AD Campaign: The Truth About Frist & Drug Company Immunity

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http://www.medadnews.com/News/Index.cfm?articleid=298973 AD Campaign: The Truth About Frist & Drug Company Immunity 'Dr. Frist and the Night of the Deadly Vaccines - The Terrible Sequel' WASHINGTON, December 13, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Protect American Families launched a week-long education campaign to alert people to Senator Bill Frist's ties to the pharmaceutical industry and his attempt to slip immunity protections for drug and vaccine makers into the Defense spending bill. The campaign includes targeted blog ads and an activist component directing visitors to the site to send a letter to Congress in opposition to Frist's sneaky strategy. Dr. Frist, who has a history of delivering special favors for his big donors in the drug industry, is exploiting fears over a potential bird-flu epidemic to give pharmaceutical companies a huge break that will put the public's health at risk by giving sweeping immunity if they make deadly drugs or vaccines -- and he's doing it in the dead of night. Senator Frist and GOP leadership are using a loophole to sneak immunity for the drug industry into the Defense appropriations bill without debate. The provisions would eliminate the right of individuals to hold negligent drug companies accountable -- even when they knowingly distribute dangerous or deadly drugs or give Americans a contaminated vaccine. This is not the first time Frist has tried to use a military bill as a "cover" to give special protections to the drug industry. In 2002, he authored protections for Eli Lilly's vaccine additive Thimerisol that were

inserted into the Homeland Security bill. It was only after a public backlash that Congress and Frist repealed the measure. Further, Frist has admitted vaccines are not necessarily safe. In 2001, he advised congressional staffers not to take the anthrax vaccine because of the risk of side effects, and predicted that during a widespread smallpox vaccination, as many as 2,000 Americans would die from the vaccine itself. "The Senator should be working to ensure there are safe vaccines to protect American families rather than protecting the drug industry's pocketbooks," said Pamela Gilbert, President of Protect American Families. For more information, please visithttp://www.protectamericanfamilies.org/fristenstein Protect American Families is an alliance of consumer, health and safety, and other advocacy groups committed

to protecting and strengthening the public's right and ability to hold big corporations accountable. CONTACT: Pamela Gilbert, +1-202-253-3561, for Protect American Families Web site: http://www.protectamericanfamilies.org/fristenstein/

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