Drug Companies Make BILLIONS Testing Adult Drugs on Kids

[Guest guest]

Drug Companies Make BILLIONS Testing Adult Drugs on Kids

By Rachel Zimmerman

 

Mary Robinson, a Philadelphia X-ray technologist, received $300 and

a $50 gift certificate to Toys " R " Us as an incentive to enroll her

seven-month-old daughter in a drug trial to treat a form of

indigestion babies can get.

 

Merck & Co., the maker of the medicine, also received an incentive:

about $290 million. That's the estimated revenue Merck will pocket

from six months of additional marketing exclusivity it won.

 

Its drug, Pepcid™, was slated to lose its patent protection last

October, opening the way to low-priced generic competition. But, as

a reward for conducting the first formal studies of Pepcid in

infants, the federal government has given Merck a half-year of extra

protection from generics. And the gains are even greater for some of

the other companies rushing to take advantage of a 1997 law meant to

encourage pediatric trials of adult medicines.

 

That law, by giving drug makers an incentive to test on children, is

producing important new prescribing information for pediatricians,

the Food and Drug Administration says. Labels have been changed on

14 drugs to reflect new data. Some pediatricians are delighted with

the results and are lobbying to extend the law past its scheduled

expiration at year end.

 

But a close look at the law shows that it is also producing an

unintended consequence: a drug-industry financial bonanza.

 

Stronger Sales

 

The studies required to gain six more months of marketing

exclusivity are relatively small and inexpensive, costing anywhere

from $200,000 to $3 million. But the extended exclusivity that

results can be very valuable. It will boost drug-company sales by

more than $4 billion, by the Wall Street Journal's calculations,

which compare six months of sales while a drug has marketing

exclusivity against typical six-month sales of the drug after

generic competition hits. Generics typically knock a strong-selling

brand-name drug's sales down roughly 75%.

 

 

 

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Benefits of Pediatric Testing

 

Here are six of the drugs granted extended marketing exclusivity

under a 1997 law and estimates of how much extra revenue the

extensions could produce.

 

Manufacturer/Drug

Type

One-Year Revenue*

6-Mo. Addition to Revenue**

 

Schering-Plough (Claritin™)

Antihistamine

$2.60 billion

$975 million

 

Eli Lilly (Prozac™)

Antidepressant

$2.21 billion

$831 million

 

Bristol-Myers Squibb (Glucophage™)

Diabetes

$1.73 billion

$648 million

 

Merck (Pepcid™)

Antiulcer/heartburn

$775 million

$290 million

 

Merck (Vasotec™)

Hypertensive

$850 million

$318 million

 

Bristol-Myers Squibb (Buspar™)

Antianxiety

$759 million

$284 million

 

 

 

 

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The $4 billion of projected extra revenue is just for the first 26

drugs tested under the program. About 200 proposals to test more

drugs on children or infants are pending at the FDA. If they get an

FDA go-ahead, they could add $6 billion more revenue to drug-company

coffers, says Chris Milne of the Tufts Center for Drug Development

in Boston. And over the next 20 years, if the law remains in effect,

producers of brand-name drugs could gain added revenue of nearly $30

billion, according to an FDA analysis.

 

Big Ones First

 

As the numbers suggest, companies are first testing mainly their big-

selling drugs, where extended market exclusivity is a potent lure.

Only now are some companies moving to test lesser-selling drugs

about which pediatricians have long wanted data.

 

Critics complain that drug companies are sometimes gaining the six-

month bonus by testing drugs that treat conditions uncommon in

children, such as arthritis, ulcers and hypertension.

 

Another complaint is that the law sometimes lets companies win extra

exclusivity without doing much new testing. At the same time, the

law does nothing to promote child testing of drugs that are already

off-patent or no longer marketed by a sponsoring company. An example

is dopamine hydrochloride, which neonatal nurseries rely on to

stabilize blood pressure in critically ill babies, but which has

never been subjected to formal pediatric trials.

 

Meanwhile, makers of generic drugs come out losers. They could lose

$10.7 billion in sales over 20 years as a result of the six-month

extensions, the FDA estimates. The agency sees ill effects for

retail pharmacies, too, because their markup on brand-name drugs

isn't as large as on generics. The six-month extensions could cost

pharmacies $4.9 billion in revenue over 20 years, the FDA estimates.

 

Public-Health Cost

 

There is a public-health impact, as well. The longer a drug maker

fends off generic competition, the longer patients -- particularly

the poor and the uninsured -- will be burdened by premium prices for

their medicines. The FDA estimates that the incentive law will raise

the cost of prescription drugs $695 million a year, or one-half of

one-percent of the nation's $100 million annual pharmaceuticals bill.

 

" Pediatric exclusivity has created a system of bribing companies

into doing what the government deems scientifically and medically

necessary, " contends Abbey Meyers, president of the National

Organization for Rare Disorders.

 

'Win for Industry'

 

For their part, drug makers say they are being appropriately

compensated for meeting FDA requests under the 1997 law. They didn't

seek this law. But since its passage, pediatric trials have become a

key part of strategies to squeeze every dollar out of strong-selling

drugs nearing patent expiration, some drug-company executives

acknowledge.

 

" I won't deny it's been a win for industry, " says Ian Spatz, Merck's

executive director of public policy.

 

The law arose from frustration by pediatricians and regulators who

for decades couldn't persuade drug companies to test many adult

medicines on children. Doctors often prescribed them anyway, cutting

pills in half or grinding medicines into applesauce, hoping to come

up with doses for children that were both safe and effective.

 

Between 70% and 80% of medicines have never been formally tested in

a pediatric population.

 

Attempts at requiring testing have been largely unsuccessful. Twenty

years ago, the FDA ruled that drug makers had to submit substantial

safety and efficacy evidence to label a medicine for use in

children. The result, instead of more pediatric trials, was more

labels with disclaimers saying effectiveness in children hadn't been

established.

 

To the industry, testing drugs on children is risky and burdensome.

You're talking about a small population where you have to take a lot

of care and pay a great deal of attention to the design,

documentation and monitoring and have adequate staff resources to

ask and answer the right questions.

 

The obstacles also include liability concerns and the challenge of

getting informed consent. And if a child in a clinical trial reacts

badly, negative publicity could batter the drug's sales in every age

group.

 

Dr. Kessler, the former FDA commissioner, announced an FDA rule he

hoped would finally move the drug industry. It said that to get

drugs labeled for use in children, companies in many cases no longer

had to conduct large, expensive efficacy trials with children. They

could do simpler tests to establish safety and dosing ranges.

Despite the relaxation, companies continued to forgo label changes

rather than pursue pediatric clinical trials.

 

With few options, Congress and regulators warmed to the notion of

financial incentives. " We were stuck. We had tried everything

possible, every kind of other incentive, and nothing worked, " says

Dr. Kessler, now dean of Yale medical school.

 

Congress took up a bill to give companies extended market

exclusivity in return for studying medicines in children. According

to people involved in the effort, lobbyists for the drug industry

initially wanted five extra years of marketing exclusivity, then two

years and then one year, eventually agreeing to six months.

 

Law's Flaws

 

The law's critics say it has loopholes that undermine a laudable

intent, such as allowing a financial benefit for studies that would

probably be done anyway. For instance, Eli Lilly & Co. is winning

Prozac™ six more months of defense against generics -- worth an

estimated $831 million in added revenue -- by submitting a clinical

study that had already been completed in 1995, two years before the

law was passed, plus results of three studies that had already been

initiated.

 

A Lilly spokesman, Ed West, says that while protocols for those

three studies had been written before the law passed, the final

decision to proceed with them came only after the financial

incentive was in place.

 

He won't comment on the estimate of added sales. In any case, Lilly

couldn't have gained credit for the tests if the FDA hadn't let it.

The agency interprets the law as permitting a company to submit

certain already-conducted tests -- and gain more marketing

exclusivity -- as long as the test results provide important new

data.

 

In other cases, companies are doing pediatric testing with drugs for

conditions that aren't common in juveniles. Consider Bristol Myers-

Squibb Co.'s Glucophage™ for adult-onset diabetes and Merck's

Vasotec™ hypertension pill. Both have carried labels saying safety

and effectiveness hadn't been established in children. According to

market-research firm IMS Health, of 24 million Glucophage™

prescriptions in the U.S. in the past year, just 133,000 were

written by pediatricians.

 

For Vasotec™, the numbers were 11 million in all, 70,000 of them

from pediatricians. But makers of both drugs tested them in children

and won extra marketing exclusivity, potentially worth nearly $1

billion in added revenue.

 

Critics from the generic-drugs industry find another aspect of the

incentive law troubling. A predecessor company to GlaxoSmithKline

won added exclusivity for the ulcer drug Zantac™ by doing a study

that gave an injectable form of it to newborns with a condition

called acid reflux. The tests didn't involve the Zantac™ pill. But

they yielded a six-month extension for that blockbuster pill anyway,

because the FDA interprets the law as applying to a drug's active

ingredient.

 

Even the FDA acknowledges that there are still some flaws in the

process, which begins when a company or the FDA expresses interest

in a clinical trial. At that point, the agency gives the company a

written request for studies. In a majority of cases, companies

initially propose studies that are unacceptable to the FDA, the

agency's Dr. Murphy says, or the companies reject FDA-proposed

studies as too large and costly.

 

Some of the sharpest criticism is that companies use the law to

extend their exclusivity on hot-sellers, while often not testing

other drugs that could help children but aren't large revenue

producers. The American Academy of Pediatrics says there are still

hundreds of drugs, on patent and off, that need to be tested in

certain age groups.

 

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Kauffman pleaded in vain with Hoffmann-La

Roche Inc. to test its Toradol™ pain killer on children, and finally

did such a study himself -- finding the drug to be as effective as

morphine for postsurgical pain, with fewer narcotic side effects.

But the manufacturer, a unit of Roche Holding Ltd., hasn't changed

the label. A spokesman says Toradol™ is " not one of our promoted

products. "

 

The extra market exclusivity the law provides is especially valuable

for top-selling products. By conducting pediatric tests of Vasotec™,

Merck fended off generic competition for this blood-pressure drug

for six more months last year, gaining about an extra $318 million

in revenue. After Vasotec's™ patent and the six months of extra

exclusivity finally expired in the fourth quarter, the drug's U.S.

sales fell 73%, Merck says.

 

Pepcid™ has been another big seller for Merck, and the company won

an extension through pediatric testing despite having already shown

Pepcid was safe and effective in children aged one to 16. Doctors

could have given seven-month-old Julia Robinson an off-label Pepcid™

prescription in the form of a liquid with a cherry banana mint

flavor. Instead, she became part of a clinical trial designed to

test a diluted version, after a doctor at Children's Hospital of

Philadelphia recruited her mother.

 

" They explained that it hadn't been approved for kids under one and

that's why she had to be in the study in order to get it, " Mrs.

Robinson says. Julia's condition improved, but the trial found that

in most infants, the diluted form wasn't as effective. Despite those

results, the FDA let Merck fend off generic competition for an added

six months for all forms of Pepcid™.

 

Merck says the study's findings were valuable data that simply

wouldn't have been produced without the six-month incentive.

 

Even Younger

 

Schering-Plough Corp. should receive one of the bigger boosts from

the law -- an estimated $975 million in extra revenue from

Claritin™. U.S. sales of the antihistamine last year were $2.6

billion. The drug is so important to Schering-Plough that the

company spent millions on lobbyists and political donations in an

effort to win special legislation extending its patents, which start

expiring in mid-2002.

 

That effort didn't succeed. But the company did get an extension of

its marketing exclusivity through the pediatric law -- even though

Claritin™ was already approved for children aged six and above and

was being widely prescribed for them. Pediatricians wrote 3.6

million Claritin™ prescriptions in the 12 months through November

1999.

 

Six extra months of protection from generics in a case like this

upsets Carol Ben-Maimon, chairwoman of the Generic Pharmaceutical

Industry Association. " If you're testing kids for valuable

information, that's one thing, but if you're testing them just to

make another half billion, that's exploitation, " she says.

 

Schering-Plough spokesman William O'Donnell declines to comment on

the projection of added revenue for Claritin™. But he says the

pediatric study, by establishing that Claritin™ could be used safely

in children under six and setting a proper dose, " met the intent and

spirit of the provision. "

 

At the FDA, Dr. Murphy acknowledges that a few companies will

make " quite a lot of money on this. " But, she says, " that's the

price you pay. "

 

Wall Street Journal February 5, 2001

 

 

The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

Page 1 of 2 (Page 2, References)

 

by Dr. Tim O'Shea

 

We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever

known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being

shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like

it is being subtly and inexorably erased.

 

The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely regulated.

Who cares, right?

 

It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people

how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted

in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an

effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little

background on the handling of information in this country.

 

Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current

system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more

apt to question any given story in today's news.

 

If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that

Conventional Wisdom.

 

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually

contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:

 

Pharmaceuticals restore health

Vaccination brings immunity

The cure for cancer is just around the corner

When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics

When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol

Hospitals are safe and clean.

America has the best health care in the world.

And many many more

This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions and billions to

conjure up. Did you ever wonder why you never see the President

speaking publicly unless he is reading? Or why most people in this

country think generally the same about most of the above issues?

 

How This Set-Up Got Started

 

In Trust Us We're Experts, Stauber and Rampton pull together some

compelling data describing the science of creating public opinion in

America.

 

They trace modern public influence back to the early part of the

last century, highlighting the work of guys like Edward L. Bernays,

the Father of Spin. From his own amazing chronicle Propaganda, we

learn how Edward L. Bernays took the ideas of his famous uncle

Sigmund Freud himself, and applied them to the emerging science of

mass persuasion.

 

The only difference was that instead of using these principles to

uncover hidden themes in the human unconscious, the way Freudian

psychology does, Bernays used these same ideas to mask agendas and

to create illusions that deceive and misrepresent, for marketing

purposes.

 

The Father Of Spin

 

Bernays dominated the PR industry until the 1940s, and was a

significant force for another 40 years after that. (Tye) During all

that time, Bernays took on hundreds of diverse assignments to create

a public perception about some idea or product. A few examples:

 

As a neophyte with the Committee on Public Information, one of

Bernays' first assignments was to help sell the First World War to

the American public with the idea to " Make the World Safe for

Democracy. " (Ewen)

 

A few years later, Bernays set up a stunt to popularize the notion

of women smoking cigarettes. In organizing the 1929 Easter Parade in

New York City, Bernays showed himself as a force to be reckoned

with.

 

He organized the Torches of Liberty Brigade in which suffragettes

marched in the parade smoking cigarettes as a mark of women's

liberation. Such publicity followed from that one event that from

then on women have felt secure about destroying their own lungs in

public, the same way that men have always done.

 

Bernays popularized the idea of bacon for breakfast.

 

Not one to turn down a challenge, he set up the advertising format

along with the AMA that lasted for nearly 50 years proving that

cigarettes are beneficial to health. Just look at ads in issues of

Life or Time from the 40s and 50s.

 

Smoke And Mirrors

 

Bernay's job was to reframe an issue; to create a desired image that

would put a particular product or concept in a desirable light.

Bernays described the public as a 'herd that needed to be led.' And

this herdlike thinking makes people " susceptible to leadership. "

 

Bernays never deviated from his fundamental axiom to " control the

masses without their knowing it. " The best PR happens with the

people unaware that they are being manipulated.

 

Stauber describes Bernays' rationale like this:

 

" the scientific manipulation of public opinion was necessary to

overcome chaos and conflict in a democratic society. " Trust Us p 42

These early mass persuaders postured themselves as performing a

moral service for humanity in general - democracy was too good for

people; they needed to be told what to think, because they were

incapable of rational thought by themselves. Here's a paragraph from

Bernays' Propaganda:

 

" Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an

invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas

suggested largely by men we have never heard of.

 

This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society

is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this

manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning

society.

 

In almost every act of our lives whether in the sphere of politics

or business in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are

dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand

the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they

who pull the wires that control the public mind. "

 

Here Comes The Money

 

Once the possibilities of applying Freudian psychology to mass media

were glimpsed, Bernays soon had more corporate clients than he could

handle. Global corporations fell all over themselves courting the

new Image Makers. There were dozens of goods and services and ideas

to be sold to a susceptible public. Over the years, these players

have had the money to make their images happen. A few examples:

 

 

Philip Morris

Pfizer

Union Carbide

 

Allstate

Monsanto

Eli Lilly

 

tobacco industry

Ciba Geigy

lead industry

 

Coors

DuPont

Chlorox

 

Shell Oil

Standard Oil

Procter & Gamble

 

Boeing

General Motors

Dow Chemical

 

General Mills

Goodyear

 

 

 

The Players

 

Though world-famous within the PR industry, the companies have names

we don't know, and for good reason.

 

The best PR goes unnoticed.

 

For decades they have created the opinions that most of us were

raised with, on virtually any issue which has the remotest

commercial value, including:

 

 

pharmaceutical drugs

vaccines

 

medicine as a profession

alternative medicine

 

fluoridation of city water

chlorine

 

household cleaning products

tobacco

 

dioxin

global warming

 

leaded gasoline

cancer research and treatment

 

pollution of the oceans

forests and lumber

 

images of celebrities, including damage control

crisis and disaster management

 

genetically modified foods

aspartame

 

food additives; processed foods

dental amalgams

 

 

 

Lesson #1

 

Bernays learned early on that the most effective way to create

credibility for a product or an image was by " independent third-

party " endorsement.

 

For example, if General Motors were to come out and say that global

warming is a hoax thought up by some liberal tree-huggers, people

would suspect GM's motives, since GM's fortune is made by selling

automobiles.

 

If however some independent research institute with a very credible

sounding name like the Global Climate Coalition comes out with a

scientific report that says global warming is really a fiction,

people begin to get confused and to have doubts about the original

issue.

 

So that's exactly what Bernays did. With a policy inspired by

genius, he set up " more institutes and foundations than Rockefeller

and Carnegie combined. " (Stauber p 45)

 

Quietly financed by the industries whose products were being

evaluated, these " independent " research agencies would churn

out " scientific " studies and press materials that could create any

image their handlers wanted. Such front groups are given high-

sounding names like:

 

 

Temperature Research Foundation

Manhattan Institute

 

International Food Information Council

Center for Produce Quality

 

Consumer Alert

Tobacco Institute Research Council

 

The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition

Cato Institute

 

Air Hygiene Foundation

 

American Council on Science and Health

 

Industrial Health Federation

Global Climate Coalition

 

International Food Information Council

Alliance for Better Foods

 

 

 

Sound pretty legit don't they?

 

Canned News Releases

 

As Stauber explains, these organizations and hundreds of others like

them are front groups whose sole mission is to advance the image of

the global corporations who fund them, like those listed on page 2

above.

 

This is accomplished in part by an endless stream of 'press

releases' announcing " breakthrough " research to every radio station

and newspaper in the country. (Robbins) Many of these canned reports

read like straight news, and indeed are purposely molded in the news

format.

 

This saves journalists the trouble of researching the subjects on

their own, especially on topics about which they know very little.

Entire sections of the release or in the case of video news

releases, the whole thing can be just lifted intact, with no

editing, given the byline of the reporter or newspaper or TV

station - and voilá! Instant news - copy and paste. Written by

corporate PR firms.

 

Does this really happen? Every single day, since the 1920s when the

idea of the News Release was first invented by Ivy Lee. (Stauber, p

22) Sometimes as many as half the stories appearing in an issue of

the Wall St. Journal are based solely on such PR press releases..

(22)

 

These types of stories are mixed right in with legitimately

researched stories. Unless you have done the research yourself, you

won't be able to tell the difference.

 

The Language Of Spin

 

As 1920s spin pioneers like Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays gained more

experience, they began to formulate rules and guidelines for

creating public opinion. They learned quickly that mob psychology

must focus on emotion, not facts. Since the mob is incapable of

rational thought, motivation must be based not on logic but on

presentation. Here are some of the axioms of the new science of PR:

 

technology is a religion unto itself

if people are incapable of rational thought, real democracy is

dangerous

important decisions should be left to experts

when reframing issues, stay away from substance; create images

never state a clearly demonstrable lie

Words are very carefully chosen for their emotional impact. Here's

an example. A front group called the International Food Information

Council handles the public's natural aversion to genetically

modified foods.

 

Trigger words are repeated all through the text. Now in the case of

GM foods, the public is instinctively afraid of these experimental

new creations which have suddenly popped up on our grocery shelves

which are said to have DNA alterations. The IFIC wants to reassure

the public of the safety of GM foods, so it avoids words like:

 

 

Frankenfoods

Hitler

biotech

 

chemical

DNA

experiments

 

manipulate

money

safety

 

scientists

radiation

roulette

 

gene-splicing

gene gun

random

 

 

 

Instead, good PR for GM foods contains words like:

 

 

hybrids

natural order

beauty

 

choice

bounty

cross-breeding

 

diversity

earth

farmer

 

organic

wholesome

 

 

 

It's basic Freudian/Tony Robbins word association. The fact that GM

foods are not hybrids that have been subjected to the slow and

careful scientific methods of real crossbreeding doesn't really

matter. This is pseudoscience, not science. Form is everything and

substance just a passing myth. (Trevanian)

 

Who do you think funds the International Food Information Council?

Take a wild guess. Right - Monsanto, DuPont, Frito-Lay, Coca Cola,

Nutrasweet - those in a position to make fortunes from GM foods.

(Stauber p 20)

 

Characteristics Of Good Propaganda

 

As the science of mass control evolved, PR firms developed further

guidelines for effective copy. Here are some of the gems:

 

dehumanize the attacked party by labeling and name calling

speak in glittering generalities using emotionally positive words

when covering something up, don't use plain English; stall for time;

distract

get endorsements from celebrities, churches, sports figures, street

people - anyone who has no expertise in the subject at hand

the 'plain folks' ruse: us billionaires are just like you

when minimizing outrage, don't say anything memorable, point out the

benefits of what just happened, and avoid moral issues

Keep this list. Start watching for these techniques. Not hard to

find - look at today's paper or tonight's TV news. See what they're

doing; these guys are good!

 

PAGE 2

 

 

 

The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

Page 2 of 2 (Page 1, References)

 

Science For Hire

 

PR firms have become very sophisticated in the preparation of news

releases. They have learned how to attach the names of famous

scientists to research that those scientists have not even looked

at. (Stauber, p 201)

 

This is a common occurrence. In this way the editors of newspapers

and TV news shows are often not even aware that an individual

release is a total PR fabrication. Or at least they

have " deniability, " right?

 

Stauber tells the amazing story of how leaded gas came into the

picture. In 1922, General Motors discovered that adding lead to

gasoline gave cars more horsepower.

 

When there was some concern about safety, GM paid the Bureau of

Mines to do some fake " testing " and publish spurious research

that 'proved' that inhalation of lead was harmless. Enter Charles

Kettering.

 

Founder of the world famous Sloan-Kettering Memorial Institute for

medical research, Charles Kettering also happened to be an executive

with General Motors.

 

By some strange coincidence, we soon have the Sloan Kettering

institute issuing reports stating that lead occurs naturally in the

body and that the body has a way of eliminating low level exposure.

 

Through its association with The Industrial Hygiene Foundation and

PR giant Hill & Knowlton, Sloane Kettering opposed all anti-lead

research for years. (Stauber p 92). Without organized scientific

opposition, for the next 60 years more and more gasoline became

leaded, until by the 1970s, 90% of our gasoline was leaded.

 

Finally it became too obvious to hide that lead was a major

carcinogen, and leaded gas was phased out in the late 1980s. But

during those 60 years, it is estimated that some 30 million tons of

lead were released in vapor form onto American streets and highways.

30 million tons.

 

That is PR, my friends.

 

Junk Science

 

In 1993 a guy named Peter Huber wrote a new book and coined a new

term. The book was Galileo's Revenge and the term was junk science.

Huber's shallow thesis was that real science supports technology,

industry, and progress.

 

Anything else was suddenly junk science. Not surprisingly, Stauber

explains how Huber's book was supported by the industry-backed

Manhattan Institute.

 

Huber's book was generally dismissed not only because it was so

poorly written, but because it failed to realize one fact: true

scientific research begins with no conclusions. Real scientists are

seeking the truth because they do not yet know what the truth is.

 

True scientific method goes like this:

 

1. Form a hypothesis

2. Make predictions for that hypothesis

3. Test the predictions

4. Reject or revise the hypothesis based on the research findings

Boston University scientist Dr. David Ozonoff explains that ideas in

science are themselves like " living organisms, that must be

nourished, supported, and cultivated with resources for making them

grow and flourish. " (Stauber p 205)

 

Great ideas that don't get this financial support because the

commercial angles are not immediately obvious - these ideas wither

and die.

 

Another way you can often distinguish real science from phony is

that real science points out flaws in its own research. Phony

science pretends there were no flaws.

 

The Real Junk Science

 

Contrast this with modern PR and its constant pretensions to sound

science. Corporate sponsored research, whether it's in the area of

drugs, GM foods, or chemistry begins with predetermined conclusions.

 

It is the job of the scientists then to prove that these conclusions

are true, because of the economic upside that proof will bring to

the industries paying for that research. This invidious approach to

science has shifted the entire focus of research in America during

the past 50 years, as any true scientist is likely to admit.

 

Stauber documents the increasing amount of corporate sponsorship of

university research. (206) This has nothing to do with the pursuit

of knowledge. Scientists lament that research has become just

another commodity, something bought and sold. (Crossen)

 

The Two Main Targets Of " Sound Science "

 

It is shocking when Stauber shows how the vast majority of corporate

PR today opposes any research that seeks to protect

 

public health

the environment

It's a funny thing that most of the time when we see the

phrase " junk science, " it is in a context of defending something

that may threaten either the environment or our health.

 

This makes sense when one realizes that money changes hands only by

selling the illusion of health and the illusion of environmental

protection. True public health and real preservation of the earth's

environment have very low market value.

 

Stauber thinks it ironic that industry's self-proclaimed debunkers

of junk science are usually non-scientists themselves. (255) Here

again they can do this because the issue is not science, but the

creation of images.

 

The Language Of Attack

 

When PR firms attack legitimate environmental groups and alternative

medicine people, they again use special words which will carry an

emotional punch:

 

 

outraged sound science

junk science sensible

scaremongering responsible

 

phobia hoax

alarmist hysteria

 

 

 

The next time you are reading a newspaper article about an

environmental or health issue, note how the author shows bias by

using the above terms. This is the result of very specialized

training.

 

Another standard PR tactic is to use the rhetoric of the

environmentalists themselves to defend a dangerous and untested

product that poses an actual threat to the environment. This we see

constantly in the PR smokescreen that surrounds genetically modified

foods.

 

They talk about how GM foods are necessary to grow more food and to

end world hunger, when the reality is that GM foods actually have

lower yields per acre than natural crops. (Stauber p 173)

 

The grand design sort of comes into focus once you realize that

almost all GM foods have been created by the sellers of herbicides

and pesticides so that those plants can withstand greater amounts of

herbicides and pesticides. (The Magic Bean)

 

Kill Your TV?

 

Hope this chapter has given you a hint to start reading newspaper

and magazine articles a little differently, and perhaps start

watching TV news shows with a slightly different attitude than you

had before.

 

Always ask, what are they selling here, and who's selling it? And if

you actually follow up on Stauber & Rampton's book and check out

some of the other resources below, you might even glimpse the

possibility of advancing your life one quantum simply by ceasing to

subject your brain to mass media.

 

That's right - no more newspapers, no more TV news, no more Time

magazine or Newsweek. You could actually do that. Just think what

you could do with the extra time alone.

 

Really feel like you need to " relax " or find out " what's going on in

the world " for a few hours every day? Think about the news of the

past couple of years for a minute.

 

Do you really suppose the major stories that have dominated

headlines and TV news have been " what is going on in the world? " Do

you actually think there's been nothing going on besides the

contrived tech slump, the contrived power shortages, the re-filtered

accounts of foreign violence and disaster, and all the other non-

stories that the puppeteers dangle before us every day?

 

What about when they get a big one, like with OJ or Monica Lewinsky

or the Oklahoma city bombing? Do we really need to know all that

detail, day after day? Do we have any way of verifying all that

detail, even if we wanted to? What is the purpose of news?

 

To inform the public? Hardly. The sole purpose of news is to keep

the public in a state of fear and uncertainty so that they'll watch

again tomorrow and be subjected to the same advertising.

 

Oversimplification? Of course. That's the mark of mass media

mastery - simplicity. The invisible hand. Like Edward Bernays said,

the people must be controlled without them knowing it.

 

Consider this: what was really going on in the world all that time

they were distracting us with all that stupid vexatious daily

smokescreen? Fear and uncertainty -- that's what keeps people coming

back for more.

 

If this seems like a radical outlook, let's take it one step

further:

 

What would you lose from your life if you stopped watching TV and

stopped reading newspapers altogether?

 

Would your life really suffer any financial, moral, intellectual or

academic loss from such a decision?

 

Do you really need to have your family continually absorbing the

illiterate, amoral, phony, uncultivated, desperately brainless

values of the people featured in the average nightly TV program? Are

these fake, programmed robots " normal " ?

 

Do you need to have your life values constantly spoon-fed to you?

 

Are those shows really amusing, or just a necessary distraction to

keep you from looking at reality, or trying to figure things out

yourself by doing a little independent reading?

 

Name one example of how your life is improved by watching TV news

and reading the evening paper.

 

What measurable gain is there for you?

 

Planet of the Apes?

 

There's no question that as a nation, we're getting dumber year by

year. Look at the presidents we've been choosing lately. Ever notice

the blatant grammar mistakes so ubiquitous in today's advertising

and billboards?

 

Literacy is marginal in most American secondary schools. Three

fourths of California high school seniors can't read well enough to

pass their exit exams. (SJ Mercury 20 Jul 01)

 

If you think other parts of the country are smarter, try this one:

hand any high school senior a book by Dumas or Jane Austen, and ask

them to open to any random page and just read one paragraph out

loud. Go ahead, do it. SAT scales are arbitrarily shifted lower and

lower to disguise how dumb kids are getting year by year.

 

At least 10% have documented " learning disabilities, " which are

reinforced and rewarded by special treatment and special drugs. Ever

hear of anyone failing a grade any more?

 

Or observe the intellectual level of the average movie which these

days may only last one or two weeks in the theatres, especially if

it has insufficient explosions, chase scenes, silicone, fake martial

arts, and cretinesque dialogue.

 

Radio? Consider the low mental qualifications of the falsely

animated corporate simians they hire as DJs -- they're only allowed

to have 50 thoughts, which they just repeat at random.

 

And at what point did popular music cease to require the study of

any musical instrument or theory whatsoever, not to mention lyric?

Perhaps we just don't understand this emerging art form, right? The

Darwinism of MTV - apes descended from man.

 

Ever notice how most articles in any of the glossy magazines sound

like they were all written by the same guy? And this guy just

graduated from junior college? And yet he has all the correct

opinions on social issues, no original ideas, and that shallow,

smug, homogenized corporate omniscience, which enables him to assure

us that everything is going to be fine...

 

All this is great news for the PR industry - makes their job that

much easier. Not only are very few paying attention to the process

of conditioning; fewer are capable of understanding it even if

somebody explained it to them.

 

Tea In the Cafeteria

 

Let's say you're in a crowded cafeteria, and you buy a cup of tea.

And as you're about to sit down you see your friend way across the

room. So you put the tea down and walk across the room and talk to

your friend for a few minutes.

 

Now, coming back to your tea, are you just going to pick it up and

drink it? Remember, this is a crowded place and you've just left

your tea unattended for several minutes. You've given anybody in

that room access to your tea.

 

Why should your mind be any different? Turning on the TV, or

uncritically absorbing mass publications every day - these

activities allow access to our minds by " just anyone " - anyone who

has an agenda, anyone with the resources to create a public image

via popular media.

 

As we've seen above, just because we read something or see something

on TV doesn't mean it's true or worth knowing. So the idea here is,

like the tea, the mind is also worth guarding, worth limiting access

to it.

 

This is the only life we get. Time is our total capital. Why waste

it allowing our potential, our personality, our values to be shaped,

crafted, and limited according to the whims of the mass panderers?

 

There are many important issues that are crucial to our physical,

mental, and spiritual well-being. If it's an issue where money is

involved, objective data won't be so easy to obtain. Remember, if

everybody knows something, that image has been bought and paid for.

 

Real knowledge takes a little effort, a little excavation down at

least one level below what " everybody knows. "

 

References

 

 

 

---

-----------

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

 

As I said in February when I posted an earlier piece on Trust Us

We're Experts:

 

One of the reasons I write this newsletter is to provide you, the

reader, with the truth so you can weed through much of the nonsense

that the media throws at you.

 

I know that it is difficult to do and that is one of the main

reasons for the newsletter. This book will help explain the details

of how the media deceives you through the manipulation of PR by the

large corporations who do not have your best interest at heart.

 

My goal is to change the entire system. The way that will be done is

through the Internet, which is the world's cheapest printing press.

By passing this newsletter on to as many of your friends and

relatives as possible along with a strong endorsement to ,

you will play a major role in helping to lift the veil of deceit

that these corporations try to hide the truth with.

 

We can change the traditional paradigm and in the process save

hundreds of thousands of people from premature death and disability.

 

Related Articles:

 

 

 

How The Media Deceives You About Health Issues

by Tate Metro Media

 

Think about how many times you've heard an evening news anchor spit

out some variation on the phrase, " According to experts .... " It's

such a common device that most of us hardly hear it anymore. But we

do hear the " expert " - the professor or doctor or watchdog group -

tell us whom to vote for, what to eat, when to buy stock. And, most

of the time, we trust them.

 

Now ask yourself, how many times has that news anchor revealed who

those experts are, where they get their funding, and what

constitutes their political agenda? If you answered never, you'd be

close.

 

That's the driving complaint behind Trust Us, We're Experts, a new

book co-authored by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton of the Center

for Media and Democracy.

 

Unlike many so-called " experts, " the Center's agenda is quite overt -

to expose the shenanigans of the public relations industry, which

pays, influences and even invents a startling number of those

experts.

 

The third book co-authored by Stauber and Rampton, Trust Us hit

bookstore shelves in January.

 

There are two kinds of " experts " in question--the PR spin doctors

behind the scenes and the " independent " experts paraded before the

public, scientists who have been hand-selected, cultivated, and paid

handsomely to promote the views of corporations involved in

controversial actions.

 

Lively writing on controversial topics such as

 

dioxin

bovine growth hormone

genetically modified food

makes this a real page-turner, shocking in its portrayal of the real

and potential dangers in each of these technological innovations and

of the " media pseudo-environment " created to hide the risks.

 

By financing and publicizing views that support the goals of

corporate sponsors, PR campaigns have, over the course of the

century, managed to suppress the dangers of lead poisoning for

decades, silence the scientist who discovered that rats fed on

genetically modified corn had significant organ abnormalities,

squelch television and newspaper stories about the risks of bovine

growth hormone, and place enough confusion and doubt in the public's

mind about global warming to suppress any mobilization for action.

 

Rampton and Stauber introduce the movers and shakers of the PR

industry, from the " risk communicators " (whose job is to downplay

all risks) and " outrage managers " (with their four strategies--

deflect, defer, dismiss, or defeat) to those who specialize

in " public policy intelligence " (spying on opponents).

 

Evidently, these elaborate PR campaigns are created for our own

good. According to public relations philosophers, the public reacts

emotionally to topics related to health and safety and is incapable

of holding rational discourse. Needless to say, Rampton and Stauber

find these views rather antidemocratic and intend to pull back the

curtain to reveal the real wizard in Oz.

 

Metro Media: What was the most surprising or disturbing manipulation

of public opinion you reveal in your book?

 

John Stauber: The most disturbing aspect is not a particular

example, but rather the fact that the news media regularly fails to

investigate so-called " independent experts " associated with industry

front groups. They all have friendly-sounding names like " Consumer

Alert " and " The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, " but they

fail to reveal their corporate funding and their propaganda agenda,

which is to smear legitimate heath and community safety concerns

as " junk-science fear-mongering. "

 

The news media frequently uses the term " junk science " to smear

environmental health advocates. The PR industry has spent more than

a decade and many millions of dollars funding and creating industry

front groups which wrap them in the flag of " sound science. " In

reality, their " sound science " is progress as defined by the tobacco

industry, the drug industry, the chemical industry, the genetic

engineering industry, the petroleum industry and so on.

 

Metro Media: Is the public becoming more aware of PR tactics and

false experts? Or are those tactics and experts becoming more savvy

and effective?

 

Stauber: The truth is that the situation is getting worse, not

better. More and more of what we see, hear and read as " news " is

actually PR content.

 

On any given day much or most of what the media transmits or prints

as news is provided by the PR industry.

 

It's off press releases, the result of media campaigns, heavily spun

and managed, or in the case of " video news releases " it's fake TV

news - stories completely produced and supplied for free by former

journalists who've gone over to PR. TV news directors air these VNRs

as news. So the media not only fails to identify PR manipulations,

it is the guilty party by passing them on as news.

 

Metro Media: What's the solution for the excesses of the PR

industry? Just more media literacy and watchdog organizations like

yours? Or should the PR industry be regulated in some way?

 

Stauber: In our last chapter, " Question Authority, " we identify some

of the most common propaganda tactics so that individuals and

journalists and public interest scientists can do a better job of

not being snowed and fooled. But ultimately those who have the most

power and money in any society are going to use the most

sophisticated propaganda tactics available to keep democracy at bay

and the rabble in line.

 

There are some specific legislative steps that could be taken

without stepping on the First Amendment. One is that all nonprofit,

tax-exempt organizations - charities and educational groups, for

instance - should be required by law to reveal their institutional

funders of, say, $500 or more.

 

That way when a journalist or a citizen hears that a scientific

report is from a group like the American Council on Science and

Health, a quick trip to the IRS Web site could reveal that this

group gets massive infusions of industry money, and that the

corporations that fund it benefit from its proclamations that

pesticides are safe, genetically engineered food will save the

planet, lead contamination isn't really such a big deal, climate

change isn't happening, and so on.

 

The public clearly doesn't understand that most nonprofit groups

(not ours, by the way) take industry and government grants, or are

even the nonprofit arm of industry.

 

Detroit Metro Times February 6, 2001

 

 

 

---

-----------

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

 

One of the reasons I write this newsletter is to provide you, the

reader, with the truth so you can weed through much of the nonsense

that the media throws at you.

 

I know that it is difficult to do and that is one of the main

reasons for the newsletter. This book will help explain the details

of how the media deceives you through the manipulation of PR by the

large corporations who do not have your best interest at heart.

 

My goal is to change the entire system. The way that will be done is

through the Internet, which is the world's cheapest printing press.

By passing this newsletter on to as many of your friends and

relatives as possible along with a strong endorsement to ,

you will play a major role in helping to lift the veil of deceit

that these corporations try to hide the truth with.

 

We can change the traditional paradigm and in the process save

hundreds of thousands of people from premature death and disability.

 

 

 

The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything

References

 

Stauber & Rampton, " Trust Us, We're Experts " , Tarcher/Putnam 2001

 

Ewen, Stuart PR!: A Social History of Spin 1996 ISBN: 0-465-06168-0

Published by Basic Books, A Division of Harper Collins

 

Tye, Larry The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of

Public Relations Crown Publishers, Inc. 2001

 

King, R Medical journals rarely disclose researchers' ties Wall St.

Journal, 2 Feb 99.

 

Engler, R et al. Misrepresentation and Responsibility in Medical

Research New England Journal of Medicine v 317 p 1383 26 Nov 1987

 

Black, D PhD Health At the Crossroads Tapestry 1988. revanian

Shibumi 1983.

 

Crossen, C Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact in America 1996.

 

Robbins, J Reclaiming Our Health Kramer 1996.

 

O'Shea T The Magic Bean 2000 www.thedoctorwithin.com.

 

Inhibitory effect of conjugated dienoic derivatives of linoleic acid

and beta-carotene on the in vitro growth of human cancer cells

CANCER LETT. (Ireland) , 1992, 63/2 (125-133)

 

Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by fatty acids and

monoglycerides APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. (USA) , 1992, 58/2 (624-

629)

 

Fatty acids and monoglycerides were evaluated in brain heart

infusion broth and in milk for antimicrobial activity against the

Scott A strain of Listeria monocytogenes. C(12:0), C(18:3), and

glyceryl monolaurate (monolaurin) had the strongest activity in

brain heart infusion broth and were bactericidal at 10 to 20

microg/ml, whereas potassium (K)-conjugated linoleic acids and C

(18:2) were bactericidal at 50 to 200 microg/ml. C(14:0), C(16:0), C

(18:0), C(18:1), glyceryl monomyristate, and glyceryl monopalmitate

were not inhibitory at 200 microg/ml.

 

The bactericidal activity in brain heart infusion broth was higher

at pH 5 than at pH 6. In whole milk and skim milk, K-conjugated

linoleic acid was bacteriostatic and prolonged the lag phase

especially at 4degreeC. Monolaurin inactivated L. monocytogenes in

skim milk at 4degreeC, but was less inhibitory at 23degreeC.

Monolaurin did not inhibit L. monocytogenes in whole milk because of

the higher fat content. Other fatty acids tested were not effective

in whole or skim milk. Our results suggest that K-conjugated

linoleic acids or monolaurin could be used as an inhibitory agent

against L. monocytogenes in dairy foods.

 

Recognition of cervical neoplasia by the estimation of a free-

radical reaction product (octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid) in exfoliated

cells CLIN. CHIM. ACTA (NETHERLANDS) , 1987, 163/2 (149-152) lar

ratio between a diene-conjugated linoleic-acid isomer (18 : 2(9,11))

and the parent linoleic acid (18 : 2(9,12)), both esterified as

phospholipids, was significantly different in exfoliated cells from

normal cervices and from cervices with colposcopic and cytological

evidence of precancer. The measurement may provide a simple and

perhaps improved alternative to cytological screening.

 

Feeding conjugated linoleic acid to animals partially overcomes

catabolic responses due to endotoxin injection BIOCHEM. BIOPHYS.

RES. COMMUN. (USA) , 1994, 198/3 (1107-1112)

 

The ability of conjugated linoleic acid to prevent endotoxin-induced

growth suppression was examined. Mice fed a basal diet or diet with

0.5% fish oil lost twice as much body weight after endotoxin

injection than mice fed conjugated lineoleic acid. By 72 hours post

injection, mice fed conjugated linoleic acid had body weights

similar to vehicle injected controls; however, body weights of basal

and fish oil fed mice injected with endotoxin were reduced.

Conjugated linoleic acid prevented anorexia from endotoxin

injection. Splenocyte blastogenesis was increased by conjugated

linoleic acid.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (9,11- and 10,12-octadecadienoic acid) is

produced in conventional but not germ-free rats fed linoleic acid J.

NUTR. (USA) , 1994, 124/5 (694-701)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is an anticarcinogen in several model

animal systems. Conjugated linoleic acid occurs naturally in food

and is present at higher concentrations in products from ruminant

animals. Given that certain rumen microorganisms produce CLA from

free linoleic acid, we studied the effect of feeding free or

esterified linoleic acid on tissue CLA a 5% (wt/wt) corn oil control

diet alone or supplemented with 5% free linoleic acid or 8.63% corn

oil (equivalent to 5% linoleic acid in triglyceride).

 

Germ-free rats were fed autoclavable nonpurified diet alone or

supplemented with 5% free linoleic acid. Analyses of CLA

concentrations were performed on lipids extracted from liver, lung,

kidney, skeletal muscle and abdominal adipose tissue, and on liver

phospholipid and neutral lipid fractions. Tissue CLA concentrations

were higher in conventional rats fed free linoleic acid (the major

isomers were cis-9, trans-11 and trans-9, cis- 11) than in control

animals.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid concentrations in free linoleic acid-fed

rats were maximal at 4 wk, and levels were 5-10 times higher than

those of controls. Elevated CLA concentrations were also observed in

liver phospholipid and neutral lipid fractions. In contrast, CLA

concentrations in the tissues of germ-free rats were not affected by

diet. Feeding the corn oil-fortified diet to conventional rats did

not increase CLA concentration in the tissues. We conclude that the

intestinal bacterial flora of rats is capable of converting free

linoleic acid (but not linoleic acid esterified in triglycerides) to

cis-9, trans-11 and trans-9, cis-11 CLA isomers.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid and atherosclerosis in rabbits

ATHEROSCLEROSIS (Ireland) , 1994, 108/1 (19-25)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) consists of a series of positional

and geometric dienoic isomers of linoleic acid that occur naturally

in foods. CLA exhibits antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo. To

assess the effect of CLA on atherosclerosis, 12 rabbits were fed a

semi-synthetic diet containing 14% fat and 0.1% cholesterol for 22

weeks. For 6 of these rabbits, the diet was augmented with CLA (0.5

g CLA/rabbit per day). Blood samples were taken monthly for lipid

analysis.

 

By 12 weeks total and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were

markedly lower in the CLA-fed group. Interestingly, the LDL

cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and total cholesterol to HDL

cholesterol ratio were significantly reduced in CLA-fed rabbits.

Examination of the aortas of CLA-fed rabbits showed less

atherosclerosis.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid is a growth factor for rats as shown by

enhanced weight gain and improved feed efficiency J. NUTR. (USA) ,

1994, 124/12 (2344-2349)

 

We studied the effect of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on rat

development and growth. Primigravid female Fischer rats were fed

control or CLA- supplemented (0.25% or 0.5% CLA) diets during

gestation and/or lactation. Conjugated linoleic acid was

incorporated into milk fat and tissue lipids proportional to the

level of CLA fed and the duration of CLA feeding. Conjugated

linoleic acidas incorporated into fetal and neonatal tissues; it did

not affect litter size nor induce apparent abnormalities.

 

To the contrary, feeding CLA to the dams during gestation and

lactation improved the postnatal body weight gain of pups (P & lt;

0.05), measured on d 10 of lactation. Pups that continued to receive

the CLA-supplemented diet after weaning had significantly greater

body weight gain and improved feed efficiency relative to control

animals (P & lt; 0.05).

 

Cows' milk fat components as potential anticarcinogenic agents

Journal of Nutrition (USA) , 1997, 127/6 (1055-1060)

 

The optimum approach to conquering cancer is prevention. Although

the human diet contains components which promote cancer, it also

contains components with the potential to prevent it. Recent

research shows that milk fat contains a number of potential

anticarcinogenic components including conjugated linoleic acid,

sphingomyelin, butyric acid and ether lipids. Conjugated linoleic

acid inhibited proliferation of human malignant melanoma,

colorectal, breast and lung cancer cell lines.

 

In animals, it reduced the incidence of chemically induced mouse

epidermal tumors, mouse forestomach neoplasia and aberrant crypt

foci in the rat colon. In a number of studies, conjugated linoleic

acid, at near-physiological concentrations, inhibited mammary

tumorigenesis independently of the amount and type of fat in the

diet. In vitro studies showed that the milk phospholipid,

sphingomyelin, through its biologically active metabolites ceramide

and sphingosine, participates in three major antiproliferative

pathways influencing oncogenesis, namely, inhibition of cell growth,

and induction of differentiation and apoptosis.

 

Mice fed sphingomyelin had fewer colon tumors and aberrant crypt

foci than control animals. About one third of all milk

triacylglycerols contain one molecule of butyric acid, a potent

inhibitor of proliferation and inducer of differentiation and

apoptosis in a wide range of neoplastic cell lines. Although

butyrate produced by colonic fermentation is considered important

for colon cancer protection, an animal study suggests dietary

butyrate may inhibit mammary tumorigenesis.

 

The dairy cow also has the ability to extract other potential

anticarcinogenic agents such as beta- carotene, beta-ionone and

gossypol from its feed and transfer them to milk. Animal studies

comparing the tumorigenic potential of milk fat or butter with

linoleic acid-ricless tumor development with dairy products.

 

Suppression of voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ currents by polyunsaturated

fatty acids in adult and neonatal rat ventricular myocytes

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States

of America (USA) , 1997, 94/8 (4182-4187)

 

Our recent data show that in cardiac myocytes polyunsaturated fatty

acids (PUFAs) are antiarrhythmic. They reduce I(Na), shorten the

action potential, shift the threshold for excitation to more

positive potentials, and prolong the relative refractory period.

 

In this study we use patch-clamp techniques in whole-cell mode and

confocal Ca2+ imaging to examine the effects of PUFAs on the voltage-

gated L-type Ca2+ current (I(Ca,L)), elementary sarcoplasmic

reticulum Ca2+-release events (Ca2+-sparks), and (Ca2+)(i)

transients in isolated rat ventricular myocytes. Extracellular

application of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5 n - 3) produced a

prompt and reversible concentration-dependent suppression of I(Ca,L).

 

The concentration of EPA to produce 50% inhibition of I(Ca) was 0.8

microM in neonatal rat heart cells and 2.1 microM in adult

ventricular myocytes. While the EPA induced suppression of I(Ca,L),

it did not significantly alter the shape of the current-voltage

relation but did produce a small, but significant, negative shift of

the steady-state inactivation curve.

 

The inhibition of I(Ca,L) was voltage- and time-dependent, but not

use- or frequency-dependent. Other PUFAs, such as docosahexaenoic

acid, arachidonic acid, linolenic acid, linoleic acid, conjugated

linoleic acid, and eicosatetraynoic acid had similar effects on I

(Ca,L) as EPA. All-trans-retinoic acid, which had been shown to

suppress induced arrhythmogenic activity in rat heart cells, also

produced a significant inhibition of I(Ca,L).

 

The saturated stearic acid and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-release

underlie many cardiac arrhythmias, we examined the effects of EPA on

I(Ca,L) and Ca2+-sparks. While EPA suppressed both, it did not

change the temporal or spatial character of the Ca2+-sparks, nor did

it alter the ability of I(Ca,L) to trigger Ca2+- sparks. We conclude

that PUFAs may act as antiarrhythmic agents in vivo in normal and

Ca2+-overloaded cells principally because they reduce Ca2+ entry by

blocking I(Ca,L).

 

Furthermore, PUFAs act directly to decrease I(Na) and I(Ca,L), but

indirectly to reduce the (Ca2+)(i) transients and (Ca2+)(i)-

activated membrane current. Although a negative inotropic action is

associated with application of PUFAs, it is clear that by reducing I

(Ca,L), I(Na) and Ca2+-sparks, PUFAs can reduce spontaneous

extrasystoles in the heart. The mechanisms by which PUFAs act are

discussed.

 

Effects of dietary conjugated linoleic acid on lymphocyte function

and growth of mammary tumors in mice Anticancer Research (Greece) ,

1997, 17/2 A (987-993)

 

We studied the effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on

lymphocyte function and growth of a transplantable murine mammary

tumor. In experiment 1, eig(n = 8/group) were fed 0.1%, 0.3% or 0.9%

CLA for 3 or 6 wk. Lymphocyte proliferation, interleukin-2

production and lymphocyte cytotoxicity were assessed using splenic

lymphocytes. Plasma CLA concentrations increased in a dose-dependent

manner with CLA feeding.

 

Lymphocyte proliferation in mice fed 0.3% and 0.9% CLA was enhanced

in phytohemagglutinin-induced but not in concanavalin A- or

lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cultures. Production of IL-2 also was

stimulated by CLA. In contrast, CLA had no effect on lymphocyte

cytotoxicity.

 

In experiment 2, mice (n = 20/treatment) were fed the same diets for

2 wk before being infused with 1 x 106 WAZ-2T metastatic mammary

tumor cells into the right inguinal mammary gland. Tumor volume and

latency were recorded for 45 d. Dietary CLA did not affect mammary

tumor growth. Tumor latency, tumor incidence and tumor lipid

peroxidation activity also were unaffected by CLA. Body weight and

feed intake were similar among treatments.

 

Therefore, dietary CLA modulated certain aspects of the immune

defense but had no obvious effect on the growth of an established,

aggressive mammary tumor.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid suppresses the growth of human breast

adenocarcinoma cells in SCID mice Anticancer Research (Greece) ,

1997, 17/2 A (969-973)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is mainly derived from dairy

products, has been shown both in vitro and in animal models to have

strong anti-tumor activity. Particular effects were observed on the

growth and metastatic spread of transplantable mammary tumors.

 

In this study, we examined the effect of dietary CLA on the growth

of human breast adenocarcinoma cells in severe combined

immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Mice were fed 1% CLA for two weeks

prior to subcutaneous inoculation of 107 MDA-MB468 cells and

throughout the wth by 73% and 30% at 9 and 14 weeks post-

inoculation, respectively. Moreover, CLA completely abrogated the

spread of breast cancer cells to lungs, peripheral blood, and bone

marrow. These results indicate the ability of dietary CLA to block

both the local growth and systemic spread of human breast cancer via

mechanisms independent of the host immune system.

 

Lymphatic recovery, tissue distribution, and metabolic effects of

conjugated lioleic acid in rats Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry

(USA) , 1997, 8/1 (38-43)

 

Apparent lymphatic recovery of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in

rats was considerably lower than for linoleic acid, approximately

55% versus 80% for 24 hr, although the distribution in lymph

lipoproteins was similar. Not all the CLA constituents were

recovered equally, and more tt-isomers were recovered than ct- or tc-

isomers in relation to the composition of CLA given.

 

When rats were fed CLA or linoleic acid at the dietary level of 1%

for 2 weeks, there were detectable differences in the incorporation

of CLA in various tissues, and adipose tissue and lung contained the

highest proportion, whereas a limited amount was incorporated into

the brain. In general, 9c, 11t/9t,11c isomers were the predominant

CLA followed by tt-isomers. Also, CLA was differently incorporated

into individual phospholipids in the liver. No effects were observed

on serum and liver lipid levels, but the concentration of

prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in serum anhe for mer was statistically

significant. CLA did not increase tissue TBA values. Thus, the

metabolic effect of CLA may not be attributed to a single entity.

 

Proliferative responses of normal human mammary and MCF-7 breast

cancer cells to linoleic acid, conjugated linoleic acid and

eicosanoid synthesis inhibitors in culture Anticancer Research

(Greece) , 1997, 17/1 A (197-203)

 

Potential mechanisms for the stimulation or inhibition of cell

growth by linoleic acid (LA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) were

investigated by using eicosanoid linoleic acid (CLA) were

investigated by using eicosanoid synthesis inhibitors.

 

Normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) and MCF-7 breast cancer

cells were incubated in serum-free medium supplemented with LA or

CLA and cyclooxygenase (indomethacin; INDO) or lipoxygenase

(nordihydroguaiaretic acid; NDGA) inhibitors. Linoleic acid

stimulated the growth and (3H)thymidine incorporation of normal HMEC

and MCF-7 cancer cells, while CLA was inhibitory. Supplementation

with LA increased intracellular lipid peroxide concentrations in

normal HMEC and MCF-7 cancer cells, whereas CLA did not affect lipid

peroxide formation.

 

Normal HMEC and MCF-7 cells supplemented with LA and INDO or NDGA

resulted in growth inhibition. The treatment of normal HMEC with CLA

and INDO or NDGA, and MCF-7 cells with CLA and INDO stimulated cell

growth. However, the addition of CLA and NDGA to MCF-7 cells

resulted in synergistic growth suppression suggesting that CLA

effects were mediated through lipoxygenase inhibition.

 

Although NDGA was more inhibitory of cell growth in the presence of

LA or CLA than INDO, growth was associate with both prostaglandin

and leukotriene production. Additional studies are warranted to

elucidate the mechanism(s) whereby LA or CLA affect breast cell

growth.

 

Conjugated linoleic acid modulates hepatic lipid composition in mice

Lipids (USA) , 1997, 32/2 (199-204)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a chemoprotective fatty acid that

inhibits mammary, colon, forestomach, and skin carcinogenesis in

experimental animals. We hypothesize that the ubiquitous

chemoprotective actions of dietary CLA in extrahepatic tissues are

dependent upon its role in modulating fatty acid composition and

metabolism in liver, the major organ for lipid metabolism.

 

This study begins to evaluate the role of CLA in lipid metabolism by

determining the modulation of fatty acid composition by CLA. Female

SENCAR mice were fed semipurified diets containing 0.0% (Diet A),

0.5% (Diet B), 1.0% (Diet C), or 1.5% (Diet D) CLA (by weight) for

six weeks. Mice fed Diets B, C, and D exhibited lower body weights

and elevated amounts of extractable total lipid in livers compared

with mice fed diets without CLA (Diet A).

 

Analyses of the fatty acid composition of liver by gas

chromatography revealed that dietary CLA was incorporated into

neutral and phospholipids at the expense of linoleate in Diets B, C,

and D; oleate increased and arachidonate decreased in neutral lipids

of CLA diet groups. In addition, increasing dietary CLA was

associated with reduced linoleate in hepatic phospholipids. In an in

vitro assay, CLA was desaturated to an unidentified 18:3 product to

a similar extent as linoleate conversion to gamma- linolenate (9.88,

and 13.63%, respectively).

 

These data suggest that CLA may affect metabolic interconversion of

fatty acids in liver that may ultimately result in modified fatty

acid composition and arachidonate-derived eicosanoid production in

extrahepatic tissues. In addition to determining how dietary CLA

modulates eicosanoid synthesis, further work is needed to identify

enzymatic products that may result from desaturation of CLA.

 

Dietary conjugated linoleic acid modulation of phorbol ester skin

tumor promotion Nutrition and Cancer (USA) , 1996, 26/2 (149-157)

 

The fatty acid derivative conjugated dienoic linoleate (CLA) has

been shown to inhibit initiation and postinitiation stages of

carcinogenesis in several experimental animal models. The goal of

the present study was to determine the role of increasing levels of

dietary CLA in mouse skin tumor promotion elicited by 12-O-

tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA).

 

Mice were fed control (no CLA) diet during initiation, then switched

to diets containing 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, or 1.5% (wt/wt) CLA during

skin tumor promotion by TPA. Body weights of mice fed 0.5%, 1.0%, or

1.5% CLA were similar to each other but were significantly lower (p

& lt; 0.05) than weights of mice fed no CLA (0.0%) throughout

promotion. A reduction in papilloma incidence was observed in mice

fed 1.5% CLA from Weeks 8 to 24 compared with mice fed diets

containing 0.0-1.0% CLA (p & lt; 0.05).

 

Twenty-four weeks after tumor promotion was begun, diets containing

1.0% and 1.5% CLA inhibited tumor yield (4.94 and 4.35 tumors/mouse,

respectively) compared with diets without CLA (0.0% CLA, 6.65

tumors/mouse, p & lt; 0.05) or 0.5% CLA (5.92 tumors/mouse, p & lt;

0.05). These data indicate that CLA inhibits tumor promotion in a

manner that is independent of its anti-initiator activity. Further

studies are warranted in identifying cellular mechanisms that are

likely to be involved with the antipromoter effects of CLA.

 

The efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid in mammary cancer

prevention is independent of the level or type of fat in the diet

Carcinogenesis (United Kingdom) , 1996, 17/5 (1045-1050)

 

The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the

anticarcinogenic activity of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is

affected by the amount and composition of dietary fat consumed by

the host. Because the anticancer agent of interest is a fatty acid,

this approach may provide some insight into its mechanism of action,

depending on the outcome of these fat feeding experiments. For the

fat level experiment, a custom formulated fat blend was used that

simulates the fatty acid composition of the US diet.

 

This fat blend was present at 10, 13.3, 16.7 or 20% by weight in the

diet. For the fat type experiment, a 20% (w/w) fat diet containing

either corn oil (exclusively) or lard (predominantly) was used.

Mammary cancer prevention by CLA was evaluated using the rat

dimethylbenz(alpha)anthracene model. The results indicated that the

magnitude of tumor inhibition by 1% CLA was not influenced by the

level or type of fat in the diet. It should be noted that these fat

diets varied markedly in their content of linoleate.

 

Fatty acid analysis showed that CLA was incorporated predominantly

in mammary tissue neutral lipids, while the increase in CLA in

mammary tissue phospholipids was minimal. Furthermore, there was no

evidence that CLA supplementation perturbed the distribution of

linoleate or other fatty acids in the phospholipid fraction.

Collectively these carcinogenesis and biochemical data suggest that

the cancer preventive activity of CLA is unlikely to be mediated by

interference with the metabolic cascade involved in converting

linoleic acid to eicosanoids.

 

The hypothesis that CLA might act as an antioxidant was also

examined. Treatment with CLA resulted in lower levels of mammary

tissue malondialdehyde (an end product of lipid peroxidation), but

failed to change the levels of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (a marker of

oxidatively damaged DNA). Thus while CLA may have some antioxidant

function in vivo in suppressing lipid peroxidation, its

anticarcinogenic activity cannot be accounted for by protecting the

target cell DNA against oxidative damage.

 

The finding that the inhibitory effect of CLA maximized at 1%

(regardless of the availability of linoleate in the diet) could

conceivably point to a limiting step in the capacity to metabolize

CLA to some active product(s) which is essential for cancer

prevention.

 

Dietary modifiers of carcinogenesis Environmental Health

Perspectives (USA) , 1995, 103/SUPPL. 8 (177-184)

 

Dietary components express a wide range of activities that can

affect carcinogenesis. Naturally occurring substances in foods have

been shown in laboratory experiments to serve as dietary

antimutagens, either as bioantimutagens or as desmutagens. Dietary

desmutagens may function as chemical inactivaters, enzymatic

inducers, scavengers, or antioxidants

 

.. Dietary components may also act later in the carcinogenic process

as tumor growth suppressors. Examples of dietary factors acting in

each of these stages of carcinogenesis are presented, and potential

anticarcinogens such as the carotenoids, tocopherols, phenolic

compounds, glucosinolates, metal-binding proteins, phytoestrogens,

and conjugated linoleic acid are discussed. individual foods

typically contain multiple potential anticarcinogens. Many of these

substances can influence carcinogenesis through more than one

mechanism.

 

Some substances exhibit both anticarcinogenic and carcinogenic

activity in vitro, depending on conditions. Epidemiologic research

indicates that high fruit and vegetable consumption is associated

with lower cancer risk. Little research has focused on the effects

of single substances or single foods in man. Realization of the

potential of foodborne substances to reduce the human burden of

cancer will only be achieved with better measurement of dietary

exposures and funding of muitidisciplinary research in this area

commensurate with its importance.

 

Effects of C18 fatty acid isomers on DNA synthesis in hepatoma and

breast cancer cells Anticancer Research (Greece) , 1995, 15/5 B

(2017-2021)

 

The influence of geometrical isomerism on the growth regulatory

effects of 18 carbon unsaturated fatty acids on the incorporation of

(3H)thymidine into DNA was studied in 7800NJ rat hepatoma and T47D

human breast cancer cells. 9 cis, 12 cis linoleic acid was more

inhibitory than the trans 9, trans 12 isomer (linolelaidic acid).

The monounsaturated cis isomer. In contrast to published studies on

the proliferation of breast cancer cells, we observed conditions in

which linoleic acid was more inhibitory than conjugated linoleic

acid for thymidine incorporation into DNA.

 

Increasing the concentration of 38 mg/ml greatly diminished

inhibitory effects and favored stimulatory effects on hepatoma and

breast cancer cells. The results suggested that the growth

inhibitory and stimulatory effects of C18 unsaturated fatty acids on

cancer cells are influenced by geometrical isomerism and the ratio

of the albumin to fatty acid concentrations

 

Effect of timing and duration of dietary conjugated linoleic acid on

mammary cancer prevention Nutrition and Cancer (USA) , 1995, 24/3

(241-247)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a minor fatty acid found

predominantly in the form of triglycerides in beef and dairy

products. Previous work by Ip and co-workers showed that free fatty

acid-CLA at less than or equal to1% in the diet is protective

against mammary carcinogenesis in rats. The present study verified

that the anticancer activities of free fatty acid-CLA and

triglyceride-CLA are essentially identical.

 

This is an important finding, because it rules out a nonspecific

free fatty acid effect. In terms of practical implication, we can

continue the in vivo research with the less-expensive free fatty

acid- CLA without compromising the physiological relevance of the

data. A primary objective of this report was to investigate how the

timing and duration of CLA feeding might affect the development of

mammary carcinogenesis in the methylnitrosourea (MNU) model. We

found that exposure to 1% CLA during the early postweaning and

pubertal period only (from 21 to 42 days of age) was sufficient to

reduce subsequent tumorigenesis induced by a single dose of MNU

given at 56 days of age.

 

This period incidentally corresponds to a time of active

morphological development of the mammary gland to the mature state.

In contrast to the above observation, a continuous intake of CLA was

required for maximal inhibition of tumorigenesis when CLA feeding

was started after MNU administration, suggesting that some active

metabolite(s) of CLA might be involved in suppressing the process of

neoplastic promotion/progression.

 

The role of phenolics, conjugated linoleic acid, carnosine, and

pyrroloquinoline quinone as nonessential dietary antioxidants

Nutrition Reviews (USA) , 1995, 53/3 (49-58)

 

Oxidative reactions have been implicated in the development of

numerous diseases including atherosclerosis and cancer. Oxidation t

in loss of membrane integrity and function, inactivation of enzymes,

modification of lipoproteins, and chemical alteration of DNA. Active

oxygen species, transition metals, reducing agents, and enzymes such

as lipoxygenase are all involved in the catalysis of oxidative

reactions.

 

Since lipid oxidation catalysts and active oxygen species are

ubiquitous to all biological systems and since lipid oxidation

products can enter the body via oxidized foods, numerous endogenous

antioxidant systems have been developed. Endogenous antioxidant

systems include antioxidant enzymes, free radical scavengers, and

metal chelators. The purpose of this review is to examine the

potential of nonessential dietary components that inhibit oxidative

reactions in foods and biological tissues.

 

Dietary conjugated linoleic acid reduces plasma lipoproteins and

early aortic atharosclerosis in hypercholasterolemic hamsters Artery

(USA) , 1997, 22/5 (266-277)

 

Conjugated linoleic acid is a collective term used to designate a

mixture of positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid in

which the double bonds are conjugated. Unlike linoleic acid, there

is a paucity of information regarding the effect of dietary

conjugated linoleic acid on plasma lipoproteins and aortic

atherosclerosis.

 

Therefore, fifty hamsters were divided into five groups of ten and

fed O (Control), 0.06 (LOW), 0.11 (MEDIUM), and 1.1(HIGH) en%

conjugated linoleic acid or 1.1 en% linoleic acid. Blood samples

were taken at 4, 8 and 11 weeks for plasma lipid analyses and for

plasma tocopherol assay at sacrifice. Animals fed the conjugated

linoleic acidcontaining diets collectively had significantly reduced

levels of plasma total cholesterol, non-high density lipoprotein

cholesterol, (combined very low and low density lipoprotein) and

triglycerides with no effect on high density lipoprotein

cholesterol, as compared to CONTROLs.

 

Linoleic acid-fed animals relative to CONTROLs also had reduced

plasma total cholesterol, non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol

and triglycarides, but only the latter was statistically

significant. Compared to the CONTROL group, plasma tocopherol/total

cholesterol ratios determined from plasma pools for the LOW, MEDIUM

and HIGH conjugated linoleic acid and linoleic acid groups were

increased by 48%, 48%, 86% and 29%, respectively, suggesting a

tocopherol-sparing effect, at least for the conjugated linoleic acid

treatment. Morphomatric analysis of aortas revealed less early

atherosclerosis in the conjugated linoleic acid and linoleic acid-

fed hamsters compared to the CONTROL group.

 

 

 

Evidence of a Science Bending Group Within the CDC?

Commentary by Teresa Binstock

 

As summarized by Rosie Waterhouse's news item, a transcript of the

CDC's secret meeting about thimerosal effects indicates that a small

group within the CDC acknowledges major flaws within its initial

study of the autism epidemic's link to vaccinal ethylmercury.

 

Despite this awareness, this small but influential group within the

CDC (i.e. the group that enacted the fatally flawed " study " ) has

touted and continues to use the study's " conclusions " -- e.g. on the

webpages of the American Academy of Pediatrics (spring, 2000) and at

the recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) hearing (July 16, 2001).

 

What the CDC's secret meeting transcript conveys is that the study's

data about autism were insufficient. As a result, conclusions about

rates of autism in the pediatric cohort from several HMOs in the

study are fictional. Yet invalid findings do not stop this CDC group

from continuing to disseminate misleading conclusions.

 

Importantly, as indicated by reporters' rhetoric in recent Boston

Globe and Lancet articles about the IOM hearing, a tradition of

respect for the CDC enables the phony conclusions to be presented as

if valid.

 

Paragraphs that follow are an attempt to set forth a summary of what

this " rogue group " within the CDC has achieved and continues to

achieve. The seriously flawed CDC " study " -- initially distributed

as RL Davis et al, spring 2000 -- had at least three major flaws:

 

The HMO data had major under-reporting of autism;

Data analysis by Davis et al did not include susceptible subgroups

likely to be more affected by injected ethylmercury;

Davis et al relied upon the EPA's " safe " limit for methylmercury,

which had been derived in relation to gradually ingested mercury and

which, therefore, minimized the fact that during the 1990s human

infants and toddlers had been injected with bolus doses of

ethylmercury, which persisted in their bodies during a post-

vaccinal, extended pulse of cytokines, which alter permeability of

intestinal tissue and of the blood-brain barrier.

These several factors -- and others identified by analysts, e.g.,

Thomas Kurt, MD -- indicate that the rate of autism " documented " by

Davis et al was an extreme under-representation of the actual rates

of autism among children within the HMOs whose data Davis et al

utilized.

 

Despite these flaws the CDC's rogue team has continued to distribute

and utilize the flawed data and the misleading conclusions derived.

 

The CDC's rogue team has stated and continues to state that an

association with autism was not found. Note: this statement is

inaccurate and is quite different from what the CDC ought be

stating, namely, that the study design was inadequate for evaluating

a link between thimerosal (TMS; 49.6% ethylmercury by weight) and

the increased incidence of autism.

 

Yet despite the flawed study, the CDC's team continues to tout the

study's " conclusions " as if valid, which they are not!

 

At the IOM hearing (7.16.01), the CDC presented summaries of

its " Phase 1 and Phase 2 " studies (i.e. several versions of what had

been called RL Davis et al, spring of 2000) as if the Phase 1 and

Phase 2 studies had had valid methodologies and had thereby derived

valid conclusions about autism and thimerosal.

 

In fact, during the hearing, the CDC appeared content to convey the

impression that conclusions from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies

were legitimate. At the IOM hearing, the impression conveyed by the

U Washington presenter was that there was no need to study what had

already been found to be non-existent.

 

In my opinion, this requires a severe leap of faith.

 

Even Alice in Wonderland might pause incredulously. The CDC

acknowledges (off the record and in secret meetings) that the Phase

1 and Phase 2 Davis et al studies were seriously flawed in regard to

autism, yet the CDC is happy to proceed with a Phase 3 study that

omits autism -- because, so we were told, there was no finding of an

autism/thimerosal study in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies.

 

In other words, despite the fact that the CDC's Davis et al

methodology was fatally flawed in regard to autism and thimerosal,

the CDC's rogue team and their U of Washington allies seem quite

willing to continue diverting attention away from the substantial

likelihood that physician-injected ethylmercury has been an

etiologic factor in many cases of autism and related disorders.

 

If ADHD, Tourette's, PDD, and PDD/NOS are added, then the number of

children adversely affected by physician-injected thimerosal is

potentially huge. At the IOM hearing, presenter Mark Blaxill

summarized epidemiological similarities between autism's increase

and the increased use of vaccines containing TMs

 

He also expressed dismay that the CDC group most responsible for

developing and encouraging TMs-injections into neonates (via the

HepB vaccine) is the group that also has been conducting and

superintending studies intended to evaluate the relationship between

autism and injected-ethylmercury.

 

Given the 1990s history of injecting thimerosal and the recent

history of CDC-led " studies " about thimerosal, the CDC's conflict of

interest is clear.

 

The actions by the CDC's rogue team appear to be masking and

diverting attention away from thimerosal's adverse effects in

hundreds of thousands of children.

 

Excerpts from the CDC's secret meeting -- obtain via the Freedom of

Information act -- were presented to IOM by representatives of

SafeMinds. As an official submission to the hearing, the SafeMinds

letter to IOM is to be posted on the IOM website -- as will other

materials that implicate thimerosal injections as having damaged

many of America's children (and those in other countries too).

 

Having the CDC team that developed and encouraged early infant

injections with TMs also be running studies about TMs is akin to

having Al Capone investigate the liquor business in 1930s Chicago.

 

That the CDC's conflict of interest is having a real effect is seen

in five factors:

 

The CDC continues to trumpet the Phase 1 and Phase 2 conclusions as

if valid, which they are not;

The CDC continues to utilize the EPA's so-called " safe " limit for

ingested organic mercury despite the fact that vaccinal ethylmercury

was injected;

The CDC continues to perform data analysis while ignoring the fact

that some children are more susceptible to adverse sequelae from

bolus exposures to toxic metals;

The CDC is allowing a major " Phase 3 " study to proceed without

autism as a focus;

The CDC's rogue team uses its organization's prestige as a lever

whereby the flawed conclusions autism/thimerosal conclusions of

Davis et al are presented as if acceptable and useful -- e.g. in

allowing Phase 3 to omit autism.

At the IOM hearing, an autism-parent suggested that the HMO data

utilized by the CDC ought be analyzed by professionals selected by

trusted autism organizations. Not surprisingly, the CDC's Dr. Chen --

apparently a leading actor in the development and use of the HepB

for neonates and infants -- took the microphone and offered reasons

why independent analysis ought not occur.

 

After the meeting, Beth Clay -- assistant to Congressman Dan Burton -

- commented that the CDC seems quite ready to allow new " outsiders "

to view the HMO data so long as the CDC selects who those outside

experts are. In my opinion, outside analysis of the CDC's primary

data for Davis et al ought occur; and the analysts ought be persons

not within and not hand-picked by the CDC.

 

Furthermore, the CDC's conflict of interest already has a track

record of diverting attention away from the link between injected

ethylmercury and autism. A solution is needed to the CDC's conflict

of interest. By continuing to misuse Davis et al conclusions -- the

CDC's rogue team continues to shape public opinion and near-future

research regarding the link between thimerosal and autism.

 

Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT)