A pet peeve of mine

As advertising of medications is all over the media - every TV station, the daily paper, the Internet, magazines, etc. I do wonder how much less meds would cost if the big pharmas were not spending SO much on their advertising budget.

It's not like we can go to the store and get meds off a shelf - one needs a prescription. So the ad is to make you feel as if you NEED a particular medication so that you contact your physician and ask for a specific drug.

We take so many drugs that we do not need - that we are developing drug resistant strains of bugs! And our drinking water is filled with them:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1.ap/

Do you watch the ads and go tell your medal provider you need a certain drug? I don't - but if I did and the provider gave me a prescription - that's the last time I'd see that provider!

I heard a pediatrician interviewed on the radio a few years ago who said he often gives parents prescriptions for antibiotics for a kid's cold - why? Otherwise they bug him and that was annoying and time consuming.. So the kid is given an antibiotic for a problem that is not bacterial - and the drug will do nothing. But the parent is happy...DUH!

Are these ads aimed at all ages or most of them aimed at people over 50? I'm not sure - but people over 50 tend to take a lot of meds.....