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From: IPWP400%INDYCMS.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (MacGyver)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: (2486)      Am I paranoid, or are they just out to get me?
Message-ID: <39084@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 18 Sep 90 21:03:43 GMT
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Approved: phil@wubios.wustl.edu
Note:	Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening.  Permission granted for
Note:	non-commercial reproduction.
Archive-number: 2488

On Tue, 18 Sep 90 13:56:39 pdt Support Account for SCI.MED.AIDS said:
>Maybe I was naieve to not think this way sooner, or maybe I'm paranoid.
>
>The thought that a company would supress a much needed disease fighting drug
>or procedure for the simple reason that they would lose money in the long run,
>thus causing thousands or millions of people to die and suffer needlessly
>made me sick.
>
>Is this happening?  Am I just getting paranoid?  Could the government or
>a corporation really stop something so important and shut everybody up about
>a real cure, if one was found?
>

This will undoubtedly draw some flames, but that is not the intent.

Unfortunately, this has become a litigation-happy society.  If something
goes wrong or if life is somehow 'diminished' as the result of something
unforeseen, someone somewhere with deep pockets will be held accountable.

Since the government does not manufacture pharmaceuticals, then some
civilian drug company will get the heat since they cannot be insulated
from a lawsuit.

If someone were to draw up a release so that tests could be accelerated
and it were to say "I understand blah blah blah..." it would not
necessarily hold up in court since an argument regarding diminished
capacity would be presented under the auspices of "...your honour, my
client was so desperate for a cure they would have signed anything..."
and that would be the end of that.

P.S.

There was one notable book published a number of years ago called "A World
Without Cancer" which attempted to convey the feeling that a cure for
cancer had been found and was suppressed since big $$$ and large numbers
of jobs result from research for a cure...

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  "Someday you may have to make a choice:  follow others into the
   future or lead others into the past.  Which is more important:
   leading, following, or the direction you travel?"   -P. Paxton
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