Conflict of Interest

Ethics

Funding/money matters

Pharmaceutical industry

Pharmaceutical industry/FDA oversight

►January 24, 2004 - F.D.A. Begins Push to End Drug Imports - The New York Times

PR/advertising

Research conduct

Conferences, workshops, seminars, courses

►IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee Meetings - http://www4.nas.edu 

Diseases and their vaccines (current and in the pipeline)

AIDS/HIV/AIDS vaccine

►February 2004 - Perinatal HIV transmission is low but still a concern (requires registration) - At an urban hospital, only nine of 131 infants born over a two-year period were HIV positive. - Infectious Diseases in Children

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

►February 3, 2004 - A New Hope - Amarillo Globe News - "What triggers Alzheimer's isn't clear, but what happens is."

Comment:  One possible cause of Alzheimer's is the elderly's yearly flu vaccine with its dose of thimerosal.

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

►January 27, 2004 - Anthrax kills nine cows in western Saskatchewan, farm quarantined - Canadian Press via http://cnews.canoe.ca

►January 26, 2004 - Make vaccine voluntary - editorial - Army Times - "Five years after the Defense Department began forcing service members to roll up their sleeves for the anthrax vaccine, the battle over whether the shots are safe, effective or even legal still rages...But there’s another question that gets far less attention: Has anyone reassessed the potential threat that prompted the vaccine program in the first place?...More than eight months after major combat operations ended in Iraq, U.S. officials have failed to find a single drop of the thousands of gallons of anthrax supposedly stockpiled by Saddam Hussein."

►January 25, 2004 - Ohio National Guard Member Charged For Refusing Anthrax Vaccine - AP via www.wcpo.com - "An Ohio National Guard member has been charged by the Army with disobeying a lawful order after he again refused to take the anthrax vaccine...Hickman could go to jail and be discharged if convicted...Pfaff said the charge is separate from Hickman's court martial in Ohio last month."

Asthma/allergies

Autism

►January 26, 2004 - Coping with needs of two boys with autism - Toronto Star - "Lillian wanted to tell me a little about life with her beautiful boys, both of whom are autistic...She also wanted — very kindly and gently — to talk a little about the rest of us, about the judgments we make and the little things we do that can be very painful to parents of special needs children."

Autism/mercury

►February 6, 2004 - Don't stop child vaccines: doctors - Experts take issue with study linking medicine with disorders - Edmonton Journal with files from CanWest News Service via www.canada.com - "A study that suggests a link between a vaccine preservative and risk of autism and other disorders will create unwarranted fear and possibly more sickness if parents refuse vaccinations for their children, Canadian doctors warn."

Comment:  Perhaps there will be more sickness. But the mere incidence of disease is not the measure against which vaccines should be compared.  The appropriate question is how much long-term damage will there be from the diseases as compared to the vaccines?  If the vaccines are indeed responsible for the epidemic rise in autism, just on that basis alone, there is reason to believe the benefits of at least some vaccines DID NOT outweigh their risks.

►February 5, 2004 - Study Suggests Vaccine, Autism Link - Thimerosal Can Disrupt Neurological Development, Researchers Say - WebMD - "The researcher says he believes the dramatic rise in autism and ADHD cases over the last few decades can be blamed on mercury poisoning due to vaccine-related thimerosal exposure. He adds that the fact that autism rates have not declined following the banning of thimerosal is not proof of its safety...'The epidemiological studies are looking at whole populations, and we are trying to determine what it is about an individual kid that might make him more susceptible to this exposure,' he tells WebMD."

►February 5, 2004 - Vaccines linked to autism, says new study - CBC via www.mytelus.com - "A U.S. researcher says he's found an important link between autism, attention deficit disorder and vaccines...The Boston study by Dr. Richard Deth found that thimerosal – the mercury-based vaccine preservative – affected the structure of human cells in lab samples...His believes some children may be more sensitive to the metallic component. 'The children at risk here are children who have diminished ability to clear these metals,' he says...Deth says his research is preliminary, was only a molecular study and wasn't done on human subjects."

►February 5, 2004 - A link between thimerosal and the brain: Can vaccines affect central nervous system function? - Molecular Psychiatry via www.eurekalert.org -

►January 27, 2004 - Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal - journal article (Molecular Psychiatry) - "The ethylmercury-containing preservative thimerosal inhibited both IGF-1- and dopamine-stimulated methylation with an IC₅₀ of 1 nM and eliminated MS activity. Our findings outline a novel growth factor signaling pathway that regulates MS activity and thereby modulates methylation reactions, including DNA methylation. The potent inhibition of this pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and thimerosal suggests that it may be an important target of neurodevelopmental toxins." (Click here for the full article.)

Comment:  This is the journal article that has caused the stir about thimerosal and autism.

►February 5, 2004 - Autism: A personal view: 'We need explanations' - The Province - "Maple Ridge physician Edward Auersperg, whose son is autistic, said yesterday the problem with the latest U.S. study is that it can't be proved or disproved...But Auersperg said it's only natural for parents to look for causes when their child is diagnosed with neurological damage...'Any time you have a kid with a problem, you start looking for explanations. And I mean you need to, we need to, find out why one kid in a thousand is autistic,' he said."

Comment:  Uh, one in a thousand?  Where has this doctor been?  How about as high as one in 49 in at least one place?  (You can see how invested in these vaccines doctors are, when even one with an autistic child doesn't seem open to the idea that vaccines might be the cause of autism.)

►February 5, 2004 - Mercury risk to newborns alarming - New data from EPA doubles the estimate exposed in womb - Scripps Howard News Service via Seattle PI - "About 630,000 children are born each year at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems caused by exposure to high levels of mercury in the womb, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency...That's nearly double the previous EPA estimate of 320,000 babies a year...However, recent studies indicate that the developing fetus may have more difficulty excreting mercury than pregnant women, which would account for the higher mercury levels in cord blood versus maternal blood."

Comment:  Note that there is no mention of or concern about vaccines containing mercury which have been routinely given to newborns.

►February 5, 2004 - New Research Suggests Link Between Vaccine Ingredients and Autism, ADHD - press release - Northeastern University via www.newswise.com - "According to new research from Northeastern University pharmacy professor Richard Deth and colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University, there is an apparent link between exposure to certain neurodevelopmental toxins and an increased possibility of developing neurological disorders including autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The research – the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders – is published today in the April 2004 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry."

Comment:  IMPORTANT NOTE: You may need to do a search for the article on this website. 

Comment: "BL Fisher Note: The truth about vaccine risks will be found in the laboratory with those committed to doing the biological mechanism work at the cellular and molecular level. And that truth, which is so often obscured by poorly designed epidemiology, will shine bright and clear in the end."

►February 5, 2004 - Vaccine additive linked to brain damage in children - Mercury-based preservative tied to autism, ADHD, U.S. resaearchers say - CanWest News Service via www.canada.com - "After assuring parents that additives in vaccines don't cause brain damage, scientists have found what they believe could be a "smoking gun" linking these additives to autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children."

Comment:  This is obviously extremely important research.  Note how the "experts" are trying to use poorly designed epidemiological studies to trump biological mechanism research done by researchers at Northeastern University, Johns Hopkins, the University of Nebraska and Tufts.  When are the "experts" going to realize that digging in their heels, denying the connection regardless of the evidence,  is not going to work in the long run?  There is simply too much damage and too many parents who are not going to dutifully or complacently slink away.

►January 27, 2004 - Mercury fears with dead dolphins - The Australian  - "Record levels of mercury have been found in dozens of dead dolphins recovered from South Australia's Spencer and St Vincent gulfs...'There's no such thing as a good (heavy metal) level,' Dr Bossley said.

Comment:  Why is this point so hard for the unquestioningly pro-vaccine camp to understand?

►January 26, 2004 - Americans Who Eat Canned Albacore Tuna Ingest Too Much Mercury, New Data Shows - www.commondreams.org

Comment:  Ingesting mercury is not okay, but injecting it is.  Right. (Oh, yes, I forgot.  Not to worry - it's the good kind of toxic mercury that we are injecting.)

Autism/MMR

►February 6, 2004 - Parents delay MMR jab decision - www.eveningnews24.co.uk - "And it is feared delaying the jab could put children at far greater risk of contracting the potentially lethal conditions."

Comment:  This is scare-mongering.  These conditions (measles, mumps and rubella) are rarely lethal in healthy children in developed nations.  (Rubella is often so benign you don't even know you had it, although it can be serious for a fetus if the mother contracts it during a critical period in pregnancy.)  For Scandals columns on the measles and measles vaccine, go to What Is Wrong With This Picture?;  More confusing disease stats;   Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature;   Don't Worry, Be Happy;  Measles In The Vaccination Age:  Is It Now Deadlier?;   Why We Won't Take No* For An Answer  (*No relationship between MMR and autism);  and Shoot First, Don't Ask Questions Later.  For how rubella vaccine might be related to the rise in autism, go to Scandals: Is Rubella Vaccination Playing A Role In The Rise In Autism?

►2004 -MMR vaccine and autism: an update of the scientific evidence - www.futuredrugs.com

Autism therapies/education/medicine (including the cost of care)

►February 7, 2004 - Autism cases — and costs — on the rise - San Mateo Daily Journal - "The number of autism cases is rising at a rapid rate around the world, and San Mateo County school officials are preparing to deal with the devastating impact it could have in coming years...'These are literally million dollar kids,' said Jim Cox, director of special education in the San Mateo-Foster City School District."

Comment:  If vaccines play any role in creating the epidemic of autism, might it not be prudent to question whether the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks?

►February 7, 2004 - New Treatment For Autism: An I-Team Report - www.wnem.com

►February 1, 2004 - Family suing to aid autistic son - www.2theadvocate.com - "Over the years, Richard and Lisa Wells have worked three jobs between them, mortgaged their Bramble Drive home twice and sold possessions to help their son...Now they're trying another approach: taking the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies to court."

►February 3, 2004 - Cause for concern - Parents of autistic children search for answers - Daily Camera via www.rockymountainnews.com - "Federal and private sources have begun to respond to the alarming numbers with funding, which has helped to build impressive research centers in Denver and Boulder. But desperate parents, well aware that early intervention is key to keeping an autistic child connected with the world, don't have time to wait...They're reading journals, searching the Internet and networking with professionals and other parents about therapies. They're placing their children on special diets and giving them nutritional supplements while spending tens of thousands of dollars on an array of behavioral and occupational therapies, most of which aren't covered by insurance."

►January 30, 2004 - When demand exceeds supply - Parents do anything to get autistic children right treatment - The New York Times via The Houston Chronicle

►January 21, 2004 - Rights group joins fight to extend autism treatment - Hearing set in case of 8-year-old Toronto boy - The Toronto Star

Autism and vaccines (general)

►February 5, 2004 - Autism: The doubts: B.C. Doctors not convinced - The Province - "'Much of the research that looks for harms from vaccines, at some point, you come back to the fact that the researcher may have a bias against vaccines and this work gets seized upon by people who clearly have a bias against vaccines,' Kendall said."

Comment:  Well, gee, I wonder why this "expert" never seemed to have a problem before with studies alleging to vindicate vaccines that not only were conducted by pro-vaccine researchers, but paid for or otherwise influenced by vaccine manufacturers. 

►January 26, 2004 - Hearing to examine role of vaccines in autism cases - Contra Costa Times - "Testimony next month will revisit the controversial issue of whether childhood vaccinations have anything to do with the calamity of autism...Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician by trade, has pushed to have the hearing postponed, arguing that 'it does not appear to be a serious effort to examine these critical issues.'"

Comment:  To read Congressman Weldon's statement, click here.  To read an earlier letter from Congressman Weldon to the head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding, click here.

Autoimmunity/autoimmune disease

Behavioral disorders, chronic disability

Bioterror-related, other than smallpox and anthrax

►February 4, 2004 - Fighting terrorism on the food front - www.foodnavigator.com - "Safeguarding America’s food supply against possible terrorist threats will eat into a considerable chunk of the USDA’s budget next year. The country is also planning to stockpile animal vaccines, following concerns that diseases such as BSE and Avian Influenza could be used in acts of bioterrorism."

Cancer/cancer vaccines

Cardiac

Chickenpox/chickenpox vaccine

Comment:  Chickenpox used to be universally considered a benign disease.  If it has now become a more serious disease, why is that?

Comment:  And when it's your child who has complications as a result of vaccination, it's no longer just a routine vaccination.

►January 26, 2004 - State could require chicken pox vaccine - AP via www.news-leader.com - "Missouri children could be required to be vaccinated against chicken pox before starting school under a rule proposed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services."

Diabetes

Diphtheria/diphtheria vaccine

Ebola/ebola vaccine

Flu/flu vaccine

Haemophilus Influenza/Hib Vaccine

Hepatitis A/hepatitis A vaccine

Hepatitis B/hepatitis B vaccine

Hepatitis C/hepatitis C vaccine

Herpes/herpes vaccine

IBD (inflammatory bowel diseases)

►February 6, 2004 - Coeliac Disease - the Tip of the Iceberg - University of Bristol via www.newswise.com  - "The full extent of a hidden condition which goes largely undetected among British children - and unnoticed until adulthood - has been identified by doctors in Bristol...Their research suggests that until now the scale of coeliac disease among UK children has been under-estimated. Currently, fewer than one in 2,500 children is treated for the disease, but the study of children in Bristol has shown that it probably affects one child in 100, although most have no overt symptoms."

►December 28, 1994 - Autism and coeliac disease. - Collected Net Articles of Kalle Reichelt, M.D.

►February 6, 2004 - Child gut disorder underestimated - The number of young people affected by wheat intolerance may have been underestimated, research suggests. - BBC

Lyme disease/lyme disease vaccine

Mad Cow Disease/CJD

►February 5, 2004 - Should U.S. follow U.K. on mad cow? - The Seattle Times

►January 30, 2004 - Caution over prion therapy - Study reveals antibodies can kill brain cells. - Nature - "Antibody therapies designed to treat the human form of mad cow disease could backfire, warn US scientists...Williamson urges caution for researchers working on antibody therapies targeted against prions, in case they cause brain damage, rather than prevent it."

►January 28, 2004 - Blood Transfusion Suspected in New Mad Cow Case in Britain (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "A Food and Drug Administration policy announced on Monday banning the feeding of cattle blood to calves was partly based on a new case of mad cow disease in which a Briton may have been infected through a blood transfusion, a Food and Drug Administration official said on Tuesday...At a Senate hearing, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, questioned why the food agency had instituted the ban when, he said, scientific evidence indicated that infectious particles that are believed to cause mad cow disease, misfolded proteins called prions, had never been found in blood."

Meningitis/meningitis vaccine/Prevnar/pneumonia/pneumococcal vaccine

►2004 -Vaccine sparks fall in meningitis deaths - The Evening Times, UK

►February 4, 2004 - A Mother's Message: She pushes for meningitis immunizations - Houston Chronicle - ""I just want to scream when I run into these people who say immunization doesn't work or it works only part of the time or it has risks," she said one recent afternoon in the dining room of her home southeast of Conroe...Inoculation against the disease is not required in Texas, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccination when an area experiences more than 10 cases per 100,000 population within 90 days...Bacterial meningitis remains comparatively rare, with Texas registering 119 cases in 2002. But Milley believes that number is low because mild cases are sometimes treated as some other illness and go unreported."

Comment:  For more on meningitis vaccine and meningitis risk, go to Scandals: Another Unnecessary Vaccine?  Here Comes the Hype for a New Meningitis Vaccine.

MMR/measles,mumps,rubella

►February 3, 2004 - Rubella resurfaces in Cordova - VIRUS: Disease had been absent in state for 11 years. - Anchorage Daily News

►January 27, 2004 - More children given MMR vaccine - The number of children having the MMR jab has increased for the first time in over a year, statistics have shown.  - BBC

►January 28, 2004 - Rise in mumps cases prompts call to use triple MMR vaccine - The Herald, UK

Comment:  If they would have allowed single vaccines, maybe this wouldn't have happened.  On the other hand, mumps was always considered a relatively benign disease before there was a vaccine to prevent it. 

►January 26, 2004 - More and More Autism Cases, Yet Causes Are Much Debated (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Over the years, a host of other environmental factors have also been nominated as culprits, including a variety of infections, like German measles in pregnant mothers; the sedative drug thalidomide; the drug Pitocin, used to induce labor; synthetic compounds like plastics and PCB's; and food additives."

Comment:  Perhaps it is not just rubella (or German measles), but the rubella vaccine, which can cause autism.  For more on this go to Scandals: Is Rubella Vaccination Playing A Role In The Rise In Autism?

►January 27, 2004 - Meridian Bioscience Awarded New Rubella Patent - Business Wire

Other diseases

►January 29, 2004 - Research: Uterine Bacteria May Cause Cerebral Palsy - Chicago-Area Doctor Conducts Study Of Pregnant Women - Internet Broadcasting Systems via www.nbc5.com

►February 3, 2004 - Experts: Ricin Not As Dangerous As Anthrax - Ricin Not On 'A-List' Of Bioterrorism Threats - www.thelouisvillechannel.com

►February 3, 2004 - Scientists work on strategies to defeat ricin - Antidotes and vaccines for the poison could be on their way - MSNBC

►February 4, 2004 - Homocysteine Level Eyed in Stroke Study - AP via The Herald-Sun

►February 2, 2004 - Gene Test Could Predict Multiple Sclerosis Development - www.betterhumans.com 

►January 28, 2004 - Some Migraines Linked to Brain Disease - Reuters via The New York Times - "Researchers have identified brain lesions in some victims of migraines, a finding that could indicate that those severe headaches can be a symptom of progressive brain-damaging disease, a new study says...The research, which has possible implications for treatment, involved 295 Dutch adults 30 to 60 years old, some of whom had migraines along with vision problems while the others had migraines without any such problems. They were compared with 140 similar people who were migraine-free."

Other vaccines/vaccines in the pipeline

►January 16, 2004 - New rotavirus vaccine could be licensed this year  (requires registration) - BioMedNet

Pet vaccines

Pneumonia/pneumococcal/Prevnar - see Meningitis/meningitis vaccine/Prevnar/pneumonia/pneumococcal vaccine

Polio/polio vaccine

►February 6, 2004 - Team Seeks Reassurance on Polio Vaccine - AP via Newsday - "With its polio outbreak spreading, Nigeria is sending a team of scientists, officials and Muslim leaders abroad Sunday to bring back proof that the vaccine is neither contaminated nor a Western plot to spread AIDS...Three predominantly Muslim northern states have suspended door-to-door vaccinations since October, citing fears that the vaccine could cause infertility or AIDS."

►January 28, 2004 - Nigeria to Test Polio Vaccine to Counter Suspicion - Reuters via Yahoo!

►January 26, 2004 - Central African Republic: Polio Case Detected in Bossembele - IRIN via www.allafrica.com - "A case of "wild" polio has been detected in the Central African Republic (CAR) town of Bossembele, 157 km north of the capital, Bangui, three years after the last reported case in the country, the head of the Pasteur Institute's polio laboratory, Didier Menard, told IRIN on Monday..."The laboratory confirmed on Friday that it was a case of wild polio," Menard said...He said the girl had a doubtful immunisation background and was first suspected on 16 December 2003 of having polio."

►January 26, 2004 - India remains one of last polio outposts - The Times of India

►January 24, 2004 - Polio Vaccine Controversy Rages On - Weekly Trust (Kaduna) via www.allafrica.com

Rabies/rabies vaccine

SARS/SARS vaccine

►January 25, 2004 - Winnipeg expert excited by findings of investigation of Chinese SARS cases - Canadian Press via www.canada.com - "Maybe CBS ought to contemplate yet another spinoff of its hugely popular CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise. They could call it CSI: Winnipeg...That's because Health Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is the base for Dr. Heinz Feldmann, virologist and expert in the environmental sources of infectious disease transmission."

SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)/SIDS

►February 6, 2004 - Childhood Immunizations and Abrupt-Onset Apnea: An Unresolved Issue in Shaken Baby Syndrome - by Harold Buttram, MD and Alan Yurko - in the Online SBS Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

Comment:  It is hard to imagine a greater tragedy than to lose your child and then be unfairly charged with their death (and even face the possibility of being put to death yourself).  While, clearly, no one would want to allow the deliberate murder of an infant, given the many unknowns in medicine, particularly as concerns unexplained infant deaths, one would hope the authorities would be more circumspect when drawing their conclusions, and that they would leave no stone unturned in their efforts to investigate and understand these heart-rending infant deaths.  This is an urgent matter. The lives of innocent parents may be on the line.

Smallpox/smallpox vaccine

►January 29, 2004 - Democrats: Smallpox vaccination plan needs retooling - Eyeing a national smallpox vaccination program they say is stalled, House Democrats are urging the U.S. government to reinvigorate the plan for health-care workers if officials still believe terrorists may use smallpox as a weapon. - CNN

►February 2, 2004 - Smallpox vaccinations may be risky - UPI via http://interestalert.com - "New studies show people vaccinated against smallpox pose a low risk of infecting others if they follow proper bandaging and hand-washing procedures."

►January 27, 2004 - New smallpox vaccine being tested in the Valley - www.kesq.com - "'Only half of the population of the United States is immune to small pox right now and should something go wrong, everyone should be vaccinated.'...Kelly Morris, who's researching the test, says there is not enough of the old smallpox vaccine for everyone in this country. So now the goal is to find a new more effective vaccine then make more of it."

TB/TB vaccine (BCG)

Tetanus

►February 8, 2004 - Doctors put on alert as tetanus hits drug users - Scotsman - "AN OUTBREAK of the potentially fatal wound disease tetanus has prompted a warning to doctors to be vigilant...Three people, all injecting drug users, have succumbed to the infection in Scotland and the cases are thought to be part of a UK-wide problem involving contaminated heroin."

West Nile virus/vaccine

Whooping cough/DPT vaccine

►February 5, 2004 - DTP vaccines: alum deemed to be safe - A new study has concluded that DTP vaccines containing aluminum are safe. - www.commentwire.com - "Safety fears have plagued the vaccine industry in recent years, with concerns related to individual product types and vaccine ingredients, including the adjuvant alum. A recent review, published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, has concluded that vaccines containing alum are not associated with increased adverse events. This study should help to alleviate patient concerns and maintain uptake."

Comment:  Here is what I said earlier about this "review": If the studies used for the review are the same kind of short-term, small sample, no genuine control group study normally used to vindicate vaccines, don't bet on them being meaningful or proving anything, other than that you can "prove" anything you want.

Legal/political

Compensation/VICP

Funding/incentives/other money matters

Laws

Lawsuits

Malpractice and other class-action lawsuits

Parental/health rights/exemptions/mandatory/privacy/health freedom

►January 26, 2004 - Make vaccine voluntary - editorial - Army Times - "Five years after the Defense Department began forcing service members to roll up their sleeves for the anthrax vaccine, the battle over whether the shots are safe, effective or even legal still rages...But there’s another question that gets far less attention: Has anyone reassessed the potential threat that prompted the vaccine program in the first place?...More than eight months after major combat operations ended in Iraq, U.S. officials have failed to find a single drop of the thousands of gallons of anthrax supposedly stockpiled by Saddam Hussein."

Politics

►February 7, 2004 - State Lawmakers Tackle Mercury Pollution - www.wbbm780.com - "May says the bill would ban the sale of mercury thermostats, switches, and relays. It would also require manufacturers to notify the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency of mercury-added products sold...The state is also expected to require power plants and factories to limit their mercury emissions."

►January 28 - February 3, 2004 - A Violation of Rights (Reflections & Observations) - Santa Monica Mirror - "The thing about experts is that they often disagree with each other, and, on the fluoride question, there are experts who allege that fluoride is toxic, as well as experts who allege that it’s safe...We don’t know how many residents want fluoride in their water, and we don’t think it matters, because this is not a question that can or should be decided for all of the people by some of the people. Nor do we know whether fluoride is good or bad for people, and we’re not sure anyone does. But we believe that every one of us has the right to choose what he or she will ingest, and we also believe that the government — city, county, state or federal — does not have the right to force-feed anything to people."

Power/abuse of power

Miscellaneous

Book reviews/New Books

Inspirational stories

Letters From Parents &others

Medical "mysteries", not including autism

Other

►January 31, 2004 - Brain barrier locks out both harm and help - Lebanon Daily News

Pregnancy/childbirth

►February 2, 2004 - Improving Childbirth - The Durango Herald

RECALLS/bans

Research

About research/science, research in general

Ethics

Funding

Other research results

re: Publishing

(The) Wacky World of Changing/Conflicting Research Results

Science, government, industry, medicine clearly 'run amok'

Better late than never?

No kidding...

Science, government, industry, medicine clearly 'run amok'

►February 2, 2004 - FDA Panel to Weigh Safety Of Mood Drugs for Children - Some Data Link Use of Antidepressants, Suicidal Thoughts - The Washington Post - "A government panel of doctors will meet today to weigh disturbing but ambiguous evidence that widely used antidepressants may make some children suicidal, concerns that peaked in December when British authorities warned doctors not to prescribe the drugs to children...Clinical trials conducted by the drug industry in recent years have produced a steady drumbeat of data suggesting that suicidal thoughts and behavior are slightly more likely to develop in depressed children who take antidepressants such as Paxil, Zoloft and Effexor than in children who get dummy pills, according to several scientists who have analyzed many of the studies."

►February 8, 2004 - A Mother's Ordeal Forces Britain to Review Crib Deaths (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Angela Cannings spent 20 months in prison, convicted of smothering two of her babies, before an appeals court declared it was all a grave mistake — the murder charges, her trial, her conviction and her life sentence...The court ruled that her conviction relied almost entirely on a tidy presumption of guilt, rather than on solid evidence...The appeals court ruling, along with similar decisions in two other cases last year, constitutes a watershed in Britain for parents who have lost children through crib death and who have been accused and convicted of murdering them on the basis of conflicting opinions, delivered by expert witnesses."

Comment:  One can only hope that the United States will not be far behind in re-examining the evidence against parents now incarcerated, even facing possible death, for the alleged murder of their children.  To learn more about this serious and highly charged issue, go to the Online SBS Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com and visit Alan Yurko's website, the Yurko Project.  (Alan Yurko is in prison for the highly questionable shaken baby death of his infant son.)

►February 4, 2004 - Pill-popping replaces healthy habits (opinion) - USA Today - "U.S. pharmacies dispensed more than 3 billion prescriptions in 2003, up from about 2 billion a decade ago. We love our medicines. And why not? They are so easy, and they usually work. We take more and more of them, even as we complain bitterly about their prices and rail against the pharmaceutical industry...But another perspective goes down less easily: Although many Americans don't get the medicines they need, as a nation, we are fast becoming overly reliant on a slew of drugs that essentially substitute for a healthy lifestyle."

►February 6, 2004 - Legislation takes on medical secrecy - A case in which a doctor's addiction was kept secret spurs legal changes - Seattle PI - "When doctors make mistakes, they must report the errors to the state -- but they don't have to tell the patients or families who were harmed...That legally sanctioned secrecy has forced many families to file malpractice lawsuits in the hopes of learning what happened to their loved ones."

Comment:  Doctors cry the blues when they are sued (perhaps sometimes unfairly), yet many insist on taking implied responsibility for all decisions, particularly when they do not want to give parents one of the most basic rights - i.e., the right to decide whether or not to accept vaccine or disease risks for your children.  Some will even go so far as to refuse them further pediatric care, sometimes abandoning them at their time of greatest need.  If doctors are unwilling to show even that most basic respect for their patients, they shouldn't be surprised when they and their mistakes are viewed harshly.

►February 1, 2004 - When surgical instruments are left behind - in patients:  In the Phila. area, about 80 mistakes are made a year. - The Philadelphia Inquirer - "About 80 times a year in the Philadelphia region, the tools of surgery - gauze, scalpels, needles, retractors and the like - are found left behind in patients...This mistake occurs about once in every 3,800 surgeries in Southeastern Pennsylvania, an Inquirer analysis of hospital billing data has found...The problem has changed little in recent years, occurring on average about once a year per hospital. No one has come up with a regional estimate until now."

►February 2, 2004 - Antidepressant Strengthened Warnings About Pediatric Suicidality Risk Needed Immediately, Cmte. Says - FDA - The committee heard from 65 speakers during the meeting's public hearing, many of whom were parents of children who had committed or attempted suicide or homicide after a short time on antidepressants. Many described severe behavioral changes in their children.

"The Condition Our Condition Is In" (The State of Medicine/Science), including "errors"

What's THAT About?

You've GOT To Be Kidding

►February 5, 2004 - Vaccines Containing Aluminum Appear Safe - Planet Ark - "To investigate the safety of aluminum-containing DTP vaccines, Dr. Tom Jefferson, from Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome, and colleagues reviewed eight studies that recorded patient outcomes following vaccination and the amount of aluminum in the vaccine...'Despite a lack of good-quality evidence we do not recommend that any further research on this topic is undertaken," the authors conclude."

Comment:  That just about says it all.  (If the studies used for the review are the same kind of short-term, small sample, no genuine control group study normally used to vindicate vaccines, don't bet on them being meaningful or proving anything, other than that you can "prove" anything you want.)