Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News
NaturalNews.com
advertising

GAO calls for stricter FDA oversight of DTC drug ads

Friday, December 15, 2006 by: Jessica Fraser, citizen journalist
Key concepts: Advertising, Drug advertising and The FDA
View on NaturalPedia: Advertising, Drug advertising and The FDA
Share/Save/Bookmark   Email this article to a friend Printable Version  FREE Email Newsletter

Articles Related to This Article:

The great direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising con: how patients and doctors alike are easily influenced to demand dangerous drugs

The truth about medical journals, and how drug companies exert heavy influence over published scientific articles

Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising


Support NaturalNews advertisers - Advertise with NaturalNews


Help support NaturalNews with health books and educational programs from Truth Publishing:

Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness
8 Weeks to Vibrant Health
Raw In Ten Minutes (recipes)
How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
... and much more.

(NaturalNews) The Government Accountability Office announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is unable to properly regulate direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads for pharmaceuticals in a timely manner.

The GAO report found that the agency was too slow to review and regulate ads on a wide range of drugs, often issuing regulatory letters several months after drug firms run ads on television and in magazines. The report also said pharmaceutical firms were spending advertising dollars on DTC drugs ads twice as fast as they were investing in research and development or physician promotion since a ban on DTC ads was lifted in 1997.

The Health and Human Services Department -- which oversees the FDA -- called the GAO report unrealistic, and claimed meeting the report's recommendations "would require vastly increased staff to essentially review every piece in detail."

However, according to the GAO, the FDA is charged with monitoring drug ads -- both televised and in print -- for exaggerated claims or failure to warn of side effects. The report found that the FDA "has not documented these criteria, does not apply them systematically to review all of the materials it receives, and does not track information on its reviews."

The FDA issued a mere 19 regulatory letters in 2004 and 2005 to companies whose ads violated regulations, but the GAO found those letters "were issued an average of 8 months after the materials were first disseminated. By the time the FDA issued these letters, companies had already discontinued use of more than half of the violative materials."

The report also found that on the few occasions the FDA issued regulatory letters, often the violating drug companies broke the law again later by running ads for the same drugs, without further reprisal.

According to FDA critic Mike Adams, the United States is the only advanced country in the world that still allows DTC drug advertising, which he says should be outlawed.

"The kinds of exaggerations, false claims and promotional hype that occur in DTC drug advertising are an embarrassment to scientific medicine," Adams said. "DTC drug ads have subjected Americans to nearly 10 years of medically useless advertising that serves no legitimate purpose. They do, however, sell lots of overpriced pharmaceuticals to people who either don't need them or will be harmed by them."

Adams says the FDA conspired with Big Pharma companies in 1997 to legalize DTC advertising, opening up yet another source of revenue for cash-rich drug firms. Since the legalization of DTC ads, the FDA and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have looked the other way, allowing drug companies free reign to advertise their products, he says.

"It's an advertising free-for-all that utterly lacks anything resembling scientific scrutiny," Adams said. "Where is the FTC on all those misleading drug ads? The commission will jump on some small company advertising a vitamin, but when powerful drug corporations make utterly false claims in national advertising campaigns, it looks the other way, just like the FDA.

"There is nothing resembling honest regulation of pharmaceutical advertising in the United States today. The drug companies have become the ultimate snake oil salesmen," he said.

Adams urges concerned consumers to visit www.StopDrugAds.org to learn more about deceptive drug firm marketing tactics, and to ask Congress to outlaw DTC advertising.

###


Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:


Related Articles:

The great direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising con: how patients and doctors alike are easily influenced to demand dangerous drugs

The truth about medical journals, and how drug companies exert heavy influence over published scientific articles

Cigarettes, Lies, and Pet Food Advertising

Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com

Email this article to a friend

Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us

Permalink to this article:

Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link.

Embed article link: (copy HTML code below):



(FREE) Thursday evening, Nov. 12 at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern), call in to hear the NaturalNews Talk Hour with special guest Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn - "Making Yourself Heart Attack Proof" Register via email to receive call-in number:
Enter Your Email::
Support NaturalNews sponsors:
Advertise with NaturalNews...

Explore NaturalPedia.com, the internet's largest natural health encyclopedia of knowledge, covering over 50,000 topics. It's free!
Visit NaturalPedia.com.


FREE Report: The Five Best Anti-Viral Products to Beat Influenza, Swine Flu, Bird Flu and SARS

• Top anti-viral remedies
• Where to get them now
• Four things to avoid
• Become self-reliant
• Boost your family safety

Click here to read the FREE report now.

W.H.O. Declares Global Pandemic
Turn FEAR into Confidence!

Listen to the complete 3.5 hour recording on 4 audio CDs of the Health Ranger's Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness Course, covering natural anti-virals, family safety, infrastructure disruptions, quarantine, preparedness gear and much more.

Testimonials:

"Mike Adams' preparedness course turned our fears into confidence. This is POWERFUL information, coming from a trusted source. If you want to save yourself countless hours researching and getting prepared and if you want to do everything in your power to protect your family, I highly recommend the Health Ranger’s Advanced Preparedness Course."
- N. Nelson (Arizona)

"This is packed information no one should miss."
- T. Valenzuela

"Thanks Mike... during this class you covered prevention and preparedness from A to Z with integrity, brave honesty and outstanding knowledge! Thank you for your steadfast, thorough and cool-headed approach to well being. With deep gratitude for your service." - Bev

Available NOW for immediate shipping.
100% satisfaction guarantee

Click here to learn more...


NEW Product: Valley of Longevity Shampoo from the Health Ranger

• 98% Organic
• 100% Natural
• 100% Fragrance Free!
• No SLS
• No Parabens
• No synthetic chemicals
• FREE shipping in U.S. on orders over $75

Click here to read more...


Breaking News Stories:

     See more breaking news...

What is this?


Enter your details to learn more:
First Name:
Last Name:
Email:

(Email privacy guaranteed.)

Free Special Reports

How to Build Your Financial Safety Net
The 7 Principles of Mindful Wealth
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure

Recommended Products Related to This Article*:

Free download: Selling Sickness (summary)
Read the best book on disease mongering
for learning the truth about Big Pharma

Revealed: Natural Health Solutions (free)
Free summary of book by Mike Adams
for learning censored natural health remedies

How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days
Health Ranger guide to reversing diabetes
for reversing type-2 diabetes

The Weiss Method for Heart Disease
How to reverse heart disease naturally
for heart disease, high cholesterol

Additional Products of Interest to All

Katadyn Exstream XR Water Purifier
#1 personal water purifier
for clean, pristine water in seconds

Preparedness Tools Natural News Bundle
For preparedness and safety: 60% off
for preparing for natural disasters

Exposed! The Toxic Chemistry of Products
Free summary of this shocking book
for learning the truth about toxic products

Appetite for Profit (free download)
Free download summary of this top book
for discovering the truth about food companies

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton
A free download of Biology of Belief
for learning about the mind-biology connection

The Genie In Your Genes by Dawson Church
A free, downloadable summary of this book
for learning about the biology of intention

Katadyn MicroPur Water Purifier Tablets
The best water purification tablets
for purifying almost any water source

* Products do NOT pay to be listed here. These are genuine, independent recommendations by the Health Ranger

☯ Products with this symbol are sold by NaturalNews or its affiliates and earn revenues for NaturalNews

Also on NaturalNews:

Streaming Health Ranger Videos
CounterThink Cartoons
FREE Special Reports
Podcasts


Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News

This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2009 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.