La perte de confiance des citoyens. Les risques médicamenteux pendant la crise de la thalidomide en Allemagne de l’Ouest, 1962
Abstract
The present article studies the role of trust during a drug crisis. More precisely, the objective is to analyze trust as a negotiation between institutions claiming to guarantee drug safety and users who depend at least partly on these institutions’ work. Exploring an exchange of letters between German citizen Miss S. and the head of the Department of pharmaceutical affairs of the Federal Ministry of Health, this article discusses Miss S.’s fears about a potentially dangerous contraceptive she had been prescribed by her doctor as well as her critique of a dysfunctional drug regulation that made her reject the reading of risk by pointing towards the weaknesses of this interpretation in daily life. Her whole letter appears to be a plea for drug safety as a collective project involving all groups of actors related to drugs and their use. Far from being naïve, Miss S.’s arguments are politically coherent regarding her few options to maneuver.
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