[NVIC] Senate Votes for Secret Vaccine Agency

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Posted by: " Amy Stouch " brsegs

<brsegs?Subject=%20Re%3A%5BNVIC%5D%20Senate%20Votes%20for%2

0Secret%20Vaccine%20Agency> brsegs <http://profiles./brsegs>

Thu Dec 7, 2006 4:43 am (PST)

 

 

I would encourage everyone to forward this around and ask

people to make phone calls to their representatives.

 

December 06, 2006 National Vaccine Information Center

e-news

" Highlights of BARDA include the creation of a new position

within the Department of Health and Human Services that would be solely

responsible for the oversight of vaccine production and decide what

medications would be distributed. Barbara Loe Fisher, the president of the

National Vaccine Information Center, has been an outspoken critic of the

bill. She was unaware that the bill had been passed by the Senate last night

but said she's worried about the effects " secret vaccine production " could

have on the American public. " This is an extremely dangerous precedent that

is being set, " she said. " - Mary Shaffrey, Winston Salem Journal

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

It is almost a done deal. The Senate has voted and the House

will soon vote on a bill to create BARDA, a new and very powerful agency

within the Department of Health and Human Services that will partner with

drug companies to make experimental vaccines and drugs. The actions of the

agency and the way these experimental drugs and vaccines are made, what they

will contain, and how reactive they are, will be hidden from the public.

Under the guise of " protecting national security, " citizens will be

prevented through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from being able to

obtain information about most of what BARDA is doing.

 

In the future, when the Secretary of Health and Human

Services declares a public health " emergency " under Bioshield and other

federal and state legislation passed since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans could

be quarantined and forced to use experimental drugs and vaccines and have no

recourse to the civil justice system if they are injured by them. Congress

has already given complete liability protection to drug companies and those

who order citizens to take drugs and vaccines during a declared public

health " emergency. "

 

The individual appointed to head BARDA will be one of the

most powerful individuals in the U.S.. Congress has already given the

Secretary of Health and Human Services, also a political appointee,

unprecedented power. The militarization of the civilian public health system

with unchecked power residing in the hands of unelected government health

officials, who have no accountability to or oversight by the public, is a

serious threat to freedom and public safety.

 

For more information about the possible consequences of the

Bioshield laws and the pending BARDA legislation, go to www.nvic.org

homepage ( " Liability Shield Given to Pharma " ) and read NVIC's letter to

Senate staffer Col. Robert Kadlec, M.D.

 

The House vote to approve BARDA could take place before this

Friday, Dec. 8. If you want to let your Congressperson know how you feel

about BARDA, call him or her at 202-224-3121. Go to www.house.gov to find

information about your Congressperson.

 

Senate Approves Burr's bioterrorism bill

Critics warn about the effects of 'secret vaccine

production'

Winston Salem Journal

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

 

By Mary M. Shaffrey JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU

Click here for the URL:(registration may require)

After almost two years of negotiations, the Senate passed a

bill last night sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., that would create a

new federal agency to combat bioterrorism.

 

The bill to establish the Biomedical Advanced Research and

Development Authority has been a priority of Burr's since his first day in

the Senate. After the vote last night, Burr said he was " excited " that the

bill had finally passed.

 

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a co-sponsor of the bill,

agreed in a statement released yesterday afternoon that the bill was

critically needed.

 

" Today, we face the possibility of a pandemic or

bioterrorist attack, which could be as bad as Hurricane Katrina in every

community in America. We know that we are not yet ready for a catastrophe of

that scale, " Kennedy said, indicating that this bill would help prepare for

such events.

 

The bill, commonly referred to as BARDA, passed by unanimous

consent.

 

The House passed a similar bill earlier this year. It is

unlikely that the differences between the two bills will be ironed out in a

conference committee by Friday, Congress' target date for adjournment.

 

The House could, however, decide to take up the bill as a

new, stand-alone bill, which means that Burr's proposal could be sent

straight to the president. If the House doesn't do that, the bill would be

dead for this year, he said.

 

Highlights of BARDA include the creation of a new position

within the Department of Health and Human Services that would be solely

responsible for the oversight of vaccine production and decide what

medications would be distributed.

 

Barbara Loe Fisher, the president of the National Vaccine

Information Center, has been an outspoken critic of the bill. She was

unaware that the bill had been passed by the Senate last night but said

she's worried about the effects " secret vaccine production " could have on

the American public. " This is an extremely dangerous precedent that is being

set, " she said.

 

But Burr said that the majority of concerns regarding

freedom of information had been dealt with and that there was little secrecy

involved.

 

* Mary M. Shaffrey can be reached in Washington at

202-662-7672 or at mshaffrey

<mshaffrey%40wsjournal.com> .

 

 

 

 

 

" The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of

private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic

State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism - ownership of government by

an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power. " -Franklin

Delano Roosevelt