The Wire with Joel

New Zealand and the United States are the only two countries in the world that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise their products directly to consumers.

The question of banning pharmaceutical advertising in New Zealand isn’t new. In 2019, there were renewed calls for the Therapeutic Medicines Bill to be toughened with these measures being driven by.. 

At the time, a Consumer New Zealand survey indicated that 57% of kiwis favour an independent health info service that provides advice on treatment options over medicine advertising.

Those stats also reveal that 8% of those surveyed believed that said ads provided unbiased and comprehensive information about treatments.

And 15% of surveyors also said a ban is unnecessary.

This interview with Consumer NZ Research and Test Writer Belinda Castles is part of a larger story on Direct To Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand

On The Wire for Rāhina Monday!

Joe speaks to Kurt Krause, a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Otago, about NZ’s first case of Monkeypox. He also speaks to Max Rashbrooke, a Research Associate for the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, about political donation regulation and the motivation behind it.

Trishil speaks to Professor David Menkes, Consumer NZ Research and Test Writer Belinda Castles, Health Minister Andrew Little, Royal NZ College of GPs Medical Director Dr Bryan Betty, and National Health Spokesperson Dr Shane Reti about Pharmaceutical Advertising in New Zealand, and whether the practise should be banned.

And for this weeks Tomorrow’s World, Isla and Stella spoke to Dr Emma Sharp from the University of Auckland about her projects with Soilsafe Aotearoa.

That's us for the Monday Wire!

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, announced his resignation from leading the Conservative Party.

Liam gave a report on Johnson's resignation, and what he represents as one of the largest figures of UK politics. The report includes a comment given to Casper by Stephen Hoadley from the University of Auckland on whether the move could have been predicted.

On this Friday's Wire Casper talked to Auckland city councillor Shane Henderson about a recent local board vote on special character areas, as well as Dean Baigent-Mercer from Forest and Bird about recently allocated funding towards Predator free Rakiura Stewart Island.

Liam put together a report on Boris Johnson's resignation as leader of the Conservative Party in the UK, chatting about what’s been happening over the past few days, how we got to this point, and including some expert commentary from the University of Auckland's Stephen Hoadley.

Liam also had a chat for this week's Strangest Things segment with the Waitakere Ranges Local Board deputy chairperson Greg Presland about how chickens have continued to terrorise Titrangi.