As leading Congressional critic of the pharmaceutical industry, Senator Nelson finds the misuse of drugs in our society directly attributable to advertising and other forms of promotion. His criticism of detailmen, in particular, leads him to question their continuance as a method of marketing drugs Discounting arguments that advertising is educational, he believes that drug promotion is primarily designed to sell—“to motivate the physician to prescribe and the consumer to buy.” The results of such activity pose a threat to the public health of the nation.
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