Story of Listerine mouthwash

Brief Introduction:

In the present scenario, man is already trapped in the maze of so many health problems that he further does not need to aggravate them. Although in our society, there are many powerful industries contributing to the rise in such diseases and presenting them as a gift to the patients. The person is made to believe that he has one or the other disease or health problem which needs to be treated first and foremost.

This activity is known as 'Disease Mongering.' Disease mongering fills the healthy person with a fear that he is suffering from some or the other ailment for sure, even if he/she is known to have slight cold or headache. He is made to believe that he is suffering from some major disease which undoubtedly needs treatment.

This tactic has been coined the term, 'Corporate Construction of Disease', in British Medical Journal, by Ray Moynihan, Iona Heath, and David Henry. According to them, belying, illusionary facts about the diseases are spread so that a few multinational companies make money in the name of diseases and extract the money from healthy people as well. That is the reason these pharmaceuticals have been engaged relentlessly in sponsoring the definition of diseases and promoting them to both prescribers and consumers .

Story of Listerine:

The product Listerine which comes as a mouth wash now, was discovered in 1879, as a surgical antiseptic. It was then, that the term, disease mongering began to be used. The word Listerine was derived from the name of an English surgeon, Joseph Lawrence Lister, who had first demonstrated the use of Listerine as a surgical antiseptic. Soon Joseph Lawrence and Jordan.W.Lambert were selling Listerine as a floor cleaner. In 1895, suddenly it began to be used for teeth, as a mouth cleaner, to dispel bad smell from the mouth, thus was being sold to the dental surgeons.

By 1914, in America, it began to be used as an 'over the counter' mouth wash and thus became popular by the same. By 1920, Lambert Pharmacal company, Listerine maker got convinced that he had got cure, now there arose the need for a disease. Finally, Halitosis disease was made up. This referred to the foul smell of the mouth, about which a very few people knew. Through advertisements, Listerine was demonstrated as the treatment for halitosis. The advertisers described halitosis as such a disease which could be the one of the causes of lack of success in the career, romance and married life of a person. Soon, America's 90% people were known to be affected by halitosisFrom Chapter 3 on page 27 of THIS BOOK