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From: kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU
Newsgroups: mod.politics
Subject: Medicine
Message-ID: <12233148429.32.MCGREW@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Sat, 23-Aug-86 14:11:19 EDT
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Posted: Sat Aug 23 14:11:19 1986
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    [ So no one should test drugs for carcinogenic properties?  Long
    term effects?

  I am sure it is in the drug companies interest to do so.  I don't
think it should be done at taxpayers expense, is all I am saying.  Nor
should a drug be illegal just because such tests have NOT been done,
though certainly potential users should be informed that no tests have
been done.
  A drug for AIDS is now undergoing testing.  Nobody now gets it
except a handful in a research study.  Is it dangerous?  Could be.
Does it work against AIDS?  Maybe.
  Don't you think AIDS patients have a right to buy the drug, given
that they are warned that it has not been tested?  This is admittedly
an extreme case, since everyone agrees that untreated AIDS is certain
death.  In every case the risks of the drugs must be weighed against
the risk of the disease.  This is clear cut with AIDS and terminal
cancer, though that doesn't seem to keep government from banning
UNPROVEN drugs for those invariably fatal conditions.
  What about less serious diseases?  Why do you assume that doctors
and/or the government should have a monopoly on weighing possible
risks against possible benefits?  It seems to me that it should be up
to the patient to decide.  The doctors, pharmacists, and government
should only play an advisory role.
                                                            ...Keith

[ I am uncomfortable with the thought of a doctor coming along after 5
years and saying, "well, you shouldn't have been taking that allergy
drug, fella - it causes leprosy!  Gee, I'm sorry, but you know, let
the buyer beware!"  As usual, I am not so convinced about this sort of
thing as you are (this does *not* necessarily mean you should try and
convince me though! :-) -CWM]
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