More on Ebola

    I have already written about the approval of experimental drugs, but it seems that the waters are getting muddier as the ebola outbreak continues to cause problems in Western Africa. One of the most disappointing things that I have seen is that the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) is now saying that there are cases of fraudulent ebola treatments being sold online. 

    If the problem was not bad enough, now people are trying to cash in on the mass hysteria and sell compounds that have not undergone any testing. You may be asking, "how is this different than using experimental drugs?" Well the difference comes in the form of the fact that the "experimental drugs" that have been approved for use have already undergone preclinical testing by regulated pharmaceutical companies and have been approved for stage 1 human clinical trials. The compounds that are being sold online fall outside the regulated pharma industry, their efficacy and safety have not been tested at all. The best case is that these compounds will do nothing, at worst these compounds will cause more damage. 

  The reason the FDA exists is to prevent this. It is there to protect consumers, and in a disaster such as this ebola outbreak, the consumers are an even more vulnerable population. This vulnerability requires regulatory bodies, such as the FDA or WHO, to be more vigilant of fraudsters looking to make a quick buck.

   While these stories make it seem like the human race is filled with a bunch of greedy bastards with no compassion, take a look at the work by volunteers and employees of organisations like the Internation Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent for examples of people willing to make a difference and help their fellow humans.