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Such ads don't have to mention any drug risks.

From sports figures like Jack Nicklaus to movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, dozens of famous people have been on TV in recent years urging consumers to ask their doctors for specific prescription drugs for everything from depression to cancer.

Now, more of those celebrities want to make you "aware" of problems you might not know about or even have.

Experts say the shift is because of concerns over medication safety and criticism from medical and consumer groups that ads minimize drug risks.

They also point to talk in Congress about new regulations, possibly banning consumer ads until a drug has been on sale for a year, allowing time for rare side effects to emerge.

"Definitely there has been an increase in spending" on disease awareness ads this year, said Stu Klein, president of Quantum, a health care advertising company in Parsippany, N.J.

"What 2005 will probably show is that percentage going up." Ad spending monitor TNS Media notes consumer drug ad spending, which totaled $4.4 billion in 2004, actually dipped 1.5 percent in th...

"E.R." star Noah Wylie discussed skin cancer for Schering-Plough, which makes Intron A for melanoma, and discussed post-traumatic str...

•Actress Lorraine Bracco discusses depression for Pfizer, maker of antidepressant Zoloft; she’s been treated for depression.

•Soap opera actor Mark Consuelos discusses managing diabetes for Abbott Diabetes Care, maker of glucose monitoring systems and test strips; his father has diabetes and a relative died of complications.

•Singer Julie Andrews discussed osteoporosis for Evista maker Eli Lilly; her mother has the brittle-bone disease.

•Actor Rob Lowe speaks on infection during chemotherapy, which his father suffered, for Neulasta maker Amgen.

•“Wonder Woman” star Lynda Carter discussed irritable bowel syndrome for Zellnarm maker Novartis.

•Actor Kelsey Grammar and wife, Camille, discussed irritable bowel syndrome, which she has, on behalf of GlaxoSmithKline as it prepared to launch Lotronex.

•“E.R.” star Noah Wylie discussed skin cancer for Schering-Plough, which makes Intron A for melanoma, and discussed post-traumatic stress disorder shortly after the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks, for Pfizer, maker of Zoloft for that disorder and other psychiatric conditions.

•Basketball star Magic Johnson did AIDS awareness ads for GlaxoSmithKline, which makes about 10 HIV drugs.

•Former Sen.

Bob Dole encouraged treatment for impotence in ads paid for by Viagra maker Pfizer...