Thought I’d lighten things up a bit from all the political battling going on here.
Awhile back I wrote a letter pointing out that only two countries in the modern world allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise on TV commercials: New Zealand and the good old USA. Don’t know about New Zealand, but here the Food and Drug Administration under (21 U.S.C. 352(n)) requires pharma companies to add verbal warnings listing all of the side effects of their product.
Pharma commercials are hilarious, to me anyway, as they always show happy, laughing, playing crowds of people engaged in sports and social activities while in the background a voice lists all of the bad side effects from taking the medication.
Example: “Side effects of ‘Product A’ include Explosive Diarrhea … Projectile Vomiting and some men may have their penis fall off!”
Boy, where do I get some of this stuff huh?
Obviously, I made this one up, but I think you get the point on how ridiculous these pharma commercials are and most sane doctors and the American Medical Association hate them for obvious reasons and have been trying to have them banned since the early 1990s when they first showed up.
Rick Barker
Valencia
