We have screening tests that find "pre-cancerous" conditions - the true danger of which we know little.
We have defined a new category of "pre-hypertension" - labeling millions more Americans with "a condition."
And now read this column claiming that one in six Americans - "54 million of us" - have "pre-diabetes."
I am relieved to see one journalist who caught disease-mongering in full bloom. Pam Kelley of the Charlotte Observer was peeved by a Wall Street Journal health column on "female sexual dysfunction." In her article, "Don't tag all libido swings as disorders," Kelley wrote that the WSJ column "cites a study that found 42 percent of women in early menopause 'had scores indicating sexual dysfunction.' In late menopause, 88 percent 'had scores below the cut-off for sexual dysfunction.' "
Kelley continued, "Why does a decline in sexual desire mean you're dysfunctional? And if almost everyone in a study -- 88 percent -- scores the same way, how come they're the dysfunctional ones?"
More journalists and more consumers need to be armed for the onslaught of disease-mongering campaigns - some from well-intentioned caregivers and some from profit-motivated drug companies.
Posted by schwitz at December 14, 2006 08:58 AM | TrackBack