As we scan today’s headlines, the news flashes about the recent scandal involving the arthritis drug Vioxx. When news stories reveal that the Food and Drug Administration failed to protect the health, and indeed, lives of thousands of Americans, many of whom suffered heart attacks, strokes and even death as a result of Vioxx use, the question looms, where was the FDA? Where was the government?
It appears that the government, academia, and many physicians were bellying up to the cash window of many of the nation’s major pharmaceutical companies, and not protecting the health and welfare of the public. The answer lies in the offices of many of the members of Congress on Capitol Hill, where the interests of the wealthy drug companies takes precedence over the lives and health of Americans.
The answer also lies in the nation’s newspapers and on broadcast cable TV stations, not because of the news reporting, but because of massive direct-to-consumer advertising known as “DTC.” You’ve seen the ads. They are masterpieces of subliminal seduction; a rustic bucolic scene lit in soft sun-swept pastels, underscored by sweet violins and even a hip, funky bass line, occasionally. It draws you in, and a confident voice seems to confide in you, “Having trouble sleeping?” Add any other ailment, it doesn’t matter, the soft, seductive voice suggests you tell your doctor about Viatrexx or some other new, improved super-drug.
It’s time to take the poisonous profit motive out of the leading pharm firms to treat people because they are people, not because they are wealthy. From Death Row, for Free Speech Radio News, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are produced by Noelle Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
