Pharma logic

The more I hear from Terence Young about his mission for improved prescription drug safety, the more I have to wonder what on earth he's doing as a member of the Cons. Here's Young in the Hill Times:

The pharmaceutical companies, what we call Big Pharma, are the wealthiest companies in the world, have unlimited money for public relations, expertise, and public relations experts and they do everything the can to muddy the waters on prescription drug safety, to make their drugs appear more beneficial than they are and less risky than they are and they do very, very expensive lobbying, and they lobby and focus on specific issues at any given time...
...
Pharmaceutical companies, they are like a multi-headed creature. They creatively put their money in every major institution we look to for objective direction on science and medicine. Every major university takes money from the pharmaceutical companies for research or for their building funds or whatever, this has led to some of our best, most ethical and brilliant doctors being pushed out or even fired from our major universities.

Another thing that an independent drug agency should do is to establish rules in direct-to-consumer advertising and actually enforce them. They advertise on television and they have tremendous influence in the media. They have tremendous influence on the internet. They create and finance their own patient groups, which we call Astro Turf because they are not real grassroots. They're actually created by PR companies; in some cases the addresses of the groups are actually at the PR company. Patients join them thinking that they're really advocating for the patients when in fact their primary purpose is to make sure that the blockbuster drugs get marketed. So, everywhere we look in society for objective information on prescription drugs is information that is coloured by pharmaceutical company money.

Now, terms such as "Big Pharma" and "Astro Turf" themselves sound far better suited for the NDP than for a member of a corporatist right-wing party. Even leaving that choice of language aside, though, can Young honestly be unaware that the Cons' government has not only given away a nine-figure freebie to the companies whose influence he's so concerned about, but also encouraged the provinces to favour the use of brand-name prescription drugs rather than cheaper generic options?

On internal obstacles

Conservative MP Terence Young's story is certainly a poignant one. And one can't help but to wish him all the best in his efforts to establish an independent drug safety agency with the authority to pull dangerous drugs off the market.

But there's just one tiny little problem with his plan, as it runs directly contrary to what the Harper government has already done:

The border announcement is one of several expected at the summit. (Bush, Harper and Calderon) also plan to announce that they will recognize the research of each country's food and drug regime in an effort to reduce costs and avoid duplication.

So Young's party leader has already decreed that in his view, it isn't worth the time and effort for Canada to determine which drugs are and aren't safe. Which means that Young's greatest obstacle to any progress lies within the party which he chose to represent.