Why sanctions hurt the ill, resurrecting a zombie thread on phenobarbital
December 27, 2012 at 5:02 pm
As I noted in an old thread here Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions, Lundbeck Pharmaceutical is objecting to the use of phenobarbital for executions in the United States.
The problem was generally pooh-poohed by several commentators, saying it is "rarely used in humans, cause their vet told them so" (not true), more effective drugs are available (not true, more expensive drugs are available - phenobarbital is the most widely used epilepsy drug in the world, costing my local pharmacist only $7 for 1,000 tablets).
But Lundbeck is not threatening to pull it from the market because they protest its use in the death penalty. The European Union is threatening sanctioning its sale to the United States in protest of its use in the death penalty.
Agreed, epilepsy is a minority in the USA (it only affects 2,000,000 or so people), and thus states with the death penalty do not care about us.
But economic sanctions do not harm governments, they harm people.
See Radio Free Europe's article today Iranian Pill Protest, where performance artists are loading messages into empty capsules from the ill in Iran with how the US financial sanctions are hurting them personally. (While drugs are not sanctioned, since Iran is blocked from financial markets people and the government cannot get them.)
The same applies for my epilepsy drug. Though President Obama personally intervened with the EU to stop it from sanctioning the USA, the fact remains that more states are expanding the use of the drug to kill what amounts to a handful of death row inmates compared to the millions with epilepsy: and phenobarbital is the only drug for ending status epilepticus, a problem in epileptics, traumatic brain injury patients, meningitis, and several other diseases in which convulsions continue without cease, killing the patient.
The drug itself is so widely used (contrary to what one commentator's vet told him) because it is cheap, has a long half-life (meaning you only take it once a day), and is easily stored in a wide range of environmental conditions. WHO lists it as an essential drug for any third world country (which apparently we can't even measure up to).
But considering the "kill 'em all and God will sort them out later" types we have in government, I foresee me losing my drugs and reverting to uncontrolled epilepsy. Me, and tens of thousands of other Americans (not counting those who die).
The problem was generally pooh-poohed by several commentators, saying it is "rarely used in humans, cause their vet told them so" (not true), more effective drugs are available (not true, more expensive drugs are available - phenobarbital is the most widely used epilepsy drug in the world, costing my local pharmacist only $7 for 1,000 tablets).
But Lundbeck is not threatening to pull it from the market because they protest its use in the death penalty. The European Union is threatening sanctioning its sale to the United States in protest of its use in the death penalty.
Agreed, epilepsy is a minority in the USA (it only affects 2,000,000 or so people), and thus states with the death penalty do not care about us.
But economic sanctions do not harm governments, they harm people.
See Radio Free Europe's article today Iranian Pill Protest, where performance artists are loading messages into empty capsules from the ill in Iran with how the US financial sanctions are hurting them personally. (While drugs are not sanctioned, since Iran is blocked from financial markets people and the government cannot get them.)
The same applies for my epilepsy drug. Though President Obama personally intervened with the EU to stop it from sanctioning the USA, the fact remains that more states are expanding the use of the drug to kill what amounts to a handful of death row inmates compared to the millions with epilepsy: and phenobarbital is the only drug for ending status epilepticus, a problem in epileptics, traumatic brain injury patients, meningitis, and several other diseases in which convulsions continue without cease, killing the patient.
The drug itself is so widely used (contrary to what one commentator's vet told him) because it is cheap, has a long half-life (meaning you only take it once a day), and is easily stored in a wide range of environmental conditions. WHO lists it as an essential drug for any third world country (which apparently we can't even measure up to).
But considering the "kill 'em all and God will sort them out later" types we have in government, I foresee me losing my drugs and reverting to uncontrolled epilepsy. Me, and tens of thousands of other Americans (not counting those who die).
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
