Bucking Bronco Health News Requires Information to Cushion Consumers Landing

News headlines and industry emails last week compressed the usual see saw of news about drugs and supplements into a few days that felt like riding a bucking bronco.  No consumer could possibly keep up with the conflicting messages and sort thru the confusion without a lot of research time or – here’s where pharmacists come in – an easily accessible, knowledgeable clinician.  Without one, most consumers just get thrown off.

I read the electronic edition of the New York Times every day.  Last Sunday, I read news that pharmaceutical companies may be close to a legal shield from lawsuits if the Supreme Court rules so in a case involving Johnson & Johnson, makers of the Ortho Evra birth control patch, and over 3,000 women and families who have sued over claims that the drug caused injury and even death.  Called “pre-emption,” the legal argument is that since the drug was previously approved by the FDA, manufacturers cannot be sued, even if the manufacturer did not disclose to consumers correct information about the ingredients.  I wondered how pharmacists reacted to this news…

Two days later, Jane Brody, the NYTimes Personal Health editor, wrote a stinging article calling use of dietary supplements “substance abuse.”  In it she threw punches at the industry with oversimplified statements, a couple of extreme consumers examples and quotes and testimony from Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington DC based education (read lobby) organization known for it’s conservative views on nutritional supplements.  There were no balancing viewpoints from the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau, or the Natural Products Association, industry education (more lobby groups, but these are friendly to or created by the natural products industry).  This same story was respun the very next day for the television audience on CBS, this time using a nutritionist.

By Thursday, the biggest health headline in the New York Times and Pharmacist eTalk was the news that heparin, a blood thinner manufactured by Baxter International and approved by the FDA, was suspected in 62 deaths, most likely due from – yep, you got it, tainted ingredients from China.

The fact is that science, industry (both pharmaceutical and natural products), government and media have been creating wave after wave of conflicting information for decades that causes confusion and fear among consumers, especially those who do not have the time, the resources or even, perhaps the education, to understand the stories, put the information in context and make their own informed decisions.  Most consumers, just like I did for the first 30 years of my life, take doctors words and government regulatory proclamations as the “gospel.”  But when science and consumer experience is showing that doctors advice and government agencies are flawed, where can consumers go to sort things out?  Just take the 2002 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) revelations and the current responding backlash from pharmaceutical companies against bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). 

Pharmacists are perfectly positioned to help us.  I use the word “us” intentionally, because as a leading edge baby boomer, I, my friends and my family, are all riding the same horse and we've been riding this bucking bronco for three decades.  To whom can we turn to help us? 

To walk into a integrative medicine pharmacy with professionals who have the knowledge, education and an unbiased viewpoint about both drugs AND supplements and herbs would be a blessing and here’s why:

• Community pharmacies are walk-in retail environments.  I don’t have to get permission from a doctor or an insurance company to talk to a pharmacist.  I could have more than 7 minutes to share my history and ask my questions.  I’m even willing to pay for this access to professionals and their time out of my pocket, like most integrative medicine consumers do.
• Integrative pharmacies that sell remedies across the spectrum demonstrate their acceptance of an integrative, whole health point of view, and therefore, acceptance of me.  I don’t have to worry that I am being judged, or that I have more education about health and wellness than the person to whom I am speaking.
• Many of the newer pharmacists are female, making personal, private conversations easier.  The older ones schooled in “weeds and seeds” decades ago start out with accepting the breadth and depth of available, affordable remedies beyond drugs.
• Pharmacists help explain what I need to pay attention to – from nutrient depletions caused by drugs to all the potential interactions – and can help me manage my own health in a more informed way.

And I’m not talking about Walgreens or CVS here.  Only independent, community pharmacies can deliver the kind of personal attention and information over my lifetime that will help cushion the jolts and bumps from the bucking bronco health headlines.

Linda O’Hara
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