[NVIC] Congress Set to Bail Out Big Pharma in Secret

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E-NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER

Vienna, Virginia http://www.nvic.org

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UNITED WAY/COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

#8122

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

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Contact: Barbara Loe Fisher

703-938-0342 

for immediate release

November 15, 2005

CONGRESS SET TO BAIL OUT BIG PHARMA IN SECRET

Washington, D.C. – A behind-the-scenes plan is reportedly taking shape in

Congress to attach language to an unspecified conference report giving drug

companies blanket immunity from liability for vaccine injuries and

deaths.The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a watchdog consumer

advocacy group critical of provisions in “The Biodefense and Pandemic

Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005 " (S. 1873) sponsored by Senator

Burr (R-NC) and a similar bill in the House (H.R. 3970), calls the

reported plan “an end-run by Pharma’s friends in Congress to take away the

civil rights of the American people.

”In the past few weeks, public criticism about the proposed bail-out of drug

companies has been mounting as Americans are being told that a pandemic bird

flu is coming and drug companies are asking Congress to bar citizen access

to the civil justice system when they are harmed by vaccines. Because the

bird flu virus has not mutated into a form that is transmissable from human

to human, questions have been raised as to whether irrational fear about

bird flu is being generated in an attempt to stampede Congress into passing

liability protections the pharmaceutical industry has been seeking for 40

years.

Pointing out that there are twice as many drug companies marketing vaccines

in the U.S. today as there were in 1982 when NVIC was founded, NVIC

President Barbara Loe Fisher said, “It is a big lie that drug companies have

been driven out of business by lawsuits in the past two decades. The

National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 protected drug companies and

doctors from almost all lawsuits. There are only a handful of vaccine injury

lawsuits pending in civil courts but Pharma is on the brink of conning

Congress into destroying Americans' Seventh Amendment Constitutional right

to seek redress in a civil court in front of a jury of their peers.

Apparently drug companies only want profits and not accountability when

Americans die or are injured by experimental and poorly tested biodefense

and pandemic flu vaccines they can be forced to take whenever the Secretary

of Health and Human Services declares a public health emergency and state

officials follow suit.

”In a November 15th letter to Senator Burr's staff director, U.S. Senate

Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness, NVIC President

Barbara Loe Fisher describes S. 1873 as “arguably unconstitutional” because

it (1) lacks transparency into the research, development, licensure and

post-licensure surveillance of vaccines and drugs used in public health

emergencies; (2) lacks accountability for either manufacturers of these

products or government health officials who mandate their use without

informed consent; and (3) lacks justice for those who will inevitably die or

suffer chronic illnesses after being compelled to take these products.

The proposed law will also create a new agency within the Department of

Health and Human Services that will secretly develop experimental drugs and

vaccines to be used by civilian and military populations whenever the

Secretary declares “a potential or actual” public health emergency. The

agency may deny Freedom of Information Act requests by citizens and is not

subject to review of its actions by the judicial branch of government.In

1982, there were four drug companies marketing vaccines in the U.S.: Wyeth,

Lederle, Merck and Connaught. Today there are eight: Wyeth, Merck, Sanofi

Pasteur, GlaxoKline, MedImmune, Chiron, Bioport, and VaxGen. There are

ten vaccine injury lawsuits currently pending in U.S. civil courts, with the

majority involving a highly reactive whole cell version of DPT vaccine no

longer distributed in the U.S.

For more information and a complete text of Barbara Loe Fisher’s 11 page

letter to Senator Burr’s subcommittee staff, go to www.nvic.org.

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