[Discussion] POLITICS OF PHARMACEUTICALS - CALL FO R PAPERS AND INVITATION FOR PARTICIPATION”

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

POLITICS OF PHARMACEUTICALS - CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITATION FOR 
PARTICIPATION”
The controversies in this field cover a range of areas that seem as yet 
largely unexplored. What can we say about patent rights, orphan drugs, 
poisons and their legal aspects? What constitutes pharmaceutical drugs? 
What accounts for price differences in drugs? The WTO rules give 
developing countries the flexibility to ignore foreign patents and 
produce copies of expensive drugs in times of health crises. Is this 
enough? At what cost do developing countries stand up for their own 
pharmaceutical industries? Bilateral trade agreements. Pressures on 
developing countries that stand up for their own pharmaceutical 
industries. Cheap generic drugs. It has been argued that there is a 
relationship between the politics of pharmaceutical industries and the 
2003 war in Iraq. The ethics of drug advertisements. What can we say 
about world wide drug usage? The ethics of drug manufacturing. Testing 
on animals – and human beings. The psychosocial aspects of 
pharmaceuticals. Cultural contexts of drug utilization. Patient 
compliance to drug therapy. Drug dispensing patterns of pharmacists and 
prescribing behavior of physicians. The role of pharmacists in different 
cultural contexts. Controversies over vaccines. The politics of 
pharmaceutical industries. This session aims to draw a comprehensive 
picture of the issues involved in the politics of pharmaceuticals, 
bringing together the experience of individuals as patients, 
pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, governments and international 
bodies. The session aims to delineate areas of controversy and formulate 
applicable solutions for the benefit of humankind. Social consequences 
of the collapse of buildings and other man-made accidents will also be 
examined. Please find updated information as regards the meeting at the 
IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net.
The International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) welcomes 
applications from scholars, administrators, researchers, interested 
parties, international agencies, national and international research 
institutions and students for participation in the 2005 World Congress 
“HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM”. The 2005 World Congress 
aims to realize a universal platform for reflections and forward-looking 
discussions in all important areas that fall under the health social 
science agenda. The world congress will host workshop sessions under the 
following themes: Accidents and disabilities; Adolescent health; 
Bioethics; Bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; Child health, 
development and child rights; Health consequences of war; Communicating 
health knowledge and behavior; Controversies of diet and nutrition; 
Developing economies, migration and emerging health issues; Ecohealth: 
climate change, health consequences of environmental deterioration and 
environmental policies; Ethnobotany and healing; Giving birth: new 
meanings, new statistics; Health and disease in world myths, scripts and 
literature; Health clubs and the new aesthetics of health; Health 
equity; Health social science research methodology; Health sector reform 
and health insurance; Health, medicine and colonialism; Human rights, 
HIV/AIDS and the new epidemics; Infectious diseases; Issues in rural 
health and disease; Life styles; Living with pain; Local traditions of 
healing and shamans; New challenges: smoking, addictions and eating 
disorders; Politics of pharmacueticals; Redefining old age; Reproductive 
health; Social history of health and disease; Social science education 
for health sciences; Sociology of dental health; Suicides and cross 
cultural issues in mental health; The economics of well being; The 
future of hospitals and patient care; The psychology of violence; 
Violence as a public health issue; and Social aspects and prevention of 
world blindness. Please find updated information as regards the meeting 
at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net. We invite you to join this 
interdisciplinary gathering of the experiences and perspectives of 
social scientists and health specialists for a crucial assessment of the 
human condition at the onset of the new millennium.
Prof. Dr. Akile Gürsoy
IFSSH Secretary General
Head, Department of Anthropology
Yeditepe University
Congress Correspondence:
2005 IFSSH Congress Center
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Yeditepe University
Kay?s,dag(?,34755 Istanbul TÜRKI.YE
Tel: (+ 90) 216-578 07 27)
Fax: (+ 90) 216-578 08 99)
E-mail: ifssh.2005@yeditepe.edu.tr
ifssh@ifssh.net
http://www.ifssh.net