Information is Empowerment: Tony Blair, according to this headline in the Financial Times, “Puts Onus for Good Health on the Individual.” The story goes on to quote the British prime minister: “Government cannot be the only one with the responsibility if it’s not the only with the power. The responsibility must be shared and the individual helped, but with the obligation also to help themselves.”

All of which would make sense, except for the British government regulations that are designed to prevent its citizens taking responsibility for their own healthcare, by placing restrictions on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to communicate directly to patients. Those restrictions are not only anachronistic—the information is freely available on the internet—they are also counterproductive when it comes to empowering people to take control of their own health.