Ray Moynihan

This is a book about how the pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma) are trying to convince the public that ordinary conditions of life are illnesses that require treatment by drugs. In this way not only ill but also healthy people become their potential customers and Big Pharma can dramatically increase their profits.

At the beginning of the book, Henry Gadsden, Merck’s chief executive, is quoted as saying that it had long been his dream to make drugs for healthy people because then Merck would be able to sell to everyone.

And that is what is happening now, and that is the gist of the book.

For example, we all know it is dangerous to have high blood pressure. But the definition of what constitutes high blood pressure is constantly being revised, and what used to be regarded as normal blood pressure is now defined as “high”, In this way, more and more otherwise healthy people are considered at risk of heart disease, and being pressed to take drugs, much to the glee of big Pharma,

One factor is that the high blood pressure guidelines are written by persons with major conflicts of interest. Many own stocks in a long list of drug companies. One of those involved in writing the guidelines declared financial ties to twenty-one companies.

As regards high cholesterol, these authors are aware of the fact that cholesterol is not “a deadly enemy” but “an essential element of the body’s makeup, and --- vital to life”. But, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick in his books on the subject, points out that high cholesterol does not, as generally thought, and as stated in the present book, cause heart disease (see my review on Kendrick’s book “The great cholesterol con”.)

Kendrick and others point out how it is in fact low cholesterol that is deadly, and that statins, prescribed to lower cholesterol levels, are exceedingly dangerous.

In the book under review, also, the dangers of statins are pointed out, it being revealed that one statin, Baycol, has been removed from the market after being implicated in several deaths.

Another statin, Lipitor, is the world’s top-selling prescription drug, ever.

Sales of statins have soared in later years owing to the fact that the number of people being diagnosed as having “high cholesterol” has grown astronomically; and its definition has been broadened to make more and more healthy people be diagnosed as “sick”.

But, the doctors defining what constitutes high cholesterol and recommending when drugs should be used to treat it, are at the same time paid by the companies making those drugs to speak about and thus promote them.

36 million Americans warrant treatment with statins.

As I have pointed out in another review, extremely high cholesterol levels have been found in women who lived to a ripe old age, while lower levels have been found in women who died earlier, thus showing that, at least in women, high cholesterol does not cause early death.

The worst thing is that these dangerous drugs, statins, are being prescribed to healthy people.

Two important, though rare, side effects of statins are a debilitating muscle-wasting condition, and liver damage. In the case of a new statin, Crestor, kidney failure is also occurring.

Drug companies are instilling the notion that depression is a wide-spread psychiatric disease best treated with a group of drugs including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Prescriptions for these drugs tripled through the 1990s making antidepressants one of the top-selling kinds of drugs and generating huge sales for their makers.

In his book “Deadly psychiatry and Organized Denial”, Peter Gøtzsche demonstrates the deadly dangers of anti-depressants (see my review).

The advantages of these anti-depressants over placebo are modest at best, and their side-effects include sexual problems, severe withdrawal reactions and an increase in suicidal behaviour among the young.

“Psychiatry’s intimate relationship with the pharmaceutical industry has become notorious.”

It has been stated repeatedly that perhaps a third of the population has a mental illness.

Dr. William Narrow looked into a survey dealing with this and found that a lot of those classified as having a mental disorder did not have a clinically significant disorder, i.e. one that warranted treatment.

In the revised estimates, the proportion of people said to be suffering major depression was virtually halved from 10 percent to under 5 percent. And it was likely that the true rates of disorders were significantly lower still. People with mild problems had been included in the original estimates.

The heavily promoted anti-depressants have serious side-effects. Serzone was withdrawn from the market following evidence linking it to hepatitis and liver failure.

Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft can cause “serious sexual difficulties”. With Paxil, 25 percent of those prescribed the drug have “worrisome” withdrawal symptoms. Worst of all they seem to increase the risk of suicidal behaviour and thinking among children and adolescents.

And for almost all the drugs there was no evidence that the anti-depressants worked any better than a placebo.

“The most natural and normal processes of life are being sold as medical conditions to be treated with drugs.”

There has been a massive marketing campaign promoting the “dangers” of the menopause and the “promise” of hormone pills.

Advertisements threaten post-menopausal women with coming to suffer from “Alzheimer’s, heart attacks, colon cancer, cataracts, teeth loss, night sweats, vaginal dryness, bone fractures, and more”.

I myself had no menopausal symptoms, except a few hot flashes which I experienced as extremely positive, since I have generally felt cold.

Neither did my mother ever complain of menopausal problems.

Hormone replacement therapy did more harm than good to the millions of women around the world who were taking it, increasing their risks of heart attacks, strokes, blood clots and breast cancer.

“Promoting a woman’s natural change of life as a medical condition of ‘estrogen’ loss has a history dating back several decades at least.”

The drug companies’ propaganda designed to sell their harmful drugs was appellated “awareness-raising campaigns”.

There is a chapter on ADHD/ADD. Billions of dollars are spent every year diagnosing and medicating children whose symptoms include “often fidgets with hands or feet” and prescribing “lifelong speed” to adults who “drum their fingers”.

Another new condition approved in the U.S. is premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). It is stated that this psychiatric condition is suffered from by up to 7% of women. Professor Paula Caplan claims that the condition has “essentially” been invented and there is not strong scientific evidence to distinguish it from premenstrual difficulties.

Prozac is prescribed for the condition in the U.S. while in other parts of the world it is not even a recognized disease.

There are also chapters about osteoporosis, irritable bowel syndrome, and female sexual dysfunction.

I found this to be an important book which warns us both about the creation of illnesses by drug companies and the dangers of the drugs sold to treat them.… (lisätietoja)

With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the US comprises almost 50% of the global prescription drug market, and a whopping 80% of the global market of prescription stimulants like Ritalin. These are alarming figures. Are Americans truly more ill than the rest of the world, or are they simply more easily influenced by the marketing machine?

Before reading this book, I already knew that drug companies had an unhealthy influence on prescription practices. After all, many medical centre's are owned by drug companies. However, I had no idea of the true extent of the problem. It seems as though just about everyone has their fingers in this very big pie. Drug company money supports nearly everyone in the world of medicine, from doctors and interns, to thought-leaders, decision makers, medical journals (who rely on their advertising revenue) and government watchdogs. Even patient advocacy groups,who are supposed to be looking after our interests, are largely funded by drug company 'largesse'.

Fortunately, there are still some people, including doctors, med students and scientists who are willing to stand up for what they feel is right. These people want to move away from the 'ill for every pill' culture the drug companies are aiming for, back to a healthier, more holistic medical approach. Selling Sickness is an informative and frightening glimpse of the insidious methods used by drug companies to make us all believe we need their products. It is compulsory reading for every discerning adult.… (lisätietoja)

This is an eye-opening book about how medical testing and drug companies are conspiring to make every person a patient, even though the actual benefit to the individual may be low, and the side effects of drugs used to treat the "condition" may have very serious side effects. The book includes chapters on high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis, among others. I urge everyone who is getting older to read this book so they can make an informed decision about whether to be tested for these conditions and consent to taking expensive drugs of doubtful benefit for the rest of their lives.… (lisätietoja)