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Dorgan Reads From Lunesta, Flomax Ad Scripts On Senate Floor
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
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Watching Senate floor debate isn't always exciting, but sometimes you hear the words "going urgently" and your ears perk up.
That was Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) lighting up the floor by reading the scripts advertising some of the most common prescription drugs and saying they always depict happy scenes of trees and green grass.
"If life is like that when you use the purple pill ... get me some purple pills," Dorgan said.
The fairly reserved senator read aloud from a scripts for Boneva, Ambien and even offered the catchphrase, "Maybe it's time to ask whether Lunesta is right for you."
Dorgan cited the Flomax ad to fight against "going urgently," quoting from the script, "For many men Flomax can make a difference in one week."
He also said he was "especially distressed" by "unbelievably dishonest" TV ads targeting the health care debate.
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Moose49
December 9, 2009 11:54 AM
Which begs the question, has anyone proposed banning pharmaceutical advertising like virtually every other industrialized nation on earth? If not, it certainly ought to be a part of health care reform as a critical cost control measure.
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brianm0122
December 9, 2009 12:17 PM in reply to Moose49
I would be entirely happy if I could get through 15 minutes of TV without seeing pictures of people in bathtubs. WTF is that? Aren't those pills meant to do soemthing else? I mean,aren't they meant to get people dirty, not clean?
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lousgirl84
December 9, 2009 3:08 PM in reply to Moose49
I have been of that mindset for a long time.
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suydam@yahoo.com
December 9, 2009 3:39 PM in reply to Moose49
....and how about the lawyers, too. They're the ones who'll be going to court to protect Mitch's 'free speech." Around and round we go, with everyone getting a piece of the action except the poor devil who needs a drug s/he cannot afford! Jeesh, what a country...
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xargaw
December 9, 2009 11:55 AM
Congress and the FDA have become wholly owned subsidiaries of PHARMA. Is anyone really surprised that their advertising is beyond misleading, that we are inundated with drugs with inadequate warnings and over promises and that we pay more for them than anyone in the world. Prescription drugs are one of the leading causes of death in this country. PHARMA is under regulated, just as callous as the health insurance industry and motivated by the same culture of greed that brought us the mortgage crisis.
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nfbloch
December 9, 2009 12:23 PM in reply to xargaw
You'll note that when Dems proposed re-importation yesterday, the FDA came out within hours to say no, it was not possible for the FDA to regulate re-importation (even from Canada) and would thus be too dangerous. Pretty clear who's pocket their in. The President made a deal with Pharma and they are going to make sure that it holds at all costs.
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Parvus
December 9, 2009 12:17 PM
If ever there was a cruise to nowhere this would be it.
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LindaR
December 9, 2009 12:28 PM
It used to be illegal to advertise prescription drugs on television.
I wonder how much of advertising isn't about selling drugs so much as it's about buying the silence of the broadcasters?
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jaykay65
December 9, 2009 1:46 PM in reply to LindaR
Virtually all of it.
As Randi Rhodes points out frequently, when a company advertises something you can't buy, there's something else going on there.
I think medications that have to be prescribed by a doctor would fall into that category, since you can't just run down to Wal-Mart and buy a bottle of Flomax.
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Lapsed Catholic
December 9, 2009 2:22 PM in reply to jaykay65
I think there was a SC case where they ruled that pharmas can't advertise on TV unless they disclose ALL side effects from their medications. It was widely viewed at the time as a necessary condition that would put an end to the ads simply because they wouldn't be able to stomach such a thing. Well guess what.
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jaykay65
December 9, 2009 2:36 PM in reply to Lapsed Catholic
It's astounding the number of times you hear "sometimes fatal" whiz by in the high-speed avalanche of side effects in those ads.
And they claim Canadian drugs are "too dangerous" to import.
But this just supports the idea that those ads aren't really there to sell anything.
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SBG
December 9, 2009 3:33 PM in reply to Lapsed Catholic
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard the phrase "erection lasting more than four hours" spew forth from my television. Oy.
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kenga
December 11, 2009 12:29 PM in reply to SBG
Is that more or less funny than the potato chips that "may cause anal leakage"?
Truly a question for the ages.
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Pete Bilderback
December 9, 2009 4:16 PM in reply to Lapsed Catholic
Yes, now I get to hear about three hour erections every time I turn on the TV (something I do less often these days).
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cowbellguy
December 9, 2009 1:19 PM
Reminds me of Brooke Van Poppelin's brilliant comedy routine about Zoloft ads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A57mX1rq2vw
(includes a couple swear words for those who care to know)
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hologram5
December 9, 2009 3:27 PM
I think that these commercials are funny as hell. They tell you that this pill will take all your problems away and make it all better then at the end it tells you that you'll have 10-15 debilitating side effects that you'll have to take 4-5 other pills to take care of the original side affect.
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Pete Bilderback
December 9, 2009 4:13 PM
I have strange urge to ask my doctor if Boniva is right for me. Do they have a pill for that yet?
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commie atheist
December 9, 2009 5:01 PM
I like the Sally Field shout-out. "My bones like me! They really, really like me!"
So, where does Dorgan actually stand on health care reform? I mean, this is amusing, but what is Dorgan actually doing to clamp down on Big Pharma and the high cost of drugs?
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Powkat
December 10, 2009 1:47 PM in reply to commie atheist
Gidget Gets Osteoporosis
I especially like the side effects for sleeping pills - blackouts, personality changes, 'increased risk of suicide' don't drive or operate machinery. Oh yeah, I want that!
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