The pharmaceutical industry’s appetite for profit seems insatiatiable as it continues to stretch its mighty muscle by expanding its "advertising" techniques into the homes of the American people. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising has transformed public medicine into a regular commodity to be consumed by all. Prescription drugs were primarily marketed in medical journals until 1997 when the FDA loosened restrictions on DTC advertising. Since then, the funds allocated to marketing directly to Americans have skyrocketed. In 2005, pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 billion in DTC expenditures.

This reallocation of funds proved to elicit great profit for pharmaceutical companies and to successfully eliminate the consultation process between a patient and his/her doctor. DTC advertising has increased the consumption of marketed medicines by all citizens—especially the elderly. DTC advertisements entice viewers with promises of happy, fulfilled lives free of discomfort, but are often inadequate in actual medical relevance and legitimacy. One article published by nonprofit women’s health organization Our Bodies Ourselves, "Misleading Ads and How They Hurt Us", illustrates how the responsibility of diagnosis is being transferred from the doctor to the pharmaceutical industry: "Aging, social anxiety disorder, heartburn, restless leg syndrome, and overactive bladder are all examples of symptoms or normal physiological events that are now presented to consumers as being in need of long-term drug treatment." One might argue that DTC advertising informs the patient of his/her treatment options, but such marketing becomes dangerous as advertisements appear to first market diseases, then pharmaceuticals.

Is it possible that the financial authority of the pharmaceutical industry is decreasing the availability of alternative medicine through FDA regulations, interrupting the reliability of the medical industry, and shifting American citizen focus from proactive to reactive healthcare? It seems so. Director of antidepressant drug study group Social Audit, Charles Medawar, voices the concern of many health professionals and patients alike when he states, "I dread the process of medicalisation which turns every runny nose into allergic rhinitis, hormonal moods swings into premenstrual dysphoria disorder and forgetfulness into Alzheimer’s."

Tiffany Mason is a Political Science major in Trumbull College at Yale University.