The New York Times www.nytimes.com published a report on fliers who need help overcoming their fear of flying. One traveler, a computer systems analyst at a bank in Columbus, Ohio, faced psychological hurdles while boarding a plane. This flier choked at the gate at the Columbus airport just when about to board a flight to Dallas. “I was at the gate and I could not walk down the jetway. So I went home.” The would-be passenger saw a doctor, who prescribed Paxil, “a drug often prescribed for acute anxiety disorders,” according to the Times.

How does an anti-depressant wind up being an anxiety drug? How does it wind up in the list of medications a doctor might prescribe to an expectant mother? Why not advertise that taking Paxil while pregnant may cause a woman to give birth to a baby with heart defects? The drug companies owe the public more information.