December 11, 2003*          

Vaccine-related

December 11, 2003 - NAA Action Alert: "On December 9, 2003, an editorial was published in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "Where's my flu shot?" The writer goes beyond merely stating an opinion when the information he/she presents is made to seem factual, but really isn't. In fact, the writer uses erroneous information to take direct aim at government officials who have very much helped the autism community in the past.  He/she also depicts Senator Bill Frist as the hero while blaming our repeal of the Homeland Security rider for the current flu vaccine shortage...Please write to the Wall Street Journal ASAP and let them know that they irresponsibly printed a very misleading editorial without checking the facts first." - to learn more, go to the National Autism Association's Grassroots Center

December 10, 2003 - Experts Question Potency of Flu Vaccine - AP via Yahoo! - "Even as federal officials try to round up extra doses of the flu vaccine, many experts are wondering just how much protection the shots will give the millions who have taken them...Vaccine makers produced 83 million doses this year, but the early and intense outbreak in some Western states has dried up supplies in many places...Even though one of the three is a close cousin of this season's bug, whether that will be enough to help people ward off the flu is unknown. Some experts expect the level of protection to be less than 50 percent...Most agree the vaccine will do at least some good. But the word "some" is about specific as CDC scientists are willing to get."

Comment:  How lovely for the vaccine manufacturers, to be able to produce 83 million doses of something that may well not work and enlist the government and medical community in their efforts to sell it.

December 11, 2003 - Effectiveness of shots isn't clear-cut - Expert says mismatch may protect half of recipients but adds, 'Biology is messy' - Rocky Mountain News

December 11, 2003 - Doubling of flu deaths feared -  The Denver Post - "The FDA and CDC should have warned the public that the vaccine might not be effective against the Fujian strain, said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Va., and a member of the FDA committee..."Be honest with the people; tell them they couldn't produce the Fujian strain this year," she said, noting that citizens often incorrectly look at the flu vaccine as a panacea...Worse, Fisher said, is that health officials knew the the vaccine was only marginally effective against Fujian."

December 11, 2003 - Flood of flu cases using up vaccine - The Navajo Times - "Across the United States, health officials have said this year could be the worst influenza season seen in decades...Michael Murphy, spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said that so far two adults and one child have died of influenza related sickness. Murphy said Arizona typically has 20 children deaths a year caused by influenza."

Comment: Okay, so let me see if I've got this straight.  Normally 20 children die in Arizona, and so far one has died.  And yet there is near hysteria over this flu and access to flu vaccine.  Perhaps I am missing something, but is this flu season being hyped up for some reason?  If so, what could that reason be?  And lest we forget, there have been almost 18,000 flu-vaccine associated adverse reactions reported to VAERS since reporting began, including 317 deaths.  (Note that estimates of under-reporting range from 90-99%, e.g., click here.)

December 11, 2003 - Increase in Demand for Flu Vaccine (requires registration/subscription) - The New York Times

December 10, 2003 - Dallas Officials Say Demand for Flu Vaccine Being Met - The Dallas Morning News via Good Housekeeping

Comment:  Any chance someone without a stake in the results will be doing any research on this?

December 10, 2003 - CDC mulls purchase of British flu vaccine - The Washington Times

December 10, 2003 - This year's flu vaccine is weakest since 1997 - AP via The Wichita Eagle

December 15, 2003 - Should troops get the anthrax vaccination? - NO: Vaccination program rife with unresolved concerns - letter - (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 15, 2003 - Should troops get the anthrax vaccination? - YES: Vaccines give protection against the threat of anthrax - letter  (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 15, 2003 - Resolution questions vaccine programs - A senator wants the Pentagon to reconsider its mandatory anthrax and smallpox vaccine policies — and the health and career consequences of those policies on U.S. troops. (Requires registration) - Army Times

Autism-related

Moms Against Mercury - Two Moms Fighting For Truth & Justice For Our Children...And Yours - website - BILLBOARD

December 11, 2003 - U.S. to Warn Women of Mercury in Tuna - Newspaper - Reuters Health via Yahoo!

"Vaccine-preventable" disease-related

December 11, 2003 - Cases of flu cut in half - The worst of worst Colorado season in years is over, officials say - Rocky Mountain News - "During a typical year, no more than two children and a total of 750 to 800 Coloradans die of complications of the flu or pneumonia."

December 9, 2003 - Whooping Cough Makes Big Comeback - HealthDay

December 9, 2003 - Deadly scallions traced to Mexico - FDA locates source of green onions that caused outbreak - Reuters

December 15, 2003 - New anthrax antibody quick-acting in animals - A pharmaceutical company and a Texas university have teamed to develop a way to protect immediately against inhalation anthrax, the bacteria that defense officials say is a potential germ-warfare threat to U.S. troops and civilians. (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 15, 2003 - Deployment health: The proof is in the data - Congressional investigators are “encouraged” by the steps defense officials say they have taken to protect the health of deployed troops, but the proof of compliance will come only when troops’ records are reviewed, the General Accounting Office said. (Requires registration) - Army Times

December 9, 2003 - Conference in A.C. puts focus on HIV - www.pressofatlanticcity.com - "Handing out clean syringes is not the same as telling people to go out and use heroin, Roseanne Scotti, director of the New Jersey Drug Policy Project, said at the South Jersey HIV Training Institute conference on Monday...Arguments for needle exchange are not just moral, but practical, she explained."

Other diseases/conditions (some already in the vaccine pipeline)

December 11, 2003 - Prosecution of mothers for baby deaths ‘will cease’ - Times Online - "All three cases highlight the problems in investigating cases where babies die suddenly and unexpectedly. The three mothers protested their innocence but an acquittal can be difficult because juries, experts say, have a revulsion to a mother who may have hurt her child...Joyce Epstein, director of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, called for an overhaul of the way sudden baby deaths are investigated. She said: 'Many parents are put through a very tough time because of rash unsupported views, quick judgments and incomplete investigations. Evidence should be tested before it reaches any court.'”

December 11, 2003 - Cot deaths mother freed - Times Online - "Future prosecutions of mothers feared to have killed their babies and the safety of dozens of other convictions are now in doubt after Mrs Cannings walked free from the Court of Appeal yesterday."

December 8, 2003 - Novel strategy to help prevent transplant rejection - www.ic.ac.uk via Science Daily - "A study led by Imperial College London has shown for the first time it is possible to help prevent organ rejection using a novel strategy that redirects the body's immune response instead of suppressing it...Unlike current therapies, which leave patients vulnerable to infection by inducing non-specific immunosuppression, this new approach targets a key cellular signal known as Notch, which the researchers found acts as a gatekeeper by governing how immune cells specialise."

December 9, 2003 - How staph develops - The normally harmless bacteria can enter the body through open wounds and cause varying degrees of illness. - York Daily Record

December 9, 2003 - AVR118 Suppresses Progression of Disease in Animal Model of Multiple Sclerosis Developed at The Weizmann Institute of Science - Business Wire

Big pharma, research conduct, conflict of interest, ethics

December 9, 2003 - Blood Money? - The Los Angeles Times' flawed masterpiece about corruption at NIH. - Slate - "Not many newspaper stories can boast that they were five years in the making, and fewer still can claim that they were worth the wait. But David Willman's meticulously researched 11,700-word feature, "Stealth Merger: Drug Companies and Government Medical Research," in the Sunday, Dec. 7, Los Angeles Times is that brilliant exception."

December 11, 2003 - Rules on medicines 'need big shake-up' - Anti-depressant ban for children reveals flaws in system, says Mind - The Guardian, UK - "'It is totally unacceptable that for a significant period 50,000 children and adolescents in the UK have been prescribed anti-depressant drugs that were not licensed for use but it is only now being demonstrated that they do not help and can indeed cause harm,'  said Richard Brook, Mind's chief executive."

December 10, 2003 - Drugs for depressed children banned - The Guardian, UK - "Modern antidepressant drugs which have made billions for the pharmaceutical industry will be banned from use in children today because of evidence, suppressed for years, that they can cause young patients to become suicidal."

December 11, 2003 - Payments by Managers of Drug Plans Face Scrutiny (requires registration/subscription) - The New York Times - "The pharmacy benefit companies that manage drug coverage for most working Americans commonly offer millions of dollars in payments to important customers when contracts with them are signed, according to industry executives and consultants...The practice is receiving widespread attention after Justice Department officials on Tuesday accused Medco Health Solutions, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers, of violating kickback laws by paying $87.4 million to Oxford Health Plans."

December 9, 2003 - Orphan' Drugs Offer Hope - The Ledger

December 9, 2003  - Merck expects to make more marketing deals in future -  Dow Jones/AP via Newsday

Miscellaneous

December 9, 2003 - Garlic Beats Hospital Superbug - www.healthynet.com

December 11, 2003 - A Spoonful of Cinnamon Helps Treat Diabetes - Reuters Health

December 11, 2003 - Baby's First Pictures - Three Less-Invasive Prenatal Tests Offer Parents New Early Diagnostic Options -- and Some Tough Choices  -  The Washington Post

December 10, 2003 - Celebrating Excellence in Health Research - Speech: New Zealand Government - www.scoop.co.nz

December 9, 2003 - 39 Doctors in 4 African Countries Receive the First Inter-University Degree In 'Organization and Man - 39 Doctors in 4 African Countries Receive the First Inter-University Degree In `Organization and Management of Public Systems of Prevention through Immunization in Developing Countries` - PR Newswire via Yahoo!

December 9, 2003 - Modifying Mother Nature -  St. Petersburg Times

Redflagsdaily.com - www.redflagsweekly.com