Posted by allisonm on April 14, 2002, at 8:08:58
In reply to Re: Another AD drug company scam, posted by rainbowlight on April 11, 2002, at 16:13:19
I am not at all surprised that the trial was for only 6 weeks. If you read the information from the drug companies on their products, you will find that they all had 6-week trials. I don't know who decided that 6 weeks was enough for a study (probably the FDA), but that seems to be the standard time required. But for those of us who have taken these drugs longterm, six weeks doesn't seem nearly long enough for any trial, but who am I?
I'm also not so sure that the drug companies, calculating profiteers that they are, are so much responsible than the FDA may be. It's the FDA that makes the herb companies put warnings on their products that they have not been approved by FDA for medicinal use.
Media are not consistent when it comes to reporting. When info on herbs, most of which likely came from the herb companies, hit the scene it became a big news story. When the story was out, it was out -- SJW had its 15 minutes of fame and the media moved on. They won't follow up on things unless there is new info out about it -- ex. someone's new study. Hopefully the media can deceipher a good study from one that is skewed because it was done by entities with special interests. Unfortunately, sometimes they can't. That can be infuriating for those who know the larger story. But media is not interested in going back to correct its errors or to clarify. If another study comes up showing an opposite effect, maybe the topic is popular enough that they would pick up on the info.
There's too much in the world to report on. Media outlets, which are commercial enterprises with bottom lines, are increasingly pressured to do shorter, snappier reports about more things to keep their audiences (blame MTV and other cultural evolutions for this). Using this reporting blueprint, they don't have enough air time or page space to pack much useful info (or even balanced info) into stories anymore. Plus, most reporters are generalists and don't have the expertise to know where to get more in-depth info. Or if they do, they don't have time. My point here is that media works both for and against everyone trying to get a story out. The alternative for getting the "good word" out is advertising, and I don't see a lack of it for either herbs or ADs.
poster:allisonm
thread:102733
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020408/msgs/103029.html