Friday, February 9, 2007
Catching Up...
It was just recently reported the Indonesian government has started to withhold sharing Bird Flu samples with such organizations as WHO in light of a new business deal with US owned pharmaceutical company, Baxter International. Though WHO has expressed they fully support the right of Indonesia and any other country to pursue an agreement with a vaccine company, we as a collective are left to wonder what implications this will have in securing the safety of the global community. Baxter International has gone on the record to state they do not have an exclusive agreement with the Indonesian government, so I wonder what prompted the sudden stinginess? Is it necessary to withhold such pertinent material from the public sector? The Indonesian government states they may make samples available in the future, but what affects will this have on our ability to prepare for pandemics when virus surveillance is so hindered? Such behavior seems a little myopic and selfish...
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5 comments:
I read this article too and was horrified that any government, knowing the severity of a pandemic disaster, would withhold such information. I would hope that the publics' safety would be a priority but am not surprised at this development. For ways to curb this type of marketing maneuver stay tuned ...My paper will definitely be addressing this problem.
I am wondering what is the politic behind this matter? Why governments are not releasing any kind of information on it. Public safety is everyone’s RIGHT and people should know about pandemic diseases that are going around!
This is an ethical public health issue that needs to be addressed!
I wish PM 565 class would address public health "ethics"!
well Indonesia has been notorious for having a corrupt government... but then again just because they are less covert than America's doesn't make them that much worse.
The United States is one of the most nationalistic countries where we heroify our leaders, and leave our citizens in the dark about most of the foul issues we partake in, and I am sure, as Wilson said, we are guilty of many wrong-doings ourselves.
I agree with Liyan, the public has the right to this kind of information. However we tend to forget that we live in the 'land of the free', not the WORLD of the free. We have it pretty good here.
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