Benefits of Medications Overstated
The drug industry says that ads arm consumers with information. According to NPR Radio researchers found that ad information is technically accurate, but the tone is misleading. A study in the Annals of Family Medicine raises questions about the message the ads promote.
"Typically, what we would see with these ads is that before taking a particular prescription drug, the character's life is out of control and the loss of control extended beyond the impact of their health condition," says UCLA psychologist Dominick Frosch, who headed the study. None of the adds mentioned that life style changes could have similar benefits to the prescribed drug.
Dr. David Kessler, dean of the school of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, headed the FDA for seven years, under the first President Bush and then President Clinton. He opposed TV advertising for drugs. Kessler says a complete ban on TV ads for prescription drugs is unlikely, now that ads has been approved. But he says regulation can — and should — be tightened.