thanks thats a great post maybe a little confused but i think it´s ok to start with it…

Medicare Part D has been accompanied by a 50% drop in imports from Canada [see this link: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2007/5/25/Sales-of-Canadian-Rx-Drugs-to-US-Residents-Tumble.aspx, which seems to back up Sid’s point, despite frenetic efforts by Democrats to talk down the scheme (which is a huge bloated entitlement program that will IMHO help bankrupt the US welfare system in the long run). The Dems latest scam is to “reduce the confusion” for seniors by limiting the number of insurers that can offer their products, which will of course lead to less competition, higher premiums and justify MORE regulations and lawsuits and subsidies.

Obviously, the poll is not scientific or representative of all US citizens, but the close result fits with the two concerns: rising health care bills and worries about safety.

To me, the solution would be to abolish the FDA altogether, allow Internet buying, and have people like consumer reports invest in labs to do spot checks. I trust a private organization with a reputation to preserve more than a bunch of bureaucrats trying to second guess the best career moves if Clinton, Romney, Obama, Giuliani or Edwards gets to pick the next boss at the FDA and CDC.

I also think the biggest threat is the false sense of security from thinkng that if the FDA hasn’t issued a recall, it must be safe. There is no absolute safety, only variations of risk.

Think of the 39,000 cats and dogs that have been poisoned with fake wheat gluten, apparently from China. They trusted their owners blindly. Should we trust ours?

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The readership here is mixed, by which I mean people from pharma, people whose livelihood is somehow tied to pharma, and those who are consumers simply interested in pharma.

I don’t know, however, the mix of those who voted. But thought you’d find it interesting to know that there are readers with a wide variety of reasons and concerns for stopping here.

How do I know? Subscriber lists.

As to wankers, I’ll leave that to others.

ed

Ed, you are being targeted by — what’s the word for it when anonymous posters like ’sid’ with a bias and hidden agenda claim they are just ordinary folk and they post comments day after day? It’s not wanker, it’s…? Sid, help me out here will ya?

Your bias is showing. Non-pharma individuals are “complaining consumers” who are so intellectually challenged that we cannot read and understand scientific material? Only 1 out of 100 of the readers here express a voice of reason? The elderly “just want as much free stuff as possible.” And folks like Rost are responsible for the tattered image pharma now has?

Who expresses the voice of reason? Pharma reps? Pharma execs? Pharma PR?