The Martha Stewart Debacle--the Real Scandal
Steven LaTulippe, MD:
"...we do not live in a free society.Thanks, Doc.
In America, the FDA sits astride the path between research and clinical usage like the Great Wall of China. New drugs can take years and cost millions of dollars to finally bring to market. Often, these same drugs are available in 'Old Europe' for years before American patients have access to them.
In typical fashion, the media has focused on the persecuted 'little guy' who lost money due to 'greedy insider trading'.
But what about the thousands of cancer patients who died between Oct of 2001 and Feb 2004 waiting for the FDA to approve Erbitux?
Who is responsible for their deaths?
Not Martha Stewart.
And who caused the collapse of ImClone's stock, which bankrupted thousands of 'moms and pops'?
Again, it wasn't Martha Stewart—it was the FDA.
The accusations against Martha Stewart were largely bogus anyway. She was accused of 'insider trading'--a 'crime' which shouldn't even be a crime in a free society (as eloquently noted in Tibor Machan's recent column...). And besides, that charge didn't even stick--so the feds had to resort to even more bogus crimes, like 'lying to the government'. Aside from the fact that she wasn't even under oath when she committed this 'crime', the frequency with which our government lies to us makes this accusation a farce."
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