PR Watch, First Quarter 2003, Volume 10, No. 1

Flack Attack

Public Relations

This issue illustrates once again how propaganda
continues to undermine public welfare. Beginning with "Disease
Mongering,"
Bob Burton and Andy
Rowell show how drug and biotechnology PR suppresses important health
information while persuading patients to consume drugs of questionable
safety and efficacy. In "Weapons of Mass Deception," PR
Watch editor
Sheldon Rampton shows how the Bush administration's use of propaganda
has actually undermined the international reputation of the United States.

align="BOTTOM">Propaganda permeates modern society in part because of very
design of the mass media, in which a small number of individuals broadcast
messages--skewed
in the interests of government and corporate elites--to millions of passive
recipients.

Disease Mongering

by Bob Burton and Andy Rowell

The bulk of the world's drug deals are not done
secretively in dark alleyways or noisy nightclubs but involve government-approved
drugs prescribed by doctors or bought over the counter in pharmacies
and supermarkets.

align="BOTTOM">The global pharmaceutical industry--which generated revenues of
more than $364 billion in 2001--is the world's most profitable stock
market sector. According to IMS Health, the leading drug industry market
analyst, half the global drug sales are in the US alone, with Europe
and Japan accounting for another 37%.

align="BOTTOM">While the common image of the legal drug industry is of workers
in white lab coats, the reality is that public relations, marketing and
administration commonly absorb twice the amount spent on drug research
and development.

The Top Five Healthcare PR Firms

by Bob Burton and Andy Rowell

align="BOTTOM">Edelman is the largest independently owned PR firm in the
world and is headquartered in New York with an international network
of offices. According to O'Dwyer's PR Services, Edelman raked in fees
of $57.9 million in 2001 from healthcare PR, more than a fourth of its
total revenues of $220.7 million. Its client list includes Abbott Laboratories,
American Health Care Association, American Home Products, AstraZeneca,
Bayer, Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffmann-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson,
Merck, Novartis Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Procter & Gamble,
and Schering-Plough Corp.

align="BOTTOM">Ruder Finn earned $37.5 million from healthcare PR in 2001,
nearly half of its total revenues of $80.3 million.

From Patient Activism to Astroturf Marketing

by Bob Burton and Andy Rowell

"So what does PR stand for?" asked Nancy Turett, the president and global director of Edelman Health. "It stands for powerful relationships. The heart of PR is third-party credibility," Turett wrote in Pharmaceutical Executive in September 2002.

"Third-party messages are an essential means of communication for validating scientific credibility, for legitimizing products, for building brand and disease awareness, and for building defenses against crises," Turett wrote. "As advocates develop louder voices, pharma companies must forge alliances and win allies."

Clinically Suppressed

by Andy Rowell and Bob Burton

In November 2002, Dr. Nancy Olivieri's six-year
nightmare finally came to an end. During those years, she lost her job
four times, was sued for $10 million, and her scientific reputation was
dragged through the mud. What had she done wrong? She had told the truth.

align="BOTTOM">Olivieri is a professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto
and a physician at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she is an award-winning
specialist in the treatment of hereditary blood disorders, especially
thalassemia, a hemoglobin disorder.

align="BOTTOM">Patients who receive treatment for thalassemia must endure
regular blood transfusions and run the risk of chronic toxicity from
too much iron in the blood, called "iron loading." This can affect major
organs such as the heart and liver.

Chandler Chicco Fills the News Hole

by Andy Rowell and Bob Burton

"The best marketing, and the cheapest, is editorial," explains
the "Practical Guide to Medical Education," a how-to guide published
in 2001 by Pharmaceutical Marketing, a British trade magazine.
By "editorial," it means the news section of publications, as distinct
from the advertisements where readers expect to encounter marketing.
As the "Practical Guide" candidly admits, "Readers believe claims made
in editorial section far more than claims made in an advert, the most
expensive way into a publication."

align="BOTTOM">In Lynn Payer's 1994 book, Disease Mongering, she recounted
her own experiences as a reporter for Rheumatology News, a publication
that was funded by Syntex pharmaceuticals.

Rising Rhetoric on Genetically Modified Crops

by Andy Rowell and Bob Burton

"Their level of desperation appears to be increasing," says
Michael Hansen, a scientist with Consumers Union in the US, who monitors
the activities of the biotech industry as it lobbies for acceptance of
genetically modified (GM) foods. Hansen has watched with increasing alarm
as the pro-GM lobby escalates its vitriolic attacks on critics.

align="BOTTOM">Over the next few months we will witness the final end game
by biotech proponents to gain acceptance for GM.

Weapons of Mass Deception

by Sheldon Rampton

excerpted from Disinfopedia

Led into war by President George W. Bush, more
than 300,000 US soldiers are in the Persian Gulf. Many of them no doubt
sincerely believe that they are helping to make the world a better, safer
place for themselves and their loved ones. Outside the United States,
however, only a minority would agree.

align="BOTTOM">Most of Europe, the majority of the Arab world, and indeed
most nations on earth have been warning that a US invasion of Iraq will
increase the likelihood of domestic and international terrorism.