Is this type of thing actually happening in Africa - are large pharmaceutical companies actually killing people like this?
I know the film is based on a book but is the book actually about true events, I thought it was fiction?
Anyone?
If you have the DVD, watch at the very end of the credits where John LeCarre includes a statement that, after the usual disclaimers about no persons or events in the film being real, goes on to say that during his research into this issue, he discovered that the actual reality makes his story seem tame "as a Christmas postcard" by comparison.
sharethat's quite frightening, i was completely unaware.
shareAre drugs being tested this way in Africa? Probably not. As someone wrote, not an efficient way of testing drugs. Are lots of people dying in Africa because of decisions made in European board meetings? Probably.
That is only a small part of a larger picture.
The South African government is killing their own people en masse by denying them the drugs they desperately need to not develop and die from AIDS.
European companies are dumping toxic waste, mainly on West Africa, killing scores of people.
Incompetent politicians of which it seems there is an endless supply in Africa have caused the death of millions of Africans, like right now in Kenya.
The eternal conflict between arabs and black africans is still causing the death of countless Africans.
There's a lot of bad things going on in Africa today. Many of them have gone on for centuries and longer, even long before Europeans became interested in Africa.
This film wasn't a documentary. It isn't even a film about Africa. It is a very old tale where the knights in shining armour are white people and black Africa make for a colourful backdrop, nothing more, and Africans are only portrayed as victims or perpetrators, never like full human beings. It was written by a cynical old Englishman who knows how to write a little and also knows a few things about his fellow countrymen.
He doesn't know or care about Africa.
I think the story sucks, the directing was mediocre at best, the camera work and editing was terrible. Rate it 4 - actors were ok.
and in a more simple way, if drug companies do this kind of thing in the US, who knows what goes on in Africa ?
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"If drug companies do this kind of thing in the US"
no way, i mean Africans don't know how to sue, americans will find any excuse to, it's really sad....
Do not speak- unless it improves on silence.
yes this is happening and will continue
why do you think Africa is like this?
first world countries claim they're helping when they are actually profiting from this people
by exploiting them
by testing drugs on them
by stealing natural resources
that's why it's not convenient for them to give them an education,
you can do wathever you want with education (that's why the american goverment is tying so hard to sink the education system, the more ignorant people is the easiest to control) ...you can even start a revolution, a REAL one.
Americans would sue pharmaceutical companies if anyone knew or had the knowledge to find out about the long term effects of the drugs we're using today. But being a nation of uneducated ADDs on ritalin, it hasn't happened yet.
Lululita is right, the less educated you are, the easier it is to govern you. I wouldn't say it is a conspiracy to keep people ignorant, but they sure aren't trying to encourage learning.
While my son was receiving his first vaccinations, I quarreled with his doctors about their safety. I was told about this one vaccine, that it had been tested at a titre 10 timesthestrenght my son was to get,and that test was done on kids in california. Hummmm I got to thinking about those school kids in california and wondered if their parents knew the titre was that high. probably not. I think they tested it on the illegal kids in school in california . As for the chicken pox vaccine. i was told it was used for ten years in japan before they brought it here,. That would mean they let them try it out first. Vaccines are nasty and even the first Salk polio vaccine was contaminated with monkey viruses.
shareYep, vaccines are nasty. It is much better to suffer the full, natural infection. Smallpox was great. Now I hear they are about to eradicate polio, that's a big shame.
Here's looking forward to the next pandemy.
I think the point was that we don't always know how vaccines are developed and it's not a given that it's done in a fashion we would agree with.
Diplomacy is saying nice doggie until you find a stone!
The Internet Movie Database is not the place to be doing research and arguing about the dirty business of big pharma. While I am not stunned that this is news to some people, I'm perturbed that questions such as "Is this true?" would even be posted here. Many, many other outlets and sources of information out there beyond a message board for some big budget superstar movie. If what you saw in the movie made you think, then pursue it! But not here, FFS. The Internet is your friend - use it while you can.
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