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Bad Science in our Pharmacies
I always have a bit of a negative attitude toward pharmacologists, it's probably some egocentric thing thinking that real science is done by biologists, but let's face it, pharmacology is a very important field and crucial to our well being. Nevertheless, every time I pass a pharmacy (and I'm not even talking about the grocery store pharmacies in the US, I get upset about all the useless mumbo jumbo they are selling there. People should have confidence in their pharmacists. Pharmacology is a science after all, and pharmacists as I understand learn during their studies similar basic knowledge about chemistry, physics, biology and medicine than I did. They have other priorities of course, but I'm quite certain they learned a great deal about ethics and how to relate to patients/customers. So I wonder, how a pharmacist with such a background can lack the moral fibre and sell useless junk ranging from miracle pills that make you thin in a week to teas that make your hair grow back and your skin look 20 years younger. A couple of years ago, it included snake oil and aphrodisiacs. Most pharmacies remind me more of an alchemists lab than of a place where people should only get what is of medical use. Instead they sell pills that are probably harmless, but cost a lot of money without doing much more than my favourite placebo pill. It may not be dangerous, but it's immoral and it certainly won't lead to a higher confidence in the pharmaceutical industry. In my eyes, we should adopt a similar system than the US: Have a big department in the store that sells all those dubious products, and keep a separate desk where prescription drugs and real medical products are sold, just as they are today. I know this won't ever happen, but I still think it would be the more honest choice!
4 comments
I think the majority of the pharmacologists sell those products not because they want to, but because people constantly ask for them. They just do the math: more products, more money. 
I agree but I think it is their responsability not to sell this with a clear conscience. What I'm asking myself is whether they just don't know better or whether they don't care. Or alternatively if our system is so skrewed that they couldn't sustain financially without selling all that junk 
What about a law that requires companies producing such dubious products to put labels on their packages: "This product does not contain any effective chemical." "You are taking a placebo." "There are no scientific studies in favor of positive effects exhibited by this product." etc. :-) Sure, I'd love that. Actually if I remember correctly they forced some Swiss Company that was selling some Bachblüten KO Tropfen whatever to remove some of the claims from the packages but that's only one drop... And probably those companies have a very strong lobby. You wouldn't imagine how many people use those kinds of pills. So of course they won't agree that actually there is no active compound in their favourite "medicine", as it would probably not work as good anymore.