How many mad cow outbreaks do we need? How many health crises or contamination scandals as in the recent Heparin case? How many deaths will it take before Charlie McCreevy or Neelie Kroes understand that people's health has to take pride of place over the profits of traders and speculators? Don't get me wrong - speculation is lawful and understandable as long as it does not lead to crises such as the one we are currently living through. Trade has been a normal activity from time immemorial. But in a healthy and legitimate economy, it is first of all one's labour, creation and added value that must be rewarded. Endangering the lives of European citizens for the prosperity of those who do not create any added value is, if not criminal, at least irresponsible. In an ideal Europe, the problem of parallel trade would not exist as there would be a single price for medicines and an identical rate of reimbursement for all citizens. This is a long way off but how can one not be delighted at seeing Günter Verheugen take the defence of human health and the patients' right to be informed when speaking in Strasbourg on Wednesday 22 October (EUROPE 9767). The Commission vice-president is right to do so for two reasons. As he himself said, it is unacceptable for a box of medicine to be opened and its contents modified when this is not allowed for a “packet of spaghetti”. One should also accept the patient's right to be informed, even if there is the risk that a well-informed patient will put difficult questions to the “health bureaucracies” in member states. Some fault-finders could be dubious about the appearance of a two-speed system for medicine under the pretext that access to information depends on one's level of education but, in reality, that difference has existed for quite some time. And, whether Androulla Vassiliou likes it or not, information on medicines is already accessible on-line, albeit in English and on American websites - which have a true sense of business! (O.J./transl.jl)