Evolving Degrees of Normalcy or American Lung Association

I'm seeing so many drug commercials for Asthma. They all seem so innocuous and unaffected as if asthma was just another run of the mill aspect of an ordinary day. I find these commercials with their insinuations to be stunning and frightening.

I remember in the 60's as a child that my Mother donated to American Lung Association, a charity organization working to aid treatment for lung disorders. The consequence of which was that I would go door to door in the neighborhood seeking monetary donations for the charity. I remember growing up on Lake Erie and watching the plumes of smoke from Bethlehem Steel plants pour into the sky. On the 20 mile car ride to the city of Buffalo, we'd pass through the city of Lackawanna, home to Bethlehem steel, where every house, no matter the color of paint was tinged with gray from the smoke filled the air. And it stank to high heaven! As kids we'd plug our noses, scrunch up our faces and groan about the smell - wondering why anyone would choose to live in that town! What we weren't doing was making any connections between that smoke we saw, the air we breathe and the lung disorders that I was trying to help. And it never occurred to me that the same air in Lackawanna blew the 7 miles to my house very quickly.

In the late 70's and 80's I was meeting more people with breathing issues like asthma and allergies and I listened to increasing talk about sinus problems including infections. In the meantime, I started to see more commercials for over the counter treatments of allergies and even cold symptoms were now being lumped into the same category. I note that "cold symptoms" is carefully not saying that you have a cold and is only to say the medication treats symptoms that resemble a cold.
The ads also talked about grass, hay fever and pollen. Pollen was a good one, allowing for some really imaginative propaganda. The pollen was characterized to look like a barbed ball and personified by being described as "attacking" the body. We were then instructed that our livers responded to the attack of the barbed intruder by producing histamines to ward off the invader. Sounds like a fantasy story doesn't it? Or maybe a plot on World of War craft. We are being fed some info leading us to believe we're actually learning something. And then we're told what the "medicine" will relieve the attack.
With the late 80's and 90's there began an onslaught of commercials for prescription drugs due to a change in FDA regulations. What I've observed is that medications that were once prescription are now available as an over the counter purchase making it much easier access and available to everyone.

Now in 2007, it's asthma that they are hawking drugs to treat. Asthma! It's an incurable, breathing disorder that they are talking about as if it is trivial and inconsequential and doesn't deserve a second thought or a moment of consideration or contemplation. Hasn't it occurred to folks that we are being persistently poisoned with the foul air that's been and continues to be produced by major corporations? I most certainly do think this deserves more than a moment of reflection. And it requires action!