From: Blanc Weber <blancw@MICROSOFT.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 06:00:57 +0800
To: "'asgaard@sos.sll.se>
Subject: RE: Tim's friend's mildly retarded son
Message-ID: <c=US%a=_%p=msft%l=RED-81-MSG-960315184442Z-6339@red-06-imc.itg.microsoft.com>
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>From: 	Asgaard
>
>The reason FDA has not approved this drug is most probably because
>it does not make mildly retarded boys less retarded. But of course,
>it's not up to the state to protect people from wasting their money
>on snake oil. It becomes more difficult to uphold a pure market
>philosophy when it comes to poisonous snake oil or, as is often the
>case with potent drugs, effective oil but which will kill you from
>side effects after a delay. [. . . . . ]
>.................................................
>
>In reference to the "pure" market:
>
>The point is not simply that the State should protect people from
>snake-oil salesmen.
>
>There are many "private" agencies whom one can pay to do the work of
>research on the actual benefits of a drug; companies which which can,
>if one does not have the time or the expert knowledge, perform tests
>and such to establish whether there is any danger involved in taking
>it.  This would be the same kind of work that anyone would need to do
>in any case (information that they would need to have), whether as an
>individual or a private group or a government agency.   
>
>They, too, can do all the work of checking on the safety of the
>product, ensuring that it is good, guaranteeing the reality of any
>positive effects, then handing it over to the their client and saying,
>"there - now, we are satisfied in our judgement that it is not
>dangerous to use it."
>
>The point is that it is not right to prevent, stifle, suffocate, the
>liberty to use one's own resources, to act at one's own discretion and
>make one's own choices in regard of one's own particular circumstance,
>to make independently the judgements necessary to determine the truth
>or falsehood of a statement, or the efficacy of a drug - i.e., it is
>not right to have to "give it up" to the State, allowing no one else to
>engage in the mental exercise and follow-through.
>
>   ..
>Blanc
>I hope I'm not the only one here who thinks so.
>     
>
>
>
>