Corruption of Cong by Pharma: Greenwood offered job / drops Pharma hearing

[Guest guest]

> JustSayNo

> Tue, 20 Jul 2004 23:24:07 -0000

> [sSRI-Research] Corruption of Cong by

> Pharma: Greenwood offered job / drops Pharma hearing

>

> ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

> Promoting openness and full disclosure

> http://www.ahrp.org

>

> FYI

>

> Big Pharma buys a congressman and derails a public

> hearing focusing

> on pharmaceutical company concealment of evidence

> showing

> antidepressants increase risks of harm and show no

> benefit for

> children / adolescents!

>

> An Associated Press report provides the real

> explanation for a last

> minute suspension of a highly awaited hearing by the

> House Energy &

> Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and

> Investigations. Congressman

> James Greenwood, who heads the subcommittee that

> organized the

> hearing, will not seek re-election. The AP reports

> that Greenwood

> has been offered a job with Biotechnology Industry

> Organization,

> which includes pharmaceutical houses and companies

> involved in human

> genome research.

>

> The much awaited hearing was scheduled for today,

> 9:15. Its focus

> was to be the concealment of clinical trial data by

> drug companies

> and the role of the FDA. The line-up of testifiers

> included 7

> pharmaceutical company representatives whose

> companies manufacture

> antidepressants; as well as a representative of

> their trade

> association, PhRRMA. Also scheduled to testify were

> representatives

> of the American Medical Association, the American

> Academy of

> Pediatrics; and a top FDA official.

>

> Shame on Congressman Greenwood selling out to the

> drug industry while

> he is still in office. Shame on public officials who

> inveigh against

> others' conflicts of interest, but put their own

> financial interests

> ahead of their sworn public duty to the people who

> elected them.

>

> This is a prime example of the corruptibility of the

> political

> system, a demonstration of how the pharmaceutical

> industry bribes

> politicians so as to derail public accountability.

> The drug industry

> has been caught concealing evidence of drug-related

> harm from

> prescribing physicians and the public.

>

> The evidence they concealed shows that

> antidepressants have

> consistently failed to demonstrate a benefit for

> children, while

> increasing the risk

> (twofold) of suicidal behavior. The harm suffered

> by innocent

> children was preventable--as no doctor would

> knowingly prescribe a

> drug that precipitates suicidal behavior and causes

> a litany of other

> severe adverse effects.

>

> By derailing the hearing, Congressman Greenwood

> joins those who

> turned their back on children whose lives are put at

> risk when they are

> prescribed an antidepressant by healthcare

> professionals who are

> uninformed about the risks.

>

>

> Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

> Tel: 212-595-8974

> e-mail: veracare

>

>

>

> http://story.news./news?

> tmpl=story & cid=512 & e=2 & u=/ap/20040719/ap_on

> _go_co/house_greenwood

>

> GOP Congressman Considers Giving Up Seat

>

> Mon Jul 19, 5:56 PM ET

>

> By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer

>

> WASHINGTON - Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Greenwood, a

> socially moderate

> Republican, said Monday he is considering giving up

> the seat he's

> held in Congress for 12 years.

>

> Greenwood, 53, has already told Republican leaders

> he will not seek

> re-election to a seventh term and instead will

> likely seek a job with

> a trade association, House aides and a party

> official, speaking on

> condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press.

>

> " From time to time during my 24 years of public

> service, I have been

> approached and offered other types of challenges and

> opportunities, "

> Greenwood said in a terse statement released by his

> office

> Monday. " Such has been the case in the last few

> days, and I am

> currently reviewing one of these opportunities. "

>

> One of the aides and the GOP party official said

> Greenwood was

> looking at a position with the Biotechnology

> Industry Organization,

> which includes pharmaceutical houses and companies

> involved in human

> genome research.

>

> Greenwood, who now chairs the House Energy and

> Commerce Committee's

> investigations subcommittee, said he would make his

> decision public

> in the near future but would have no other comment

> until then.

>

> His district of northern Philadelphia suburbs and

> Bucks County trends

> Republican in congressional races but has favored

> Democratic nominees

> in the past three presidential campaigns.

>

> Greenwood has raised more than $877,000 to run in

> the Nov. 2 election

> against Democratic challenger Virginia " Ginny "

> Schrader, an attorney

> who has never held elective office.

>

>

>

>

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