"That was the most stupid fucking thing I've ever heard anyone say."

[R. P. McMurphy]

That was my response to a libertarian-wannabe former friend that I've known for nearly 40 years when he said we should eliminate the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of clinical drug trials and let the pharmaceutical companies put out whatever they wished. This was his solution to the high cost of pharmaceuticals.

Sometimes I don't believe I can tolerate the stupid any longer.

[Turbineguy]

1. Well, surely it is not in their interest

to kill everybody? Only those who cannot afford their drugs.

[Avalux]

2. Your 'friend' needs a history lesson.

Does he not know the historical background, the reasons why the FDA exists, and the global rules governing drug, device and biologic development and marketing?

Yes, there are global rules for clinical research, so doing away with the FDA wouldn't negate that. It all started with the Nuremberg Trial; Nazi docs were convicted of conducting horrific experiments on people without their consent, resulting in the Nuremberg Code.

Without regulated clinical research, everyone exposed to an untested drug, device or biologic would be a guinea pig. The companies that make these items don't care about people's safety and if your friend think prices would go down by getting rid of regulations he's really stupid.

Send him this to read:

Nuremberg Code (1947)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Code

[sakabatou]

3. That IS fucking stupid

[Initech]

4. Well to use accounting terminology you do eliminate a couple of cost pools that way.

But are these the cost pools you want to eliminate? Hell no!

[BlueJazz]

5. Tell your former friend I have some great medicine to sell him.

[raccoon]

6. Tell him about thalidomide. nt

[Skittles]

7. I could not be friends with someone that stupid

seriously, I could not

[Enthusiast]

8. That wins the prize.

[jmowreader]

9. Tell him also about elixir sulfanilamide and Lash-Lure

These were the two products that caused the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1934 to be passed in the first place. (I'm pulling these out of my memory; if you want links let me know.)

Lash-Lure was an "eyelash enhancer" marketed to permanently dye ones lashes black - a kind of permanent mascara. Regular mascara was a grade-A pain in the ass in the late 1920s-early 1930s era, so being able to go to a salon and have it done once and for all sounded pretty damn good, right? Wrong: the product in question was made out of industrial textile dyes. It blinded quite a few women and killed some. The Act of 1934 gave the FDA power to seize hazardous products; this was the first one they seized.

To understand Elixir Sulfanilamide one must first understand sulfanilamide - fuck it, we'll call it sulfa. Sulfa was one of the first antibiotic-type drugs. In the days before penicillin they used it to treat every kind of bacterial infection, and it's still used today. Problem is, it's a dry powder that tastes like shit so it was hard to get children to take it. A good-tasting liquid sulfa would be very popular.

The S.E. Massengill Company, who would go on to invent the disposable douche (I don't make 'em up folks, I only read 'em), solved the problem. They blended sulfa, diethylene glycol and raspberry flavoring, named it Elixir Sulfanilamide, and shipped 240 one-gallon jugs.

Right now you're thinking, "isn't diethylene glycol what they use to make antifreeze?" That it is, and it's lethal. One teaspoon of this poison was more than sufficient to kill a child; this product took out over 100 people before the FDA proclaimed it mislabeled (an "elixir" is an alcohol solution; this was a glycol solution) and seized all that hadn't killed anyone yet. The scary part is, if it had been named Solution Sulfanilamide the feds would have had no authority over it whatsoever. And at the time it was completely legal to sell medicines that'd kill anyone who took them. The 1934 Act allows seizing dangerous drugs like thalidomide simply because they're dangerous.

[AwakeAtLast]

10. Ask him if he would like some"Radithor"

http://io9.com/seriously-scary-radioactive-consumer-products-from-the-498044380

Seriously messed up stuff.

[Raine1967]

11. Did you post this in the right forum?

Our social forum. Relax with your friends and talk about off-topic stuff. The Lounge is supposed to be a friendly, welcoming place for everyone. No cliquish behavior. No drama. No political arguments. No whining about DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=about&forum=1018

This might be better suited in General Discussion of the politics forum.

Welcome to DU!

[DawgHouse]

13. You should learn this quote from Billy Madison.

It's quite useful!

[easychoice]

14. Tell him to go to Mexico where the Perscriptions

Are 5 To 10% of what they cost here.It is not oversight it is pure medical profiteering by multinational drug companies.
You can thank Tom"the bugman" Delay and his ripoff cronies too.Pure Theft.

[Xipe Totec]

15. Sorry about the hidden post above, bud, makes me want to get back in the jury pool.

I would have answered same as you.

Probably why I don't want to be in the jury pool anymore.

Don't let it get under your skin.

And welcome to DU (again).

[Kali]

16. no, it was a good hide.

that was a terribly rude and over the top reply. you may not be aware of this, but people post things here by accident fairly often. it seems to be because on the latest page, the link to the Lounge is right below the link to GD. the OP could have been meant for GD, as it was somewhat political and of a type that gets posted there all the time.

I can see that it is also legit for the Lounge, as blowing off steam about a friendship gone sour, but there was no malice in Raine1967 simply asking. And who knows there might have even been an alert to the Hosts about it.