Conflict of Interest

►January 22, 2004 - Panel Says Zoloft and Cousins Don't Increase Suicide Risk (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Adding to the debate over using antidepressant drugs for depressed teenagers and children, a group of prominent researchers issued a report yesterday saying that Zoloft and similar medicines did not increase children's suicide risk...The group, drawn from members of the American College of Neuro- psychopharmacology, also found that the drugs were effective in treating children's depression...Critics pointed to weaknesses in the report...Critics of the medicines noted that 9 of the 10 task force members had significant financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, although such ties are common among prominent researchers. The panel said no industry money financed the report."

Comment: Give me a break.  9 out of 10 have financial ties but "no industry money financed the report".  What do they think we are, stupid?

►Winter 2003 - An Interview with Dr. Reginald Finger, ACIP member -   The ITAT Sharpshooter - "Q ...Do you intend to stay involved here in Colorado? A Dr. Finger: Yes, I especially enjoy being part of the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition. If Colorado is going to climb out the cellar with its immunization rates, some insights from the national level may be helpful along the way. There are at least three other national leaders in immunization here in Colorado too, not counting Tom Vernon from Merck who has strong ties here. If we all work as a team, maybe some really good things will happen!"

Comment:  Isn't this a teeny, tiny conflict of interest? 

►January 23, 2004 - NIH defends consulting deals - (requires registration) - At Senate hearing, top officials deny wrongdoing; Zerhouni appoints review panel cochairs - The Scientist - "Senior officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) yesterday denied committing any improprieties when they accepted lucrative consulting contracts from pharmaceutical and biotech companies that had dealings with the agency. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee, one institute director called the allegations, reported by the Los Angeles Times, “'misleading, grossly inaccurate, and filled with false innuendo.'”

►January 18, 2004 - Probe Sought Into NIH Officials' Outside Work Three House Democrats ask the investigative arm of Congress to look into 'potential conflicts of interest' stemming from drug-firm payments. (requires registration) - The Los Angeles Times - "Citing details from a Los Angeles Times article published last month, the House members called for an "investigation into potential conflicts of interest" at the federal government's center for medical research on humans...In an interview, Waxman said, 'It is evident that there is a real problem at NIH, when researchers can make hundreds of thousands of dollars consulting, at the same time they're doing research paid for by the public.'"

►January 14, 2004 - Doctors lash out at cancer society over HRT - The Globe and Mail - "Obstetricians and gynecologists are lashing out at the Canadian Cancer Society, questioning its scientific expertise and commitment to women's health...The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada is up in arms because the cancer society urged women last week not to take hormone-replacement therapy for menopause symptoms, except in rare instances, because the health risks outweigh the benefits."

Comment:  Remind me, whose interests are the obstetricians and gynecologists representing?  Ah, perhaps the answer can be found below....

Ethics

►January 19, 2004 - When kids take the risks - Children enrolled in clinical trials usually do not directly benefit and may suffer health consequences. (requires registration) The Los Angeles Times - "Some physicians and medical ethicists are warning that a new push to include kids in drug trials could endanger the health of the children who sign up for them."

Funding/money matters

Pharmaceutical industry

Pharmaceutical industry/FDA oversight

►January 23, 2004 - FDA: Misusing Painkillers Can Be Deadly - AP via The Herald-Sun

►January 25, 2004 - Many Surprised by Bold Moves at the F.D.A. (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►January 24, 2004 - Whistleblower vows to fight on  - journal article (BMJ) - "A Canadian haematologist at the centre of a cause célèbre over academic freedom and research funded by a drug company vowed this week to continue her crusade after failing in her attempt to challenge the European marketing authorisation granted for the thalassaemia drug deferiprone.^"

►December 2003 - Prescription Drugs - OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem (pdf) - GAO

►January 21, 2004 - From Mad Cow to mercury, agencies watch for our welfare - The Record-Courier

►January 17, 2004 - Anti-Counterfeit Steps By Drugmakers Sought - Legislators' Goal Is to Halt Illegal Sales - Washington Post - "Congressional lawmakers asked five of the nation's largest drugmakers yesterday to explain what they are doing to stop counterfeit drugs from entering the marketplace. The letters are part of a widening effort in Congress and among federal agencies to crack down on the illegal distribution of prescription drugs."

PR/advertising

Research conduct

Conferences, workshops, seminars, courses

Diseases and their vaccines (current and in the pipeline)

AIDS/HIV/AIDS vaccine

►January 23, 2004 - HIV experts suggest halt to Thailand vaccine trial - www.indystar.com

►January 2004 - HIV diagnoses increased in more than half of the United States (requires registration) - New statistics show that more effort in prevention strategies is needed. - www.infectiousdiseasenews.com

Comment:  But what if, as many believe, HIV has nothing to do with AIDS?  Then what do these diagnoses mean, other than an spelling an opportunity to create fear and sell toxic drugs?

►January 22, 2004 - Researcher Ho Retracts Claim About AIDS Development - www.quicken.com - "A clue to the most enduring mystery of the AIDS epidemic - why some people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus never develop the disease - has just crumbled...In a rare published retraction in the journal Science, researcher David Ho, the AIDS world's nearest thing to a rock star, said he erred in a September 2002 announcement that he had found the mysterious protection factor - an immune booster secreted by special white-blood cells called CD8 cells."

►January 22, 2004 - Is AIDS Vaccine Trial In Thailand A Waste Of Money? - www.voanews.com - "The problem, as critics see it, is that neither shot seems to work very well on its own. The first shot has not looked promising in preliminary tests. The second shot has already failed a previous large-scale trial. Cornell University AIDS researcher John Moore says putting the two together doesn't add up...'There is this argument that naught plus naught might equal one. Personally, I don't buy into it. The evidence that the two vaccine components work better together than apart is really very poor.'"

►January 4, 2004 - AIDS: A Death Cult - by John Lauritsen - www.altheal.org - "This article has been hard to write. I've taken a break from "AIDS" for several years, and returning to the topic now, I've been in shock over what has been done to us. My opinions have not changed: I still regard "AIDS" as the greatest blunder and the greatest hoax in medical history -- an epidemic of incompetence and an epidemic of lies...As long as there has been "AIDS" there have been critics of the orthodox AIDS model: "AIDS dissidents". For the most part our voices were silenced. As AIDS became a religion, a death cult -- with sacred commodities, dogmas, rituals, and sacrifices - any expression of skepticism was tantamount to blasphemy."

►January 21, 2004 - CDC to ask for probe into HIV positive party goers - The China Post - "The Center for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced that 28 of the 92 homosexuals nabbed by the police at a drug party last week are HIV positive...According to the CDC, only one party goer admitted to the police that he is HIV positive. The police later identified 27 more reported AIDS cases after checking with the health authorities...They were all caught while attending the infamous drug and sex party, known as the "Home Party" in the gay community."

Comment:  What's THAT about?

►January 20, 2004 - Biggest-ever AIDS vaccine trial draws stinging criticism - USA Today - "When the world of AIDS vaccine research erupts into controversy, as it did again last week, the source is often pent-up frustration over the snail's pace of progress and the best use of research money...More than 20 years into the epidemic, only one vaccine has completed two large-scale clinical trials. It failed both. The latest flap centers on yet another test of that vaccine as part of a two-shot combination with another experimental vaccine."

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

►January 21, 2004 - Drug Team May Stem Alzheimer's Effects (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►January 20, 2004 - Study: Vitamins C, E cut Alzheimer's risk - High daily doses of vitamins E and C taken together reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease among elderly people, a new study suggests. - Reuters via CNN

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

►January 21, 2004 - BIOLOGICAL WAR-FEAR: FDA fails to halt anthrax anxiety - After judge stopped controversial vaccine feds declared it safe - by Timothy W. Maier - Insight magazine, via www.worldnetdaily.com  - "'Only after the issuance of an injunction, up pops a federal rule,' Sullivan declared with acid sarcasm to Justice Department attorney Shannen Coffin, who is representing the Pentagon in the lawsuit filed by the six John Does. 'And you're telling me it's coincidental?'...'I'd stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you it's coincidental,' Coffin replied to Sullivan...'That's an amazing coincidence,' Sullivan shot back."

►January 21, 2004 - Local company testing anthrax vaccine - www.wtvw.com - "Bioterrorism is a constant threat, and now the government wants a new vaccine to protect us from anthrax...Now the race is on to find a safer vaccine. That's where federal researchers and those at GFI, a research company, come in...'What they've actually developed now is not only a vaccine that's been on the market for years, we're actually involved in a trial on a new vaccine to potentially protect the public,' said Dr. Randall Stoltz, Medical Director of GFI."

Comment:  Gee, why would we need to race to produce a "safer" vaccine?  And here I thought the one they were using was already plenty safe.

Asthma/allergies

►January 19, 2004 - Asthma Not Worsened by Continued Trigger Exposure - Reuters via Yahoo!

Autism

►January 22, 2004 - Scientific, Lay Press Starting to Label Autism "Epidemic" - Schafer Autism Report

►January 24, 2004 - Autism seems to be increasing worldwide, if not in London -  letter - F. Edward Yazbak, paediatrician - journal article (BMJ) - "Taylor's raw data have remained inaccessible since 1999, when he first denied any connection between autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination, in a study that neither had a population based cohort design nor sufficient statistical power to detect an association.^"

►Winter 2003/published January 21, 2004 at http://jpands.org/ - Autism in the United States: a Perspective - by F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP via Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons - "Once rare, autism has reached epidemic proportions in the United States.  The increase cannot be attributed to changes in diagnostic criteria, which have actually become more restrictive."

►January 21, 2004 - Autism reaching 'epidemic' levels - www.tcpalm.com - "It's one of the worst nightmares a parent can imagine - without warning, a child is abducted from his bed in the middle of the night, never to return...Now, imagine that instead of taking the whole child, only his mind is stolen and his body - the hollow shell of his being - is left behind."

►January 23, 2004 - Prevalence of serum antibodies to caudate nucleus in autistic children - the latest by Vijendra K. Singh - journal article (Neuroscience Letters) via www.sciencedirect.com

►January 20, 2004 - A World Apart From Autism - Asperger syndrome challenges experts to distinguish its symptoms and treatments - Newsday - "When Eric Schissel was a boy, ZIP codes fascinated him. And he had magnificent obsessions with mathematics, dictionaries, penguins and foreign languages. He was master of an amazing party trick: Pick any date in history, and he could tell you what day it landed on. But Eric Schissel wasn't invited to any parties."

►December 2003 - A review of research into pretend play in autism - journal article (Autism) 

Autism/mercury

►January 21, 2004 - Letter from Safe Minds to IOM re: postponing February meeting on thimerosal and autism - www.safeminds.org

►January 21, 2004 - Weldon Tries to Whistle-Blow CDC's Alleged Puppeting of IOM on Mercury Letter calls on CDC Director Gerberding for a time-out to let research smoke to clear. - Schafer Autism Report

►January 19, 2004 - Douglas County school to reopen after mercury spill - www.rgj.com - "More than 800 students at a Douglas County school will return to classes Tuesday, two weeks after the school was shut down because of a mercury spill."

►January 20, 2004 - Food safety call as study says salmon is safer than other fish - The Herald, UK - "Environmental  groups have called for a new food safety investigation after it emerged that there are six fish types with greater concentration of toxic chemicals than salmon."

Autism/MMR

►January 23, 2004 - Pediatrician John Cohen - www.thebostonchannel.com - "Should parents worry about giving children the MMR vaccine because of worry over autism?...The fact of the matter is that the study was done years ago and was actually recanted by the doctor that did it. The MMR vaccine is safe and doesn't cause autism and people should pay attention to their doctors."

Comment:  This issue has hardly been settled.  To get a taste of some of what has been happening, click here.

►January 2004 - MMR And Nurseries - BBC Radio - "Day nurseries may be considering excluding children if they haven't had the MMR vaccine. Some parents whose children are not yet old enough for the vaccine are worried that mixing with children who are not immunised may be putting their babies at risk. The director of public health in the North West, John Ashton, and Magda Taylor from the Informed Parent helpline discuss parents are right to consider immunisation as a factor when choosing childcare."

►January 17, 2004 - Single-jab clinic sees 60 infants - This Is Local London - "Parents fearful of the effects of the controversial MMR vaccine got a chance to give their children separate jabs...The children will have the same vaccines injected into them as the triple MMR but by nine separate injections over a longer period of time instead of the single MMR administered in one go."

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

►January 25, 2004 - Difficult choices - Variety of treatments face parents of autistic children - The Boston Globe - "Anke Kriske's 14-year-old son, Derek, has been on medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Prozac. He is on a special diet that limits yeast, wheat, and milk. And recently, he has been trying neurofeedback, where sensors on his head monitor and stimulate brain waves...The approaches may be diverse, but the intention has been uniform: helping Derek overcome his autism."

►January 22, 2004 - Future looks bright for Mariposa School - The Cary News - "The Mariposa School, for children with autism, was in danger of closing its doors in 2002. But the school is still open, making a difference and planning to expand...The school has 15 students enrolled in the building and its staff consults with six other children. Cindy Peters, executive director, said that Mariposa has been fortunate to have the support of many people. When the school was running low on funds in 2002, doing everything possible to publicize it helped pull Mariposa out of trouble."

►January 21, 2004 - Ontario mother calls on government to keep promise to fund autism treatment - Canadian Press via  www.medbroadcast.com - "An Ontario mother is asking the province to keep its promise to fund treatment for autistic children beyond the age of six, pointing to submissions by the Ontario Human Rights Commission that say the policy is 'discriminatory.'...Refusing to pay for therapy for older children 'is discriminatory to children with autism over the age of six,' said the commission's pleadings in the case that it has referred to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Comment:  If it turns out to be true that vaccines are a cause of autism, the life-time cost of caring for the one out of 250 or so (maybe even more) autistic children needs to be factored into any costs associated with vaccination (particularly when compared to the costs associated with the disease(s) the vaccines are designed to "prevent").

►January 18, 2004 - More than just a job: Real-world work program puts autistic student on path to independence - King County Journal

►January 18, 2004 - Proper therapy can do so much for children with autism - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via http://mentalhelp.net - "One unique thing about children with autism is that with early intensive intervention, they can make astonishing strides to the point where they are far less affected by the disorder.  This is not typical for most developmental disorders, and it saves taxpayers tens of millions of dollars per child over the child's life span.  These types of gains are never seen in autistic children who do not receive early intensive behavioral intervention."

►January 17, 2004 - Autistic children left hanging - Wind Lake mom, others scramble to replace therapy service after state switch - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - "Hundreds of families across the state, many in southeastern Wisconsin, are scrambling to maintain treatment for their autistic children after a providersuddenly dropped out of the Medicaid-funded program in December...It is the latest setback for parents of these often severely impaired children, at a time when some are exploring a class-action lawsuit to restore treatment levels cut as part of a state budget compromise reached last year."

►January 18, 2004 - Camp lets kids with autism be themselves - Program designed to help youths with the disorder feel accepted and safe, founder says. - www.indystar.com

►January 18, 2004 - Evolving empathy: Through a workshop, South Butler students gain a better understanding of a life with disabilities - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

►January 14, 2004 - Coping With Autism Many Moms Left Straining For Services - Daily News via YellowBrix - "For parents, there is little relief in sight...'The increase in autism is causing an increase in demand in services,' said Steve Graff, director of the Tri-County Regional Center in Simi Valley, which offers referrals to parents. 'And there are only so many people out there that can do that kind of service.'"

Autism and vaccines (general)

Autoimmunity/autoimmune disease

Behavioral disorders, chronic disability

►January 20, 2004 - Paying Attention To Parents Of ADHD Kids - New Study Reinforces Importance of Testing Parents of Kids Who Are Diagnosed With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Washington Post

Bioterror-related, other than smallpox and anthrax

Comment:  "When", not "if"?  Is this merely careless speech or reporting?  Do they know something we don't, but should, know?   Or is this just more scare-mongering?

►January 23, 2004 - NHS to get 'dirty bomb' detectors - NHS hospitals and ambulance crews are to get radiation equipment to enable them to detect dirty bombs. - BBC

►January 23, 2004 - Biodefense Agency Urged for Safety of U.S. Troops - Lack of New Vaccines Points to Need, Report Says - The Washington Post - "The Pentagon has not developed a single new vaccine against biological agents since the 1991 Gulf War and should create a new biodefense agency to respond to the growing threat of biological attacks on U.S. forces, according to a congressionally mandated report released yesterday."

►January 22, 2004 - Blueprint on Way for Vaccine Factory to Combat Terror Strikes - The Scotsman -"Plans for a Government-owned factory to produce large amounts of vaccine in the event of a terrorist strike could be finalised within weeks, it emerged today...The rapid response facility would produce vaccine for people contaminated by a chemical or biological attack."

Cancer/cancer vaccines

►January 22, 2004 - Do cancer patients in clinical trials have better outcomes than non-participants? - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute via www.eurekalert.org

►January 21, 2004 - Scientists identify cell defects that limit immune system's impact on late-stage tumors - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via  www.eurekalert.org 

►January 25, 2004 - Sunny D - It's the great cancer cover-up. Panicked into avoiding sunlight by health experts, we are now dying in our thousands from diseases linked to deficiencies of vitamin D. But still the exaggerated warnings come. Oliver Gillie reveals how sunbathing can save your life - The Independent, UK

►January 24, 2004 - Study Links Some Hair Dyes to Kind of Cancer (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Scientists have found more evidence for a possible link between non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and long-term use of dark hair dye. A study of more than 1,300 women in Connecticut shows that those who began coloring their hair before 1980 increased their chance of developing the disease by 40 percent."

Comment:  Apparently the "experts" consider it far better to allow the increase to continue unabated than to consider that the sacred cow of vaccination might play some role in this.  For one perspective on the role just one vaccine contaminant, SV40, may play in cancer, go to Scandals: The Institute of Medicine Review Of SV40 Contamination of Polio Vaccine and Cancer

►January 23, 2004 - Hair dye may raise cancer risk, U.S. study shows - Reuters

►January 19, 2004 - Skin cancer treatments debated -  A non-surgical treatment for basal cell skin cancer results in better cosmetic results but might be less effective than surgery at preventing the disease from returning, a study found. - AP via CNN

►January 20, 2004 - Viruses that kill cancer - The Boston Globe - "The first clue that viruses could fight cancer came around the turn of the last century, when a woman with cervical cancer was bitten by a dog. She was injected with live, crippled rabies virus; her cancer shrank."

►January 26, 2004 - Web sites can give patients info they need for decisions - Credible Internet resources were found to be helpful for patients needing to make informed choices on cancer screening. - www.ama-assn.org

Cardiac

Chickenpox/chickenpox vaccine

►January 22, 2004 - Astronauts Can Be Grounded by Shingles - Reuters Health - "Even astronauts with the right stuff and at the peak of health may be laid low by shingles, brought on by stress, it seems...Shingles is a sometimes painful rash caused by the reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox. The virus remains dormant in nerve cells after the chickenpox clears up, but it may be reactivated decades later by physical trauma, although it is relatively rare in healthy young adults...However, a study has found that the mental stress of space travel reactivates the culprit virus, varicella zoster, in a substantial proportion of astronauts."

►January 2004 - More varicella vaccine, less invasive streptococcal disease - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

Diabetes

►January 20, 2004 - Drug prevents diabetes recurrence after islet cell transplantation - University of Virginia Health System via www.eurekalert.org

►January 19, 2004 - Coffee lowers diabetes risk - China Daily - "People who gulp several cups of coffee a day can greatly lower their risk of developing diabetes later in life, even if they are overweight, according to a US Study published on Tuesday...The study of 125,000 people suggests that caffeinated coffee - not caffeine-free - may affect the body's metabolism in positive ways, the researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health said."

Diphtheria/diphtheria vaccine

Ebola/ebola vaccine

Flu/flu vaccine

►January 24, 2004 - New flu strain may follow lull - Clinics get fresh vaccine supplies - The Sun News via www.myrtlebeachonline.com - "The flu that swept through the Carolinas with a vengeance in December is no longer widespread, but health officials say another, less severe flu strain could strike the area in the next month or two."

►January 25, 2004 - Other deadly avian diseases - Avian influenza is only one of several deadly diseases which have the potential to devastate poultry populations and the communities that rely on the poultry industry for their livelihood - Bangkok Post

►January 25, 2004 - Scientists' nightmare: Bird flu will evolve into human pandemic - Canadian Press - "Their foreboding: A catastrophe they say is among the worst imaginable, a global outbreak of an entirely new form of human flu...There is no clear sign that will happen. Nevertheless, avian influenza's sudden sweep through Asia, along with its tendency for wholesale mutation, leave many wondering about the bug's potential for rampant spread among humans. It is a possibility the medical journal The Lancet calls 'massively frightening.'"

►January 23, 2004 - Avian Influenza Infection In Humans: Urgent Need To Eliminate The Animal Reservoir - WHO via www.sciencedaily.com

►January 24, 2004 - Bird flu, regular influenza called risky combination - The Seattle Times - "People hit by the bird-flu outbreak in Asia should be quarantined to avoid contact with sufferers of regular influenza, because a combination of the two viruses might accelerate the spread of the disease, the World Health Organization said yesterday...However, a senior official at the U.N. agency said he saw no need for the kind of travel warnings WHO issued during last year's SARS epidemic."

►January 25, 2004 - Thailand Brings in Troops to Fight Bird Flu (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Provincial governments in west-central Thailand dispatched hundreds of soldiers and prisoners today to slaughter chickens in flocks infected with avian influenza, as hospitals across southeast Asia remained on high alert for further human cases of the disease."

►January 23, 2004 - CDC: U.S. Flu Activity Continues Decline - CDC Says U.S. Flu Cases Have Declined, With Only Five States Reporting Widespread Illness - AP via ABC News

►January 24, 2004 - Thais Infected With Bird Flu; Virus Spreads (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Human cases of avian influenza, contracted from birds, have turned up in a second Asian country, Thailand, showing the virus has spread in recent weeks. The announcement, made by the Thai government on Friday, has deepened fears of a global epidemic if the virus combines with another that can be transmitted from person to person."

►January 23, 2004 - Human Bird Flu Cases Confirmed in Thailand - Reuters - "But the World Health Organization was clearly alarmed...It said in a statement the near simultaneous bird flu outbreaks in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and now Thailand and Cambodia were 'historically unprecedented' and it was worried a new, virulent strain of influenza could sweep around the world.  

►January 25, 2004 - Rush to produce bird flu vaccines - The Sunday Mail

►January 23, 2004 - WHO Expert: Bird Flu's Rapidly Changing Genetic Makeup Likely Behind Its Rapid Spread - AP via www.intelihealth.com

►January 24, 2004 - Thailand, Cambodia confirm bird flu - www.theage.com.au - "Once birds or humans develop antibodies against a particular incarnation of H5N1, 'the virus has to change to escape that immunity ... that's what it does,' he said...'It's constantly changing,' Webster said in Hong Kong, where he is conducting research at a local university.

Comment:  What does this say about the viability of vaccination?  Doesn't this suggest that vaccines solve nothing, and instead may inherently create the need for more vaccines?  This may not be a problem for the vaccine manufacturers.  But is it good for the rest of us?

►January 23, 2004 - The Vaccine That Missed - Sales of Pricey FluMist Disappoint Wyeth, MedImmune - The Washington Post - "Wyeth yesterday gave its first official reckoning of just how badly FluMist failed to meet the expectations of the New Jersey drug company."

►January 21, 2004 - ’Flu shot compliance varies in region - Fort Frances Times

►January 22, 2004 - Demand for flu vaccine decreasing, local officials say - The Garden City Telegram - "The Finney County Health Department didn't apply for any of the FluMist nasal influenza vaccine announced last week as being available through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, but health department Immunization Coordinator Donna Marley said demand for immunizations has slowed...'It kind of calmed down when we ran out, darn it,' she said."

Comment:  "Darn it?"  She's disappointed that demand didn't exceed supply?  What's that about?

►January 21, 2004 - FluMist Offered Free to Public Health Agencies - The Washington Post

Comment:  I see.  The taxpayer gets to pay for what may be a worthless vaccine.  Nice for the vaccine manufacturers, eh?  The PERFECT BUSINESS PLAN,  i.e., a) pay for and conduct the studies justifying use of your products b) get the vaccines to be universally mandated for school entry c) get your liability covered and d) NOW get the taxpayer to pay for your product even if it is worthless (and may be harmful) JUST GOT EVEN BETTER!  For more on this, go to Hyping Vaccines: An Investigation - Chickenpox, Lyme, Rotavirus, And A Highly Revealing Analysis Of Flu Statistics - by RFD Columnist, Dr. F. Edward Yazbak in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com and How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

►January 21, 2004 - Vietnam last on flu vaccine list - The New Scientist - "Drug company contracts and intellectual property rights are impeding efforts to ensure an outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam does not result in a deadly human pandemic...All the victims so far got the disease from poultry, but the big fear is that the virus could turn into a form capable of spreading from person to person. A flu vaccine that might help prevent this will soon become available, but instead of going to Vietnam it will be sent to rich countries to fulfil existing contracts."

Comment:  Might this constitute evidence that the purpose of vaccines is solely financial and has little to do with hoping to prevent the spread of disease?

►January 21, 2004 - Did the government lay an egg? - Food sector lashes out about inaction on avian flu - The Japan Times - "The recent outbreak of avian flu in Yamaguchi Prefecture has not only shocked restaurants and the fast-food industry, but has highlighted the government's inability to prevent such deadly diseases from emerging in Japan...Many were shocked by the outbreak of avian influenza -- the first in Japan since 1925 -- that occurred at the Win Win chicken farm in the town of Ato, especially as it came after the government banned the import of U.S. beef in December following the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease there."

►January 15, 2004 - Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Studies - CDC

►January 19, 2004 - Thailand denies existence of Avian 'flu - FoodProductionDaily.com

►January 16, 2004 - Flu vaccine futile? - Nature - "A preliminary study suggests that this season's flu vaccine is virtually ineffective against the strain that struck hard this winter. But experts are urging caution over the study, saying that the results will need to be checked."

►January 19, 2004 - Bird Flu Deaths Prompt Asia Health Alert - Asia Goes on Health Alert Vs. Bird Flu As Fifth Person in Vietnam Dies From Chicken-Borne Virus - AP via ABC News

►January 20, 2004 - Who Seeks New Vaccine for Bird Flu - AP via www.kansascity.com - "The World Health Organization said Tuesday it was trying to develop a vaccine to protect against the bird flu, which has killed five people in Vietnam...The development came as international scientists launched an effort to trace how the ailment has jumped from poultry to people, and as China stepped up vigilance at its border with Vietnam to keep out the disease."

►January 20, 2004 - Flu may have peaked early, emergency doctors say - But they’re wary of 2nd surge in cases - Green Bay Press-Gazette

►January 20, 2004 - Critics ask why flu shot doesn't match strain - Mercury in vaccine found to be 250 times higher than recommended - by Kelly Patricia O'Meara - Insight Magazine via www.worldnetdaily.com - "Nevertheless, the CDC website says, 'the benefits of influenza vaccine with reduced or standard thimerosal content outweighs the theoretical risk, if any, of thimerosal,' which is of course the source of the mercury...The CDC website also states: 'Based on guidelines established by the FDA, the EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, no child will receive excessive mercury from childhood vaccines regardless of whether or not their flu shot contains thimerosal as a preservative.'...Is there a disconnect in communications between federal agencies? Certainly the EPA and the FDA don't think the risk from exposure of children to high levels of mercury is 'theoretical'."

Comment:  As always, Kelly Patricia O'Meara has written a clear, "insightful", important article.

►January 20, 2004 - Bird flu: The hunt for a vaccine may be surprisingly short - www.channelnewsasia.com - "Scientists in Britain and the United States, working under the aegis of the World Health Organisation (WHO), last year readied a potential vaccine against H5N1, the codename for the bird flu virus, just two months after the disease hit Hong Kong...'If we are lucky, in the best-case scenario, the viruses will be found by the end of this week to be very similar, which means we will already have a prototype vaccine,' Klaus Stoehr, head of the WHO's global influenza programme, said from Geneva."

►January 20, 2004 - Spread of Bird Flu in Asia Worries Officials (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►January 19, 2004 - Bird flu vaccine may come too late - Daily Yomiuri Online - "Concerns are rising among researchers that if the bird flu that is spreading on chicken farms throughout Asia mutates into a human influenza virus, the international medical community will be hard-pressed to come up with enough doses of an effective vaccine in time...The difficulty stems partly from the fact that most of the relevant patent rights deemed necessary for the development and production of an effective vaccine are held separately by various venture businesses around the world, according to a researcher."

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 disease)

Lyme disease/lyme disease vaccine

Mad Cow Disease/CJD

►January 22, 2004 - CDC investigating CJD cluster in N.J. - UPI via http://interestalert.com

►January 20, 2004 - Brain-wasting diseases date to 18th century - Ailments like mad cow disease are believed to be caused by rogue proteins that have been defying medical sleuths. - The Miami Herald

►January 21, 2004 - Farm Scene: Virginia Tech researchers cloning cattle to be 'mad cow-free' - AP via The Charleston Gazette

Comment:  In spite of publicity and claims to the contrary, it has not been established that prions cause mad cow disease.  (For more on this, go to the Online Mad Cow Disease Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com .)  So isn't cloning for for mad cow free cattle a bit premature?  And if prions have positive aspects (see Proteins 'may help memories form'), might not this effort also be misguided?

►January 18, 2004 - Unknowns about meat linger in study of mad cow, related diseases - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via www.sanluisobispo.com

►January 20, 2004 - The Whole Cow and Nothing but the Whole Cow (requires registration or subscription) - editorial observer - The New York Times - "In fact, the list is nearly endless. Vaccines are often prepared in media that may contain byproducts from slaughtered cattle. Until recently, heparin, a widely prescribed anticoagulant, was made from bovine mucosa and lung, and steroids come from adrenal glands. Chemicals derived from bovine tissue appear in plastics, paper coatings, rubber and asphalt. Glycerin appears in countless products. Collagen is a bovine byproduct...Some of these products — vaccines, for instance — are strictly regulated, and many of the industrial uses of cattle parts derive from cow parts that are not associated with mad cow disease."

Comment:  Forgive me if I don't believe that vaccines are regulated in a way that prevents animal diseases, including bovine ones, from getting into vaccine cell cultures.  For more on this go to Scandals: On "mad cows" and sick monkeys: From the people who brought you SV40 in vaccines....

►January 19, 2004 - Proteins 'may help memories form' - Proteins which behave like those linked to vCJD and BSE may play a role in forming memories, scientists claim. - BBC - "Prions, abnormal proteins which change normal proteins into copies of themselves, are thought to cause neurodegenerative diseases...But researchers at New York's Columbia University say a protein which behaves in the same way may help make memories...Writing in Nature magazine, they say prions may perform other beneficial roles in the body."

Comment:  How much do we really know about these prions?  Might we be barking up the wrong tree and in an effort to neutralize the alleged negative effect of prions end up doing some damage instead?

Meningitis/meningitis vaccine/Prevnar/pneumonia/pneumococcal vaccine

►January 21, 2004 - Bacterial Meningitis risk appears small - Officials get word out after death - Tri-Valley Herald Online - "'It's important to emphasize that it really requires ongoing, close intimate contact with somebody that has been diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis to put you at risk for exposure,' said Dr. Peter Dietrich, medical director of Berkeley's University Health Service. 'So casual exposures like eating in the same dining hall together or attending a class together, or going to the training room or the weight room or passing each other on the campus is not the type of exposure we're worried about.'"

►January 23, 2004 - Vaccine close to release - International pharmaceutical company Chiron Corporation is speeding up the manufacture of the new vaccine designed to combat the deadly meningoccocal B epidemic hitting New Zealand. - www.stuff.co.nz

►January 20, 2004 - Doctors try to trace disease that killed Cal basketball player - Contra Costa Times via www.sanluisobispo.com - "The disease that killed University of California Berkeley basketball player Alisa Lewis on Monday probably is not a risk to those who had contact with her, but university health officials who don't know where or how she was exposed, aren't taking any chances...About five percent of the general population carries the bacterium without showing symptoms and will never get sick, said infectious diseases expert Dr. Arthur Reingold, chairman of epidemiology at University of California Berkeley's School of Public Health. But the carriers can spread it to others, usually by sneezing, coughing, kissing, or sharing cups and eating utensils...Both doctors said the public has little to fear. "This bacterium can't last outside the body longer than two minutes," Reingold said. "It doesn't get spread by casual contact...'Only a tiny fraction of those who are exposed ever get sick," he said. "Most of us are have antibodies that protect us. But if you're that rare individual who doesn't have those antibodies, as this young lady apparently didn't, you're definitely at risk.'"

MMR/measles,mumps,rubella

►October 1, 2003 - Global Vaccine Coalition Backs Un Immunization Strategy For Measles - An international coalition for immunization has endorsed a plan by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to reduce child deaths from measles by increasing the opportunities for vaccination early in childhood. - www.europaworld.org

Other diseases

►January 22, 2004 - Multiple sclerosis not as progressive or disabling as once thought - Mayo Clinic via www.eurekalert.org

►January 2004 - Down syndrome and epilepsy: a nutritional connection? - journal article (Med Hypotheses)

►January 19, 2004 - Simple sugar eases Huntington's disease in mice - Discovery provides taste of a possible route for human drug development. - nature science update

Other vaccines/vaccines in the pipeline

Pet vaccines

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

Polio/polio vaccine

►January 23, 2004 - Zim anti-polio vaccines dwindle - The Zimbabwe Independent - "STOCKS of anti-polio vaccine BCG have begun to dwindle at a number of government-run medical centres in the country which has forced the government to scout for international bidders to supply the medicine, it emerged this week."

Comment:  The problem is, BCG is the anti-TB vaccine.

Rabies/rabies vaccine

SARS/SARS vaccine

►January 20, 2004 (broadcast date) - Shot in the arm: the chiropractic dispute over childhood vaccinations - CBC News - "Who hasn't heard the media message to get a flu shot?  After SARS, a lot of us are pretty scared of getting sick.  But not everyone.  Some people are more concerned about the risk of severe side effects from getting vaccinated...They're arguing that children should not be vaccinated for anything - not measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, not even polio."

►January 20, 2004 - 'Homeopathy can cure SARS' - www1.mid-day.com - "As SARS cases reappear and reseachers work overtime to contain the virus, Indians doctors say the cure could lie in ancient 'nosode therapy' and homeopathy...According to a paper published in the Indian Journal of Clinical Physiology (IJCP), SARS can be effectively cured by using an ancient 'Nosode Therapy' which uses the patient's own pooled serum. It is a type of isotherapy which involves the preparation of medicine from the patient's own blood, after diluting it...Nosode therapy is an established therapy for treatment of most of the diseases in animals."

►January 20, 2004 - China to test human SARS vaccine - CNN

SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)/SIDS

►January 20, 2004 - Wider cot deaths review considered - Thousands of parents whose children were taken into care may have their cases re-opened as part of a wider review of cot death legal cases. -  BBC

►January 25, 2004 - Ministers told child harm theory was flawed - The Guardian, UK - "Ministers were warned that the controversial scientific theory Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP) was responsible for serious miscarriages of justice as far back as 1996, according to documents seen by The Observer...Our investigation has uncovered a systematic failure on the part of the health authorities, social services and scientific advisers to question the validity of Professor Sir Roy Meadow's theory, which claims that some parents harm their children to draw attention to themselves."

►January 24, 2004 - Parents convicted of killing to have their cases reviewed  - journal article (BMJ) - "Major changes in England and Wales relating to the handling of cases in which mothers are suspected of killing their babies were announced this week by the Court of Appeal and the attorney general.^..Hundreds of parents convicted of killing their babies are to have their cases urgently reviewed, said the attorney general after the appeal court called for an end to the prosecution of parents when experts' opinions on the cause of death differ.^"

►January 2002 - Was the Baby Shaken? - letter - by Alan Clementson, MD (Professor Emeritus, Tulane University Medical School) - Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients - "Child abuse laws have given rise to many accusations of "Shaken Baby Syndrome," which has become a popular diagnosis to explain infant deaths, and even for living infants who are brought to an emergency room following a fall. Much is made of the finding of pinpoint petechial hemorrhages in the retina at the back of the eye, but the existence and the extent of such hemorrhages are dependent on the capillary strength or fragility, the strength or weakness of the smallest blood vessels, which can be affected by many different conditions. In fact, an infant can die with extensive retinal hemorrhages, a blood clot under the capsule of the brain, extensive bruises, broken bones and sores that will not heal, due to Barlow's disease, without having been subjected to anything but the tenderest of loving care."

Comment:  Normally I don't put anything but the most recent news in the breaking news and on the front page, but I am making an exception in this case.

►January 22, 2004 - Cot deaths and the adversarial justice system - letter - The Herald, UK

►January 19, 2004 - Convictions in 250 'cot death' cases to be reviewed - The Independent, UK - "The Attorney General today announced a review of more than 250 cases in which parents have been convicted of killing children under the age of two...Lord Goldsmith announced the review after the Court of Appeal called for a halt to the prosecution of parents for murdering their babies when expert evidence points to the possibility of 'cot death'."

Smallpox/smallpox vaccine

►January 25, 2004 - How smallpox affected our cemeteries - Corsicana Daily Sun - "My only experience with smallpox occurred when I was vaccinated as a child for the disease. My memory of the incident is that the vaccination left an ugly round scar on my shoulder. I also remember everyone saying don't touch or scratch the scab until it was completely healed. As a teenager, I was very self conscious of the scar especially when we went swimming. I really don't know why I had these thoughts since everyone I knew had a similar looking mark."

►January 24, 2004 - Shots Have Healthy Repercussions Smallpox Vaccination Effort Helped Officials Learn How To Prepare For Disaster, Doctors Say - The Hartford Courant - "A year ago today, with the impending war with Iraq as a backdrop, three Connecticut doctors rolled up their sleeves and kicked off the nation's smallpox vaccination program...Anxiety about a smallpox attack and the vaccination program itself have almost disappeared. In retrospect, say those who were involved, it wasn't the vaccination effort that was important but the act of preparing for disaster."

►January 22, 2004 - Little interest shown for small pox vaccines - The small pox inoculation is coming up small among first responders, according to the Montgomery County health department. - The Mercury

TB/TB vaccine (BCG)

West Nile virus/vaccine

Whooping cough/DPT vaccine

Legal/political

Compensation/VICP

►January 22, 2004 - Compo warning over vaccines - The West Australian - "The Federal Government could face huge compensation claims if children get sick because their parents could not afford to pay for vaccinations, a consumer group has warned."