BIODEFENSE AND PANDEMIC VACCINE AND DRUG DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2005 (S. 1873)

[Guest guest]

18 Senators Support

Frist's Avian Flu

Vaccine Bill

 

By Stephen Fox

12-11-5

 

 

THE " BIODEFENSE AND PANDEMIC VACCINE AND DRUG DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2005 " (S. 1873)

 

We saw something uncannily similar before in the 70's, when there was that

terrifying scare about the swine flu, which turned out to have been nothing; 52

people died from the vaccine, but no one died of the swine flu!

 

Quoting from " Crab Wars: A Tale of Horseshoe Crabs, Bioterrorism, and Human

Health, " by William Sargent, 2002, University Press of New England, 124 pages.

 

" The Rumsfeld history starts in 1976, when a military recruit in New Jersey died

from a flu that experts speculated might be the 'swine flu " virus of 1918

pandemic fame. As Sargent tells it, Rumsfeld, who was then and is again the

nation's secretary of defense, made the imminent " swine flu " a political issue

to add some spark to the campaign of President Ford, an interim leader without a

cause. At Rumsfeld's urging, the administration would ensure that " every man,

woman and child " was vaccinated. Huge amounts of vaccine were produced and

distributed quickly.

 

Some batches were contaminated. This was in the days before lysate. Six hundred

people sickened and 52 died. The program was stopped a month after the election.

And nobody got swine flu. " It was, " writes Sargent, " modern medicine's most

flagrant miscalculation. "

 

__________

 

Before I discuss the " Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act

of 2005 " (S. 1873), please take two minutes and read this article off CNN,

quoting from Fortune Magazine:

 

Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu

treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing. October 31, 2005: 10:55

AM EST By Nelson D. Schwartz, Fortune senior writer

 

 

NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people

around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary

Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences,

the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza

remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

 

Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the

Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between

$5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by

Rumsfeld.

 

The forms don't reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in the past

six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu have sent

Gilead's stock from $35 to $47. That's made the Pentagon chief, already one of

the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer.

 

Rumsfeld isn't the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for

Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. (Gilead

receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former Secretary of

State George Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million

worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.

 

Another board member is the wife of former California Gov. Pete Wilson.

 

" I don't know of any biotech company that's so politically well-connected, " says

analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity Partners in San Francisco.

 

What's more, the federal government is emerging as one of the world's biggest

customers for Tamiflu. In July, the Pentagon ordered $58 million worth of the

treatment for U.S. troops around the world, and Congress is considering a

multi-billion dollar purchase. Roche expects 2005 sales for Tamiflu to be about

$1 billion, compared with $258 million in 2004.

 

Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead

and became Secretary of Defense in early 2001. And late last month, notes a

senior Pentagon official, Rumsfeld went even further and had the Pentagon's

general counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could

not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to

respond.

 

As the flu issue heated up early this year, according to the Pentagon official,

Rumsfeld considered unloading his entire Gilead stake and sought the advice of

the Department of Justice, the SEC and the federal Office of Government Ethics.

 

Those agencies didn't offer an opinion so Rumsfeld consulted a private

securities lawyer, who advised him that it was safer to hold on to the stock and

be quite public about his recusal rather than sell and run the risk of being

accused of trading on insider information, something Rumsfeld doesn't believe he

possesses. So, he's keeping his shares for the time being.

 

__________

 

Following are my comments on Senator Frist's Bill:

 

In addition to the $7.1 Billion it allocates (including $1.35 billion for

stocking up on the vaccine, enough to vaccinate 75 million Americans, and $1

Billion for creating a new secret agency for surveillance, BARDA, this bill

includes a permanent absolution, a carte blanche, a get-out-of-jail card for the

pharmaceutical industry, the likes of which Americans have never seen before.

 

We would be giving up a lot, not so much just a lot of dollars, but almost all

potential claims against the pharmaceutical industries involved in producing

this vaccine, strangely reminiscent of the hysteria which resulted in the

Patriot Act, but this one has been crafted and tailor-made for the

pharmaceutical industries. In the last 5 years, it is increasingly shocking how

many of these government policies are written for the regulators by those who

are supposed to be regulated: to name just a few: in Energy Policy, by

Halliburton and by major Oil Company Executives; the so-called " Cheeseburger

Tort Reform, " a few of which have actually passed several state legislatures,

which absolve fast food corporations of all responsibility for obesity suits;

FDA policies, which just transpose corporate boilerplate mantras from industry

websites [in other words, ask the FDA for answers to your questions about a

product's safety and consumer complaint record, and they direct you to corporate

website, from which you are supposed to emerge complacent and convinced that

everything is safe, and just peachy!

 

But don't act so surprised! That is the way it was with Asbestos, PCB's, DDT,

Vioxx, Cyclamates, and so on, down a very long list, which many at the FDA and

in Congress would seemingly like the average American consumer to just

completely forget about.

 

Senator Frist expects us to believe that on top of coughing up $7.1 billion for

more meds, that this is " just a drop in the bucket, " as he puts it, " just 1% of

the hit the economy would take if we do nothing " ! On December 9, Senator Frist

said, " a $675 billion hit on the economy is without question a grim prognosis. "

 

I would like to see the USA, its citizens, and its all-so sacred Economy, take

that chance, which I believe is even less remote that than the 1 in 300 chance

described by the Congressional Budget Office there would ever be an major

pandemic in this nation. Let's at least wait for a bit, and see how the Chinese

program attempting to vaccinate every fowl in China turns out.

 

Depending on which strain of the Avian Flu you speak of, between 10 and 60 have

died of it. The most recent at this writing was a 9 year old Thai boy who

handled some infected poultry poop from his neighbor's chicken. Tragic, yet, no

doubt for him and his family. Scary to a few Americans, but to spend $7.1

billion, including $1.35 billion to inoculate 25% of the American population at

about $18 each? Then for " surveillance, " another billion dollars?Which corporate

buddies of this administration will profit from that billion dollars? A new

division of Halliburton?

 

Then the Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt, former Governor of

our neighboring state Utah, chimes with this comment applauding Frist's speech,

on December 9: " While the analysis estimates a $675 billion hit to the American

economy, it is clear that this impact can be lessened by the actions we take

today. "

 

Maybe these guys have whipped themselves up in their pontifical lucrative ivory

tower inside the Beltway to the extent that they genuinely believe this

hysterical nonsense.

 

However, I don't believe it, and you shouldn't either.

 

At the very least, it is very flawed economic thinking, which is befuddled by

hysteria and steeled by the cold hard logic derived from the old cold warriors

who invoke such hysterical medical nonsense while it actually works, long enough

for Roche and Tamiflu and a few other big Pharm Buddies to rush in there, make a

few billion dollars, get out while the getting is good, and emerge with the

biggest trump card of all, which might even last longer than the Patriot Act, a

law absolving Big Pharm of product liability for the vaccine manufacturers!

 

The bill refers to " Liability protection from civil lawsuits? " What does that

mean? Who pays for those injured by bad vaccines? Or is the average American

just supposed to " take the hit " and absorb such losses with no recourse to the

Courts? This bill is really bad politics, bad medicine, bad economics, bad

government, and terribly bad legislation.[Frist blithely informs us that " to

ally irrational fear, communication must be the bedrock of every public policy

response. " ]

 

I am focused on real consumer protection in a different field, getting rid of

neurotoxic food additives, and even though it is a different field than Bill

Frist's and Donald Rumsfeld's Tamiflu, their calculated mass hysteria about

avian flu, and the ghastly draconian insult to the history of medicine implicit

in this bill, I recognize a cow-pie while it is being formed and while it is

coming out; that is what Dr. Frist's bill is, a giant nation- sized cow-pie,

emerging from the male cow with the horns.... (with all due respect to all of

the cows, including the bulls).

 

This entire scenario reminds me of the play, " The Emperor's New Clothes. " When I

was 12 and in the school play version of " The Emperor's New Clothes, " I played

one of the two brothers who swindled the Emperor into believing he had beautiful

new glorious robes. I can recognize similar tactics to manipulate the truth into

a " New World Order, " implicit in Senator Frist's $7.1 billion Avian Flu Bill,

disingenuously titled the " Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development

Act of 2005 " (S. 1873).

 

Please call Senator Bingaman and ask him to remove his heretofore good name from

the list of those Senators supporting it.

 

Bingaman, Jeff (D - NM)

703 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone:(202) 224-5521

Fax (202) 224-2852

senator_bingaman

 

Thank you,

 

Stephen Fox

Founder, New Mexico Nutrition Council

 

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is calling the " Biodefense and

Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 " (S. 1873), which passed out

of the U.S. Senate Committee one day after it was introduced " a drug company

stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare. " The bill establishes the

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), as the single point

of authority within the government for the advanced research and development of

drugs and vaccines in response to bioterrorism and natural disease outbreaks

such as the flu. BARDA will operate in secret, exempt from the Freedom of

Information Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, insuring that no

evidence of injuries or deaths caused by drugs and vaccines labeled as

" countermeasures " will become public. They will pass this bill by December if

you don't take vigorous action NOW.

 

There are 18 Senators pushing for us to face forced vaccines and forced drugging

with untested/experimental drugs and vaccines giving freedom from liability to

drug companies. Contact them ALL. This bill is called " The Biodefense and

Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005. " The text is under Senate

Bill 1873 [s. 1873].

 

Surprising to me, on the list of 18 Senators pushing for this bill, you will

find:

 

Bingaman, Jeff (D - NM)

703 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone:(202) 224-5521

Fax (202) 224-2852

senator_bingaman

 

To quote Rima E. Laibow, M.D., Medical Director of the Natural Solutions

Foundation:

 

Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties

by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often

used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.

 

We are, I am sorry to tell you, facing a uniquely dangerous moment in our

history. An industry with more money than sense and a government with more greed

than patriotism are conspiring to take away your right to control your body,

keep it safe and, if harmed, seek recompense from the corporation which harmed

you. I often write to you to alert you to important health and health freedom

issues. This letter is an urgent notice about an immediate threat to your

well-being and your liberty. If you do nothing else to safeguard your health

freedom, I urge you to take action on this issue, pass this email to everyone

you know and become a source of information and strength to everyone you know.

If there ever was a time for activism, this is it!

 

Tell the people you speak to that you are adamantly opposed to S1873 and HR3970

since vaccines are dangerous and compulsory vaccination violates your personal

rights to self determination. Further, you flatly reject the creation of a

secret agency which would operate without public oversight to created and compel

the use of vaccines whose composition, side effects and hazards are not only

unknown, but would be kept permanently hidden from the public.

 

Let them know that you will not tolerate the loss of compensation for harm and

the loss of a trial by a jury of your peers to determine the nature and extent

of any such harm to you or your loved ones and that a vote for these bills -- or

others like them -- is completely unacceptable if the member of Congress wants

to stand for re-election.

 

Make no mistake about it: Whatever you are vaccinated with will be experimental

and therefore dangerous. With no liability to deter them, the vaccine makers can

try anything they want or use any shoddy techniques they like and you cannot

claim any harm has been done to you for the purposes of compensation. Not only

that, the contents of these forced vaccinations for who-knows-what are secret!

 

Even if you believe in vaccines for you and yours, the idea of a compulsory

vaccine program administered by a secret agency with zero accountability to you

and the same legal liability for the companies who make potentially lethal

injections (zero once again) is a major threat to your liberty and mine. I urge

you to take action and ask your circle of influence to do the same.

 

Yours in health and freedom,

Rima E. Laibow, MD

 

 

----- -------

 

Rima E. Laibow, M.D. is the Medical Director of the Natural Solutions

Foundation. She is a graduate of Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1970) who

believes passionately in the right every American to choose a personal health

path that is free of government or corporate interference.

 

She has practiced drug-free, natural medicine for 35 years by seeking the

underlying cause of every illness and ailment. During this time, she has enjoyed

remarkable success with a wide assortment of cataclysmic problems and health

promotion efforts.

 

Like other healers who trust the innate ability to heal, she believes in using

nutrients and other natural options to find, define and treat the problems which

underlie degenerative, chronic diseases. The key is supporting the immune and

other crucial body systems. Dr. Laibow has seen results from these techniques so

often in her patients and in her personal life, that she believes the medicine

of the future is the medicine of cooperation with nature.

 

Dr. Laibow is the President of the NeuroTherapy Certification Board. Because of

Dr. Laibow's awareness of the wide variety of powerful natural, non-toxic

options available to treat the underlying causes of disease, she is focused on

maintaining these choices for all Americans. Based on her understanding of the

impact of poor nutrition and chemical/pesticide toxicity on the declining health

of America, Dr. Laibow is determined to help Americans maintain their right to

choose health promotion rather than illness care in their efforts to protect

themselves

 

 

List of 18 Senators

 

REPUBLICANS

 

Gregg, Judd (R - NH)

393 Senate Russell Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3324

Fax: (202) 224-4952

http://gregg.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.cfm

 

Frist, William (R - TN)

509 Hart Senate Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3344

Fax: (202) 228-1264

http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm? FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.ContactForm

 

Enzi, Mike (R - WY)

379A Senate Russell Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3424

Fax: (202) 228-0359

http://enzi.senate.gov/email.htm

 

Burr, Richard (R-NC)

217 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-3154

Fax: (202) 228-2981

http://burr.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

 

Isakson, Johnny (R- GA)

120 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 224-3643

Fax: (202) 228-0724

http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm

 

Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)

302 Senate Hart Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4944

Fax: (202) 228-3398

http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

 

Bond, Christopher (R - MO)

274 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-5721

Fax (202) 224-8149

http://bond.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm

 

Roberts, Pat (R - KS)

109 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4774

Fax (202) 224-3514

http://roberts.senate.gov/e-mail_pat.html

 

Ensign, John (R - NV)

356 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-6244

Fax (202) 228-2193

http://ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm

 

DeWine, Mike (R - OH)

140 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-2315

Fax (202) 224-6519

http://dewine.senate.gov/

 

DEMOCRATS

 

Kennedy, Edward - (D - MA)

317 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4543

Fax: (202) 224-2417

http://kennedy.senate.gov/index_high.html

 

Dodd, Christopher (D - CT)

448 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone (202) 224-2823

Fax (202) 228-1683

http://dodd.senate.gov/webmail/form-opinion.html

 

Harkin, Tom (D - IA)

731 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone (202) 224-3254

Fax (202) 224-9369

http://harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

 

Mikulski, Barbara (D - MD)

503 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4654

Fax (202)224-8858

http://mikulski.senate.gov/contactme/mailform.html

 

Bingaman, Jeff (D - NM)

703 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone:(202) 224-5521

Fax (202) 224-2852

senator_bingaman

 

Murray, Patty (D - WA)

173 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-2621

Fax: (202) 224-0238

http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm

 

Reed, Jack (D - RI)

728 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone:(202) 224-4642

Fax (202) 224-4680

http://reed.senate.gov/form-opinion.htm

 

Clinton, Hillary (D - NY)

476 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4451

D.C. Fax (202) 228-0282

NY Fax (631) 249-2847

http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm?subj=issu

 

 

 

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