NBC’s Dateline segment on new diet pills for weight loss was ripped on this blog:
“While this story naturally paints a rosy picture of weight-loss drugs, there are always potential problems. For instance, none of these drugs have yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, so there’s no telling when or if they will hit the market. The drugmakers report no serious side effects, but further study may pick something up.
The story only highlights people who had success with the drug, but such drugs never work dramatically for everyone. And, as is noted in the story, it’s possible that once someone is on one of these drugs, they’ll need to keep taking them for the long-term, perhaps even for life, to be able to keep the weight off. And at this point no one knows what effect that would have on the health of a patient.
So while it’s great to consider the possibilities of a weight-loss drug that makes it easy to lose however much excess weight you need to, it’s important to remember the reality isn’t always so rosy as the news stories would have you believe.”
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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