On Page A4 of today's Houston Chronicle, a headline reads, Maybe there is gain without pain, after all. Above the headline a quote from a Salk Institute doctor, We have exercise in a pill. With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it.
As I was writing the above, the story was featured on the morning news segment of the Today Show.
While I understand this could be extremely promising for those who are severely overweight and suffering subsequent serious health problems, there is much more of my mind that is simply baffled. It seems we have a pill for everything and that frightens me because I envision a society completely altered by chemicals designed to trick our brains, and I cannot help but wonder the price, the repercussions that will surely be down the road because I am believer in the saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Somewhere a price is paid, always.
Another saying, if it's worth having, it's work working for, is fitting as well. For if and when this study goes outside of mice and into people, and the drugs are pushed to market by pharmaceutical companies with profits in mind and without long-term testing, it will inevitably fall into the hands of those outside the target group and that's where the trouble will begin.
Remember Fen-Phen?
1 comment:
Been awhile since you've read "Brave New World"? Huxley had it right even then. He predicted a lot of what's happening right now, especially in the realm of drugs and pacification. You know, there's a drug on the market named "Soma", right? Not sure if it's a tribute to his work or just irony.
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