E-DRUG: NY Times: New placebo pill for children
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Dear E-Druggers,
Words fail me on this one. From the country where Direct To
Consumer Advertising is taking over the tv, we now bring you Obecalp
-- a placebo pill for children (get it? It's placebo spelled backwards).
The ethics of this are pretty well discussed in the article. But I
think one got left out: Why do children think a pill will help
them? Because they've seen the adults around them take pills. So
they already have seen people use pills, and now they're being given
unnecessary pills... What do we think their pill-taking habits will
be like when they grow up?
Another reason why the US needs an Essential Medicine List and to
teach people about the rational use of medicines.
Libby Levison
Boston, USA
libby@theplateau.com
E-DRUG: NY Times: New placebo pill for children (2)
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Dear All;
There are a few minor points worth making re. Libby's message (Is this a JOKE??).
1. I'm sure we all read this with a sense of (what's the best adjective?). But at least the US FDA has refused to approve such an item as a drug. It is beyond the purview of the FDA to outright ban the sales of something that makes no claims of therapeutic value.
2. One important point. Do any of us parents claim to have always "made the right call" on our children's illnesses? Deliberate dosing with a placebo can delay - potentially dangerously - effective monitoring of a developing situation.
3. What are the implications if a parent doses with obecalp and a physician later determines this was unwise? Is the parent open to charges of negligence in child care? Could the makers of obecalp be included in a lawsuit over such situations? One shudders to think....
Joseph M. Fortunak
Associate Professor, Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Howard University
525 College Street NW
Washington, DC 20069 USA
+1 202 806 6880 (office)
+1 301 928 7568 (mobile)
jfortunak@comcast.net (preferred)
E-DRUG: NY Times: New placebo pill for children (4)
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Thomas Holloway made a large fortune in the 19th century selling a pill of chalk and with it built the Royal Holloway campus and gardens. It made millions feel ever so much better!
Donald Light
Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor
"Donald W Light " <dlight@Princeton.EDU>