<lpbbihbpmjnimfndednomeefcfaa.scott.hillstrom@analyticorp.co.nz>
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E-drug: What Motivates Drug Donations? (cont'd)
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Mr. Russo,
It's real simple. All you need to do is answer the question I asked. We
would all like to know:
WILL PQMD MEMBERS DISCLOSE THEIR DONATION AND TAX
RECORDS?
Then there will be no need to debate whether PQMD member practice
actually supports the Guidelines. If it does, I will be first to applaud
the industry. If it doesn't I will applaud what the industry for what it
does well and everyone can work together with real facts to improve
things in the future.
So let's answer the question and refrain from entanglements in
collateral issues that cloud the facts rather than shedding the sunlight
you espouse is needed.
Respectfully, I suggest that one point you have made warrants a
reply. You suggest that the burden to show harm rests with injured
victims of bad donations or their care providers. The first duty in
medicine is to do no harm. It is the duty of donors and charities
releasing pharmaceutical drugs into the world to make sure they are
not doing harm. The notion that sick and dying people in the world's
poorest countries should suffer harm until they can prove who is
harming them and how is wrong.
Finally, I would like to stress again, that the U.S. pharmaceutical
industry does the world a very great service and much suffering is
relieved each day in the world because donors care enough to donate
drugs. While perverse incentives do exist, that fact does not mean
that those incentives are the only reason donors give or that all their
giving is bad. While reforms are undertaken, we can all be proud of
the good things that American donor companies and charities do.
Much more needs to be said about the excellent accomplishments of
the industry and the charities that support them.
Cordially,
Scott Hillstrom
President, Cry for the World Foundation
e-mail: scott.hillstrom@analyticorp.co.nz
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