Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs | 
| Author: Melody Petersen
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 1631
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0374228272
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.4761510973
EAN: 9780374228279
ASIN: 0374228272
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
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Product Description
In the last thirty years, the big pharmaceutical companies have transformed themselves into marketing machines selling dangerous medicines as if they were Coca-Cola or Cadillacs. They pitch drugs with video games and soft cuddly toys for children; promote them in churches and subways, at NASCAR races and state fairs. They’ve become experts at promoting fear of disease, just so they can sell us hope. No question: drugs can save lives. But the relentless marketing that has enriched corporate executives and sent stock prices soaring has come with a dark side. Prescription pills taken as directed by physicians are estimated to kill one American every five minutes. And that figure doesn’t reflect the damage done as the overmedicated take to the roads. Our Daily Meds connects the dots for the first time to show how corporate salesmanship has triumphed over science inside the biggest pharmaceutical companies and, in turn, how this promotion driven industry has taken over the practice of medicine and is changing American life. It is an ageless story of the battle between good and evil, with potentially life-changing consequences for everyone, not just the 65 percent of Americans who unscrew a prescription cap every day. An industry with the promise to help so many is now leaving a legacy of needless harm.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Our Daily Poisons July 22, 2008
Loving to read, especially on health topics, I am just finishing this well written, but very sad look at the pharmacuetical industry called, "Your Daily Meds," by Melody Petersen. It was published in 2008 and so is very up to date. According to Ms. Petersen, the era of the blockbuster drug, who's sales had to be over a billion dollars a year to qualify, has now turned into the era of the mega blockbuster whose sales have to be at least several billion in order to qualifiy. The highest yearly sales total for a single drug is 8 billion. In 2006 we spent 2.1 trillion on medical care.
In the Greek laungauge, the word for pharmacy is pharmakia, which means "witchcraft." And not only are these drugs usually extemely expensive, but they also have a list of side effects a mile long. Did you know that all of the school shootings, such as Columbine, were done by young people on antidepressants, such as Prozac and Ritilin? The deceitfulness of the drug industry in lying to doctors and the general public and getting various meds prescribed for maladies the FDA has not approved the drug to be used for is criminal. Even the safety testing on these drugs is shoddy and deisigned with only one prupose in mind, which is to make it appear affective and safe, even when it is anything but that.
According to the author, "By 2007 just about every major pharmaceutical company was under investigation for fraudulent marketing or other illegal busines practices. Prosecutors have tried to discourage the fraud by imposing fines of nearly a billion dollars on some drug companies. The pharmaceutical executives appear to consider these as little more than the cost of doing business. With no limits on drugs prices in Americaa, the companies have simply raised their prices to cover the problem." As the author says, "There is a kind of madness to it." Paying millions of dollars in government fines and millions more to the families of the victums who suffered or died and then hiking your prices and working even harder to promote your products is mad.
The biggest industry in my home town is one of the two local hospitals, operated by the Mayo Clinic. There is never a time when they don't have a building project going on. The other hospital is constantly building something as well. As that is where the money is, they are also in constant competition to get the latest medical testing device. If you don't already receive Dr. Joseph Mercola's health email, I would suggest you look into it. It has the latest news on various health subjects.
My biggest question concerning all this is, "what do we do about it?" I personally use an alternative health care practitioner the few times I need one. In her epiloque the author gives some good suggestions for turning things around. Good ideas that they are, it won't surprise me with all the money driven clout the drug companies have, if none of them get implemented.
The nay sayers have it wrong July 21, 2008
This book shines a just light on an industry that is making us sick instead of well. Those that say they read it and look at Melody Peterson as some radical out to trash the drug industry has it wrong. She writes a warning to all out there that these companies are not selling toys, socks, or dishwashing soap. They are creating diseases and using the power that comes with it them to message a need to the public. These companies need to clean up their act and act in the populations interest before their stockholders. Read and become ashamed of our so called health system and realize corruption has taken hold. The Pill peddlers and their pet doctors get rich while america gets sick.
Our Daily Meds July 19, 2008
Anyone working in healthcare is keenly aware that there are serious problems with the system. As a mental healthcare professional I have to cope with these issues on a daily basis. This book help put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I found it to be very historically enlightening as to how our healthcare system got into its current state. Reading it has lowered my feelings of confusion, isolation and frustration at the professional level.
Michael D. Morgan, Psy.D.
A must read!! July 18, 2008
This book is an important read for anyone taking medication, anyone who knows someone on medication, or anyone who is thinking about getting on medication. With that said, EVERYONE should be reading this book!! It is important for us a consuming public to educate ourselves on issues that we deal with everyday.
Who Can You Trust? July 16, 2008
It's about time someone took an educated and well-researched stand against pharmaceutical companies and the erosion of ethics in medicine.It's a shame that the general public will not read this book. Usually the only people that read books like this are already leaning in that direction. It's like the author is singing to the choir. The question is, how do we get it into the mainstream and into the public consciiousness and conscience?
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