Consumer Reports AdWatch | Arthritis Information

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I really wish I could post a link to this, but you have to be a CR subscriber, apparently.  They are producing video commentaries of drug TV commercials on their website.  The first was on Requip, for RLS.

From this month's issue:  "Nothing has had a more startling effect on the demand for a product, or more serious consequences, than direct-to-consumer drug ads......For those who suffer from RLS, the availability of a new medication was a relief.  But even adults who never thought they had a problem are being convinced that they do by ads showing the agony of the feet and the ecstacy of the peaceful night's sleep that a pill can bring...Some of you applauded our criticism of a pharmaceutical industry that offers up a disease so that it can sell a cure.  Others accused us of making light of an illness that can cause sleeplessness and worse.....We are in no way dismissing those who suffer from a disease; we are questioning the need for ads that drive up health-care costs by relentlessly pushing drugs to people who don't need them." 


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