[WisePeople] Pharmas Seek Flu Vacc. Suit Shield

[Guest guest]

What an upside down world... The traditional pharmaceutical medicine

that we are all taught to trust, but is the 4th leading cause of

death in the US, wants to produce & sell a product that they will not

vouch is safe... At the same time, natural and truly safe remedies

that have been used for centuries are trying to be banned and placed

under the control of the traditional pharmaceutical medicine- " to

keep us safer " . Does this make sense to you?

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www.searching-alternative.com

 

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http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1347

FreeMarketNews.com

 

PHARMAS SEEK FLU VACC. SUIT SHIELD

 

Friday, October 14, 2005

 

In Europe, Asia, South and North America governments clamor for bird

flu vaccines - and they may have them so long as the pharmaceutical

companies are indemnified against lawsuits. The U.S. Senate has

already approved an amendment by Senator Tom Harkin [D-IA], adding

$3.9 billion to a military appropriation for preparations for the

expected outbreak.

 

That money is earmarked for stockpiling medications to combat the

virus, if it does occur, and also, reportedly for " immunity from

lawsuits if a vaccination causes harm, " according to an article in

the Washington insider publication, The Hill.

 

The additional money is not something that either the administration

nor Capitol Hill wants to bring to the attention of consumers,

perhaps for fear of casting doubt on the efficacy of the vaccines

that are to be developed. Yet it does, again, raise questions about

vaccines in general that have become increasingly strident in the

wake of the controversy regarding the mercury-containing vaccine

preservative Thimerosol which is held by some to trigger

developmental conditions such as autism. Thimerosol, ironically, has

been removed from most vaccines but is still generally found in those

for the flu.

 

As the Internet has again made non-mainstream reporting feasible,

those health care practitioners working outside of the

pharmaceutical/medical model along with concerned parents and other

consumer watchdog groups have begun to question not only the safety

of vaccines with thimerosol, but the efficacy of vaccines in general.

There is a case to be made, for instance - one that apparently

includes strong epidemiological evidence - that the vaccinations

developed for some original diseases such as smallpox and polio were

seen as efficacious not because they worked but because these

diseases were actually fading fast as a result of the industrial

revolution, better nutrition and better hygiene. According to this

theory, vaccines have been given credit for alleviating or even

eradicating diseases that would not have persisted in any case.

 

What is certainly true is that vaccines were far more controversial

at the turn of the last century than they are today; in fact, critics

increasingly hold that there has been a fairly disciplined campaign

over the years to remove negative information from the historical

literature and from popular reference books such as Encyclopedias as

well. The controversy may yet continue to build given that vaccine

manufacturers already have to struggle with various uncomfortable

points including a recent CDC study that confirmed the 2004 flu

vaccine only had a beneficial effect on between 5-15% of those who

received it.

 

Meanwhile, those who cite the Spanish Flu epidemic as a reason to

distribute bird flu vaccine may be leaving out a point cited by at

least some historical annals of that pandemic currently available on

the 'Net - that Spanish Flu was the result, at least partially, of an

Allied vaccine program and a subsequent inoculation campaign by

vaccine manufacturers to use up stock at the end of the war. These

aggressive measures combined with the wretched health and hygiene of

the First World War and the dissemination into civilian society of

tends of thousands of infected men helped create the pandemic which

killed millions. Also down the memory hole is apparently a popular

saying of the time that vaccinations killed up to seven times more

soldiers than pandemic itself.

 

Today, there is no specific human-mutated bird flu virus that calls

for a vaccine and thus, in fact, one cannot exist. Yet as a result of

the possibility that a bird flu vaccine might at some point be

needed, the U.S. government, according to the New Scientist, has

managed to recreate the Spanish Influenza virus and has actually

tested it in a " heavily quarantined " laboratory in Atlanta. The

structure of the virus has also been widely disseminated in

scientific publications.

 

If a bird flu vaccine were necessary it would be distributed in the

form of dead vaccine, and yet accidents happen. In April, more than

4,000 vials of a strain of vaccine almost as deadly as the Spanish

Influenza were sent out to testing facilities around the world - a

move that left officials red faced and the labs scrambling to destroy

the samples immediately.

 

Finally, there is always the possibility that the deadlier forms of

flu vaccine, once created can be used for purposes other than

research. Terrorists, for instance, might be able to obtain samples

and unleash a virulent infection upon the world. Even more

unimaginable yet still within the realm of possibility, say some neo-

vaccine prohibitionists, is that a struggling Western or third world

government might choose to release vaccine in order to create a

disastrous public health situation that would distract attention and

might even give those in power the possibility of gaining further

power as chaos mounted through some sort of militarization of

society. While this probably could not happen in the most advanced

Western cultures, many agree, with their well-established traditions

of civilian rule, there are certainly potentialities in various

regions for this sort of scenario to play out.

 

In general, governments may be partial to vaccines - whether they

work or not - because they are possibly the mightiest metaphor

available for all that big government's proponents want to believe

is " good " in government. They are truly massive programs and, at

almost every turn, there is an opportunity for governments to remind

their citizens that such " immunization " would not be possible without

big government organization and generous cash contributions. Yet,

despite the urge to exhibit such ponderous giveaways, there is

probably no reason for governments to thrown hundreds of millions at

pharmaceutical companies for the production of a bird flu vaccine.

Again, there are questions as to the general efficacy of flu

vaccines; also such a vaccine cannot be produced until there is a

human form of bird flu; even if it were then produced, it probably

wouldn't be effective for another six months to a year, by which

time the pandemic probably would already have run its course.

 

Unfortunately, in both the United States and France, human bird-flu

vaccine is already being produced. Only this month, the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services awarded Sanofi a $97 million

contract to develop a new type of flu vaccine. Those concerned with

the development and spread of these vaccines - well in advance of

anything that they might be effective against - have vowed to

generate a significant mass movement of call-ins to the U.S.

municipal, state and federal government asking that further

work on bird-flu vaccines be halted. These individuals, including

individuals prominent in alternative health care point out that

proper hygiene, large doses of vitamin C and the application

of " essential oils " are well known inhibitors of flu-type sicknesses.

Vaccines, however, are known to suppres immune systems - a dangerous

effect during the beginnings of a pandemic.

 

Because of the continued controversy over the bird flu vaccine and

vaccines in general, there is perhaps more industry concern than had

been expected in official circles, anyway, about potential liability

acting as " a deterrent for wider participation. " This too is acting

as a retardant of new flu vaccinations. - ST

 

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