Because We Need More Viagra/Cialis Ads on TV

The New York Times reports that the chief lobbyist for the drug industry said "drug companies were trying to develop a voluntary code of conduct for the advertising of prescription medicines on television and in print." This is the same drug industry that, in 1997, used its army of lobbyists to force the Clinton administration to loosen 28-year-old regulations on these "direct to consumer" ads that now flood our airwaves.

The rule was originally developed to keep complex medical decisions in the hands of doctors, and keep the drug industry from seizing on people's medical fears to drive up their spending on medicine. Now, not only has the FDA allowed these ads to proliferate, but they are barely enforcing the existing ad regulations on the books. That leaves us flooded with Viagra/Cialis ads at all hours of the day - even during times when children watch TV. And it leaves drug expenditures unnecessarily skyrocketing.

PhRMA lobbyist Billy Tauzin, who took his job immediately after leaving the chairmanship of the committee that oversees the drug industry, admitted that the drug industry's new move on ads is motivated by cynicism. As the Times notes, the "purpose is to fend off more stringent federal regulation." Because really, it would be awful if we didn't have to sit through all those Viagra and Cialis ads all the time...