Another dividend from the politics of fear: an empty antibiotic pipeline and an FDA that has pushed the safety bar for new drugs against bugs to unachievably high standards.
More people will die because of the absence of new drugs. The policies that have brough this about were built on false premises and false fears. mistrust has become an important source for scientific investigations themselves. Scientists nowadays build a career on technophobia within society. They are the first group who form the
scientific core of the precautionary coalition. They feed this information to consumer groups and politicians who, through the media and policies and hearings institutionalize mistrust, fear and suspicion.
The politics of fear breads both inaction and regulatory paternalism. Nothing is safe so everything must be regulated and tested. More is studied but nothing new is introduced because novelty has unknown risks which are judged more dangerous than the problem it was designed to solve.
So we are left with hardly any new drugs against emerging pathogens. That is the way the Luddites would have it. Better dead people than thriving, profitable drug companies.
http://www.nj.com/business/times/index.ssf?/base/business-3/11941492275600.xml&coll=5
More people will die because of the absence of new drugs. The policies that have brough this about were built on false premises and false fears. mistrust has become an important source for scientific investigations themselves. Scientists nowadays build a career on technophobia within society. They are the first group who form the
scientific core of the precautionary coalition. They feed this information to consumer groups and politicians who, through the media and policies and hearings institutionalize mistrust, fear and suspicion.
The politics of fear breads both inaction and regulatory paternalism. Nothing is safe so everything must be regulated and tested. More is studied but nothing new is introduced because novelty has unknown risks which are judged more dangerous than the problem it was designed to solve.
So we are left with hardly any new drugs against emerging pathogens. That is the way the Luddites would have it. Better dead people than thriving, profitable drug companies.
http://www.nj.com/business/times/index.ssf?/base/business-3/11941492275600.xml&coll=5