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PawnStarRick t1_irrxe0v wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in CNN ‘deeply regrets’ distress caused by report on Thailand nursery killings by darthatheos

Reminder that the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world where direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is legal.

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StainedBlue t1_irtkahz wrote

Oh, I’m in the health sciences. There’s actually a very valid reason for that. Health education and medical literacy in the US, for lack of a better phrase, is absolute dog shit. For vast swaths of the population, there’s little way to feed them necessary health information unless we put it on their fucking TVs. Of course, no one wants to pay for endless PSAs. Hence, why we allow pharma companies to foot the bill, under the condition that their ads are not misleading or exploitative.

Example. You know how commercials will begin with lines like “do you ever feel a pain in your chest?” Or, “do you ever find it hard to breathe?” While companies only air it because they want to sell their drugs, the FDA allows it to happen because it also teaches people to recognize the signs and symptoms of certain cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

There’s actually a lot of research about this if you’re interested. If you search up “pharmaceutical advertisement pubmed”, you’ll get a lot of relevant hits.

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frankiemayne t1_irtyvch wrote

That's a reason but not "very valid." If nearly every other country can teach the that miniscule amount of health information then America could as well.

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1Beholderandrip t1_irttmvm wrote

That's depressing, but makes a lot of sense.

If it's not about war or politics using money from taxes suddenly becomes optional, so it never gets enough funding. Big Pharma getting an excuse to advertise is icing on the crap cake.

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pbradley179 t1_irshmoa wrote

I mean what isn't legal in America anymore?

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Nessie t1_iruvk7h wrote

This is true and it shouldn't be legal. But there are plenty of developed countries where absurd medical claims that would be illegal in the US or New Zealand are legal.

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