Re: late capitalists
Remember Thalidamide? Only tested on one species, which didn't have a problem with it
That's not strictly correct.
The problem with thalidomide is that the compound in question can exist as two different enantiomers (essentially mirror images). One of these was tested and found the be effective as a treatment for morning sickness. It was duly approved and went into production. When being manufactured in bulk, it turned out to be a lot cheaper to manufacture the mixture of both enantiomers, and the company involved assumed that the other enantiomer would be inactive, or harmless - a lot cheaper to manufacture something of 50% purity, assume the other 50% was harmless and double the dose, than to purify a mixture of enantiomers with almost identical chemical and physical properties. Unfortuantely, it turned out that the other enatiomer wasn't harmless and inactive, but that it causes birth defects. As far as I am aware, the "correct" enantiomer is harmless, and effective, but nobody dares market it now due to teh scandal involved.
This is another good example of why the "free market" requires regulation, and why there are now stringent safety regulations about the purity of medicines. Without regulation for people's safety, free-market capitalism is a race to the bottom, to produce the lowest-quality goods at the cheapest price the market will bear. It makes some people very rich, and everyone else poorer.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
