors that

> tell GPs when and

> what to prescribe, saying they were often overly

> influenced by and

> financially reliant on drug companies.

>

> Earlier this month, it emerged that three senior

> members of the Joint

> Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, which

> recommended the

> introduction of the new five-in-one jab for

> diphtheria, tetanus,

> whooping cough, polio and Hib had received

> " industrial support " from

> two pharmaceutical firms, Aventis Pasteur and Merck

> Sharp & Dome,

> which are supplying the vaccination.

>

> Some observers are also worried about " hard-sell "

> methods applied to

> general practice. Last year, a survey of 1,000 GPs

> published in the

> British Medical Journal found that those who saw

> drugs-company

> representatives at least once a week were more

> likely to prescribe

> drugs that were not needed. (By Michael Day)

>

>