’91 Merck Memo Warned of Mercury in Baby Vaccines – LAT Tue, 8 Feb 2005 The Los Angeles Times reports that a 1991 internal Merck memo obtained from a whistleblower by James Moody, a Washington lawyer who works with parent groups on vaccine safety issues, provides the “first hard evidence…
Mosholder Suppressed Report Posted/ Bush Moves to Block Medical Suits – NYT Mon, 26 Jul 2004 The New York Times reports that the Bush administration is actively blocking individual citizens who have been seriously harmed from drug-related hazards from suing drug manufacturers. The administration argues that “if a local judge…
Letter from David Healy, MD to Peter J. Pitts Executive Summary of suicidal evidence not addressed by FDA In the light of Traci Johnson’s death on February 7th 2004, will FDA obtain Pfizer’s entire folder on the 1982 Hindmarch study in which healthy volunteers were given Zoloft, and make a…
“Black Hole” of medical research–Negative Results Don’t get Published – JAMA, WSJ Sat, 5 Jun 2004 “No one likes bad news. But in science, there is an ethical imperative to publish research, even if the findings aren’t what the researcher had hoped for.” The New York Times, which tends to…
FDA Response to Utah Court Must Be Truthful Re: Zoloft / SSRI Suicidal Risks Mon, 29 Aug 2005 Related link: FDA Amicus Curiae–Kallas–claims FDA infallibility pre-empts state safety laws (warning: large 1.6 MB file) A federal judge in Utah has asked the FDA to explain its position as it relates…
GlaxoSmithKline CEO: “We had to absorb a number of hits” Mon, 16 Feb 2004 Antidepressant drug safety issues are beginning to have a financial impact. Dow Jones reports: “GlaxoSmithKline PLC said its net income fell 6% in the fourth quarter, hurt by previously announced legal costs related to its anti-inflammatory…
Pesticide firms want to test chemical toxicity on humans instead of rats Sat, 4 Jan 2003 Count the reasons why not human pesticide experiments: 1) quantum increase in commodification of subjects, 2) presumptive utter absence of benefit to subjects, 3) end term purpose of inquiry is forensic (e.g. the San…
Spitzer’s Lawsuit Will Shake Up the Drug Industry – Full Disclosure is the Goal Thu, 3 Jun 2004 New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer’s lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline challenges the pharmaceutical industry’s fraudulent marketing of drugs. Karen Barth Menzes, an attorney representing victims of antidepressant drug effects, told The (So….
AHRP Comments Re: EPA Proposed Rule for Human Pesticide Research Wed, 30 Nov 2005 Help us stop a proposed government policy that would lead to the proliferation of unthinkable human pesticide experiments such as the infamous CHEERS experiment. CHEERS was designed to expose toddlers to pesticides so that EPA investigators…
Drug safety Hearings-Sept-Congress/ FDA – Lilly Plans to Disclose Data Tue, 3 Aug 2004 A hearing about the possible connection between suicide and antidepressant drugs will be held on Aug 4, by the California Senate by Sen. Tom Torkalson, chairman of the Senate Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness…
Science & Ethics Hold Up EPA Nomination: pesticide experiment draws fire Fri, 08 Apr 2005 The Los Angeles Times reports that Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is equally outraged about the Environmental Protection Agency pesticide experiment that would expose 60 poor babies to pesticides to study how much harm they…
FDA Bad Faith – Daniel Troy’s pre-emption defense – Nat’l Law Journal Fri, 26 Mar 2004 Federal regulations require drug label warnings if there is “reasonable evidence” of a link between adverse effects and drug action. An article in the National Law Journal shows how s FDA’s chief counsel, Daniel…
