lack of ethics v good policy

It seems like it doesn't really matter how much time and effort policymakers put into crafting the best policies. Some unethical SOB out there, whether it is a company or an individual or a special interest, will find an unintentional loophole (or lobby a policymaker into inserting an intentional loophole) that ruins the whole thing. Despite the potential that a policy may actually be good for the country, the people, the economy, the environment, our children, or whatever, this SOB will warp it to his or her own benefit and the expense of whoever.

The inability of the FDA to regulate nutritional supplements, reported in last week's Business Week, is a great example. First, the industry lobbied several administrations over the course of many years to eliminate any vestige of legitimate regulation. And then, even when something helpful comes through the court system, they again find loopholes. For example, Broncho-Dose Ltd was forced to put a disclaimer on its web site stating that its product is not the same as Astra-Zeneca's, nor has it been proven to have the same effect. So what did they do? They wrote it in English on their Spanish web site. Now of course, they know this violates the spirit of the ruling. The whole point of disclosures is to provide potential customers with some information that the court determined they need. But the ruling did not officially state it had to be in any particular language. So they could get around disclosing this information. I am surprised they didn't just go with Maori (or how about Klingon) on all of their web sites. Pathetic!!!