Homeland Security bill Would Block Suits Over Vaccines...

[Guest guest]

URGENT! IMPORTANT!

The Homeland Security bill that passed the House, and to be considered by the

Senate on Friday, Nov 16th, re-defined the meaning of the word " adulterated "

in the law. Under this change, no vaccine could be considered adulterated for

an ingredient approved by the FDA and listed on the product label, even if

that ingredient is dangerous and the manufactuer is willfully negligent in

using it.

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H.R. 5710, SEC. 1715. CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF VACCINE-RELATED INJURY

OR DEATH.

 

Section 2133(5) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300aa-33(5)) is

amended by adding at the end the following: `For purposes of the preceding

sentence, an adulterant or contaminant shall not include any component or

ingredient listed in a vaccine's product license application or product

label.'.

 

 

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56918-2002Nov14.html

Homeland Bill Rider Aids Drugmakers

Measure Would Block Suits Over Vaccines; FBI Powers Also Would Grow

By Dan Morgan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, November 15, 2002; Page A07

 

Riding along on legislation to create a new federal Department of Homeland

Security is a White House-backed provision that could head off dozens of

potential lawsuits against Eli Lilly and Co. and other pharmaceutical giants.

 

Elsewhere in the sprawling measure is language that would help the FBI obtain

customer information from Internet service providers and increase the

penalties for computer hacking. These and other last-minute additions to the

bill by Republican leaders could have implications well beyond the measure's

immediate goal of protecting the homeland, congressional officials said

yesterday.

 

Lawyers for parents of autistic children suing pharmaceutical companies over

childhood vaccines charged yesterday that a new section in the homeland bill

-- passed on Wednesday by the House and now before the Senate -- would keep

the lawsuits out of state courts, ruling out huge judgments and lengthy

litigation. Complaints, instead, would be channeled to a federal program set

up 14 years ago to provide liability protection for vaccine manufacturers.

The program, funded through a surcharge on vaccines, compensates persons

injured by such vaccines, to a maximum of $250,000.

 

" The industry has seized the opportunity presented by a Republican House and

Senate to immediately pass legislation to get the industry off the hook, "

said Dallas lawyer Andrew Waters. " To me, it looks like payback for the fact

that the industry spent millions bankrolling Republican campaigns. "

 

GOP officials said the provisions are merely aimed at protecting companies

working on life-saving products from being dragged into costly litigation by

trial lawyers. Pharmaceutical companies were among the largest contributors

to Republicans in this year's elections, while trial lawyers heavily backed

Democrats.

 

In the past several years, some families have alleged a connection between

their children's autism and vaccines using the preservative Thimerosal, which

contains mercury. Medical studies have not proven a connection between

Thimerosal and autism, but companies stopped using the preservative several

years ago.

 

Eli Lilly, once the largest maker of Thimerosal, is a major target in a spate

of lawsuits filed since 2000. The company stopped making the product in 1980

but continued to buy it from other manufacturers and to resell it for another

decade.

 

Company spokesman Edward Sagebiel said Lilly was " surprised when the language

was inserted " because it had not actively lobbied for it in recent months.

But he said the company " believes it is a positive step to help assure that

manufacturers are protected from lawsuits that are without merit or

scientific evidence. "

 

Richard Diamond, a spokesman for retiring House Majority Leader Richard K.

Armey (R-Tex.), said the provision was inserted because " it was something the

White House wanted. It wasn't [Armey's] idea. " But Diamond said the principle

is good. " We don't want companies to be steered away from the business of

making things that can save lives, " he said.

 

Elsewhere in the bill, Republicans incorporated the entire Cyber Security

Enhancement Act, which the House passed overwhelmingly in July but which made

little progress in the Democratic-controlled Senate. To strengthen law

enforcement's hand in protecting the security of computer communications, the

legislation would increase penalties for hacking and other malicious

computing. Privacy advocates have criticized some provisions, particularly

those that would lower the threshold for Internet service providers to give

law enforcement agencies customer communications without a court order.

 

The bill would make hacking punishable by as much as life in prison if the

offender " knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause death.''

 

Cut from the bill was a Democratic-backed provision that would have prevented

the new federal agency from giving contracts to U.S.-based companies that use

offshore addresses to avoid corporate taxes.

 

GOP aides said the language originally offered by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.),

and now incorporated in the bill, gives Texas A & M the inside track in hosting

the first university center on homeland security, to be established within

one year. DeLay was elected Wednesday to serve as the House majority leader

in the 108th Congress.

 

Yesterday, Senate Democrats were considering trying to strip non-relevant

provisions from the homeland security bill during the final debate. If

successful, such a move could derail Congress's timetable for adjourning, by

forcing a new round of House-Senate negotiations to resolve differences in

the legislation.

 

Staff writer Jonathan Krim contributed to this report.

 

 

© 2002 The Washington Post Company