Unequal medicine

The debut of race-specific medicines (Racist medicine, July 18) is an ominous sign for the common man. Pills like Bidil will open up a market for drugs for specific ethnic groups. Which means companies will make drugs for only those who can pay for them. For instance, there will be medicine for the rich Americans or Europeans suffering from a critical illness like multiple sclerosis (MS), but Indians suffering from beta-thalassemia will never get a cure. It’s a tragedy that to maximise its profit the pharmaceutical industry is ready to carry on research on baldness, which affects the affluent people, rather than work on infectious diseases such as filaria or black fever that afflicts the poor. It’s a shame to prase the big pharma by saying that they are carrying forward science.

Arun Sengupta Calcutta-91

Vaccine renewal

With reference to Return of a killer (August 1), it was quite shocking to learn that the tetanus shot we usually take after getting cut or bruises is actually a huge hogwash. That DPT vaccines wear off in 10 years is also a surprising news for most of us. I think even doctors are yet to know this simple truth. I hope India’s health planners wake up to this research and get people freshly vaccinated against the emerging infectious diseases.

Abhisekh Mukherjee Jamshedpur

Technical surgery

Digital Darkroom (August 1) was a much-needed informative piece for photograph enthusiasts like me. In the era of digital photography a lensman’s skill depends on one’s technical finesse or his or her ability to enhance an image with photo-editing softwares. But the goal should be a good balance between ‘human touch’ and ‘technological surgery’ on a picture. Otherwise, a picture is just a digital manipulation that bears no stamp of aesthetics.

Amit Sengupta Calcutta-81