Who's in the business of saving lives?
There are individuals, including children, dying needlessly in poverty-stricken third world countries. Many of these deaths could be prevented if pharmaceutical companies provided the drugs needed to save their lives. Some believe that because pharmaceutical companies have the power to save lives, and because they can do so with little effort, they have a special obligation. I argue that there is no distinction, with respect to obligations and responsibilities, between pharmaceutical companies and other types of companies. As a result, to hold pharmaceutical companies especially responsible for saving lives in third world countries is unjustified.
Lee Chang
Pepe
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Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA. cocopep@hotmail.com
D003906:Developing Countries; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000941:ethics*; D028663:Ethical Theory; D040861:Ethics, Business; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009026:Mortality; D011203:Poverty / Q000941:ethics; D012941:Social Responsibility