A Sad Day: Parliament Passes RU486

The Australian House of Representatives passes the bill that gives the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) sole authority over RU486. The problem appears to be the nature of the TGA: there may be no way to even review a drug, regardless of health reasons to do so, once it has been approved:

Pharmacist and Author of “A Consumers Guide to the Pill and Other Drugs” has today raised concerns about the TGA’s ability to exercise authority over RU486 if it is approved. “Initially, the TGA will rely on the overseas (sic) trials and data provided by applicants that has been proven to be seriously flawed,” Mr Wilks said. “But worse, if RU486 is approved, there seems to be an apparent incapacity by the TGA to exercise authority over a drug once approval has been given. “My own experiences with material I have supplied to the TGA support the view that it does not appear competent to act in the best health interests of Australians.” It is clear that once approval is given for a drug, the authority of the TGA appears in practice to diminish.

Is that scary enough? But wait, there's more to this post. You see, what's happened in, first, the Senate, then the House of Representatives, is a case of the ol' switcheroo. I've seen several silly arguments tossed down for the sake of shutting up those who opposed RU486. They're designed to hide the issues that they don't have answers for. I didn't see the debate focus on what was wrong with RU486, e.g., confirmed cause of several deaths, ethics of abortion. Instead, they cite "facts" that are apparently incorrect. They also made it seem like the issue was the religion of the Health Minister, and built up the case that the Health Minister has no reason to exercise authority over a substance that has caused fatal side effects.

Actually this is all in the spirit of misdirection. Age-old tactic, still in use by lobbyists and politicians: when the going gets tough, change the topic, or make something up. Or ridicule your opponent's religion.