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Brian, I would like second your offerings on the "Drug Conspiracy". Four members of my immediate family are working very hard in the pharmaceutical industry. All four went to fine Universities, two were distinguished students, 3 have advanced degrees.One deals with adverse reactions, one is a live animal researcher, one monitors drug trials and one assists in administration. Never in all the years they have been in this industry have any of them ever suggested anything to suggest such a conspiracy. I hasten to add that they are all employed by top highly regarded companies. If one wishes to address some producers of vitamins and herbs and other questionable non-scientific researched product manufacturing organization, there is a lot to talk about. Unfortunately they also claim pharmaceutical industry membership. And, yes sometimes even in the most careful of systems an anomaly occurs, and constant public vigilance is warrented. I am, however, not supporting unfair and unsubstantiated charges of conspiracy. At 01:05 AM 6/24/99 +0100, you wrote: >I am entering this debate rather late, because I seem to have a different >outlook on the subject of the big bad drug manufacturers. Please don't >think I am a supporter of these companies, but certain points need to be >made. >I am a devoted fan of the TV series 'The X Files', but that doesn't mean >that I believe that 'The Truth is Out There'. What I am getting at is that >I am not a subscriber to what has been labelled as 'Conspiracy Theory.' > >Consider: Let us suppose that a drug company is actually doing this >horrifying thing- actively suppressing exploitation of a wonder drug. >How did they develop it? We all know that to clear a drug for general >use, the drug company has to carry out a fantastically expensive programme >of testing - do you really think that such trials could be done in secret? >A lot of drugs fall by the wayside during this testing, and you are not >home and dry even when you have full clearance - remember Tasmar? > >As far as I can determine, nearly all the modern drugs started life as >the outcome of research at one or more of the world's Universities, and at >some point they either gave or bought the rights to exploit it for human >consumption - the University work may only have tried the drug on mice, >but even then the potential of this wonder drug would be known, so now we >have to wrap the Universities into this conspiracy. > >Finally, let us suppose that our drug manufacturer did actually make and >test and clear this wonder drug. You can bet that they will slap a price >on the new drug that makes your eyes water. The usual reason given is that >the money is needed to finance the next product in the pipeline, and of >course that is always going to be more costly than last years drug. >Regards, > >-- >Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]> >