For instance, last month culminated a bad year for the global pharmaceutical industry with two of the world’s largest drug companies accused of paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses. The story, headlined on the internet version of the New York Times, recounted how Amgen (conglomerate associated with genetically engineered products) and Johnson and Johnson (the giant company that most Filipinos associate with baby powder) together promoted excessive prescribing of a genetically engineered anti-anemia protein (erythropoietin in its natural state) to create a 10 billion dollar market.

Like vaccines and some anti-cancer drugs, the products (Aranesp and Epogen for Amgen; Procrit for Johnson & Johnson) are directly dispensed by doctors – in contrast to most drugs that are sold through pharmacies or drugstores. This provides the marketing companies opportunities to offer cash incentives for administering the preparations. In the United States, the epicenter of free market capitalism where money is valued more highly than anything else, such incentives resulted in the dangerous over-prescription of erythropoietin (especially for dialysis and cancer patients). For example, one cancer group practice received 2.5 million dollars in rebates for the year 2006 alone.

All this despite the fact that high doses of erythropoietin have not only been ineffective in prolonging the lives of dialysis and cancer patients but have actually increased mortality by increasing the incidence of blood clotting problems. In countries where government bodies exercise better regulatory control of pharmaceutical marketing, doctors have exercised better care and moderation in the use of this product which once was hailed as a gigantic breakthrough for so-called "research-based" multinational giants.

This scandal follows a series of events where the global pharmaceutical industry gave "free enterprise" a bad name. In Thailand, despite a threat by drug giant, Abbot, to withhold any new product from the country, the government has gone ahead with a compulsory licensing scheme for the anti-AIDS medicines that many Thais so desperately need but cannot afford. In Brazil, a similar action has been taken when the companies with monopolies also proved recalcitrant in providing inexpensive AIDS drugs for thousands of affected Brazilians.

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Scriptures (Jewish, Christian, Islamic, or any other belief systems) when taken literally and especially when quoted out of context can lead to some very strange policies in countries where religion and politics are allowed to mix. However, there are times when such quotations can shed light on the behavior of certain groups of politicians and "religious" leaders.

The Apostle Paul once advised the young Greek Timothy: "It must be remembered, of course, that laws are made, not for good people but for…the godless and sinful…for the immoral…or those who do anything else contrary to sound doctrine." This explains why the political and economic elite in this country who are most closely associated with sectarian movements are convinced that they can do no wrong as long as they persist in their piety and religiosity. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, and even sex are alright for them but never for the majority of poor Filipino masses who must be protected from themselves.

In the same letter, Paul also provides part of the basis for the religious fanatics’ position against reproductive health: "Women should learn in silence and humility. I do not allow them to teach or to have authority over men…but a woman will be saved through having children…" Which is why, the Christian Taliban believe that all contraceptive methods are evil even if they would prevent many deaths from unsafe abortions and dangerous unplanned pregnancies.

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Wrong-headed policies of the present American administration have nearly succeeded in reversing the progress made by Uganda in battling HIV-AIDS. The aggressive three-pronged ABC (abstinence, be faithful, condom-use) program of advocacy had reduced incidence and prevalence of HIV but was nearly sabotaged by a move to replace it with an abstinence-only program. Fortunately, soon after condom use was discouraged, evidence of resurgence of the disease forced the Ugandan government to put the program back on track. However, it is not yet known how many more cases resulted from the brief withdrawal of support for condom use.

Ironically the abstinence-only campaign by the United States Agency for International Development was headed by Randall Tobias as the deputy administrator for HIV-AIDS assistance. After being promoted to head the whole of USAID, Mr. Tobias last month was forced to resign from the post two weeks ago because his name was listed as a regular customer of a woman charged with maintaining a call-girl ring in Washington, D.C.