Blog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org
"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful. At the same
time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel
called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.
To Drug or Not to Drug - 27 Feb 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman
In my opinion, the barrage of pharmaceutical ads just fuels the “sickness” mentality that serves to escalate the cost of “health care.” Of course, the TV news programmers cannot risk offending the very industries that they are financially dependent upon. So they run some “news” items that are fed to them by those industries; for example, the recent announcement that the number of cancer deaths was down. What they added at the end of the announcement was that cancer deaths in women had risen.
In an earlier Blog, I mentioned how cancer (and other diseases) becoming chronic and treatable gives the pharmaceutical industry a steady stream of money. I also mentioned how, in my opinion, a plethora of medications are promoted for “new” diseases that appear to be nothing but symptoms of underlying conditions. For example, one “disease” that I suspect is simply a symptom of a possible underlying cardio-vascular problem is RLS (restless leg syndrome). It is amazing how many “new diseases” are cropping up!
Certain diseases have become status symbols with “clubs” of their own. Commercials feature celebrities proudly announcing that they have diabetes, for example. And what about an ad, paid for by a pharmaceutical company, that features a “sisterhood” sharing breast cancer! To me, this ad seems so exploitative.
A couple of days ago, I saw a pharmaceutical commercial for a sleep medication where I never expected to see such ads: on the public TV channel! Those commercials are becoming truly ubiquitous!
Go on to: Having Fun - 28 Feb 2006
Return to: The High Cost of Disease - 26 Feb 2006
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