| Tim Fitzmaurice 2005-10-12, 11:06 am |
| On Tue, 11 Oct 2005, Diva wrote:
> I'm sceptical of anything coming from the pharmaceutical industry since
> learning that the herpes paranoia in the 80's was precipitated by a
> drug company marketing strategy!
You've cited one report about a person who then got arrested for blackmail
(yes they handed cash over to the person but thats generally how you catch
them). That in itself screams conspiracy theory to me without getting some
serious details - Ive seen at least one similar website which makes the
same sort of claims so might be the same individual...the detailed reading
of that site was just depressing in terms of how much was spun out of
nothing. So without actually having the details made available it does
seem rather suspect to me - and thats without taking any context of what
was happening in the field at the time.
As to that context, the above statement is contradicted by my experience
in the field whereby the people I have met who were working before that
time were making waves about HSV and herpes incidence before the 80s. Also
a drug company is nto going to be able to pull this off in the UK where they
cannot market direct to the public for anything on prescription, the
scientific community is (like anywhere) going to pressurise the company
for data because if there's one thing guaranteed to get you a hard time
at a conference its being a pharmaceutical company man, the politicians
were desperate to lower cost in the NHS etc etc and yet the opinion about
where herpes was going was the same.
Add to that that the other drug companies with just as much cash would
have (within such a concept) had just as much need to shut down the
hysteria and the fact that the minute someone proves lysine works is the
moment those companies start the production line and sell it by the bucket
- its not as if it isnt pharmaceutical companies making it now then again
the structure falls apart.
So I have to say I disagree with the idea that the hysteria in the 80s was
driven by the drug company with that drug - its not their biggest seller
either so they would have been much better off pushing something else,
the driving idea and warnings were coming equally as strongly from
outside of the drug companies and outside of their influence.
Tim
--
When playing rugby, its not the winning that counts, but the taking apart
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