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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (53794)	8/5/2002 11:59:25 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Every medication I have ever taken has a warning label on it that lists just about every known disease or condition as a possible side effect, from rash to fever to cancer to paralysis ... you name it. (I take no medications on a regular basis). I don't doubt your story at all. In serious illnesses, often the medication or treatment is very powerful or intrusive, such as heavy radiation doses or bone marrow transplants. It is not uncommon for the patient to die from the treatment rather than the underlying condition. However, this is all a matter of balance. If every medication with possible side effects was banned, far more people would die without them than die from them. And this is not to mention the improvement in the quality of living that comes from them, despite side effects. A reasonable person wants the drug industry to produce these treatments, and to alert us to the possible side effects as they are known to the producer. If the producer waited many years to find out definitively about all side effects, and delayed introduction of the drugs, many people would suffer and die in the meantime. There is a kind of social contract here ... We knowingly choose to accept the treatments with awareness of possible risk ... and we in turn agree not to hold the producer responsible for effects that could not have been anticipated in every case. At least that is how it should be, IMO.