Suntharee T. Chaisumritchoke

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Improve Consumer Protection with Buddhist
Ethics Necessity, Possibility and Challenge

• Suntharee T. Chaisumritchoke

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Objectives

• To explain the key concept of protection in the
  Buddhist approach
• To apply the Buddhist concepts to be another
  model for health and drug consumer protection
• To compare the Buddhist model with an existing
  consumer protection model

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Rationale

• Thai Consumer Protection on Health and Drug is
  based on a western model,
• When I say consumer protection you may think of
  these things
• Consumer rights
• Legal enforcement
• Consumer education
• Health care experts
• Consumers
• Producers
• Regulators

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Problems remaining

• Thai consumers have faced substandard, unsafe,
  expensive pharmaceuticals and health care
  products,
• Why our control system is not adequate to prevent
  health consumers from these risky products.
• It is more interesting when unsafe drug was often
  found even in the USA and Europe, Vioxx , for an
  example.

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• A Basic Consumer Protection Model

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Risky Ads!
Counterfeit medicine is so harmful to death,
called the FDA at 1556 With our concern from THAI
FDA and sponsored by PFIZER The US Drug Company
who sell VIAGRA
Announcing the 2nd Annual Bitter Pill Awards
Exposing Drug Company Manipulation of Consumers,
April 26, 2006 at www.bitterpillawards.org
www.bitterpillawards.org Sign up to participate
in the national teleconference announcing the
awards
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Consumer Protection Concepts
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Consumer Protection Concepts

• Organizations
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Department of Medical Sciences
• Law and Regulation
• Drug and Food law, Consumer protection law
• The Consumer Rights and Patient Rights and
• The Principle of Biomedical Ethics
• Autonomy, Beneficence or Do no harm, Justice
• NowGood Governance, Evidence base medicines,
  Conflict of Interest, etc

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The Four Consumer Rights

• Right to information
• Right to choices
• Right to safety
• Right to be heard and redress

BUY PRODUCTS WISELY
IF YOU FIND ANY PROBLEMS, DO NOT WORRY, JUST
BUY SERVICES FROM LAWERS WISELY
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What Consumer Protection Model propose
Regulators
Consumer right
Legal Enforcement
Negotiation (butequally ?)
Producers
Consumers
We are all competitors in a capitalist world
EVERYONE IS SELF INTERESTED AND WILL PROTECT
ONES INTEREST
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What Consumer Protection Model propose

• A Good Producer
• comply with law and regulations
• quality assurance by scientific standard
• An Active Consumer
• protect by their rights
• More information
• A Good Regulator
• responsibility for duty
• competent with scientific legal knowledge
• A consumer protection model implies that the
  consumers would be happy if they could consume
  more and morethe happiness is based on
  consumerism.

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Buddhist Concepts
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Buddhism and Health

• True Nature of Life
• Birth Ageing Pain and Death
• Medical knowledge and Technology, Medicines or
  Pharmaceutical products, Health Food could help
  us for what we desire, but it is just a period,
  not forever to overcome the true nature of life.
• Unfortunately, we often misunderstand this
  concept. It becomes the starting point of
  delusion in several forms.
• Do not distort this truth.

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Buddhist Concepts

• The Three Universal Characteristics of Life/
  Phenomena
• Impermanence or Anicca , Conflict of
  contradiction or Dukkha, No-self or Anatta
• The Four Noble Truth
• Dukkha, cause of Dukkha, freedom from Dukkha and
  noble eightfold path for practice or middle way
• The Noble Eightfold Path

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The Noble Eightfold Path

• Right understanding
• Right thought
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration

Insight wisdom or Panna
Mind Development
Morality or Sila
Concentration or Samadhi
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The Noble Eightfold Path

• Right understanding
• Right thought
• Right speech
• Right action
• Right livelihood
• Right effort
• Right mindfulness
• Right concentration

THREE LAYERS OF HAPPINESS
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Three Levels Of Happiness

• First level
• Happiness due to morality or Sila
• Second level
• Happiness due to mindfulness or Sati and with
  Concentration or Samadhi
• Third level
• Happiness due to insight wisdom or Panna

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A Buddhist Model
Regulators
Sila
Mindfulness and Panna
COMPASSION
Consumers
Producers
We are all Friends who have same fate of
Dhukkha
EVERYONE IS interconnected AND "By protecting
oneself (e.g., morally), one protects others by
protecting others, one protects oneself."
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A Buddhist Model

• Good Producers
• comply with Morality or Sila
• quality assurance by goodness and Karma
• Active Consumers
• mind analysis
• protect by mindfulness and Panna
• Good Regulators
• competent with dharma knowledge, Dhukkha and
  how to manage Dhukkha in particular
• responsibility to life

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Conclusion

• The existing model is based on how strong you are
  and how much you can take from the society for
  yourself.
• The Buddhist model is based on how weak you and
  others are and how much you can do to help
  yourself and others.

Which model do you like, the existing or the
Buddhist one ? WHY?
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND COMMENTS