Silly people and their silly priorities

[anthus29]

Kathi just informed me that there was a third acknowledged case of Mad Cow in the US. She said "I bet you're glad you're a vegetarian."

Well, yes, I am. But that's because I know that vegetarianism lowers my significant chance of heart disease and cancer. I could care less about vegetarianism lowering my negligible chance of Mad Cow. Mad Cow

Comments

[zaid25]

I am coming to the conclusion that Americans live in a pretty secluded world. I wish we could get a reality check...for being arguably the most powerful country in the world, sometimes I think we are the most ignorant. The reasons for this ingnorance, I feel, are related to many issues with current American politics, economy, and society, but that's a subject for another long post :)

[100thsheep]

I think that Americans dont pay attention to the epidemics of the developed world because curing them would not profit us. In my medical ethics class we talked about how pharmaceutical companies make copy-cat drugs (often the changes in the drugs are completely negligible or they only change the packaging) instead of developing new ones, just because they can make more money by selling those drugs to rich, relatively healthy Americans; while it is not profitable to help large population of people who are actually suffering.

[zaid25]

I'm actually going into pharmaceuticals myself, and I totally agree with your assessment. I actually came to that conclusion myself when I was doing a research paper on pharmaceuticals my senior year of high school. There ARE some companies that are focused on these global epidemics, but they are few and far between. Even HIV/AIDS research isn't as popular even though this problem affects Americans (granted not nearly as much as in developing countries). Some issues to consider and which I am wondering about myself as I still plan to pursue this career goal are: Pharmaceutical research is really, really expensive. I can't really blame companies from making "copy-cat" or for looking for the great "cash cow" as I call it (an ubiqutious drug that guarentees hugh profits indefinitely). At the same time, I don't think this should be the company's focus. There must be a balance, and it's hard to find that, or see it if you are not within the company. Another issue is economical. Many times, drugs ARE available to the population

[prettyinpunk318]

we talked about this at work yesterday. i have found you so add me.

[anthus29]

Yes ma'am.