Carmem L. C. Marinho

Medicine consumption and the internet: critical evaluation of a virtual community

OBJECTIVE Discuss the promotion of medicines in the media by the analysis of dialogs from a virtual community, whose members use benzydamine in high doses seeking the collateral effects. METHODS Opinions from a group in a Social Network Service (SNS) available in the internet were evaluated by the Analysis of Content Technique, whereas data from 385 members from this group were used to identify a profile of the individuals. RESULTS The profile found was male, age between 18 and 20 years and in high school. Analysis of opinions revealed the consumption of 16 to 20 tablets of the medicine, sometimes along with alcohol and the occurrence of the following symptoms: visual hallucinations, insomnia and gastrointestinal effects. In the dialogs, two discourses were identified: one recommends this non-therapeutic use and the other tries to dissuade individuals from using it. CONCLUSION A virtual community organized to discuss a non-therapeutic use of a medicine may contribute to its use. This fact reaffirms the necessity of a major campaign to alert individuals about the dangers of self-medication and also the importance of pharmacies and drugstores to comply with the sanitary legislation.

DECISÕES CONFLITIVAS NA LIBERAÇÃO DOS TRANSGÊNICOS NO BRASIL

This paper focuses the controversy around the adoption of transgenic crops in Brazil. It emphasizes the actions of the public companies, especially the National Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio), and the actions of the non-governmental organizations. It concludes that the Brazilian governmental actions generate conflicts.

Transgênicos: avaliação da possível (in)segurança alimentar através da produção científica

Based on a bibliographic review, the article identifies and offers a critical analysis of scientific production by the public health field in Brazil on genetically modified organisms and food (in)security. Of the 716 articles found on the portals of the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and the Coordinating Agency for the Development of Higher Education (Capes), only 8 address the food security of transgenic products, primarily in terms of risk exposure and the uncertainties about how these products impact health and the environment. The main conclusion involves the fact that the eight analyzed articles do not speak to the question of the security but rather the insecurity of genetically modified foods.

O conceito de biossegurança à luz da ciência pós-normal: avanços e perspectivas para a saúde coletiva

This is a theoretical-conceptual study that aims to analyse the limitations of the concept of biosafety in light of post-normal science. It intends to contribute to the discussion about the controversies that are associated with biosafety. The presupposition is that the notion of biosafety relies on a technicist approach to risk that does not answer properly the current questions. As the main purpose of biosafety is to protect health and the environment, it is necessary to replace the reductionist perspective of traditional science, in which the notion of biosafety was conceived, by a wide approach: post-normal science. This perspective emphasizes the notions of uncertainty, complexity and quality and takes into account the plurality of social actors and interests involved in the complex environmental and health problems. The study concludes that understanding the concept of biosafety in light of post-normal science implies a fundamental modification, mainly regarding collective health: the substitution of a technicist omnipotent discourse for a dialogue between the different social actors involved in the environmental and health questions.