Science, meet faith. Faith, meet science. I find this one kinda funny. Do you? Would R&S types use this?

Question

First of all, let it be fully understood that I do not work for or endorse any type of pharmaceutical company, or the use of any prescription drug. Ha ha, disclaimer out of the way.

That said, have any of you seen commercials for the nasal spray Veramyst? The fine print on their ad, and even on their website, is as follows: ". . . the way Veramyst works is not fully understood." Seems like GlaxoSmithKline is reaching for non-profit status, as it takes "faith" to use their product. Does this "religion" strike terror into the heart of all Pastafarians?

Feel free to answer this question as you see fit (well, duh), seeing as I also am coming at it from a 50-50 serious-humorous split.

Have a great day!

"Aspirin, etc." -- I know, it's just that you don't see that disclaimer on any aspirin products.

Answer 1

Wow, another endorsement against this company. They don't know how it works? Did they ever put it together themselves or did they have someone tell them what to make but while wearing blindfolds and earplugs?
I mean, "We dont fully understand" It's nice when science can be more humble than religion but damn that's messed up.
Maybe magical spaghetti elves enter your nasal cavity and entrench themselves deep in your brain and rewire it to send signals to the rest of your body to make it work

Answer 2

Faith & Science?
Glaxo isn't looking for endorsements for Veramyst use by the religious of society. They are merely stating the obvious from an industrialist-capitalistic market: In order to make a buck, the end justifies the means.

Glaxo may not understand how their product works, but they're willing to reap the profits regardless of the long-term effects and costs to patients.

Humorous or not, your point is well taken.
"We don't know what it does, or how it works, but we're gunna market it!"
Sounds like New Age Snake Oil marketers.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Answer 3

Both are concerned with causation. Science is concerned with only secondary causes. Religion and Philosophy ask the deepest questions, the ones that cannot possibly be answered by an experiment. Modern science does not go beyond what might theoretically be tested by an experiment. Obviously, there cannot be an experiment set up by created being that could "corner" Uncreated Being into revealing Himself if He wanted to or not. Unfortunately, some of those who consider themselves to be science's partisans would restrict our thinking to questions with (theoretically) easy answers. The opposite isn't nearly as much of a problem today; religion by and large accepts that science has its rights in the secondary causes department. In the USA there are some problems for science education from those who would deny all evolution or even a multi-billion year old universe.

Answer 4

Hello pharmaceutical industry, is that an FDA in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Remember once upon a time, when agencies like the FDA actually required big companies to prove that their products were both safe AND effective before they could be sold?

Ah, those were the good ol' days. Now, of course, they just have to be safe enough to avoid too many lawsuits. And apparently efficacy is entirely 'buyer beware'. If you can't even prove the safety part, just sell it as a herbal supplement. If it's 'all natural' it can't be bad for you, right?

At least Health Canada still has science and public interest as a priority... oh, no, wait, they're just accepting FDA results now because they don't want to appear 'anti-business'.

Sigh.

Answer 5

what is a pastafarian?

since the brain/body are yet to be comprehended by modern science many "drugs" are not understood how/why they work...I can think of when prozac came out they weren't really sure how it worked and why it helped some people and not others

but i think it is kind of funny in a sad kind of way that if you market something right people will take it,buy it, etc....
says a lot about the human condition

personally i find the commercial with the bee with the french accent pretty scary, i believe that one is also for a nasal spray

Answer 6

The way aspirin works is not fully understood. But the missing piece of logic is that we have evidence that aspirin and perhaps also that Veramyst does do what it claims.

We take very minor things on faith every day. There's little downside to to taking small insignificant things on faith.

All claims are not equal though. I can claim that in my pocket I have either a penny or your left kidney. You have no proof that either is true or false. Which is more likely.

Answer 7

Well we don't fully understand a lot of diseases yet. Look at Alzheimer's disease for a big one. We have no idea what the main cause is and we are taking shots in the dark trying to figure it out. We Do know what the actual drugs do.

Veramyst, for example, is an inhaled steroid that decreases inflammation in the lungs. This drug is used to prevent asthma attacks from happening, but will not do anything "immediately" if you are having an attack.

Answer 8

The actions of just about every drug on the market are not fully understood. Remember it is "The Practice of Medicine". I just like to know when they will stop practicing and get it right.

Answer 9

I avoid all new meds like the plague since nobody's really regulating the way they're being tested and slapped on the economy, and then there's the false claims about the old fat-loss aid "ephedra"... don't get me started... I tend to rant about such things.

_()_

Answer 10

LOL.........I noticed that one too. What I find truly terrifying about it is that money is more important to GKS than understanding the actions of this drug.

However, this is not at all any sort of "new" religion..........the dollar has long been the 'god' of America.