Posted by dj on January 23, 2000, at 22:13:47
Interesting insight into the legal manouverings of Eli Lilly to cover their butts when Prozac's effects were questioned in U.S. courts. Book is not as well written as it could be but sufficient to provide some insights into the level of corruption in the so-called American Justice system and the ability of those with big bucks to subvert the system to protect their investments, while undercutting the truth and morality as well as dodging legitimate questions about the impacts of some of their medications.
http://www.indigo.ca/cgi-bin/bookrec.cgi?bn=0670867675
The Power to Harm
John Cornwell
Our Price: C$14.99 (C = Canadian $, U$ would be about 1/3 of that, thanks to bone headed bond traders who don't evaluate the factors that lead to Canada being constantly chosen the best country in the world, according to annual U.N. surveys of socio-political factors and quality of life which includes amongst other things keeping guns out of the hands of certifiable lunatics and hence keeping mass, random and domestic murder to a minimum)
Publishers Weekly Book Review
Cornwell (Earth to Earth) reconstructs the story of Joseph Wesbecker, on medical leave from his job in a Louisville, Ky., printing plant, who returned to his workplace in 1989 and shot 20 fellow employees, killing eight of them before killing himself. He also relates the battle by the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company to fight the damage suit brought by the survivors of Wesbecker's murder spree and the families of the dead, who alleged that his action had been caused by his use of Prozac. The antidepressant drug accounted for about a third of Lilly's multibillion-dollar sales, and eventually the company settled the case via a payout kept secret even from the judge. Cornwell discusses questions being debated by neuroscientists and psychopharmacologists about the link between brain states and human behavior, with some affirming the Cartesian dualism of mind and body, others believing in a narrow reductionism in which the brain is seen as a "meat machine" capable of being controlled, still others asserting the nonmechanistic opinion that human beings have a measure of mental freedom. Cornwell presents a profound analysis of the fundamental question of human identity and of epistemological matters sure to be ongoing concerns as pharmacology becomes even more prevalent in treating the emotionally unstable. (Oct.)
Library Journal Book ReviewIn 1989, Joseph T. Wesbecker went on a shooting spree at his former place of employment, Standard Gravure, in Louisville, Kentucky. After killing eight people and injuring 12, he took his own life. Wesbecker, on long-term disability leave owing to work-related stress and a history of mental illness, was taking the antidepressant Prozac. The survivors of his rampage sued Eli Lilly, the manufacturer. Journalist Cornwell, a senior research fellow at Cambridge University and visiting fellow at the Neurosciences Institute at Rockefeller University, covered the trial for the London Sunday Times Magazine. Here he addresses not only the trial but also Wesbecker's personal life, the stress faced by blue-collar workers in postindustrial America, the nature of depression, and the development and marketing of Prozac. Cornwell does an excellent job of making the science of psychopharmacology understandable to the lay person and conveying the drama of the trial. He does slightly less well in his attempt to analyze the larger questions raised by the trial--the nature of mental illness, personality, and identity, and the ethics of pharmacological tampering. Transitions between chapters are a bit choppy, but the story itself is gripping. This title will appeal to true-crime readers as well as anyone concerned about the widespread prescription of mood-altering drugs.--Eris Weaver, Marin Inst. for the Prevention of Alcohol & Other Drug Problems, San Rafael, Cal.
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