However, that probably wouldn't be the simplest thing to accomplish. Yes, a drug may not exactly be government approved. But a business is a business, regardless. The FDA obviously doesn't oversee solely drug production, hence its name (Food AND Drug Administration). There are many other food/ingestive products that aren't necessarily safe. Consider the sale of alcohol or cigarettes. Both can endanger your health, even more so than an unapproved medication. Smoking can commonly lead to lung cancer and alcohol could give you liver cancer. To say that these substances lead only to cancer would be a great understatement. It's quite peculiar why people are content with beer and cigarettes in the markets, yet so many of those people are extremely against unapproved products being there. Also, one of the biggest ways these products get through to the public is via media, otherwise known as a variety of advertisements. Though many people are continually supporting the ban of unapproved products and their respective advertisement, they must be mindful of the fact that banning any type of advertising violates one's freedom of speech, according to the First Amendment. If a company wants to sell a product, they have every right to speak their mind and exercise their freedom of speech. With all of this is mind, it would behoove those who are against unapproved medicine to look at the bigger picture and realize the severity of the situation, which is seemingly minuscule. Having a hidebound state of mind will potentially exacerbate a social issue into an even bigger problem.
I agree, their are so many times where people are literally on their death bed and their are experimental drugs that are unsafe or untested. Many times these people would rather take the risk since their only other option is dying. I can't see any reason why in a free country people would not be allowed to make these decisions for themselves as opposed to some all knowing bureaucracy that makes decisions for everyone. Also, getting a drug approved by the FDA takes thousands and thousands of dollars. Drugs that treat uncommon diseases are almost never submitted to the FDA because it would be impossible to make up the revenue lost. Sorry if you have some super rare disease in the United States, no help for you here. In addition it takes about ten years for the FDA to approve something. There are so many people that could have been saved if they had been allowed to take drugs that hadn't been fully tested. Obviously people want to have safe drugs but there are times when the decision is a risky drug or death. I don't see any reason why we can't simply sell drugs that haven't yet been FDA approved with labels saying "warning, these contents have not been approved for safe use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." Most of the time people will not touch these drugs, for obvious reasons, however, when people decide that they are OK with the extra risk they will be able to access them. People are rational and sensible, not mindless drones that need protection from being exploited unsafe drugs as the FDA seems to think.
ReplyDeleteYou bring out some great counter-argument points! Many of the products are used through the media by ads. You did a good job by applying the first amendment in the argument. Great Job!
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