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Mandating Vaccines: Government Practicing Medicine
Without a License?
Editorial Reply Re: Congressional Hearings on Vaccines and Autism
- GCN - NEWS @ 8:31 am PST
From: Dawn Richardson, PROVE
This is a phenomenal letter written by a parent of a vaccine injured child in
response to an editorial comment published on WebMD. It clearly illustrates the
incestuous ties some of those who make vaccine decisions for our children have
with drug companies. These
are the very people who are critical of the parents and elected representatives
who are doing such a great job shedding light on some of the dangers of
vaccines because of the threat the truth poses to their pocketbooks. The
internet (source of all this information) is a wonderful thing.
-----------------------------------------
In Reply to Editorial Comment from: Wayne L. Pines Re: Congressional Hearings
on Vaccines and Autism
Wayne L. Pines, you belittle Congressman Burton as an "angry
grandfather" when his goal is to make vaccines safer for children.
Your feeble attempt to undermine Congressman Burton's efforts made sense only
after your ties to the vaccine manufacturers and drug companies were revealed.
This is a day in your life Wayne L. Pines. Let's see who you really are
and then people will understand that your words are meaningless because they
are motivated by avarice.
You started your career in Washington as the associate editor for The Pink
Sheet a pharmaceutical trade magazine. Then you went to work at the FDA for 10
years from 1972 to 1982. Your next job was with the PR firm Burson-Marsteller.
After that, you got a job with APCO Associates. Then you joined a company
called Therametrix (1). In between you became involved with various
pharmaceutical trade groups such as the Food and Drug Law Institute (2), the
Drug Information Association (3), and the Internet Healthcare Coalition (4).
Now let's start connecting the dots to see why you would not want a public
discussion about how to improve the safety of our children's vaccines. We'll
pick-up your career after you leave the FDA. You immediately landed a job with
the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (a subsidiary of the advertising agency Young
& Rubicam). Your title there was executive vice president. Marsteller
clients include Monsanto and their bio-engineered foods and Dow-Corning and
their silicon breast implants. In addition, Marsteller has several large drug
companies as clients including Eli Lilly. Lilly produces the drug Prozac which
has accumulated more adverse reaction reports than any substance (besides
vaccines) in the history of the FDA's adverse drug reporting system. Documents
released under the Freedom of Information Act challenged the veracity of
Prozac's clinical trials that led to FDA approval. Lilly's PR firm
Burson-Marsteller was called in to do damage control. There, according to the
Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research, it was reported that you helped
Lilly get past its troubles by exploiting your contacts with current FDA
officials (5).
You then became president of the Health Care Practice of APCO Associates a
"communications consulting firm." According to PR Watch, APCO
Associates specializes in setting up front groups and coalitions for the
tobacco and insurance companies (6). In fact, APCO's website boasts that
"excellence in public affairs and public relations, like excellence in
art, is about the power of communication" (7). No it's not. Excellence in
public affairs is about honest communication and adding substance to the public
discourse. It's what Congressman Burton is doing. It's not about ridiculous,
crude and poorly veiled attempts to protect and further your client base. You
may think excellence in public affairs and public relations is about power, but
power won't help you when it comes to our children. As much as it may disturb
your plans, parents will not sacrifice the health and lives of their children
in order to drive up the stock prices of your drug company clients.
Next you joined Therametrix whose website gloats that "Wayne L.Pines is a
world-renowned health care consultant (who) has consulted for virtually all of
the major pharmaceutical companies..."(1). It also states that Therametrix
is a "medical marketing research agency that serves the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology, medical device and consumer health
products industries" (8). Your clients are listed as including: Abbot
Laboratories, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Du Pont Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly,
Glaxo Wellcome, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pharacia & Upjohn, Procter &
Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Roche Laboratories,
Schering-Plough, Triangle Pharmaceuticals and Warner Lambert - all of them drug
and vaccine manufacturers (9). Your company's mission statement declares,
"We see nothing more important than meeting our client's needs" (9).
I don't doubt it.
You are also on the marketing and advertising committee of the Drug Information
Association which describes itself as a "member-driven scientific
association with a membership of over 22,000 primarily from the regulatory
agencies, academia, contract service organizations, pharmaceutical, biological
and device industry, and from other health care organizations" (10). Who
are some of the other committee members in the Drug Information Association?
They include Dr. R. Venkataraghaven of Lederle Laboratories (3) manufacturer of
Orimune, Tetramune and other vaccines, Dr. Elizabeth B. D'Angelo of
AstraZeneca (3), and Dr. John F. Bedard of Bristol-Myers Squibb (3). The board
of directors include Stuart W. Cummings of Merck, Sharp & Dohme
manufacturer of the vaccines associated with autism - MMR, MR Vax, Meruvax II,
Mumpsvax, Varivax and others, Francoise de Cremiers of Wyeth-Ayerst another
major vaccine manufacturer, Charles C. Depew of
SmithKline Beecham, Brenton James of Glaxo Wellcome, Murray Lumpkin of the FDA,
and Irwin G. Martin of Parke-Davis (11).
In addition, you are a member of the Food and Drug Law Institute which describes
itself "as a private organization, not affiliated with the FDA.(but our)
mission, however, does relate to the activities, policies and procedures of the
FDA..."(12). As a participant in this institute you work with the other
members, and in fact, you are scheduled to moderate one of the institute's
conferences on medical technology, drugs and biologics
(i.e. vaccines) in June of this year (2). Nearly
every drug company including the major vaccine manufacturers is a member of
this organization. The list includes: American Home Products (i.e.Lederle),
Bayer, Medeva Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co.,
Organon Teknika, and SmithKline Beecham.
I could go on and on about your affiliations with vaccine manufacturers and
drug companies but I believe the point has been made ad nauseam.
One of Congressman Burton's assertions is that an inherent conflict of interest
may exist amongst the people who decide what gets injected into our children's
veins. The Congressman understands that many of the individuals in our halls of
government who make health decisions affecting our children get money from the
very drug companies they are supposed to be regulating. During the
hearings,when Coleen Boyle of the CDC was asked if she thought there was
anything wrong with such a conflict she was literally speechless. Wayne L.
Pines your behavior is a text book example of what
Congressman Burton and tens of thousands of parents disdain.
As a former employee of the FDA you use your clout to influence what should be
a scientifically sound, reasonable and objective decision-making process. But
even with all of your industry's money and consultants and PR firms and
communication experts and doctors on payrolls you are still missing one key
ingredient - the truth. The truth can't be bought, spun, manipulated, or turned
into a sound bite. Parents know the truth when they watch their children become
ill, disabled and die. So despite your supreme efforts to sell more vaccines,
we will not allow some greedy industry to decide what is safe and to dictate to
us what should be put into our children's bodies.
Wayne L. Pines go back to your "medical marketing research agency"
and your "communications consulting firm," shut up, and leave our
children alone.
Sincerely,
Michael Horwin Father of Alexander - a vaccine injured child who passed away at
the age of 2 ½ years old
Footnotes:
1) http://www.therametrix.com/staff.html
http://www.therametrix.com/wayne.html
2) http://www.fdli.org/conf/medsymagd.htm
3) http://www.diahome.org/dhp2d12.htm
4) http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/content/fda_1.html
5) http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/newsl/prozac.html
6) http://www.prwatch.org/prw_issues/1996-Q3/index.html
7) http://www.apcoassoc.com/gallery/gallery.html
8) http://www.therametrix.com/company.html
9) http://www.therametrix.com/clients.html
10) http://www.diahome.org/
11) http://www.diahome.org/dhp2c.htm
12) http://www.fdli.org/about/index.html
Breaking News Archives - each day's breaking news from December 1, 2003 (check here for breaking news you might have missed and breaking news that didn't ever hit the "front page")
More News - all the news most recently posted on this website
All the News - a running tab of everything posted on this website since October 29, 2003
Top Stories Archives - daily breaking and other important news stories
Daily News Archives - all the news posted on this website each day (from April 2001)
Hot Topics - selected stories, by category
Return to Vaccination News Home Page (for best results, right click to "open in new window")
DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.