tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13439734.post757318886549377837..comments2023-09-03T06:41:01.993-07:00Comments on BLOG OF SCIENCE!: Plagaism, homicide and WyethDan Levitishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13581109290998307861noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13439734.post-37034394851761651592009-08-07T06:23:09.277-07:002009-08-07T06:23:09.277-07:00Hear, hear! I can't help but wonder just how f...Hear, hear! I can't help but wonder just how far a corporation must go before it loses its charter (or whatever you call the government's document that legalizes the "legal person"). Wyeth's actions look to be the perfect equivalent of second degree murder: "a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life." (http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/a-z/murder_second_degree.html) Can a corporation be charged in criminal court? Or only the human employees/agents of the corporation? On the one hand, it is the actual living humans who concocted, condoned, and conducted the ghostwriter program that have acted in a way that meets the definition above. On the other hand, corporations get the benefit of personhood in other legal contexts, so why not this one? The doubly galling thing about all this is that pharmaceutical companies already benefit from the generous provision of patent protections, which are more or less licenses to print money. (What Wyeth wanted was a bigger printing press, and they didn't care that women would die in the process.) Dean Baker, at his "Beat the Press" blog (http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press), has made the point several times that pharmaceutical and other medical research can easily be funded through other means than the granting of patent protection to the corporations. His arguments have been focused on the economic inefficiency of patent protection and the way that that has helped drive up medical expenses in the modern era. His alternatives would also work wonders in eliminating the incentive of drug companies and/or researchers to present bogus information on the safety and efficacy of new (or existing) drugs.jtehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17318378188704219078noreply@blogger.com