Today, the Four Thieves Vinegar collective considers itself safe: “ The pharmaceutical labs know what we’re doing.” Laufer also enjoys quite regularly calling the CEOs of the labs concerned in the middle of a conference. “They don’t care what we do. Quite simply because the individuals who use our tutorials are not among their target customers, since they do not have the means “. On paper, nothing illegal since the collective does not sell or manufacture anything. “ All we want is for everyone to have the means to manage their health themselves. ».
Abortion within reach of misoprostol
For its latest major project, presented at DefCon, the annual meeting of hackers, the collective tackled Sovaldi. “ Nearly 1% of the world’s population has hepatitis C, expose Mixæl Laufer. Every two minutes, someone dies from this disease. And here is a pharmaceutical solution which does not treat, no, but which eradicates the virus for the modest sum of… 84,000 dollars “. The treatment lasts three months at a rate of one pill per day (sold for $1,000 each). The collective therefore revealed how to design the entire treatment with their own hands for a little less than 70 dollars. “ Here again, There’s nothing magical about it. It’s knowledge dissemination. ».
The recipe for the abortion pill explained by Four Thieves Vinegar is somewhat magical: “De misoprostol powder, a blender, a little alcohol and that’s it “. A welcome sharing in a country where abortion has become illegal in certain states and above all, he insists, where maternity leave is not the norm. Although the 1993 federal law authorizes American employees of companies with more than 50 people to take 12 weeks of leave, it does not guarantee them remuneration. “ In the United States, there is no ‘village to raise a child’. You are alone ». Access to abortion is therefore a question of public health and political survival.
When we talk about the future, Mixæl Laufer remains optimistic and imagines a future where “de the same way as today, to replace the plastic part of a device, we can print it in 3D, which was not possible 20 years ago, it will be normal to think about producing it yourself -even a medicine in case of shortage or non-accessibility”. You still have to overcome your fear of doing wrong and have complete confidence in your abilities. “ You have to kill the cop in your mind », advises the hacker. A challenge for the contemporary, often afraid at the idea of changing a switch alone. The drug authority may still have a bright future ahead of it…
Health
