[Drug safety--achievable goal or utopia?].

The new German Drug Law, recently passed by the Bundstag (House of Representatives) endeavors to assure safety in drug distribution and use, especially to guarantee the harmlessness of drugs according to the regulations provided by the law. The following contribution tries to analyze how far we have come up to now as to a safe use of drugs, which improvements are possible, what they will cost, and finally who of us must contribute towards a rational compromise between therapeutic success and unavoidable risk.