Article July 4, 1994 Issue

"What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."—Jesus

The marketing of disease

with contributions from Thomas Fuller

It's no surprise that for some time now articles in the press and especially commercials on television and the radio have been describing the symptoms of illnesses in dramatic—even unsettling—ways. Recently The Wall Street Journal reported how, during the coming months, one particular drug company will be publicizing a specific disorder concurrently with its new remedy. "Creating a buzz" is the way the media blitz was described in the Journal report, which even pointed out how the company is looking for a celebrity as high-profile patient. Sadly, it has become a widespread practice to try to sell the world a disease before marketing its cure.

Mrs. Eddy intended the Sentinel "to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). In performing its office of holding guard, the Sentinel encourages its readers to step back and watch that they're not taken in by these trends, however well-meaning their proponents may be.

While it is of paramount importance never to ignore either mental or physical suffering, it is also vital for mankind to keep free from shackles imposed by general trends in thought. A statement in Science and Health makes this point: "The press unwittingly sends forth many sorrows and diseases among the human family. It does this by giving names to diseases and by printing long descriptions which mirror images of disease distinctly in thought. A new name for an ailment affects people like a Parisian name for a novel garment. Every one hastens to get it" (pp. 196–197).

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