From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis)
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 10:14:25 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Tim's friend's mildly retarded son
In-Reply-To: <Pine.HPP.3.91.960315172509.11643C-100000@cor.sos.sll.se>
Message-ID: <HyVukD12w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Asgaard <asgaard@sos.sll.se> writes:
> On Thu, 14 Mar 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
>
> > Mexico has no FDA. A trip to the pharmacies of Tijuana is instructive. A
> > friend of mine was just here. On a business trip to SF and LA, he drove all
> > the way down to TJ to buy a "personal supply" of a nootropic drug for his
> > mildly-retarded son, a drug the FDA has not approved but which Mexicans and
> > Europeans have been buying for years. U.S. Customs, aware of such
> > tragedies, waves people through who are carrying "personal supplies" of
> > (non-narcotic) drugs.
>
> 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. FDA has a very good reputation of not
> 'recommending' drugs with (delayed) adverse effects outweighing the
> beneficial ones.

This is not true. Today it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a new
drug to the U.S. market. I speak from personal experience: my late mother used
to use Rowatinex to relieve kidney symptoms. It's widely available in Europe,
but the Irish manufacturer doesn't want to tell it here because the cost of
getting an FDA approval would be more than what they would make selling it.
Hence, it had to be smuggled in. :-)

Many over-the-counter drugs that became popular before the FDA probably could't
be brought to the market now.

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps