The government began posting a list of prescription drugs that are currently under investigation on Friday in an attempt to keep doctors and patients better informed about the potential risks that accompany certain pharmaceutical treatment options. The list currently encompasses 20 medications as well as the potentially dangerous side effects of each, but provides no indication of how prevalent or serious the problems might be. Due to these shortcomings, it seems that this government initiative, like so many that have come before it, is lacking in certain key departments, despite its good intentions.
The idea of a list of potential problem drugs does go a long way toward highlighting some of the central problems with America's consumer pharmaceutical culture. The number of new drugs that are released each year is staggeringly high, and drug manufacturers have taken to using questionable methods of concealing some of the rare but potentially serious side effects that could accompany treatment in order to make their goods more appealing to the general public. And while the old maxim "Caveat Emptor" certainly holds true in the case of prescription medication, not everyone takes the time to read the fine print on the bottle of pills before washing one down with a tall glass of ice water.
If anything can be learned from this scenario, it is that more American consumers need to become better informed about the medications they choose to ingest. The situation should never become so dire as to warrant government intervention in order to protect consumers, who should arguably be watching out for their own self interest rather than deferring to sunny promises made by drug commercials on one hand or an FDA approved list of potentially dangerous drugs on the other. What ever happened to the good old days in which people could be trusted to make their own, well informed decisions?
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