Drug Advertising

So there I was on a Friday night watching “Intervention” on A&E. And for the first time I was paying real attention to the drug adds during commercial breaks. There were four in a one hour show. I recorded “Intervention”- this one was about two families trying to save a 20-year-old heroin adict and a 50-year-old homeless alcoholic- so I could watch the ads over and over again.
There was Sally Filed, exercising vigorously, shopping for tomatoes at an outdoor market, and urging women to take Boniva, once a month for osteoporosis. Roche Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Boniva, defines osteoporosis as “a condition in which bones become weaker, more fragile and susceptible to fractures. One in two women over age 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture in her liftime, which can result in significant pain, loss of height, and may cause women to loose their ability to dress themselves, stand up and even walk. It can also lead to possible institutionalization and even death.”
Sounds pretty scary and, but that’s how Roche wants it to sound. Field was diagnosed with the disease in 2006, the year she turned 60. She became and advocate for women’s health and launched Rally with Sally For Bone Health sponsored by no other than Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. Hiring an actress to advertise and be the spokesperson is a clever marketing strategy. Of course the fact that Field is getting paid big bucks for appearing in those ads is not disclosed to the viewers.
In “Selling Sickness” the authors Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels wrote about the controversy surrounding osteoporsis. Turns out that an informal alliance of pharmaceutical companies tried to convince a generation of “healthy women that they are at risk of breaking a bone at any moment and that their very lives are in peril.” But having bones with very low mineral density doesn’t increase a person’s chance of a future fracture, they wrote. The bone density test is highly controversial and according to Monnihan and Cassels, “the drugs are often of modest benefit yet carry serious side effect, and whether this is a disease at all is open to question.”
I wonder if Field knows that. Is she really taking Boniva? She’s probably in it for the money.
So we don’t know if osteoporosis is really a disease… The drug may casue more harm than benefits…And Sally doesn’t mention anything about being on Roche’s payrol.
Field mentions that women taking Boniva may experience painful swallowing, chest pain or severe and continuing heart burn. No mention of pain or burnig under the ribs or in the back or severe joint, bone or muscle pain, additional side effects that are not so easy to find on Boniva’s website .
A press release put out by Public Citizen in October 2006 warned patients that they should wait until 2010 to take Boniva becasue it’s relatively new and that there is no evidence that it’s more therapeutic than older drugs and its impossible to know whether there are any previously unknown, potentially harmful adverse effects. This goes for every new drug tested in small numbers prior to approval by the FDA. Obviously Field doesn’t warn patients about it. No pharmaceutical company would.
During another commercial break, I saw an ad for Imitrex the migraine pill, made by GlaxoSmithKline. It was the first time I’ve ever heard of it. A young, red-headed music teacher conducting a chorus assured that Imitrex provides “effective relief without drowsiness.” The add didn’t mention, who should’t take the pill and it didn’t list a single side effect, but it offered $25 off on the next refill! The website lists who shouldn’t take Imitrex and on the botton of the page, in small font the message reads: “Very rarely, some people, even some without heart disease,have had serious heart-related problems when taking Imitrex.”
I would like to know that when watching the commercial. I would also like to know how long ago the drug was approved and how many clinical trials did it go through before FDA approved it. That information is not available on its website.
Who heard of Unisom, the sleeping pill? It’s Pfizer’s over the counter sleeping aid. The ad featured some white-collar workers sleeping blissfully and then going to work happy and refreshed. The voice in the ad informs that the durg is “clinically proven to help you fall asleep faster, sleep longer and wake refreshed every time.” Just how many clinical trials are we talking about? The ad didn’t tell me. It wasn’t informative at all. The drug, manufactured by Pfeizer, doesn’t have its own website so I had to go to healthline.com to look up its side effects:people taking it should use caution when driving or operating machinery or performing other hazardous activities. The drug may cause dizziness or drowsiness. People who have glaucoma, stomach ulcer, hypertension or any heart problem, prostate or asthma should tell their doctor before taking Unisom. The ad portrayed Unisom as a miracle drug for those experiencing insomnia, “I restore when I Unisom! I recharge when I Unisom!”, actors in the ad said. Consumers should be informed about potential side effects, especially if the drug is available over the counter.
Lipitor,manufactured by Pfeizer, is the world’s top-selling prescription drug ever. Dr. Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the artificial heart, helps promote it. Jarvik, balding but looking youthful and healthy appeared in this last ad I saw and said that “adding Lipitor significantly lowers bad cholesterol” and its FDA approved to reduce the rist of heart attack and stroke.
According to “Selling Sickness,” the drug has a huge market because the number of people defined as having “high cholesterol” exploded in recent years. Like with many conditions, the definition describing high cholesterol “is regularly revised, and like other conditions the definition has been broadened in ways that redefine more and more healthy people as sick,” the authors of the book wrote. Jarvik doesn’t talk about that. Instead he slices a banana into his bowl of cereal and says that healhty life style is often not enough to reduce cholesterol.
Experts who wrote the cholesterol gudielines in 2004 had ties to drug companies, according to Moynihan and Cassels. The decided that in addition to lifestyle changes, more than 40 million Americans could benefit by taking drugs such as Lipitor.
Jarvik says that Lipitor is “one of the most researched medicines” and later adds that side affects may include muscle pain and weakness. The website lists serious side effects that occurred in a small number of people: muscle problems that may lead to kidney problem and kidney failure and liver problems. Jarvik doesn’t mention the most common side effects: headache, constipation, diarrhea, upset stomach, stomach pain, rash, muscle and joint pain.
Consumers who do not know of disease mongering and who are not sceptical of drug companies are fooled easily. Doctors and celebrities are paid for those ads and consumers should always keep that in mind before taking Boniva, Lipitor or any other drug that’s advertised.

Immigration update

I don’t know why the Times put this story in Fashion & Style section on their website, but it caught my attention… The article is about marraiges between illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens. Such couples often face heartake because the spouse, who was in the U.S. illegally, can get deported or face years of background checks before they get cleared. The article focuses on a couple who have two children and a third one on its way, but they were separated when the wife was deported to her native Honduras. She has to wait ten years before being allowed to come back to the U.S. because she overstayed her tourist visa. Her husband is fed up with the system and recently decided to move to Honduras to join his family.
The are no multimedia pieces for this article. There is only a link for a related article, but I don’t know how a debate about women’s attire in Dubai is related to an article about immigration….

Jay Rosen and his Open Source Experiment

Jay Rosen’s open source journalism project is a very ambitious idea and even though Rosen seems to have thought it all out I am very sceptical if it’s going to work… How long is it going to take to build this reliable “army” of sources who would contribute without getting paid? Rosen said volunteers will fact check volunteers. Does that sound efficient at all? Top newspapers can’t even do that effectively and their newsrooms do not consist of volunteers or a mob.
I can see however, why Rosen is causing so much excitment and buzz in the world of journalism. His project is innovative and it may at the end mobilize the masses to be more alert to what’s going on around them or to follow issues and track certain trends. I’m looking foward to February when Rosen’s project will launch “whether it’s ready or not.”

Bush signs a fence bill- Immigration update

Bush signed a bill today approving construction of a 700 mile fence along the 2,100 mile U.S- Mexico border. The bill does not specify how the government will pay for it. CNN.com reports this breaking news story and provides some interactive features: video of Bush signing the bill, photos taken on the U.S. border, and related articles on what the Mexican government and the American people think about the border. Interestingly enough, CNN reports that most of Americans do not support construction of the border; they would rather see more U.S. agents patrol the border.

Immigration update

The wait to become a citizen in the United States can be anywhere from three months to three years, according to an article in nytimes.com. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hired more staff and implemented new efficiencies, but thousands of applicants still wait endlessly for approval. Many have to go through background security checks before obtaining their citizenship.
Along with an article, The New York website features a graphic showing the number of new applications and a total number of cases pending in New York City, Newark, Los Angeles, and Miami. The Times also provides related articles about citizenship, immigration movement and deportations.

Private blogs

I think we should use our class blogs for interactive class assignments only. Our personal blogs, well they are personal, so lets be flexible about how we’re going to utilize them. Publishing stories we did in craft is a great idea, but let’s make sure that they’re up to a certain standard. Jeff and Sandeep pointed out that people would see the things we write and formulate a certain opinion about us.
We can also write about interesting things we have observed in the neigborhood, or people we’re encountered; Our Neighborhood Chronicles…
Lets continue to cover meetings, parties, discussion panels and other events we happen to attend at the school or outside.
Our reaction to the world events, our opinions and personal obesrvations can all lead to blog posts.

Immigration Update

CNN reported on Thursday that a court ruling temporarily blocked the voting portion of Proposition 200. The Propostion was desgnied to block illegal immigrants fom voting and receiving social services. According to that law, all Arizonans would have to present a proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Tucson Citizen reports that the law often prevented elderly and minorities from voting becasue they couldn’t obtain the proof of citizenship.

On Friday I watched O’Reilly’s Factor for a few minutes only becuase Bill O’Reilly was “interrogating” Nativo Lopez, President of Mexican American Political Association. O’Reilly was curious what Lopez thought of Governor Schwarzenegger’s comments made earlier that day. The Governor said Mexicans should “assimilate into the American culture and become part of the American fabric.” Schwarzenegger was obviously drawing on his own experiences. Lopez said he was deeply offended by those remarks.
O’Reilly also pointed out that Lopez supports Columbia students who prevented the Minuetmen from speaking at Columbia University. Lopez said the Minutemen are the modern equivalent of KKK because they incite hatred. O’Reilly said there have been no documented incidents involving the Minutmen. He challenged Lopez to come back on his program next week and prove his point.
I say Lou Dobbs and Bill O’Reilly team up and stop the hords of illegal immigrants, with the help of the Minutemen that is. On Friday, Dobbs sounded like he’s getting ready, “Wake up America, we’re being invaded by a foreign country, he proclaimed on the show.”

Manny and Prof. Hotchberger

Manny, I would have to see her email to understand what you’re responding to.

more writing….

We all want to improve our writing and reporting abilities, that’s why we’re here. The only way to do that is to write every day; I heard that a million times not only in J-School. Some of us “forget” to do that every day (I’m one of them and it’s because I don’t feel pressured). Others take advantage of blogs and write, write, write these long posts. I don’t know if I can write in such length every day, but I sure want to scribble a decent paraghraph or two before going to bed. I think we ought to summarize, reflect or analyze events and stories that caught our attention each day in the media, or that happened in your neighborhood and did not receive any or very little coverage. Approach it however you want. And I know, some of you bloggers are already doing what I described, but I think we should all do that. May be not seven days a week, but lets say three………

Immigration Update

U.S. Senate on Friday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a border fence in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to The New York Times. On Monday, the Mexican government asked Bush to veto the bill. Bush said in the past that he won’t sign such a bill; something he has to do for it to become law. According to another Times’ article, Customs and Border Protection Agents and other experts, say the fence is “impractical and would simply lead illegal immigrants to cross elsewhere.” Rugged terrain and frequent creek floods on the Arizona border will make the fence constructiom impossible. Others say the fence will only shift traffic to less guarded parts of the border.
I know Lou Dobbs is sleeping better tonight. The Senate finally heard his plea.