Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Education And Debate

Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical industry and disease mongeringCommentary: Medicalisation of risk factors

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7342.886 (Published 13 April 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:886

Rapid Response:

Lost opportunity

Editor,

Moynihan et al (1) have been given a great opportunity by your editorial
team to illustrate the parlous state of current biomedical practice.
Instead of grasping the nettle they have gone for the easy targets: the
fringe illnesses we all of us see day in day out and to which we respond
with concern and understanding, but in general, not with drugs.

They argue that we are complicit in the construction of illness on the
fringes; that in some way we are adding to the disease pantheon.

This may be true and I would be the first to highlight the construction of
disease for the benefit of multinational interest (2), but as inferred
earlier they miss the point.

What about cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, gastrointestinal
disease and psychiatric illness?

Why not draw attention to the pharmaceutical industry's heist of
mainstream practice?

Answer: Too risky.

The BMJ is a mainstream rag overseen by an editorial board that
consistently fails to encourage discussion of key issues.

Jim Hardy, 60 Florida Street, London E2 6LL

(1) R Moynihan, I Heath, D Henry, P Gotzsche.Selling sickness:the
pharmaceutic industry and disease mongering. BMJ:324:886-891. No 7342 13
April 2002.

(2) J Hardy. Doctors are part of an economic hegemony. BMJ 2001; 322:439.
19.2.2001

Competing interests: No competing interests

17 May 2002
Jim N Hardy
GP principle
bethnat green health centre 60 florida street, London E2 6LL