Infectious Myth – Alan Cassels on Selling Sickness and Disease Mongering – 03.01.16

In episode 91 David Crowe interviews Alan Cassels, a Canadian drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria, who has authored several books, and many papers and also television documentaries. He is very interested in the promotion of drugs, particularly what he calls Selling Sickness or Disease Mongering, which happens when a drug companies, and people influenced by them, create a new illness, or promote greater ‘awareness’ of a minor condition, by exaggerating its impact, and the effectiveness of the drugs that you’re likely to be prescribed if you “see your doctor” as illness advertisements always tell you to do.

Alan believes in the power of Evidence Based Medicine, and therefore supports the Cochrane Institute, which is where one of my previous guests, Peter Gotzsche works. While not perfect, it is not so influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, and therefore produces relatively unbiased recommendations.

You can learn more about this week’s guests’s work at http://AlanCassels.com