Pfizer and Tufts Caught Experimenting on African Babies

The Institute of Science in Society and Alliance for Human Research are reporting Pfizer Pharmaceutical's latest experiments on expendible Nigerian infants.

Apparently, Tufts University researchers have been testing genetically modified “Golden Rice” (GR2) on children, exposing them to “an unapproved experimental genetically modified rice enhanced in pro-Vitamin A that has the potential to cause birth defects and developmental abnormalities.”

Dr. Vandana Shiva called it "a hoax:"

"Unfortunately, Vitamin A rice is a hoax, and will bring further dispute to plant genetic engineering where public relations exercises seem to have replaced science in promotion of untested, unproven and unnecessary technology."

“The problem is that vitamin A rice will not remove vitamin A deficiency (VAD). It will seriously aggravate it. It is a technology that fails in its promise.”

Since the daily average requirement of vitamin A is 750 micrograms of vitamin A and 1 serving contains 30g of rice according to dry weight basis, vitamin A rice would only provide 9.9 micrograms which is 1.32% of the required allowance. Even taking the 100g figure of daily consumption of rice used in the technology transfer paper would only provide 4.4% of the RDA."

"In order to meet the full needs of 750 micrograms of vitamin A from rice, an adult would have to consume 2 kg 272g of rice per day. This implies that one family member would consume the entire family ration of 10 kg from the PDS in 4 days to meet vitamin A needs through "Golden rice".

“This is a recipe for creating hunger and malnutrition, not solving it.”

Coincidentally, weight loss is an AIDS-defining disease in Africa, which means that clinicians funded by mining and pharmaceutical companies can blame AIDS for the weight loss, malnutrition and death - mortality rates that both universities and industry will use to promote the mythology of the African AIDS epidemic.

“Even the World Bank has admitted that rediscovering and use of local plants and conservation of vitamin A rich green leafy vegetables and fruits have dramatically reduced VAD threatened children over the past 20 years in very cheap and efficient ways.” See: THE "GOLDEN RICE" HOAX

The ISIS report calls the Tufts experiments “morally inexcusable:”

In February, 2009, an open letter addressed to Robert Russell, Professor Emeritus, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University School of Medicine was signed by 30 senior scientists who protested the unethical testing of a possibly hazardous substance - "Golden Rice" (GR2) in children. The letter states that the trials "appear to be an experimental collection of transgenic events still in the laboratory, uncharacterized in terms of basic molecular genetics or biological and biochemical properties, not tested pre-clinically on animals, or subjected to any other safety assessment."

"The variety of Golden Rice used in these experiments (GR2) is inadequately described in terms of biological and biochemical characterization. anywhere else in the publicly available literature, and has woefully inadequate pre-clinical evaluation."

" It is a genetically modified product which has not been shown to be distinctive, uniform and stable over time. It has never been through a regulatory/approvals process anywhere in the world. There is now a large body of evidence that shows that GM crop/food production is highly prone to inadvertent and unpredictable pleiotropic effects, which can result in health damaging effects when GM food products are fed to animals."

"More specifically, our greatest concern is that this rice, which is engineered to overproduce beta carotene, has never been tested in animals, and there is an extensive medical literature showing that retinoids that can be derived from beta carotene are both toxic and cause birth defects." The scientists noted that the three Tufts Projects breached the Nuremberg Code/medical ethics code “on a number of counts, and we urge you to call them to a halt immediately.”

"They should not be resumed unless and until the researchers can demonstrate that a full range of laboratory and animal feeding trials have been completed and published for the Golden Rice strain being used, and unless and until appropriate regulatory bodies have had an opportunity to come to a view on the health and safety issues about which we are very concerned."

"We can assure you that such trials would not have been approved within the European Union in the absence of safety information, which highlights yet again the flaw of the USDA and FDA regulatory system in considering GM crops/foods as hypothetically "generally recognised as safe - GRAS" in the absence of hard experimental data." Further underscoring the U.S. academics' and government agency disregard for medical ethics, the ISIS report notes that an Indian newspaper reported that a clinical trial was cut short in China in July 2008, when the government found that 24 children 6-8 years of age at a primary school in Henyan, Hunan, were to be used as guinea pigs for a trial with Golden Rice." That trial was also sponsored by Tufts University and approved by the US National Institute of Health – though not from the Chinese government, which was alerted by Greenpeace. Greenpeace has also warned the governments of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam against the risky trials. It would appear that the Chinese government conforms to higher medical ethics standards than the US National Institute of Health.

So, why has the media failed to pay any attention to these morally deplorable human experiments on American children?

Since they’re experimenting on poor African babies, there’s no need to abide by the ethical restraints mandated by the Nuremberg Code or the Declaration of Helsinki - rules enacted at the end of the Second World War to prevent any repetition of the experiments conducted by Nazi scientists including many on children.

ISIS Report 18/03/09 The Golden Rice Scandal Unfolds

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MSNBC Reports Obama's Plan for "Prolonged Detention"

Maybe the left-wing media is catching on...

N.Y. Health Care Workers Revolt Over H1N1

WCBS reports that healthcare workers are upset about forced H1N1 vaccinations. That should instill confidence in the CDC's marketing plan:

They're upset over an ultimatum from the health department. Workers are being told to either get the swine flu vaccine or lose their jobs.

New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers. The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be available beginning next week. Much of it is reserved for state health care workers, but there is growing opposition to required innoculations.

Health care workers in Hauppauge screamed "No forced shots!" as they rallied Tuesday against the state regulation requiring them to roll up their sleeves.

"I don't even tend to the sick. I am in the nutrition field. They are telling me I must get the shot because I work in a health clinic setting," said Paula Small, a Women, Infants and Children health care worker.

Small said she will refuse, worried the vaccine is untested and unproven, leaving her vulnerable. In 1976, there were some deaths associated with a swine flu vaccination.

Registered nurse Frank Mannino, 50, was also angry. He said the state regulation violates his personal freedom and civil rights.

"And now I will lose my job if I don't take the regular flu shot or the swine flu shot."

When asked if he's willing to lose his job, Mannino said, "Absolutely. I will not take it, will not be forced. This is still America."

The protest also shook Albany Tuesday. Hundreds of demonstrators demanded freedom of choice. After all, as health care professionals they argue they're already constantly washing their hands and aren't likely to transmit or contract the flu.

Around 500,000 health care workers are slated to receive the vaccine.

"It's certainly their prerogative to voice their opinion," said Dr. Susan Donelan of Stony Brook University Hospital.

Donelan said most in the medical community see the benefits and safety of the shots and welcome them, and that hospitals must obey the law.

"Our hospital is committed to following the mandate to have our personnel vaccinated," she said.

The state said change was needed this year to save lives, typically only about 45 percent of health care workers take advantage of voluntary flu vaccines.

More than 150 institutional outbreaks of seasonal and H1N1 flu are expected this year in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice centers.

New York and New Jersey will get their first doses of the swine flu vaccine next week. It will be the nasal mist, not a shot.

The New Klan: History of ACORN

Today, the New York Post rolls out an almost 2,000 words on the history, and troubles, of ACORN. It is a great place to start cracking open the ACORN nut:

Just how nutty is ACORN?

Very, say longtime watchers of the extreme leftwing group that sprouted out of a radical 60s anti-government movement.

For decades ACORN has presented itself as a grassroots network dedicated to improving the lives of the poor.

But there’s more to ACORN than its do-gooder veneer.

Just ask the banks, corporations and politicians who’ve been the target of ACORN’s shameless shenanigans over the past 40 years.

Here’s how the tiny seed of 1960s radicalism blossomed into a well-funded, national organization with political connections reaching all the way to the White House:

Pour a cup of coffee, sit back and read the whole thing here.

Federal Court Sides with Christian Student

Federal Court rules that Los Angeles City College professors cannot prohibit Christian students from talking about Christianity:

ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit Lopez v. Candaele with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California after a professor censored and threatened to expel student Jonathan Lopez following a speech he gave about his Christian faith during an open-ended assignment in a public speaking class. The professor interrupted and ended Lopez’s presentation mid-speech, calling him a “fascist bastard” in front of the class. Refusing to grade the assigned speech, the professor wrote on Lopez’s speech evaluation form, “Ask God what your grade is,” and later threatened to expel the student.

Kudos to the Alliance Defense Fund!!!

Feminist Admits "Birthers" Have a Point

Salon feminist says there are legitimate questions about the documentation:

Talking to the NPR program "On Point" this week, Camille Paglia provided a defense to the citizens who carried protest signs asking "Where's The Birth Certificate" at the recent protests that drew hundreds of thousands to Washington.

The program discussion focused on the "civility" of the political attacks on both Obama and his critics. One caller to the program described his visit to Washington and the myriad signs questioning Obama's eligibility to be in office.

"It was unbelievable. It was absolutely everywhere," the caller stated.

Paglia responded:

First of all, I reject the idea that the 'birther' campaign is motivated by racism. There may be racism among it, but there are legitimate questions about the documentation of Obama's birth certificate. I'm sorry, I've been following this closely from the start. To assume that all those signs about the birth controversy were motivated by racism, that is simply wrong.

ACORN Investigation Continues

But Charlie "Rip Van Gibson" still clueless. This Obama supporter admits to planning and murdering her husband.

ACORN Exposed Again - Where's the MEDIA?

Another ACORN office get's exposed and NY Mayor Bloomberg spoke out on the controversy today:

"Prostitution is illegal in this state and I don't know why they would -- why an organization like ACORN, who's trying to encourage voter turnout and voter registration, why they're getting involved in any of that stuff," Bloomberg said. "But clearly it's not appropriate and they shouldn't have been doing it. Whether they broke a law or not I don't know. You'll have to talk to the legal (authorities)."

The Brooklyn DA's office announced today it would be investigating the group.

Tea Party Protesters vs. Obama Celebrants

Gateway Pundit produced a short photographic essay about the difference between Obama's inagural...

and the two million Tea Party protesters...

UN Admits Cap & Trade a Fraud

The UN admits Cap & Trade is a fraud:

About a fifth of the $100 billion of credits traded annually come from projects funded under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The heavily criticised programme allows industrialised countries to offset their pollution by buying “certified emission reductions credits” generated by low-car-bon schemes in the developing world. China and India are the biggest generators of the credits: more than 900 projects are now running, producing billions of credits, with thousands more in the pipeline.

Critics say the system is not sufficiently policed and allows western polluters to buy their way out of more costly carbon-cutting measures.

All such schemes must first be approved by organisations such as SGS. DNV was the single biggest auditor until it was suspended last year, when much of its workload was shifted to SGS, which was simply unable to cope.

Simon Shaw, chairman of EEA Fund Management, a backer of emission-reduction projects and an investor in Climate Exchange, the carbon-trading platform, said: “There was obviously a lack of resources. We knew this was coming.”

Another ACORN Expose in New Orleans

Former leftist-activist Brandon Darby explains his experience with ACORN in post-Katrina New Orleans:

I was part of a relief organization, Common Ground Relief, which had been delivering much needed aid to the 9th Ward, an area that had been hit especially hard by the flood waters and by neglect. Rumors immediately began surfacing, questioning our motives and intentions. I was very confused by these rumors. Who was behind them? How could anyone question the vital work we were doing in the community? We lived and worked in the 9th Ward. We suspended our regular lives and, in many cases, left our families to travel to New Orleans to help those affected by Katrina and poverty. We slept on dirty plywood floors and shared everything we had with the residents. Most of us were white.

Was our skin color the issue? I knew from personal experience that the majority of the Black 9th ward residents didn’t care what color our skin was. It took me awhile to get over the hurt I felt at such allegations and to find out where they were coming from…

In the following weeks, I was made aware of the fact that ACORN had reopened its New Orleans office (several months after the storm). Various groups from around the city informed me that Acorn was upset with us because we were in “their” community and had not sought approval from ACORN to operate there. I was told that ACORN said that we were “privileged white people who had come to a Black community as saviors and we refused to work with local Black leadership.”

The more I pondered the matter, the more I realized what was happening. As usual in marginalized and impoverished communities, a small group of radical self-proclaimed leaders was insisting that all local aid and relief came through them — even if they were AWOL for several months. Though the majority of residents either hadn’t heard of ACORN or simply disagreed with their politics - ACORN insisted that they were THE Black leaders. This was upsetting to me. Sure, the local pastor we worked most closely with was Black; but that didn’t matter to ACORN. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t evoke the name of Elijah Mohammed or Malcolm X. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t submit to ACORN’s mandate that ACORN was the sole leadership of Black New Orleanians.

As then director of Common Ground Relief’s 9th Ward project, I was warned by many that ACORN would ruin me politically if I didn’t submit to their leadership. I believed in what I was doing and how I was doing it. I refused to submit. The political fallout was almost unbearable. I just kept my eyes on meeting the needs of the community.

When confronted by adherents to ACORN’s brand of race analysis, I pointed out that ACORN was not there immediately after the storm, so I could not have sought their leadership even if I had wanted to.

Over the following years, that particular style of political attack was prominent in New Orleans. Anytime that ACORN was displeased, the other party was deemed a racist. If the other party disagreed with the label or with ACORN’s agenda - they were met with “of course you feel that way. You are a racist.” Though it is clearly woefully inaccurate and unethical to use such an accusation as a political attack and as a means of shutting down philosophical debate and discourse, some at ACORN didn’t let that stop them. I refused to submit to it. I believed in listening to the majority of the community, who were desperate for our help, and not only to the self-proclaimed leaders. I paid a dear price for it…

(more here)

Krauthammer: Obama Selling Snake Oil

"... if there's all this waste and abuse in the system waiting to be squeezed out, why hasn't he started already, where is it, why does he have to have a bill? If you tell us that Medicare is destroying our budget and our economy he ought to be on this from day one and we're 8 months in, why doesn't he start today and give us a report in 6 months how the attack on waste and abuse is going, that was a fraud...."

US Communist Party Mentored Obama from an Early Age

New Zeal reports:

It is now well established that Barack Obama was linked to the Hawaiian Communist Party network through his boyhood/teenage mentor Frank Marshall Davis. It is also well known that after moving to Chicago, Obama linked up with the local communist networks. Manning Marable, a leader of the Communist Party offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism claims that Obama "understands what socialism is. A lot of the people working with him are, indeed, socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party or as independent Marxists. There are a lot of people like that in Chicago who have worked with him for years... "This leads to two key questions.

A. Were the Hawaii and Chicago networks connected?

B. Did Obama's connection to Frank Marshall Davis in any way influence his progress up the Chicago political ladder?

If the answer is yes to both, there are significant implications. It means that that the Communist Party USA was watching Obama from an early age and was willing to help his political career... (more)

Breitbart Busts ACORN

Your tax dollars at work... If ACORN can do this for the "Performing Arts" (pimps and underaged girls), think of what they can for the Democrat Party's campaigns and 2010 US Census... (More at Big Government.com)

Listen to the complete audio here.
View the complete transcript here

Take a Ride in a U2 Spy Plane

John Stossel of ObamaCare

Stossel explains why Canadians waiit for free care and the British have bad teeth...

Steve Lopez Takes Out the Trash

Once again, Steve Lopez illustrates why Angelenos can’t wait for the eventual demise of the newspaper known as the LA Dog Trainer.

In his latest hit piece, Lopez attacks Glenn Beck for crying:

My journey deep into the heart of Glenn Beck country began when I caught a glimpse of the sobbing commentator on TV while waiting for a plane. I thought he was a televangelist at first, but it seems that he is instead a true patriot who can't suffer the reckless destruction of his beloved country by a racist African American president, among others, without tears.

My wife and I happened to watch that segment and saw the tears. At the time, Beck was speaking about his daughter who, as a baby, suffered a series of 15 strokes that left her with more disabilities than can be imagined by most people. Despite those unthinkable challenges, Beck spoke about his love for his daughter and how she had taught him what love is about, despite her remarkable disabilities. As Beck spoke, it was difficult not to be moved by his passion and the sanctity of life.

A quick search on YouTube and Google will give you an idea of the creative ways that Lopez' depraved ilk hate Glenn Beck and those who watch him. After all, dehumanizing someone is what thugs like Lopez have done for centuries. Words like the N-word and fetus are used to dehumanize their targets – to make it easier to kill blacks and unborn children under euphemisms like “states rights” and “choice”.

Lopez is a bit more sophisticated, however, using his cheesy column to dehumanize Beck and conservatives in general who think that unborn children are worth protecting and are, therefore, socially depraved. Lopez' YouTube and LA Times subscribers needed Lopez’ article because epithets like Child-lover and Baby-lover are not nearly as effective as N_____R-lover or Jew-lover once were.

The fact that Lopez’ column remains on the front page of the LA Times reminds me why I won’t subscribe until Rupert Murdock makes Glenn Beck its managing editor. But don’t worry, Steve, when you get dumped I’ll gladly hire you to haul my trash to the dump - you're familiar with trash and it's close to home!

Jack Webb Schools Barack Obama

AIDS Equals Hitler?

Check out this pharmaceutical ad...

Pfizer Gets Off Easy with $2.3 Billion Fine

Speaking of pharma-sluts, AHRP has weighed in on the $2.3 billion settlement against Pfizer. The story isn’t that Pfizer did something wrong but that the Justice Department finally stopped behaving like the SEC:

The level of corruption that the pharmaceutical industry engages in—with assistance by prominent academic physicians who prostitute their academic credentials for cash--is beyond compare in its impact on undermining public health and depleting healthcare budgets.

The Justice Department announced that it has reached a settlement with Pfizer, who agreed to pay $2.3 billion penalty to settle civil and criminal charges for its illegal promotion practices related to the drugs, Bextra and Lyrica (approved for pain), Geodon (approved for schizophrenia and acute manic depression in adults), and Zyvox (antibiotic to treat infection). It is the largest fine ever levied for fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs...

According to The New York Times, Obama administration officials – criticized by Republicans on Capitol Hill for failing to crack down on fraud in the government's health programs - sought to highlight the case by having Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius make the announcement.

However, The New York Post reports, "In an unusual twist, the head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, did not participate in the record settlement, because he had represented Pfizer on these issues while in private practice."

Pfizer, the world's largest drug manufacturer has the dubious distinction of being a corporate "repeat offender"-- rogue pharmaceutical corporations knowingly and deliberately put patients' lives at risk by violating federal law prohibiting the marketing of prescription drugs for uses that have not been tested and approved by the FDA.

New York State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, said: "Pfizer ripped off New Yorkers and taxpayers across the country to pad its bottom line. Pfizer's corrupt practices went so far as sending physicians on exotic junkets as well as wining and dining health care professionals to persuade them to prescribe the company's drugs for patients in taxpayer-funded programs."

According to the Geodon whistleblower suit filed by Dr. Stefan Kruszeuski, and unsealed yesterday, Pfizer illegally promoted the sale and use of Geodon for a variety of off-label conditions, including depression, bipolar maintenance, mood disorder, anxiety, aggression, dementia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, posttraumatic stress disorder, and for pediatric, adolescent and geriatric patients.

According to Dr. Kruszeuski's attorneys, Kenney, Egan, McCafferty & Young, "Pfizer targeted pediatrics and adolescents to expand off-label use and maintained on its payroll an army of more than 250 child psychiatrists nationwide." Kenney stated that, "Pfizer regularly paid generous speaking fees to these child psychiatrists to give what were basically promotional lectures about the benefits of Geodon to their peers, who were naturally also child psychiatrists, despite the fact the drug is not FDA-approved or medically indicated to treat children at all. The purpose and intent of paying so many child psychiatrists is clear -- to gain a foothold within the fastest growing market for antipsychotics -- children. The practice of expansive off-label use is dangerous, particularly in children because the drug has not been evaluated for its safety for the unique physiological make up of children."

Furthermore, Pfizer's marketing campaign also urged doctors to switch patients on other allegedly more dangerous atypical antipsychotics, such as Zyprexa, Seroquel and Risperdal, to Geodon. According to Kenney, Pfizer's switching campaign "endangered patients by ignoring or materially understating Geodon's serious, and even life threatening, side effects.

Among Geodon's most dangerous side effects is its potential to affect the heart's rhythm, a condition known as QT prolongation. If the QT interval is increased excessively, conditions are created whereby unstable heart rhythms can intercede and disrupt the normal, regular rhythm essential for heart function." According to Kenney, "such ventricular rhythm disturbances greatly increase the risk of sudden cardiac death."

Zyvox (linezolid) is an antibacterial agent that is approved by the FDA to treat certain types of infections, including nosocomial pneumonia and complicated skin and skin structure infections ("CSSSIs") due to Methicillin Resistant staphylococcus Aureus ("MRSA"). Worldwide sales of Zyvox totaled $1.115 billion in 2008.

According to the Zyvox Qui Tam whistleblower complaint filed by the Sheller, P.C. Law Firm, Pfizer ignored a 2005 FDA Warning Letter to stop promoting its antibiotic ZyvoxR as clinically superior to the significantly less expensive, generic vancomycin when its own FDA-approved label indicated otherwise. The drug giant also defrauded federal and state taxpayers by marketing Zyvox off-label.

The complaint charges: "The widespread off-label promotion of Zyvox by Pfizer for non-FDA approved purposes poses a grave public risk because it increases the risk that linezolid resistant eterococci will develop and also increases the risk that more Zyvox resistant bacterial strains will develop."

According to the company's annual reports, approximately $4.4 billion worth of Pfizer's Zyvox was sold from 2000 to 2008. Explosive sales for the drug increases averaged close to 200% per year. They also caused public health concerns of drug resistance and immunity, according to court and public documents.

Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder confirmed Wednesday that the $2.3 billion charge to the company's earnings had been taken in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In other words, $2.3 billion in criminal penalties are inconsequential to Pfizer--the penalties have already been absorbed by profits from its criminal marketing practices. Indeed, the company reported profits....!

When a company repeatedly engages in criminal actions, illegally promoting FDA-licensed controlled substances for uses NOT licensed--it puts people's lives at risk.

The FDA has the legal authority to take decisive action so as to prevent rogue companies, such as Pfizer, from continuing to sell drugs that the company illegally promoted.

What prevents the government from delicencing drug products that companies criminally promoted for unapproved, unsafe uses?

Peter Rost, former Pfizer vice-president who blew the whistle on its illegal marketing of the growth hormone, has the most complete dossier on Pfizer's activities and legal settlements on his blog.

Of note: $102 million of the settlement money will be shared by six corporate whistleblowers.

Under the False Claims Act, so-called "qui tam" whistleblower actions, a term derived from English Common Law meaning "he who sues on behalf of the king as well as himself," allow private citizens with knowledge of fraud to help the Government recover ill-gotten gains and additional civil penalties.

The FCA allows the Government to collect up to three times the amount it was defrauded, in addition to civil penalties between $5,500 and $11,000 per false claim. Whistleblowers usually have received rewards representing 15 to 25 percent of qui tam recoveries...

Left out in the cold are the ultimate victims of Pfizer's criminal activities: why is no one representing the individuals who suffered serious ill effects from the illegally marketed unsafe drugs in the settlement negotiations? (More here)

Barack Obama's Failed Presidency

Geoffrey P. Hunt on Barack Obama's failing presidency:

... Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame. (story here)