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Host Francesca Rheannon talks with reporter and author Melody Petersen about OUR DAILY MEDS. It’s about how the pharmaceutical industry has put marketing above medicine and corrupted our health care system in the process. Also, Maxine Kumin. talks about her poem “Nurture”.

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Every five minutes, another American dies from taking their prescription medicine —as prescribed. Kids as young as preschoolers are taking powerful prescription drugs, like Ritalin and antipsychotics, whose safety has never been tested in children. And doctors are on the take, feted at junkets costing thousands of dollars, paid tens of thousands to sign their names to articles written by drug company marketers, and pressured to give the newest, least tested drugs to their patients instead of cheaper, safer and effective older ones. They’ve also created new illnesses out of common human conditions—like shyness or heartburn—so they can push more drugs into the marketplace.

Melody Petersen’s subtitle to OUR DAILY MEDS says it all: [amazon-product text=”How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs” type=”text”]0312428251[/amazon-product].

CLICK HERE to read an excerpt from OUR DAILY MEDS.

We also play a clip from an archived interview with Maxine Kumin. We talk to her about her poem “Nurture”.