- Healthy Skepticism
Healthy Skepticism Inc [http://www.healthyskepticism.org] is an international
non-profit organisation whose main aim is to "improve health by reducing harm from misleadingdrug promotion ". [http://healthyskepticism.org/about.php]Healthy Skepticism was founded in 1983 with the name Medical Lobby for Appropriate Marketing (MaLAM). It was begun by an
Australia n medical student, Peter R. Mansfield, who had the idea for the organisation during his final year elective inBangladesh in 1982. MaLAM initially focused on campaigning against questionablemarketing practices indeveloping countries . These included the promotion ofappetite stimulants, tonics andanabolic steroid s to parents of malnourished children. MaLAM was modelled onAmnesty International and wrote open letters to the international headquarters ofpharmaceutical companies questioning them about specific advertisements. MaLAM letters were signed by supporters around the world and contributed to many improvements in drug marketing, several products being removed from the market and manyadvertising claims changed. [Dukes MNG. Accountability of the pharmaceutical industry. Lancet 2002; 9346, 1682-4.] [Wade VA, Mansfield PR, McDonald PJ. Drug companies' evidence to justify advertising. Lancet 1989; 8674: 1261-4.] MaLAM also questioned drug advertisements in Australia during 1993 to 1997 with funding from the Australian federal government.In 2001, the organisation’s name was changed to Healthy Skepticism and its work widened to include
research ,education andadvocacy about misleading drug promotion in all countries. It has concentrated recently on raising awareness amongsthealth professional s of the influence that marketing techniques have on their decisions, and the psychological factors which make them vulnerable to that influence. See, for example, the recommendations (developed in collaboration with other groups) published in PLoS Medicine. [http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0030451] References:
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