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In the United States the attorneys general of 34 states sued cigarette manufacturers in order to recover the health care costs caused by cigarette smoking. The cigarette giants started to shake in their boots, and they face an ultimate fine of over $400 billion dollars to make up for damages caused by their product. Of course, they knew all along about the crimes they had committed. If I am not mistaken, the damage caused by pharmaceutical corporations to millions of patients and to the public sector of essentially every country in the world, exceeds the damage done by tobacco by an order of magnitude.

The most important step to change things is that we are not only willing to denounce abuses, but we are taking part in constructing a new health care ourselves. Once we have liberated ourselves from the yoke of the pharmaceutical cartel, the prospects for improvement of human health are breathtaking. Within the next few generations, most common diseases can be controlled, and the average life expectancy can increase by ten years or more. Growing older in full physical health will be the rule, not the exception. I have asked myself whether there has ever been a parallel situation in human history when the people had to liberate themselves from such an ever present suffocating grip by a small but powerful interest group. Here is this historic parallel.