Disease mongering

At our MRI Pathways clinic, we offer you the chance for one of those moments of clarity. We provide you with the opportunity to appreciate and better understand the inner intricacies of parts of your body such as your spine, your joints or your pelvis through an MRI scan.

To mark the first academic meeting on disease mongering (the "selling of sickness" in order to promote drug sales), which was held in Newcastle, Australia in April 2006, and to help provoke and inform a response to the phenomenon, PLoS Medicinecommissioned a special theme issue.

Il fabbisogno di calcio per l’essere umano… provate ad indovinare!? È stato inventato dall’industria casearia (che nel 1994 lo portò a 1000 milligrammi al giorno, nel 1997 a 1200, nel 2001 a 1500!). Il fabbisogno reale è molto più basso di quanto si dicesse. Già nel 2007 in tutta Europa è stato riportato a 700 milligrammi al giorno per gli adulti e 400 per gli adolescenti.

Unhealthy influencesCelebrity culture is a by-product of a society experiencing social isolation and loosening social bonds. We know more about celebrities than our extended families.

The Associated Press reported this week on the marketing of a new line of menopause products – “a line of products that target 50 million American women who are or will soon go through menopause.

The Mothers Act represents the ultimate example of disease mongering at its worst because the eight-year attempt to pass this federal legislation has evolved into profiteering never before exhibited so conspicuously.

A key question is whether there is sufficient political will among government regulatory agencies to better enforce existing regulations governing drug promotion or to introduce new solutions. Most regulatory agencies fail to treat regulation of drug promotion as a public health concern. Unless this changes, the public can expect more unfettered disease mongering warning them that without the latest treatment, life will be grim indeed.