Wrong-way immunity

[Guest guest]

http://www.newsobserver.com/579/story/378326.html Wrong-way immunity It's understandable why the Bush administration and its Capitol Hill allies are trying to speed up the production of vaccines and drugs to combat pandemics and bioterrorist attacks. But in that effort, the administration and Republican Sen. Burr of North Carolina have gone off course. A bill introduced by Burr has come under wide criticism because of its intended formation of a large new bureaucracy wrapped in secrecy and its lack of accountability to the citizens it is

designed to protect. With the measure stalled in the Senate, the sponsors appear intent on trying to pass it as a rider to the defense appropriations bill. This kind of end run around fuller consideration would be a mistake. The Senate especially needs a more complete exposition of the Burr bill's proposal that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA) be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Even more sweeping is a provision empowering the new agency to shield from any legal action those producing vaccines, drugs, medical equipment or other products turned out to combat pandemics or bioterrorism. Such a broad exemption from liability is hardly justified on the record. Story Tools Printer Friendly Email to a Friend Enlarge Font Decrease Font More Editorials Black's 'mistakes'

Wrong-way immunity Iraq to the polls Nuclear charges Shifting schools Death less frequently A study reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association found, for

example, that there had been only 10 lawsuits in 20 years over flu vaccines. Drug companies don't get out of the vaccine business because of liability, the study's authors said, but because of low profit margins and unpredictable demand. These are two factors that clearly should be more fully dealt with in any legislation to spur the production of vaccines, for instance, for an avian-flu pandemic. There is another major question hanging over Burr's bill: Is it desirable to form within the Department of Health and Human Services a new supersecret agency? Already in place are the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health. Such programs ought to provide more than enough federal firepower to encourage and monitor the steps being taken to prevent or counter pandemics or bioterror attacks. The forming of a large new agency that would be all but shielded from public and even congressional

scrutiny can hardly be the right answer for Americans.__________________________________________________