CHINA HAS A SOLUTION FOR THE FDA's PROBLEM

[Guest guest]

CHINA HAS A SOLUTION FOR THE FDA's PROBLEM

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron32.htm

May 30, 2007

NewsWithViews.com

 

The penalty in China is death, in America its business as usual. Zheng

Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s FDA, was sentenced to death for accepting

$832,000 in drug company bribes and for dereliction of duty. Like China, our

country

is in the middle of a drug and food safety crisis. Why is FDA Commissioner

Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D. getting a free pass? Why did the Senate just pass

legislation (S.1082) that gives von Eschenbach significantly more power to do

whatever he pleases? And exactly what is it that von Eschenbach is doing?

 

The Next Vioxx

 

On June 6, 2007, Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1325

will haul in Andrew von Eschenbach to testify on why the FDA failed to warn

Americans of the extreme cardiovascular danger and increased risk of death from

taking Avandia, a 3 billion-a-year blockbuster diabetes drug made by

GlaxoSmithKline. Statistics that were primarily obtained from

GlaxoSmithKline’s own

research data predict that 35,000 people needlessly died taking Avandia last

year

and the FDA was fully aware of the risks and chose to ignore them. In fact, the

problem only came to public view because one independent researcher pursued

the investigation and published his findings in the New England Journal of

Medicine. This is the FDA’s job, why do we need citizen watchdogs to do the

work

instead?

 

It is certain that during Von Eschenbach’s testimony he will speak out of

both sides of his mouth and cover the FDA’s ineptitude and deceit. He is

likely

to blame a lack of FDA funding for the problems. In reality, the FDA is not at

all as incompetent and under funded as they seem. The truth of the matter is

that the FDA does exactly what they want. The FDA spends its time, energy, and

money on management’s priorities.

 

It is hard for some to grasp that safety of drugs or safety of the food

supply is not the top FDA management priority. In the case of Avandia, Americans

are being needlessly killed as a result of FDA management decisions. These

decisions preserve the profits of drug companies and further the myth that drugs

are the answer to our health problems. Do not be misled, FDA actions are

intentional.

 

The timing couldn’t be worse for the FDA as Waxman is preparing the House

version (HR.1561) of the recently passed Senate drug safety bill (S.1082). The

Senate version is a fake safety bill paid for by Big Pharma. Will the House

follow along or will they put some real teeth in the legislation?

 

How Does One Define Dereliction of Duty?

 

The dictionary defines it as a deliberate neglect of duty or obligations.

Certainly, Avandia is a case in point. However, Avandia problems are the tip of

the FDA iceberg. Anyone caring to look will find a rabbit hole so deep and so

full of stench that it is virtually impossible to comprehend. The story is so

bad that it falls into the category of not believable. Under the leadership of

Andrew von Eschenbach collusion with the industries the FDA is supposed to

regulate has reached an all time high. This reckless behavior has resulted in

deaths and injuries to hundreds of thousands of Americans, all for the profit of

drug companies at the expense of human health.

 

A case in point is the antibiotic Ketek, which the FDA approved for broad

applications KNOWING it was going to injure children. Von Eschenbach even

threatened FDA scientists who didn’t see the Ketek issue his way. Then there

is the

case of the atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa, which the FDA approved for use in

adult schizophrenics even though the FDA knew the drug caused obesity and

diabetes. The FDA sits around allowing billions of dollars of this drug (mostly

at

taxpayer expense) to be given to children for mild behavioral issues, an

unapproved use that leads to extremely poor health and disease. Then there is

the

Trasylol scandal, a very expensive cardiovascular bypass drug that needlessly

sentences 15,000 Americans per year to premature death within the next 5 years.

When Bayer was caught directly lying to the FDA regarding Trasylol’s dangers,

von Eschenbach deflected legal liability

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron19.htm for Bayer by doing virtually

nothing and leaving the drug on

the market. These are just a few examples, there are unfortunately many more.

 

The common theme is that FDA management intentionally hides risks of drugs so

that drug companies can turn them into blockbusters, oftentimes selling them

in ways that were never approved in the first place. As chilling safety

problems are reported to the FDA the organization fails to act, partly so it

won’t

look bad for approving the drugs in the first place, partly to preserve

billions in profit for various companies, and partly because FDA management

employees

are often eyeing high-paying jobs in the industry that is being regulated. It

is not that the FDA is incompetent. In fact, FDA scientists routinely warn

management of the problems. Management intentionally does not act in a way that

protects American consumers. In virtually all cases the economic situation of

drug companies is placed ahead of human health and safety. In my way of

looking at the world this is dereliction of duty.

 

This is as true of drugs as it is of our massively adulterated food supply

(genetically modified foods, viral cocktails approved as food additives,

chemicals allowed on food, chemicals allowed as flavoring agents or sweeteners,

etc.). The FDA has no way to trace the toxicity of genetically modified food and

actively prevents labels that would tell consumers they are even eating the

garbage, which now permeates the packaged foods on grocery store shelves. At the

same time the FDA actively works to suppress information about natural ways to

improve health. All of these FDA actions are intentional.

 

China gives the death sentence for dereliction of duty. In America we conduct

hearings (sometimes) and then do nothing. Big Pharma and Big Biotech own the

FDA, the White House, and much of Congress.

 

The FDA’s Real Priority

 

Andrew von Eschenbach has never hidden his agenda; it is more an issue that

people simply aren’t paying attention. The top priority of the FDA is now the

von Eschenbach dream, which is to bring new biotech drugs to the market with

far less safety or effectiveness testing and then conduct experiments on

individuals as the drugs are used in clinical practice. This effort is called

the

Critical Path Initiative and it will take a giant step forward should the

Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA come into existence as proposed in Senate

bill

S.1082. Von Eschenbach has stated that this is the very top priority of the FDA

for many years to come (not food or drug safety).

 

Von Eschenbach is an oncologist who wants to create a cancer sickness

industry wherein nobody is cured; they are simply managed indefinitely on super

expensive medications. Von Eschenbach has led this effort for many years as a

key

figure in the elder Bush’s C-Change, a group facilitating the development of

Big Biotech drugs for highly profitable cancer “treatment.â€

 

Andrew von Eschenbach took the top job at the National Cancer Institute to

forward this agenda. As its head he diverted billions of dollars of research

funding into C-Change companies and away from fundamental cancer research, a

shocking travesty. Even more appalling is that Tommy Thompson, then head of the

Department of Health and Human Services, approved a waiver

http://www.newslettersonline.com/user/user.fas/s=292/fp=3/tp=18?T=open_article,9\

01522 & P=article

allowing von Eschenbach to remain on at C-Change while he headed the National

Cancer Institute. This is one of the most dramatic conflicts of interest

imaginable, setting back vital cancer research at least a decade.

 

Tommy Thompson, like so many government officials, has moved on and now helps

Verichip http://www.adsx.com/pressreleases/2005-07-07.html sell implantable

RFID chips. In October of 2006 Von Eschenbach was appointed to head the FDA,

and for a while he held all three spots (C-Change, head of NCI, and head of

FDA). In the recent Lame Duck session von Eschenbach was made permanent head of

the FDA. No questions were asked of his extensive connections to the Biotech

industry.

 

It should come as no surprise that von Eschenbach wants to make the FDA part

of the drug development business

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron30.htm , including licensing and

marketing rights for the drugs the FDA

helps develop with its sophisticated software. Is it possible to imagine a

greater

conflict of interest? We are not talking about a paltry $780,000 worth of

conflict of interest, we are talking tens of billions. Do you think for a moment

the FDA will ever remove one of its own drugs from the market or paint a clear

picture of its true risks?

 

A Time for Action

 

Senate bill S.1082 and House bill HR.1561 will turn into some type of new and

sweeping FDA “reform†before Big Pharma’s funding of the FDA expires on

September 30 of this year. The big question is what will be in the legislation.

So

far, Big Pharma was able to buy enough Senator’s votes to neutralize any

meaningful reform. The Avandia scandal is likely to make matters worse for the

FDA

as the House considers its version of this legislation after the Memorial Day

recess.

 

 

Buried within this legislation is an FDA sneak attack on dietary supplements.

Dietary supplements are routinely targeted by the FDA as they offer true

competition, both safe and effective, to drugs. The FDA acts as a police-force

bully to help stamp out Big Pharma competition and keep Americans in the dark on

natural ways to prevent and treat disease. Bill S.1082 allows the FDA to apply

drug-related risk benefit analysis to the safety of food and dietary

supplements and remove commonly used products from the market at their whim.

This must

be stopped.

A take action letter can be found by clicking here.

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron31.htm

 

At least one hundred thousand people needlessly die per year at the hands of

Big Pharma drugs. Several million are injured so seriously they have to go to

the hospital – and unfortunately many are injured while at the hospital. The

FDA actively and intentionally withholds from doctors and patients the true

risk profile of many drugs despite the desperate warnings of its own safety

scientists and independent experts. There is no question that FDA top management

suffers serious dereliction of duty. Should we follow the lead of the Chinese?

Maybe then drug safety and food safety would improve.

 

 

 

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