Disease mongering

The phrase disease mongering was coined by medical and science writer Lynn Payer in her 1992 book Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick. Payer defined this deceitful practice as “trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill.”

One of the earliest examples of disease mongering is Listerine, a chemical product formulated in 1879 and used as an antiseptic, even a floor cleaner, before its marketing to dentists for in-office oral care. Then Listerine's creators started selling it directly to consumers by inventing a disease that their product “cured”: halitosis, a term borrowed from antiquated medical texts and is nothing but bad breath. Halitosis was paraded as a disease that could have dire consequences for your personal and professional life. By taking advantage of people’s insecurities, and through the creation of manipulative soap-opera-like commercials, Listerine turned into a sought-after remedy for a previously non-existent malady.

According to The Save Institute: The disease osteoporosis was developed at a WHO conference in 1992. Prior to the conference, osteoporosis was a term to describe normal loss of bone mass with ageing, like wrinkles and grey hair, not a disease to be "cured" by prescription of drugs At the conference, it was decided that “normal” bone density was that of a 30-year-old woman, the age at which bone mass typically peaks. It’s normal for a 50-year-old’s density to be less than a 30-year-old’s, and it’s ridiculous to measure the bone density of a 70-year-old against that of someone four decades younger. But at the conference, it was decided that anything below this peak density number was “abnormal” and in need of treatment..."