A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » misc.kids » Kids Health
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease mongering across internet



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 23rd 06, 09:29 PM posted to misc.health.alternative,alt.support.attn-deficit,misc.kids.health
Jan Drew
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,707
Default Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease mongering across internet

http://www.newstarget.com/z020498.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published September 22 2006
Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease
mongering across internet
On Tuesday, NewsTarget reported that an ad for the ADHD medicine Adderall --
endorsed by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" star and ADHD sufferer Ty
Pennington -- was being prominently displayed on Amazon.com's home page, and
invited visitors to participate in a "Amazon survey" to determine how much
they knew about the condition. Now, internet giant America Online has
followed suit.
This week, visitors to the AOL homepage had a good chance of seeing
Pennington's somber face next to a proclamation identifying Sep. 20th as
"ADHD Awareness Day." Health advocate Mike Adams says what visitors to the
site should really be made aware of is that these efforts are classic
disease mongering campaigns where drug companies attempt to sell more drugs
by inventing a problem requiring "treatment" with pharmaceuticals.

"When the ADHD drug pushers use the term 'awareness,' what they really mean
is 'disease mongering,'" says Adams, referring to his term for the practice
of inventing diseases -- or expanding the requirements for disease
diagnosis -- in order to label more consumers "sick" and make money from
their subsequent treatments. "The only way they sell more drugs is to
convince people they have a disease that requires medication.

"The whole thing, of course, is a fraud based on junk science, and companies
like AOL and Amazon.com are doing consumers a great disservice by allowing
these predatory advertisements to run."

The ad for ADHD awareness day links to a page where consumers can engage in
a live chat with ADHD experts, sponsored by Adderall distributor Shire. They
can also watch a previously recorded webcast interview with Pennington
discussing his experience with ADHD, and of course, Adderall.

The ad notes that the experts on call will not be able to dispense medical
advice, but can answer questions about ADHD. Since the ad does not mention
Adderall specifically, there is no information about the amphetamine's
serious side effects, including addiction, stomachache, headache, sleep
problems, and pathological smiling, laughing and crying -- known as
emotional liability -- in children. Other ADHD drugs, such as Ritalin, have
also been linked to deaths due to cardiovascular complications.

Adams says he takes issue with companies such as AOL and Amazon.com
associating themselves with the direct-to-consumer marketing of prescription
drugs, as even the over-the-counter equivalents can be hazardous, and
doctors have reported that they tend to prescribe whatever brand of drugs
patients ask for. Adams also blasts the corporate giants and the drug
industry for disguising their profit-driven ads as public education
campaigns.

"Big Pharma is invading the internet, and they're pushing drugs under the
guise of education," he says. "But this isn't education, it's classic
commercial marketing of dangerous drugs."

As of press time, AOL had not responded to requests for a statement
regarding the ad and their support of direct-to-consumer drug marketing.

Doctors usually diagnose people with ADHD when they are hyperactive,
impulsive, and have trouble forming and nurturing social relationships, but
Adams points out that these diagnoses are often tossed around without any
consideration of mitigating factors, such as poor nutrition. Recommending
nutritious foods that promote physical and mental health, Adams points out,
is not a profitable move for Big-Pharma-sponsored doctors to make, adding
that most doctors are not trained in nutrition anyway.

"The average doctor receives one hour -- not one credit hour, but one
hour -- of education relating to nutrition throughout their entire medical
school education," Adams says. "Unless you visit a naturopath or have a
relatively progressive doctor who recognizes the role of nutrition in
health, the average medical practitioner -- including a psychiatrist -- is
likely to give you a drug and send you on your way."

There is no medical test for ADHD, and there is no physiological process of
degeneration or disease that ADHD proponents can point to. This is a
"disease" that's based purely on opinion, and the ADHD disease label is
simply thrust onto an adult or child after a doctor or psychiatrist observes
their behavior and decides, in their own opinion, that the patient has this
"disease."

As with the previous ad at Amazon.com, Adams encourages the public to take a
stand against the ADHD publicity campaign by contacting AOL and asking them
to remove the ad. A satisfaction survey concerning the ad can also be found
here.


  #2  
Old September 23rd 06, 10:04 PM posted to misc.health.alternative,alt.support.attn-deficit,misc.kids.health
Linda Gore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 44
Default Celebrity-endorsed Electroshock infomercials featuring Kitty Dukakis compete with Pharmaceutical infomercials featuring Ty Pennington disease mongering on behalf of ADHD

14 propagandist articles pushing ECT featuring Kitty Dukakis in two days.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&qt... TF-8&filter=0




"Jan Drew" wrote in message
t...
http://www.newstarget.com/z020498.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published September 22 2006
Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease
mongering across internet
On Tuesday, NewsTarget reported that an ad for the ADHD medicine
Adderall -- endorsed by "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" star and ADHD
sufferer Ty Pennington -- was being prominently displayed on Amazon.com's
home page, and invited visitors to participate in a "Amazon survey" to
determine how much they knew about the condition. Now, internet giant
America Online has followed suit.
This week, visitors to the AOL homepage had a good chance of seeing
Pennington's somber face next to a proclamation identifying Sep. 20th as
"ADHD Awareness Day." Health advocate Mike Adams says what visitors to the
site should really be made aware of is that these efforts are classic
disease mongering campaigns where drug companies attempt to sell more
drugs by inventing a problem requiring "treatment" with pharmaceuticals.

"When the ADHD drug pushers use the term 'awareness,' what they really
mean is 'disease mongering,'" says Adams, referring to his term for the
practice of inventing diseases -- or expanding the requirements for
disease diagnosis -- in order to label more consumers "sick" and make
money from their subsequent treatments. "The only way they sell more drugs
is to convince people they have a disease that requires medication.

"The whole thing, of course, is a fraud based on junk science, and
companies like AOL and Amazon.com are doing consumers a great disservice
by allowing these predatory advertisements to run."

The ad for ADHD awareness day links to a page where consumers can engage
in a live chat with ADHD experts, sponsored by Adderall distributor Shire.
They can also watch a previously recorded webcast interview with
Pennington discussing his experience with ADHD, and of course, Adderall.

The ad notes that the experts on call will not be able to dispense medical
advice, but can answer questions about ADHD. Since the ad does not mention
Adderall specifically, there is no information about the amphetamine's
serious side effects, including addiction, stomachache, headache, sleep
problems, and pathological smiling, laughing and crying -- known as
emotional liability -- in children. Other ADHD drugs, such as Ritalin,
have also been linked to deaths due to cardiovascular complications.

Adams says he takes issue with companies such as AOL and Amazon.com
associating themselves with the direct-to-consumer marketing of
prescription drugs, as even the over-the-counter equivalents can be
hazardous, and doctors have reported that they tend to prescribe whatever
brand of drugs patients ask for. Adams also blasts the corporate giants
and the drug industry for disguising their profit-driven ads as public
education campaigns.

"Big Pharma is invading the internet, and they're pushing drugs under the
guise of education," he says. "But this isn't education, it's classic
commercial marketing of dangerous drugs."

As of press time, AOL had not responded to requests for a statement
regarding the ad and their support of direct-to-consumer drug marketing.

Doctors usually diagnose people with ADHD when they are hyperactive,
impulsive, and have trouble forming and nurturing social relationships,
but Adams points out that these diagnoses are often tossed around without
any consideration of mitigating factors, such as poor nutrition.
Recommending nutritious foods that promote physical and mental health,
Adams points out, is not a profitable move for Big-Pharma-sponsored
doctors to make, adding that most doctors are not trained in nutrition
anyway.

"The average doctor receives one hour -- not one credit hour, but one
hour -- of education relating to nutrition throughout their entire medical
school education," Adams says. "Unless you visit a naturopath or have a
relatively progressive doctor who recognizes the role of nutrition in
health, the average medical practitioner -- including a psychiatrist -- is
likely to give you a drug and send you on your way."

There is no medical test for ADHD, and there is no physiological process
of degeneration or disease that ADHD proponents can point to. This is a
"disease" that's based purely on opinion, and the ADHD disease label is
simply thrust onto an adult or child after a doctor or psychiatrist
observes their behavior and decides, in their own opinion, that the
patient has this "disease."

As with the previous ad at Amazon.com, Adams encourages the public to take
a stand against the ADHD publicity campaign by contacting AOL and asking
them to remove the ad. A satisfaction survey concerning the ad can also be
found here.




  #3  
Old September 24th 06, 08:06 PM posted to misc.health.alternative,alt.support.attn-deficit,misc.kids.health
Jeff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 780
Default Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease mongering across internet

As I have made clear, I don't like the way that pharmaceutical companies
behave.

However, ADHD is a real condition, as demonstrated by several lines of
evidence in scientific studies.

Jeff


  #4  
Old September 25th 06, 04:48 AM posted to misc.health.alternative,alt.support.attn-deficit,misc.kids.health
Jan Drew
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,707
Default Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma disease mongering across internet


"Jeff" wrote in message
.net...
As I have made clear, I don't like the way that pharmaceutical companies
behave.

However, ADHD is a real condition, as demonstrated by several lines of
evidence in scientific studies.

Jeff

Scientific studies. Where? By whom?


  #5  
Old September 25th 06, 02:39 PM posted to misc.health.alternative,alt.support.attn-deficit,misc.kids.health
Mark Probert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,876
Default Celebrity-endorsed ADHD "educational ad" spreads Big Pharma diseasemongering across internet

Jeff wrote:
As I have made clear, I don't like the way that pharmaceutical companies
behave.

However, ADHD is a real condition, as demonstrated by several lines of
evidence in scientific studies.


AD/HD is a real illness documented by hundreds, if not thousands of
scientific studies and the evidence shows genetic links as well as
structural differences in the AD/HD brain. One of the leading
researchers is Nora Volkow, M.D., who is now the head of the NIDA.

Only the Kriminal Kult of $cientology, the anti-biological psychiatrists
(e.g. Breggin) and anti-science know-nothings claim otherwise.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
FDA—KNOWING WILLFUL PARTY TO THE ADHD FRAUD Ilena Rose Kids Health 9 February 10th 06 10:49 PM
WDNNSCPS was Child Abuse is A Crime [email protected] Foster Parents 42 September 18th 05 07:03 AM
FOAD Baby Boomers Way Back Jack General 159 August 3rd 05 09:20 PM
FOAD Bigots bobbie sellers General 190 August 1st 05 10:07 AM
wDnnSCPS mountain bill Spanking 247 July 27th 05 08:53 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.