Pfizer to Pay $28 Million in Damages
November 25, 2009
Reuters
A Philadelphia jury on Monday ordered Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) to pay $28 million in punitive damages to a breast cancer survivor who had used the company’s hormone replacement drugs for 11 years.
That followed a $6.3 million award the jury ordered Pfizer to pay in compensatory damages on Friday after deciding that the drugs Premarin, Prempro and Provera contributed to her cancer, and that the drugmakers failed to adequately warn about the risks associated with the medicines.
Pfizer inherited hundreds of personal injury lawsuits involving Premarin and Prempro, which are used to counter the effects of menopause, with its recent $67 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Provera is sold by Pharmacia & Upjohn, which Pfizer acquired in 2003.
Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, said it would challenge the latest verdict and another earlier verdict that went against Wyeth.
The punitive damages in the earlier case, which were unsealed on Monday was $75 million on top of a nearly $4 million compensatory award.
After rendering its verdict along with the $6.3 million award on Friday, the 12-member jury in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas decided that the drugmakers’ actions or inactions equaled reckless disregard for plaintiff Donna Kendall’s health and came back with the larger punitive damages figure.
Swine Flu Escaped From Lab
November 25, 2009
Bloomberg
By Simeon Bennett
Adrian Gibbs, the virologist who said in May that swine flu may have escaped from a laboratory, published his findings today, renewing discussion about the origins of the pandemic virus.
The new H1N1 strain, which was discovered in Mexico and the U.S. in April, may be the product of three strains from three continents that swapped genes in a lab or a vaccine-making plant, Gibbs, and fellow Australian scientists wrote in Virology Journal. The authors analyzed the genetic makeup of the virus and found its origin could be more simply explained by human involvement than a coincidence of nature.
Their study, published in a free, online journal reviewed by other scientists, follows debate among researchers six months ago, when Gibbs asked the World Health Organization to consider the hypothesis. After reviewing Gibbs’ initial three-page paper, WHO and other organizations concluded the pandemic strain was a naturally occurring virus and not laboratory-derived.
“It is important that the source of the new virus be found if we wish to avoid future pandemics rather than just trying to minimize the consequences after they have emerged,” Gibbs and colleagues John Armstrong and Jean Downie said in today’s eight- page study.
Gibbs and Armstrong are on the emeritus faculty at the Australian National University in Canberra and Downie is affiliated with the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, according to the study.
While the exact source of the new H1N1 strain is a mystery, their research has “raised many new questions,” they said. The authors compared the genetic blueprints of flu strains stored in the free database Genbank and found the pandemic virus’s nearest ancestors circulate in pigs.
Reporter Finds H1N1 Flu Cases Are Not as Prevelant as Feared
November 25, 2009
Info Wars
In case you didn’t realize it, Sharyl Attkisson is the investigative reporter behind the groundbreaking CBS News study that found H1N1 flu cases are NOT as prevalent as feared.
In fact, they’re barely on the radar screen.
How did this startling information come about, and why is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) painting a different picture entirely? I spoke directly with Sharyl Attkisson to find out.
The first video is an amazing interview I did with Sharyl about ten days ago and what the bulk of this article is based on.
The second video is brand new and was done at noon yesterday in which I was videoed in the CBS studio in downtown Chicago. Sharyl was gracious enough to invite me to be on with Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former director of the NIH. We both were in agreement about the swine flu and opposed to the stance the CDC is taking, but we had different views on mammograms.
Please also watch the second interview as it is very entertaining.
Getting Started on the Swine Flu Trail
Ms. Attkisson says:
“The reason I looked into this is a couple of months ago, I got tips from three or four different segments of public healthcare, with folks telling me the CDC has recommended that they go ahead and stop testing for and counting swine flu cases.
Each different entity that contacted me was concerned, thinking that this should not be happening. They really felt that it was necessary for the swine flu to continue to be tracked in some details. So I went about trying to find out why this decision was made and what the ramifications would be.
… I started by contacting the CDC and the HHS and asking some basic questions. I felt like I pretty much got stonewalled with some of the information I really needed to get at, especially what I needed from the states data, and information on the rationale behind this decision to stop counting and testing for swine flu.”
Because the CDC did not initially respond to Attkisson’s requests, she contacted all 50 states directly, asking for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. She also asked states, one by one, to help explain the rationale behind the CDC’s decision to stop tracking H1N1 cases.
Attkisson continues:
“One of my good sources within the government said to me that they’re either trying to, in his opinion, over-represent the swine flu numbers or under-represent by not counting them anymore. He said, “You need to find out which it is.” And so to find out which it might be, I really wanted to see the data that the CDC had at the time it made the decision to quit counting the cases.”
Drug Ads Costing Us Money in Heathcare
Novemeber 25, 2009
Reuters
When consumer advertising began for the popular blood-thinner Plavix, Medicaid insurance programs for the poor and disabled spent millions more on the drug, even though the ads did not tempt doctors to write more prescriptions, researchers reported on Monday.
They said the study suggested that while ads might not directly increase the number of prescriptions, they still affect the cost of publicly funded healthcare because drugmakers appear to build the cost of the ads into their prices.
“Consequently, payers and policymakers should appropriately still be concerned about direct-to-consumer advertising for publicly funded reimbursement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid,” Michael Law of the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research at the University of British Columbia, and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The team studied pharmacy data on Plavix or clopidogrel, the $9 billion-a-year seller made by Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N). They looked at 27 Medicaid programs from 1999 through 2005.
Plavix is used widely to treat heart attack patients. It works in a similar way to aspirin by stopping platelets — tiny blood cells vital for the normal clotting process — from clumping together.
From 1999 to 2000, there were no consumer-directed ads for Plavix. But from 2001 to 2005, U.S. advertising spending for Plavix topped $350 million, or an average of $70 million a year.
During the study period, doctors servicing Medicaid patients did not change the prescribing trends, but the amount of money spent by Medicaid on the drug rose dramatically.
BPA and Erectile Dysfunction
November 25, 2009
Natural News
By S.L. Baker
Big Pharma bombards consumers with ads for drugs to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), the politically correct term for what used to be known as “impotence”. Erectile dysfunction, the repeated inability to get or maintain an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse, is a problem affecting between 15 million to 30 million American men, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). But why?
While many people assume ED is an inevitable part of growing older or something men experience for no particular reason, a just released study raises another disturbing possibility. It turns out the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) can reduce sexual function in men.
The Kaiser Permanente research, published in the journal Human Reproduction, followed 230 Chinese men who were exposed to BPA in their workplace for five years and compared them to 404 others who worked in a factory where no BPA was present. The results were dramatic. The men working in facilities where they were exposed to BPA had four times the risk of erectile dysfunction and seven times more risk of difficulties with ejaculation than their counterparts who weren’t regularly exposed to BPA. The BPA-exposed men had also had dramatically lowered sexual desire and overall less satisfaction with their sex life than men without the chemical exposure.
While it’s true the BPA levels experienced by the exposed factory workers in the study were 50 times higher than levels of the chemical the average American man is believed to be exposed to, the bottom line is this: Americans — male and female, young and old — are being exposed to BPA regularly. The chemical is used in an enormous amount of products including many plastic containers, baby bottles, the lining of cans used for food and beverages, and even dental sealants. And no one knows for sure what effects the chemical could be having on the human body, including the reproductive system.
WHO Looking Into Drug Resistant Swine Flu
November 25, 2009
Yahoo News
By Stephanie Nebehay
The World Health Organization is looking into reports in Britain and the United States that the H1N1 flu may have developed resistance to Tamiflu in people with severely suppressed immune systems, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Britain’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) said five cases have been confirmed in Wales of patients infected with H1N1 resistant to oseltamivir — the generic name of Roche and Gilead Sciences Inc’s antiviral drug Tamiflu.
The patients had serious conditions that suppressed their immune systems, which can give the virus a better than usual opportunity to develop resistance, the HPA said. It said the drug-resistant strain had probably spread person to person.
“We have seen the reports, we need to look into them,” WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said in Geneva.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week also reported four cases of H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu at Duke University Hospital in North Carolina. All were said to be very ill with underlying severely compromised immune systems and multiple other complex medical conditions.
The WHO spokesman said both the reports involved Tamiflu resistance in people with severely compromised immune systems.
“We’ll see if we need to put any additional measures in place to protect this vulnerable group of patients. It might mean that they are at more serious risk than others,” Abraham said.
People with suppressed immune systems, such as those undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from HIV are more likely to fall ill from infections.
Preventing Heart Disease with Vitamin D
November 25, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
The fact that vitamin D prevents cancer is now so well known that even some conventional physicians are beginning to recommend it. Vitamin D prevents 77% of all cancers, after all. That’s as close to a “cure” for cancer as you’ll ever get (and it’s free, too, since you can make it yourself!).
But did you also know that vitamin D prevents heart disease? In fact, most people suffering from heart disease are chronically deficient in vitamin D. By correcting their vitamin D levels (through sunlight exposure or by taking vitamin D3 supplements), people can simultaneously halt cancer and prevent heart disease, too.
Here’s a collection of research revealing the amazing power of this “miracle” vitamin to eliminate heart disease. I’d like to add, though, that the previously recommended daily intake of 400 IUs of vitamin D is now considered hazardously low. Most nutritionally-aware doctors and naturopaths are now recommending anywhere from 1,000 – 4000 IUs per day of vitamin D supplementation. Of course, you don’t need any vitamin D supplements if you get sufficient sunlight on your skin on a regular basis.
Vitamin D prevents heart disease
Diabetes, both type-1 and type-2, are profoundly linked to low vitamin D levels. Obesity, heart disease, hypertension and stroke are inversely related to sunlight exposure and vitamin D levels. Psoriasis, eczema, and periodontal disease are lessened by sunlight exposure and high serum vitamin D. Fertility is positively influenced by sunlight exposure and high vitamin D levels. Sunlight enhances immune system function by producing vitamin D. Dozens of disorders other than those mentioned in this summary are related to vitamin D deficiency.
Population Reduction: Who Will Survive?
November 25, 2009
Fausty’s Libertarian Blog
Mark Wallace
The Optimum Population Trust, for those of you who haven’t yet come across them, are an odd bunch. Bluntly, they believe the best way to save the planet is to get rid of as many human beings as possible.
On the plus side, at least they are being more honest than most greens in their open contempt for human beings. The reality of many in the environmentalist movement is at core a deep anti-humanism, an arrogant dislike for people who are somehow too stupid to see the problem with their pursuit of a happy life and a healthy family.
On the down side, the OPT’s aims are actually pretty worrying – verging on sinister, even. Buried in their website is a detailed spreadsheet laying out their ideal “sustainable” populations for each country. And those “ideal” populations are a little worrying, if you try to imagine the reality of them.
For example, the UK should shrink to 29 million people, from the 60 million we currently have. We are of course a small island, but ask yourself which half of your friends you would rather did not exist?
And we get things comparatively easy in the OPT’s dystopian vision of the future.
Only one in six of the current Algerian population should really be allowed. Bosnians are unlikely to be overjoyed that 3 million of their 4 million people are, in the OPT’s eyes, an inconvenience. Rwanda should apparently go from 7 million people to only 2 million.
What the OPT seem to forget is that these aren’t just statistics. They aren’t just “emitters”, as their website terms them. They are real human beings, who live, love and laugh. It is peculiar that Sir David Attenborough, the Patron of the Trust, can show so much compassion for animals but is apparently happy to back such a dispassionate dismissal of the value of our fellow humans.
Yesterday, the OPT released the results of a Yougov opinion poll which they trumpeted as showing public support for their aims. “Public want smaller UK population”, announces their website. However, when you actually read the tables for the polling results, it turns out that the public are bothered about far more real world, centre right issues than greenie pipe dreams.
It turns out, people are actually perfectly happy for us to be allowed to continue breeding – directly contrary to the OPT’s aims.
Reduce Your Calories and Extend Your Life
November 25, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Monkeys fed a calorie-restricted diet were significantly less likely to die from cancer, heart disease or diabetes than monkeys fed a standard lab diet, in a study conducted by researchers from Washington University and published in the journal Science.
Researchers observed 76 adult rhesus monkeys for as long as 20 years. Half the monkeys were fed standard lab chow, while the others were fed a diet with 30 percent fewer calories and a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals. The researchers found that monkeys fed the standard lab diet were three times more likely to die of age-related diseases than the monkeys on the calorie-reduced diet. They were twice as likely to develop heart disease or pre-cancerous growths. While five monkeys on the standard lab diet developed diabetes and 11 became pre-diabetic, none of the monkeys on the reduced calorie diet developed blood sugar problems.
Brain scans revealed that there was less atrophy in the gray matter of monkeys on the reduced calorie diet, leading the researchers to state that monkeys on the restricted diet “appear to be biologically younger than the normally fed animals.”
Studies in yeast, worms, flies, spiders, fish, mice and rats have all previously shown that animals on calorie restricted diets tend to live longer, while one study found that humans practicing the diet had the heart function of a people an average of 16 years younger.
Much remains unknown about the mechanisms behind the observed effects, as well as potential side effects, researchers warned. One popular hypothesis is that the diets lengthen age because they put the body into crisis mode, causing it to shut down processes such as reproduction, which accelerate aging. No studies have been carried out on the psychological or social effects of the diet.
Further, a UCLA researcher concluded from a meta-analysis that humans restricting their calorie intakes by 30 percent would extend their life spans only two years, on average.
People should not practice calorie restriction without consulting a physician to make sure they are getting enough of the right nutrients to remain healthy.
Secret Files Show Rules for Mass Mind Control
November 25, 2009
Info Wars
Jurriaan Maessen
Hacked into by a person or persons unknown, the unearthed material out of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit’s main server reveals a 62 megabyte zip file confirming that which was already blatantly obvious, namely that the data has been fudged to convince unsuspecting audiences that ‘the debate is over’.
The intruded central computer was not only filled to the brim with obvious and attempted ostracizing of scientists who don’t blindly follow the leader, the files also reveal that the folks of the IPCC made use or considered making use of a disinformation campaign through a ‘communication agency’ called Futerra.
The agency describes itself as “the sustainability communications agency” and serves such global players as Shell, Microsoft, BBC, the UN Environment Programme, the UK government and the list goes on. The co-founder of Futerra, Ed Gillespie explains:
“For brands to succeed in this new world order, they will have to become eco, ethical and wellness champions.”
The document included within the climategate treasure-chest is called ‘ Rules of the Game’ and shows deliberate deception on the part of this agency to ensure that the debate would indeed be perceived as being settled. When facts do not convince, they reasoned, let us appeal to emotions in order to get the job done.
Outlining the ‘rules of the game’ in regards to climate change communication strategies, Futerra considers these rules as a “first step to using sophisticated behaviour change modelling and comprehensive evidence from around the world to change attitudes towards climate change.”
“We need to think radically”, proclaim the authors, “and the Rules of the Game are a sign that future campaigns will not be “business as usual.””
First Rule as outlined by Futerra is called “Blowing away Myths”. Pressing the point that any company wishing to sell global warming must be cautious in using the fear-card:
“Fear can create apathy if individuals have no ‘agency’ to act upon the threat. Use fear with great caution.”
Arrogantly stating to “Forget the climate change detractors”, the document goes on to say that “Those who deny climate change science are irritating, but unimportant.” Futerra also stresses that “There is no ‘rational man’” and “Information can’t work alone.”
The second Rule all should abide by is “a new way of thinking”. “Once we’ve eliminated the myths”, the report goes on to say, “there is room for some new ideas.” These include:
