The Bad Science column is always a great read, but this week’s piece is particularly worth checking out, as Ben Goldacre tackles a move by the pharmaceutical industry to be allowed to selectively educate the public about medical issues and human biology.
They currently target this at health professionals, and it involves promoting theories that best favour their product.
Pushing the virtually unsupported ‘serotonin theory of depression’ to bolster sales of serotonin acting SSRI drugs is a notorious example.
The column describes how drug marketing operates, highlights plenty of great material to show it in action, and also links to a fantastic (and laugh out loud) video advert for a common social anxiety drug.
Link to Bad Science article ‘The Pill Problem’.
Mind Hacks 