Article
from TheNation.com (English)

DennisKucinich.com home page

"If smart people across the world do this [open source software
development] for computers, can we not do it for the sake of public
health? Over time, we have watched the pharmaceutical industry fail on
three counts: submitting fewer and fewer drugs to FDA for approval,
creating 'copycat' drugs instead of truly new cures and raising drug
prices higher every year. Our current patent system is what encourages
artificial improvements and keeps prices high. It seems clear that one of
the keys to public health is establishing public patents. Let's do it
today."

Gee, if Dennis worked for Radio-France,
he'd probably be looking for a job
after such a statement. Or maybe the preferred method for uncooperative politicians in the US is the old "small plane crash" trick? Anyway, it will be interesting to see if Mr. Kucinich gets anything besides yawns from these comments.

Bad humor aside, this yet another example of how the example set by the Open Source paradigm for development is changing our society. It may be too early for this type of idea to take hold in the area of medical patents, but the need is obviously there.

- Willy Smith, reporting from Costa Rica