A 21st century corollary to the idealistic hope, "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came," could be "Suppose everybody stopped smoking and tobacco farmers grew food instead."
The outlandish idea of devoting millions of acres to feeding hungry people rather than shortening their lives is reflected in new stirrings by Big Government and Big Money.
The House of Representatives will vote this week on a breakthrough bill to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco as it now regulates food, drugs and medical devices, an important step toward bringing a death-dealing industry under control.
Meanwhile, two billionaires--New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates--are pledging $375 million to fight what they called a global tobacco epidemic.
As food shortages rise and health care is unavailable to multitudes, inhabitants of a rational world might see crop rotation from tobacco to food as a logical way of filling empty stomachs and cutting down on cancer and heart disease at the same time.
We are living in a rational world, aren't we?
Showing posts with label FDA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FDA. Show all posts
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Playing God in Washington
Three years after posturing over Terri Schiavo's right to be kept alive after brain death, members of Congress are faced with real end-of-life questions in proposed legislation to force the FDA to speed up its drug-approval process and give terminally ill patients access to investigative drugs.
Last week they had to look into eyes of a 12-year-old Maryland girl with inoperable liver cancer as her mother pleaded on her behalf.
"Finding help for a sick child should be easy, but it isn't," said Anna Tomalis' mother, who told them her daughter had been turned away from drug studies because she is not healthy enough. "For Anna, time is running out. She doesn't have years to wait for these drugs to become available."
The new bill is sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and California Democratic Rep. Diane Watson. "What we need is a system that looks at the patient and their life-or-death situation, not at a bureaucracy and its needs," says Brownback, a melanoma survivor. "This is deadly neglect, and it can't continue."
From the other end of the political spectrum, Rep. Watson cites the grass-roots movement that demanded experimental drugs for terminally ill AIDS patients, arguing that "anyone whose diagnosis amounted to being handed a death sentence" should "have an opportunity to try these drugs."
In January, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling that the terminally ill have no constitutional right to be treated with experimental drugs.
According to Brownback, only 650 people out of 4.8 million who died of cancer were given such treatment over a recent eight-year period.
An oncologist and researcher who testified about balancing public safety with risks notes, "It takes 10 years and $50 million to develop a new drug--that's insane...Cancer patients have a sense of hopelessness. That's something human beings cannot tolerate. Hopelessness is the worst disease in the world. These patients need some hope."
The FDA will have to make a strong case for withholding it.
Last week they had to look into eyes of a 12-year-old Maryland girl with inoperable liver cancer as her mother pleaded on her behalf.
"Finding help for a sick child should be easy, but it isn't," said Anna Tomalis' mother, who told them her daughter had been turned away from drug studies because she is not healthy enough. "For Anna, time is running out. She doesn't have years to wait for these drugs to become available."
The new bill is sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and California Democratic Rep. Diane Watson. "What we need is a system that looks at the patient and their life-or-death situation, not at a bureaucracy and its needs," says Brownback, a melanoma survivor. "This is deadly neglect, and it can't continue."
From the other end of the political spectrum, Rep. Watson cites the grass-roots movement that demanded experimental drugs for terminally ill AIDS patients, arguing that "anyone whose diagnosis amounted to being handed a death sentence" should "have an opportunity to try these drugs."
In January, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling that the terminally ill have no constitutional right to be treated with experimental drugs.
According to Brownback, only 650 people out of 4.8 million who died of cancer were given such treatment over a recent eight-year period.
An oncologist and researcher who testified about balancing public safety with risks notes, "It takes 10 years and $50 million to develop a new drug--that's insane...Cancer patients have a sense of hopelessness. That's something human beings cannot tolerate. Hopelessness is the worst disease in the world. These patients need some hope."
The FDA will have to make a strong case for withholding it.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Dieting to Die For
Editing magazines for women led me to admire their good sense and sensitivity on the whole, but there were blind spots. Weight loss was one of them.
A gender that respects others’ feelings, is less willing than men to go to war and votes for Democratic Presidential candidates will nevertheless endure any hardship and take any risk to get thin.
A decade ago, women spent billions on a prescription drug, fen-phen, until cases of heart damage and death led the FDA to withdraw it from the market.
Today there is news of a newly approved over-the-counter diet drug jumping off the shelves in L.A., capital of the war against weight. Orlistat, trade-named Alli, a fat-blocker, is “creating serious buzz.”
This one is not likely to kill anybody but has a few less-than-charming drawbacks--gas, oily discharge and an inability to control bowel movements. FDA officials stress that it “needs to be used in combination with a diet and exercise program—-and that using the pill alone isn't likely to do any good.”
But, if experience is any guide, serial dieters won’t be deterred. It remains to be seen if men will be drawn to slim dates who are constantly rushing off to the ladies lounge.
A gender that respects others’ feelings, is less willing than men to go to war and votes for Democratic Presidential candidates will nevertheless endure any hardship and take any risk to get thin.
A decade ago, women spent billions on a prescription drug, fen-phen, until cases of heart damage and death led the FDA to withdraw it from the market.
Today there is news of a newly approved over-the-counter diet drug jumping off the shelves in L.A., capital of the war against weight. Orlistat, trade-named Alli, a fat-blocker, is “creating serious buzz.”
This one is not likely to kill anybody but has a few less-than-charming drawbacks--gas, oily discharge and an inability to control bowel movements. FDA officials stress that it “needs to be used in combination with a diet and exercise program—-and that using the pill alone isn't likely to do any good.”
But, if experience is any guide, serial dieters won’t be deterred. It remains to be seen if men will be drawn to slim dates who are constantly rushing off to the ladies lounge.
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