<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
>In FIRST WORLD countries,  all pharmacists have a book that lists ALL
>ingredients in ALL the drugs.  This even includes small countries like New
>Zealand, which, having less than 4 million people does not have nearly the
>amount of money available to provide services that the United States does.
>(And, incidently, provides MUCH better medical care for ALL of its
>citizens.
>
>It's basically a question of VALUES.
 
One possible approach to this problem:
 
Though we generally tend to think of government regulation as the only
solution to problems such as this, this is not the case.  A Wall Street
Journal article several months ago described a successful campaign by a
citizen (possibly in the Southern U.S.), to persuade companies in a
particular industry to do something to correct a particular problem. I
don't recall any of the details, but they are not critical.  The citizen
won her point; after months of direct contacts with companies and trade
associations, she managed to persuade company presidents to make the
requested change.  The lesson of the article was that it was possible for a
dedicated effort by private citizens to directly impact industry practices
without government intervention.  In the case of drug ingredient listings
in the U.S., two things come to mind.
 
First, if such a list exists in Canada, why couldn't THAT list be made
available to U.S. pharmacists? Certainly, many of the drugs for sale in
Canada, must also be sold in the U.S.  This would not be total solution,
but might be a step forward.  For instance, the pharmacy I use in my
hometown (Longs) might be willing to order the ingredient publication.
 
Second, there must be an American, national trade association representing
the interests of drug companies.  What is its name?  Is there a contact
person available to receive input from celiacs on this issue?  Does this
person have an e-mail (or FAX or regular mail) address?  I think it would
be reasonable to suggest to this trade association that it would be good
business practice to develop a list covering ingredients of prescription
drugs sold in the U.S.  If communications from celiacs are respectful in
tone and factual (explaining in concrete terms why such a list is needed),
a positive response is possible.  I think we need to assume that industry
people will deal with such concerns in good faith.  Though there are a
relatively small number of people who need to worry about GF diets/drugs,
there is a larger number that have other medical problems that dictate full
disclosure of ingredients in drugs.  Also, it is likely that there are drug
company employees who are celiacs (or who have celiac family members).
Such people could be very helpful in explaining the need for improvement to
company presidents, and in helping us celiacs in general to better
understand what this issue looks like from the drug company perspective.
 
HERB BOLZ  :)               *   Davis, California, USA
(personal views ONLY)       *   (between Sacramento and San Francisco)
[log in to unmask]  *     ---city of bikes---