Government Regulation, the TRUTH

Conservatives moan and whine every time government regulation gets mentioned.

Here's an article from the AFP that should discredit any conservative bias against regulation.

The story is very simple. The Swiss government has approved a new treatment for brain cancer. As we all know, cancer touches many lives and almost every family. Each family has to deal with finding medical care and emotional care. The emotional fear includes choosing the wrong medical treatment. Cancer visits our bodies in many forms and that means treatments take many forms.

The Swiss treatment for brain cancer has been approved under one of the most rigorous regulatory environments. This is good and the article makes a note of a drug company representative saying exactly that.

Alton Boynton, president and chief executive of Northwest Biotherapeutics, said "Switzerland is an attractive place to begin commercialization, due to its highly respected regulatory oversight, and its growing experience with cellular therapies."

In my opinion, if the tough regulations in Switzerland lend a credibility to the new treatment, that means we should have tight regulation of corporate behavior.

The public knows we need credibility in medicine.

We could use some credibility in politics, but let's get rid of snake oil for cancer treatment first.