Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1439

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

The Community News Department at CKUT Radio McGill announces... "Pharmed and Dangerous: the Pharmaceutical Industry in Canada"
2003 Oct 10

Full text:

“Pharmed and Dangerous; the Pharmaceutical Industry in Canada” is a
ten-part radio series that looks at the brand-name drug industry – from
its role in a globalized economy to its presence in our bathroom
medicine cabinets. The series was born out of a desire to open our eyes
to the power and influence of the multinational drug cartel, not only on
trade policies and medical research but on the shortened lifespans of
millions of people around the world.
Our primary focus, however, is on the prescription drug industry within
Canada and how it affects Canadian consumers. The series begins by
exploring the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on Canadian
government policy, university research and the mainstream media, with
inevitable links to U.S. influences. To give a picture of ethical issues

that crop up in connection with the brand-name drug industry, we provide
a look at Third World drug research and the lack of access to
life-saving medicines and generic drugs
in an international context.
Zeroing in on issues affecting the Canadian consumer, “Pharmed and
Dangerous” looks at hype in medical reporting, direct-to-consumer
advertising, drug safety, access to drug information, access to generic
medicines, the notion of “disease management,” post-market surveillance
of new drugs, the marketing of depression, the co-opting of herbal
medicines, the thrust of current research towards genomics, the role of
consumer advocacy in a post-90’s economy and a call for a fully public
national drug plan.
The experts interviewed think that people need to ask questions in the
doctor’s examining room about short-term and long-term effects that
powerful – and insufficiently tested – prescription drugs can have on
our health. “Pharmed and Dangerous” raises awareness of what we call
“prescription culture” – the expectation that going to the doctor means
getting a prescription.
Many of the the 18 people interviewed in the “Pharmed and Dangerous”
series are nationally or internationally known. Each segment ranges from
54 to 60 minutes in length and includes narration and musical interludes
that relate to the themes. Most segments consist of two interviews, one
segment has three and there are two segments that feature a conversation
with one person.
You’ll find useful Web links and contact information for advocacy groups
such as PharmaWatch, an on-line forum for Canadian prescription drug
consumers to network with each other about adverse drug reactions. There
are also a few surprises.
“Pharmed and Dangerous” is a CKUT Long-Term Memory Radio documentary
series and is available in a set of CD’s from Radio McGill. For
information contact CKUT’s Community News Department at news@ckut.ca or
514-398-6788. Long-Term Memory Radio airs every Wednesday at 90.3 FM in
Montreal from 5:00 to 6:00 PM and on the World Wide Web at www.ckut.ca ****
Pharmed and Dangerous; the Pharmaceutical Industry in Canada.
Contents of Segments (All linked at Radio4all.net:
http://radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=7542) #1. Oct. 16, 2002. Joel Lexchin: Pharm/industry as multinational in a
free market system. Patent protection. US role/trade sanctions. Social
responsibility of industry. James Keon, Canadian Drug Manufacturers
Assn: Impact of intellectual property rights. TRIPS Agreement/Doha
Declaration, access to generic drugs in Canada and in the Third World.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed1.mp3 #2. Oct. 23, 2002. Devlin Kuyek: Historical/political link between the
pharmaceutical industry, university-based drug research & the federal
gov’t., from his 2002 report on biotech in Canada. Alex Navarre,
Director, Technology Transfer, McGill Univ: Big Pharma influence on
biomedical research at McGill. The genomics/proteomics “research race.”
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed2.mp3 #3. Oct. 30, 2002. Nancy Olivieri: Pharm/co (Apotex) & U. of Toronto
efforts to discredit researcher Olivieri over her reports of adverse
reactions to new drug. Peter Lurie (US): Drug/co “research” in Third World
and resulting human rights violations. Ethical implications of
withholding treatment and refusing research into unprofitable diseases.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed3.mp3 #4. Nov 6, 2002. Diana Zuckerman, National Center for Policy Research
for Women and Families (US): Hype in mainstream medical reporting. Bogus
medical journals and ghostwritten research. Colleen Fuller, Canadian
Center for Policy Alternatives (1): Health risks of gene-based drugs.
Pharm/industry profits from auto-immune diseases.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed4.mp3 #5. Nov. 13, 2002. Colleen Fuller (2): Pharm/co “Disease Management”
moneymaker. Post-market surveillance. Drug safety. PharmaWatch advocacy
group for adverse drug reactions. Alan Cassels: Marketing ploys for
arthritis, cholesterol-lowering, other meds. Access to drug info.
Analysis how-to’s of pharm/co claims for products. Long-term effects of
non-essential drugs.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed5.mp3 #6. Nov. 20, 2002. Barbara Mintzes, Centre for Health Services & Policy
Research, UBC: Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines
in media linked to health risks & soaring costs. Ellen Reynolds, DES
Action Canada: Synthetic hormone banned in the early 70’s provides an
ongoing “human effects model” of environmental endocrine disruptors.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed6.mp3 #7. Nov. 27, 2002. David Healy: Depression – History and image-creation.
Anxiety as post-9/11 marketing focus for pharm/co campaigns. Myth of
brain serotonin levels as cause of depression. Medical journals as
instrument of Big Pharma. Perspectives on U. of Toronto (U. of T.
rescinded high-profile job offer after Healy’s speech linking Prozac and
suicide).
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed7.mp3 #8. Dec 2, 2002. John Kinloch, Project Genesis, Montreal; Phil Nolin,
NDG Community Coalition on Health Care, Montreal. Ethel Mead, Ontario
Coalition of Senior Citizens’ Organizations, Toronto. Access to
affordable generic drugs & a fully public drug plan. Under-consumption
among low-income Canadians. Twenty-year patents as cost drivers.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed8.mp3 #9. (not broadcast) Wendy Armstrong, Consumers’ Assn. of Canada:
Weakened potential for consumer advocacy in a globalized economy. Gordon
Guyatt, Medical Reform Group, Prof. of Medicine, McMaster U: The need
for a national pharmacare program in Canada.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed9.mp3 #10. Dec. 9, 2002. Croft Woodruff: Codex Alimentarius. Drug/co legal
co-opting of vitamins/supplements, herbal medicines in Europe.
Roles of Health Canada & World Health Org. Matthias Rath’s e-mail
campaign that brought down Codex in Europe. Canadian gov’t. use of
expired vaccine on soldiers, vitamin/chelation therapies, consumer advocacy.
MP3: http://ftp.radio4all.net/pub/archive/09.28.03/2002pharmed10.mp3