Yet all this has exploded a controversy in the US. And indeed war has broken out between senior citizens and the vast multibillion pharmaceutical companies upon whom they are forced to depend, often to keep them alive. Medicare, the post retirement national health programme is seriously overloadedand senior citizens have to pay for prescription drugs, dental care and glasses.The costs are prohibitive.

A survey of seniors in eight states by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly a quarter of seniors skipped or did not finish their prescriptions because of cost. Many face the choice of whether to eat or take their medication.