Those drug ads on TV

Having trouble sleeping? There's a drug that can help you. You can learn about it on television. But be careful: Its possible side effects, the manufacturer warns, include memory loss, anxiety, severe allergic reactions, swelling of the tongue or throat, trouble breathing, nausea and vomiting, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, drowsiness, dizziness, symptoms of the common cold and unpleasant taste in the mouth. Oh, and suicidal thoughts or actions.

Wouldn't you rather just suffer an occasional sleepless night? Even that's in jeopardy, because ingesting this drug might cause you to get up out of bed while not being fully awake and do something you don't know you're doing, such as driving a car, talking on the phone, sleepwalking or having sex.

The U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow prescription drug advertising on TV. The rationale is that such advertising encourages patients to speak with their doctors about their medical conditions and to learn about a variety of ailments, including the chimera of restless leg syndrome, or so-called Low T, or the efforts to medicalize such more or less common conditions as depression or erectile dysfunction.

Viagra revolution

Before Viagra and its heavily advertised equivalents came on the scene, you'd be lucky to find a couple of dozen men admitting to erectile dysfunction; now, millions have popped up, so to speak, making billions of dollars for the makers of these drugs… one possible side effect of which is an erection that lasts more than four hours. But for Viagra, as for any drug product, viewers are exhorted to "Ask your doctor if it's right for you."

In the 1990s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began requiring pharmaceutical companies to list their products' side effects if they were to be advertised on TV. Today, according to Nielsen TV, the pharmaceutical industry spends more than $2 billion a year on such absurd ads.

Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and author of The Truth About Drug Companies, points out that the ads increase drug company sales by promoting medical conditions as well as drugs. "If the industry can convince essentially normal people that minor complaints require long-term drugs to treat them," she notes, "its market will grow."

Ask your Ford dealer

It may be true that ads for, say, toothpaste, deodorant and mouthwash have sensitized Americans to the dangers of tooth decay, body odor and halitosis. But as Angell points out, investor-owned companies are probably the last place anyone should look for unbiased information about their products. Do we ask the Ford dealer about the relative benefits of driving a car, as opposed to taking mass transit or riding a bicycle?

Is the answer an outright ban, as with cigarette advertising? A less extreme measure might require manufacturers to list also the generic equivalent of their product.

It's just possible, though, that we'll become so inured to these ads that, like political ads during election campaigns, they will induce narcolepsy— and therefore obviate the need for that sleep-inducing drug and its attendant horrors. But in any event, be sure to ask your doctor if these ads are right for you.