(1) Replying to E-DRUG messages
As you know, the E-drug is a moderated list; i.e., all messages
sent to e-drug@usa.healthnet.org need to be "approved" by the list administrator
before they are distributed to the list members. The policy of the list
is to keep the traffic sufficiently low for even those subscribers who
need to pay for international phone calls for each byte transferred.
In recent weeks, several people sent requests for information to the list.
The responses have been forwarded to them personally, but NOT TO THE
ENTIRE LIST. That is why the list seems more quiet than it is.
Some members wish to have more informal discussions on the list, some
others warn that they need to unsubscribe if the traffic gets higher.
So far I have tried to serve the most disadvantaged members also.
As a compromise I suggest that everyone who sends a request for
information to the E-DRUG and receives responses, is expected to
write a short summary of the responses to the entire list after
some appropriate period of time.
(2) additional reference about Pharmaceutical Regulation
In a recent E-drug message Richard Laing mentioned a very
interesting paper on what Drug Regulatory Authorities did (not)
do after WHO produced a rather conclusive book about the
non-suitability of antidiarrhoeal drugs in acute diarrhoea in
children.
It was published in Social Science and Medicine, Vol 42, No. 7,
pp 1011-1019, 1996. The authors were Hilbrand Haak (by coincidence
also E-drug moderator!) and Miriam Claesson, ex-WHO/CDD staff member.
If you do not have access to Soc Sci Med, ask a reprint from
Hilbrand Haak via email: 102347.1567@compuserve.com
WIlbert Bannenberg, E-drug moderator]