Court to Decide if Vaccine Makers can be Sued
March 10, 2010
Google News
By Associated Press
The Supreme Court will decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines.
The justices on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from parents in Pittsburgh who want to sue Wyeth over the serious side effects their daughter, six months old at the time, allegedly suffered as a result of the company’s diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled against Robalee and Russell Bruesewitz, saying a 1986 federal law bars their claims.
That law set up a special vaccine court to handle disputes as part of its aim of insuring a stable vaccine supply by shielding companies from most lawsuits.
Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, Inc., prevailed at the appeals court but also joined in asking the court to hear the case, saying it presents an important and recurring legal issue that should be resolved.
The Obama administration joined the parties in calling for high court review, although the government takes the side of the manufacturers.
Only one state appeals court, the Georgia Supreme Court, has ruled that families can sue in a vaccine case. The vaccine industry has fiercely opposed the Georgia ruling in the case of Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari. They claim their son suffered neurological damage after receiving vaccine booster shots made by pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline that contained the preservative thimerosal.
The family has since withdrawn its lawsuit, possibly in an effort to avoid an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling, although the Georgia court’s opinion allowing similar lawsuits remains in force.
The court did not act on the companies’ appeal Monday, but the decision in the other case almost certainly will apply to the Georgia case.
According to the lawsuit, Hannah Bruesewitz was a healthy infant until she received the vaccine in April 1992. Within hours of getting the DPT shot, the third in a series of five, the baby suffered a series of debilitating seizures. Now a teenager, Hannah suffers from residual seizure disorder, the suit says.
The vaccine court earlier rejected the family’s claims.
Wyeth lost another high court fight last year over whether federal law barred lawsuits against drug makers. That case, involving a botched injection, asked whether federal law included an implicit prohibition on the lawsuits. The court said it did not.
In this appeal, however, Congress clearly laid out how claims over vaccines were to be made, and the court has repeatedly ruled against plaintiffs when Congress has explicitly sought to bar lawsuits.
Other than the Georgia court, state and federal courts have uniformly invoked a provision of the 1986 federal law, which seems to bar most lawsuits against vaccine makers.
The idea behind the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was to ensure a stable supply of childhood vaccines by shielding drug makers from most lawsuits, and setting up a federal vaccine court to handle disputes. The law would serve to block state laws that otherwise would give families the ability to sue the manufacturers.
In recent years, the legal fight has frequently come from families of autistic children claiming that mercury-based thimerosal is linked to autism. Numerous studies have addressed vaccines and autism and found no link, including with the preservative.
Thimerosal has been removed in recent years from standard childhood vaccines, except flu vaccines that are not packaged in single doses.
Last year, special masters appointed by the vaccine court concluded that vaccines aren’t to blame for autism, disappointing thousands of families hoping to win compensation and others who remain convinced of a connection.
But the vaccine court still must rule on additional cases that argue that vaccines with thimerosal are to blame, if the mercury reached and damaged brain cells.
Click here for the full report.
Acetaminophen Linked to Asthma
March 10, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The common painkiller acetaminophen may increase the risk of asthma and other allergies in both children and adults, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia-Vancouver and published in the journal CHEST.
Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, is the active ingredient in the painkillers Tylenol, Anacin, Panadol, and others. Because it does not increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding the way aspirin, ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) do, it has become the favored analgesic and fever-reducer used in young children.
Researchers reviewed 19 prior studies on a total of 425,000 children and adults. They found that children who had been treated with the drug in the past year were 60 percent more likely to suffer from asthma than children who had not, while adults who had used the drug in the past year were 75 percent more likely to suffer from the condition. People who had taken higher doses of the drug had a higher risk of asthma than people who had taken lower doses. The data also showed a connection between acetaminophen use and wheezing, eczema, runny nose and itchy eyes.
The study was not designed to prove cause and effect, however.
Researchers have been looking for causes of the significant increase in asthma rates over the past 20 years. Suggested culprits have included air pollutants and overly sterile living environments, but the current study points to another potential contributor.
According to co-author Mark FitzGerald, it was roughly 20 years ago that doctors began to recommend acetaminophen rather than aspirin for the treatment of fevers and pain in children.
“There was a change in practice and in the succeeding 20 years or so the prevalence of asthma has increased also,” he said.
Although ibuprofen does not appear to increase the risk of asthma, it may cause liver and brain damage in some children.
“For adults, ibuprofen is probably the safer of the two in terms of asthma risk,” co-author Mahyar Etminan said. “For kids, pediatric guidelines still point to acetaminophen use — at least until we have a more definitive study.”
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Jennifer Nicole Lee
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The Kevin Trudeau Show: 3-2-10
Today, Kevin explains how corporations are scamming you and exposes the real person behind that politician. Plus, find out why someone would take a drug that has a common side effect of cancer.
More Proof of Government Corruption
FDA’s Approval of Aspartame under Scrutiny
Obama Yet to Kick Smoking Habit
Stop Smoking Now!
They Will Not Control Us
Plus, author & fitness guru, Jennifer Nicole Lee, stopped by to explain how the Law of Attraction helped her get the perfect body. Click here to purchase her new book, The Mind, Body & Soul Diet.
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Obese Kids May Have Early Signs of Future Heart Disease
March 1, 2010
Wall Street Journal
By Shirley S. Wang
Obese children as young as age 3 show signs of an inflammatory response that has been linked to heart disease later in life, researchers said, in a finding that is likely to further stoke concerns about childhood obesity.
The results suggest that obesity-related disease processes may start earlier than previously believed. Nearly 30% of obese 3-to-5-year-olds had elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein—a widely studied marker for inflammation—compared with 17% of healthy-weight kids of the same age. The disparities widened as children aged, according to the study, which is being published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
“It’s really important to be concerned about childhood obesity and to even be concerned when they are quite young,” said Asheley Skinner, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who was the first author of the study. “We can’t wait until they’re adolescents or adults.”
In the U.S., 14% of 2-to-5-year-olds are considered overweight, or at the 85th percentile or greater of weight for height in their age group.
C-reactive protein, or CRP, has been shown to help predict risk of heart disease, stroke and death under certain conditions, according to the American Heart Association. Previous studies have found that overweight and obese adults show elevated levels of CRP, but less has been known about CRP in children.
The study examined three markers that measure different aspects of inflammation, including CRP, in more than 16,000 children nationwide between the ages of 1 and 17. By ages 15 to 17, CRP was elevated in about 60% of obese teens, compared with 18% of teens of healthy weight. The increase was even more pronounced for very obese kids, with nearly 43% of young children and 83% of teens showing CRP elevation.
A similar pattern of elevation was observed for the other two inflammatory markers, though one of the markers wasn’t elevated in obese children until the age of 6.
It isn’t known whether elevated CRP in young children will predict heart disease in adulthood. Such a study, which would involve following overweight and obese children until adulthood, hasn’t been done, Dr. Skinner said. But, she said there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that CRP response would be different in children than in adults; its response in the body is the same regardless of age. Inflammation is the body’s immune response to infection or injury.
The concern of finding CRP elevation in such young children is that its effects could be cumulative. Future research is needed to investigate whether that is the case, and also whether losing weight could reduce CRP response in kids, according to Dr. Skinner. This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Click here for the full report.
Children to be Given Identity Numbers
February 24th, 2010
smh.com.au
By Phillip Coorey
A program in which every school child in Australia would be given an identity number so their academic progress could be tracked through their school life is expected to be announced by the federal government as early as today.
The Herald understands the number, to be known as a ”unique student identifier”, will be annexed to the My School program, which publishes the performance of individual schools on the internet.
The number would allow the performance of individual students in each of the core subjects to be monitored for the duration of their school life so their progress could be measured.
The Education Minister, Julia Gillard, is expected to announce the proposal in a speech today at the National Press Club where she will also canvass a draft of the new national curriculum to be released next Monday.
The curriculum, a plank in the government’s so-called ”education revolution”, will apply to maths, English, history and the sciences and be taught at all schools, starting next year.
The ”unique student identifier” is expected to cause controversy and raise privacy concerns.
A senior source said strict privacy provisions would restrict its use to those who needed the information, such as parents. Protections would be built in to stop third parties being able to identify students.
The My School website is updated once a year and grades each school on its NAPLAN performance in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy for years three, five, seven and nine. Parents are sent the NAPLAN test results for their child each year.
The new identity number would allow parents and other concerned parties to access a database documenting the child’s performance throughout their time at school, regardless of how many schools they attended and whether they shifted interstate.
A student’s strengths and weaknesses could be monitored and addressed as their education progressed.
It is understood Ms Gillard will promote the measure as another way of ensuring maximum school performance. She may also signal the extension of the My School program to year 12.
A source said the identity number would be introduced after the next round of NAPLAN tests in May, possibly before the federal election.
Its implementation will be overseen by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.
Teacher unions, which oppose My School, are threatening to boycott the tests this year.
Click here for the full report
Chronic Health Problems in Children Climb
February 24, 2010
Natural News
By S.L. Baker
Researchers from Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston gathered data about US children with health problems. They looked at conditions that limited activities and/or schooling, required medication and/or specialized equipment and health services, and that lasted for at least a year. The results of this study, just published in the February issue of JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association), show an alarming trend. Chronic health conditions in American kids have increased dramatically in recent years — rising from 12.8 percent in 1994 to 26.6 percent in 2006.
Over the six year study period, Jeanne Van Cleave, M.D., and her research team estimated changes in prevalence, incidence, and rates of remission in four categories: obesity (defined as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for age), asthma, learning or behavior problems, and other physical conditions such as diabetes and heart conditions. They compiled data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Cohort, specifically looking at three groups of children who were between the ages of two through eight at the beginning of each study period. These groups were followed for three periods of six years each — from 1988 to 1994, 1994 to 2000 and 2000 to 2006.
The results showed that the prevalence of chronic conditions, including obesity, increased with each subsequent group. Male, Hispanic, and black youth were found to be at the highest risk. Bottom line: as the years pass, more and more American kids appear to have chronic health problems when compared to similar youngsters in previous years.
There seems little doubt that the increasing rate of obesity among children and teens, most likely fueled by junk food and lack of exercise, is one important explanation for the increase in children’s health problems. But in an editorial accompanying the JAMA study, Neal Halfon, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California at Los Angeles, and Paul W. Newacheck, Dr.P.H., of the University of California at San Francisco, pointed out that other factors must be at work, too.
“The obesity epidemic seemed to develop at a time when many indicators suggested that children’s health was generally improving. The data presented by Van Cleave et al suggest that the prevalence of other chronic health conditions is also increasing among U.S. children and that obesity is not the only clinical time bomb ticking away in children. There is an urgent need to better understand why this is the case and what can be done about it,” they stated. “Addressing the increasing incidence and prevalence of chronic conditions in children will ultimately require major reforms in the child health system. The child health system needs to do a better job preventing childhood chronic illness. The possibilities for such changes are substantial, as are the implications of not acting.”
NaturalNews has previously covered a host of environmental contaminants and toxins that could well be contributing to an increase in children’s health problems. For example the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is used in many hard plastics and can leach from toys and baby bottles. Widely found in the environment, BPA has been linked to health problems in fetuses, babies and children, including attention deficit disorder and neurological symptoms.
Click here for the full report.
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 2-17-10
Today, Kevin explains why he is in court today and the real reason he didn’t get fair coverage from the mainstream media. Plus, more predictions! You won’t want to miss this vital information!!
Foreclosures Reach 315,000 in January
Corporations Have No Interest In Your Safety
Updates to Mental Health Disorders Manual
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American Children Prone to Chronic Health Problems
February 17, 2010
All Headline News
By David Goodhue
Chronic illnesses in children, including asthma, obesity and behavior problems, have increased significantly in the past three decades.
Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave, with the Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy in Massachusetts, the lead researcher on the study, said there is an increase in parents reporting health conditions that limit activities or schooling, that require medicine, special equipment or specialized health services, and that lasted at least a year.
She said that the prevalence of these illnesses increased from 12.8 percent in 1994 to more than 25 percent in 2006.
Van Cleave said that while many serious illnesses that have historically affected children have decreased over the years because of scientific and medical advances, lifestyle, cultural and environmental factors may be the cause of some of the chronic illnesses in children today.
Click here for the full report.
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 2-10-10
Today, Kevin passes on the wisdom of a member of Bilderberg. Find out what is in store for 2010 and when the economic version of hurricane Katrina will hit America. Kevin also investigates how hard federal employees really work for your well-being and how much of your money is being thrown away.
The Near Extinction of Social Security
The Wages of Recession
Terrorists Now Required To Register
Airport Body Scan Radiation Risk
Nicotine Drugs Overhyped
Longer Needles Needed For Obese
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Natural Health Remedies Removed From Canadian Shelves
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Plus, professional astrologer and author, Sioux Rose, gives you her predictions for the world in 2010 and explains how the ‘Moon Dance’ affects your body and soul. Click here for more information on how to purchase her books and how to get your personal astrology reading today!
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