‘Disease Mongering’

In 1992, the late journalist Lynn Payer wrote a book titled, "Disease Mongering," and defined disease mongering as, "trying to convince essentially well people that they are sick, or slightly sick people that they are very ill."

Tactics identified in the book currently used in the Mothers Act campaign include: (1) Framing the issues in a particular way, (2) Taking a normal function and implying that there's something wrong with it and it should be treated, (3) Defining as large a proportion of the population as possible as suffering from the 'disease', (4) Selective use of statistics to exaggerate the benefits of treatment, and (5) Getting the right spin doctors.

"Since disease is such a fluid and political concept, the providers can essentially create their own demand by broadening the definitions of diseases in such a way as to include the greatest number of people, and by spinning out new diseases," Payer explained in the book.