Report condemns EU secrecy over medicines

Date: 03/06/04

CENSORSHIP about medication kills more people in Europe than the Thalidomide scandal, which caused horrific birth defects in thousands of children around the world after the Second World War, a new study has unveiled.

The study, called 'Medical Information for Consumers', compares legislation in Canada and the United States with the situation in the EU.

In America, television networks are allowed to broadcast commercials for certain types of medicine but attempts to provide similar information to EU consumers have proved unsuccessful.

In 2002, the European Commission submitted a draft directive proposing less strict regulations on prescription medicine-related data.

But the proposed law was later rejected by the European Parliament because MEPs considered it "vital to ensure that the information communicated to the patient is verified beforehand by neutral and publicly-financed scientific bodies".

However, a Brussels-based think-tank, Molinari Economic Institute, says the emergence of other information providers, such as websites, now makes it easier than ever to access information on drugs.

"Consumers are not on an equal footing with regards to information," said Cécile Philippe, the institute's president.

"Those who have internet access can choose from 15,000 websites dedicated to health.

"The authorities are merely preventing those who are less well off from obtaining information about medication that could be available to them.

"The EU's censorship has led to the deterioration of the quality of life for many sufferers. All of this is the result of an unintended consequence of well-meaning regulations that are supposed to protect the consumer from 'exploitation' by the drugs companies."

The report concludes that it is not possible to protect patients from illness by prohibiting them from informing themselves.

A study by the Molinari Economic Institute, 'Medical Information for Consumers', compares legislation on information about medication in Canada and the United States with the situation in the European Union.

• Primary Source

http://www.institutmolinari.org/pubs/note200403.pdf http://www.institutmolinari.org/pubs/note200403.pdf

---