[PROVE] Saturday NOW STOP LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR VACCINE MAKERS

[Guest guest]

Saturday CALL RIGHT NOW

10 Second Phone Call

TELL CONGRESS TO STOP LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR VACCINE MAKERS

Dear Friends,

Please stop what you are doing right now for less than 1 minute and call your

congressional representative in Washington and leave a 10 second voice mail

urging them TODAY TO VOTE AGAINST LEGISLATION THAT WILL GIVE LIABILITY

PROTECTION TO VACCINE MAKERS! I was just contacted by a congressional office

saying it will most likely be voted on today – Saturday December 17th. It was

already passed in the Senate and it has to be stopped in the House. So as we

are all preparing for our holidays, drug companies are pressing Congress to give

them their biggest giveaway yet – IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY for vaccines that

state emergency powers laws can force on anyone and everyone! Staffers are in

their offices today but may not be picking up the phone so please call and leave

a message! Go to www.house.gov, put in your zip code, and the web page will

tell you your representative. Next click on your representative and go to their

contact page to get their direct phone number. Do this right away and please

pass this on! - Dawn

Barbara Loe Fisher from NVIC said:

It is the eleventh hour. Senators Burr and Frist are making deals with drug

companies behind closed doors to give drug companies a free pass in the judicial

system whenever experimental vaccines kill and injury American citizens they can

be forced to use in a government declared " emergency. "

Drumming up fear and anxiety in Congress and the public by exaggerating the

immediate threat of a bird flu pandemic, Burr and Frist are busy destroying the

Seventh Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to a

day in civil court in front of a jury of their peers. The tactic:

attach liability protection to the Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations

bill now being crafted that both Democrats and Republicans will have a hard time

voting against while U.S. soldiers are still dying the Iraq. A vote on the DOD

Appropriations bill could take place in the Senate and House at any time this

week.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Call your Congressperson at . Go to www.House.gov

to find out the name of your Congressperson.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. STAND UP AND FIGHT FOR YOUR CIVIL RIGHT TO GO TO

COURT I FYOU OR YOUR CHILD ARE HARMED BY VACCINES AND YOUR HUMAN RIGHT TO BE

FULLY INFORMED ABOUT VACCINE RISKS AND MAKE A VOLUNTARY CHOICE ABOUT WHETHER TO

TAKE THAT RISK FOR YOURSELF OR YOUR CHILD.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-14-vaccine-protection_x.htm

Senate provision would inoculate vaccine makers

By Stone, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Flu vaccine makers would be shielded from lawsuits under sweeping

language Senate Republicans hope to slip into a bill before Congress adjourns

for the year, a move that has sparked outrage from Democrats and consumer

advocates.

A vote could come as early as Friday, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Senate

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the plan's chief supporter. Frist hopes to

insert the provision into a must-pass defense bill.

Medical experts fear that a fast-spreading avian flu strain, known as H5N1,

could trigger a pandemic flu outbreak should it develop the ability to spread

easily from person to person. President Bush has requested $7.1 billion to help

detect and respond to pandemic flu and help states prepare response plans.

It is unclear whether Congress will act on the Bush request, which includes the

liability provision, this year.

Details of the vaccine liability plan were still being worked on Wednesday. One

version would allow patients harmed by flu vaccines to sue drug companies and

distributors for damages only if they can prove willful misconduct.

Sen. Kennedy, D-Mass., and watchdog groups such as Public Citizen say

that standard is too high and would effectively bar compensation to victims.

They say the measure is so broad that it could apply to virtually any drug used

to treat " epidemics, " which could include such conditions as diabetes.

They contend that the federal government already has the power to protect drug

companies and that patients harmed by flu vaccines should be treated the same as

those injured by vaccines for measles, chicken pox and other childhood diseases.

A federal " no-fault " program that went into effect in 1988 offers compensation

for patients injured by childhood vaccines and is funded by a tax on every dose

of the covered vaccines that are purchased.

Jillian Aldebron, a spokeswoman for Public Citizen, said that if the vaccine

liability proposal had been law in 1976, 4,000 people who became ill after

taking the swine flu vaccine would have had no recourse to seek compensation.

Neither would military personnel and first responders who suffered heart attacks

and other problems after taking smallpox vaccine in 2003, she said.

" They are trying to insert this outrageous giveaway to the drug industry ...

without public scrutiny or debate, " Kennedy said. " Congress should reject any

backroom deal that gives a free pass to companies that act irresponsibly or

denies fair compensation to injured patients. "

Call, Frist's spokeswoman, said the proposal offers " very targeted, very limited

liability protection " to drug companies. Supporters such as Sen. Judd Gregg,

R-N.H., say it is essential to spur production of vaccine before a possible

pandemic flu outbreak.

" We have heard in no uncertain terms that this is a show stopper for the (drug)

industry, " said Bruce Gellin, director of the national vaccine program office at

the Department of Health and Human Services. " This is a new vaccine, and because

of that, they feel uncomfortable " producing it without liability protection.

Gregg cited fear of lawsuits as a reason why only four companies are producing

flu vaccines today compared with 25 two decades ago. " Nobody's going to take the

risk of running into the trial lawyers, " he said.

" We would not produce pandemic vaccine without liability protection, " said Len

Lavenda, a spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur, a U.S. subsidiary of France's

Sanofi-Aventis, the world's No. 3 drug company. Without immunity, he said, " it

could destroy the company " - one of four that has contracts to produce a vaccine

for the H5N1 virus.

The pharmaceutical industry has spent more than $800 million in lobbying and

campaign contributions since 1998, according to the Center for Public Integrity,

a watchdog group.

Though drug companies donate to candidates in both political parties, several

Republican lawmakers pushing the liability measure have received significant

contributions from vaccine manufacturers.

GlaxoKline gave Sen. Burr of North Carolina more than $31,000 for

his Senate campaign last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics,

which tracks campaign contributions. The company, which is developing a pandemic

flu vaccine, gave more than $10,000 to Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., in 2002. Pfizer,

Merck and other drug companies gave Gregg nearly $190,000 for his re-election

bid last year, according to the center.

When Frist ran for his second term in 2000, he got more than $260,000 from the

pharmaceutical industry. Two years later, he came under fire for slipping a

provision into a homeland security bill that would have protected Eli Lilly from

liability over the vaccine preservative thimerosal, which has been linked to

autism in children by parent and advocacy groups. The measure was repealed in

January 2003 amid a public uproar.

The drug companies " are political players, and this is part of their agenda, "

said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

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Dawn

PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)

prove@... (email)

http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)

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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and practices

that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is to prevent vaccine

injury and death and to promote and protect the right of every person to make

informed independent vaccination decisions for themselves and their family.

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This information is not to be construed as medical OR legal advice.

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