One of the most potent products available to battle public health issues -- such as the flu -- isn't completely safe.
The product is Ivory Soap -- and it's only 99 and 44/100th% pure. Should it be taken off the market?
Silly? Not when you consider that the current debate over drug safety is being hijacked by the Panjandrums of the Precautionary Principle. What we need is a debate on smart safety.
Have a look at this new op-ed in The Journal of Life Sciences, "A Balancing Act:."
Here's the link:
www.tjols.com/article-662.html
And here's a taste:
The product is Ivory Soap -- and it's only 99 and 44/100th% pure. Should it be taken off the market?
Silly? Not when you consider that the current debate over drug safety is being hijacked by the Panjandrums of the Precautionary Principle. What we need is a debate on smart safety.
Have a look at this new op-ed in The Journal of Life Sciences, "A Balancing Act:."
Here's the link:
www.tjols.com/article-662.html
And here's a taste:
"Our system of drug regulation involves a careful balancing of drug benefits and risks based on the best possible scientific information that can be discovered about a new drug’s safety profile. Reform is needed, but careful and considered reform that advances our understanding of safety in the context the individual patient – not hasty measures that grab headlines and do harm to the public health by slowing down the availability of new and better medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies should seek out, monitor and report adverse events in new ways, especially for drugs that are widely prescribed off-label. But hasty regulatory concepts that allow dictatorial shutoffs and demonize the pharmaceutical industry are just as likely to slow the pace of medical progress.
We must work for reform that makes drugs safer, but avoid those that might unintentionally slow down the flow of new medicines, or worse, discourage the creation of them altogether. Safety is always an issue, but patients with life threatening diseases also have a right to timely access to advances in medicine."
