Fwd: Action Alert - it's never too late!

[Guest guest]

Ingri Cassel <vaclib@c...> wrote:

I just took action on the liability protection given to Big Pharma

through the Defense Appropriations bill last week. This must be

repealed, along with Project BioShield and other unconstitutional,

and therefore illegal, legislation. Please go to the following link.

You can adjust their response to fit with your sentiments.

Below is how I adjusted A-Champ's letter.

Go to this link:

http://capwiz.com/a-champ/issues/alert/?alertid=8328971 & type=ML

to send a message

Ingri Cassel

P.O. Box 457

Spirit Lake, ID 83869-0457

December 26, 2005

The Honorable Larry E. Craig

United States Senate

520 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510-1203

Re: Frist Gives Parents the Slip Again; Leadership in Congress

Muscles Drug Company Liability Provision into Unrelated Defense Bill

Dear Senator Craig:

I respectfully request that you protect the health care rights of all

Americans and vaccine-injured children by acting to repeal the unfair

liability immunity giveaway to drug companies contained in the

Department of Defense Joint Conference Report.

I am shocked and dismayed to learn that the liability protection

language was muscled into the Department of Defense Appropriations

bill in the dead of night in violation of Congressional rules. If the

provisions giving drug companies unnecessary liability protection are

enacted, a vaccine-injured adult or child's right to have his or her

day in court will be unnecessarily and unfairly taken away. The

provision provides no meaningful compensation for persons injured by

vaccines even while exposing Americans to experimental drugs and

inadequately tested vaccines that are rushed to market. The

provisions would allow the use of mercury in vaccines even in states

that have banned vaccines containing mercury.

I oppose legislation that will provide unprecedented immunity to a

vaccine industry that has caused tragic injury to thousands of adults

and children nationwide. Such liability protection is unnecessary.

There has been a minimal number of vaccine lawsuits over the past 30

years - current laws such as the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

already protect vaccine manufacturers from what many might consider

frivolous lawsuits. The apparent lack of vaccine manufacturing

capacity in our country is not due to lawsuits but several factors,

such as the consolidation of the pharmaceutical industry via merger

and market factors that pose economic barriers to vaccine production.

Liability concerns have little to do with vaccine manufacturing

problems according to eminent public health experts such as the NIH's

Dr. Fauci and Dr. Walter Orenstein, formerly of the CDC's

National Immunization Program. Therefore, liability is not the

problem.

In addition, representatives of biotechnology companies have through

the use of the latest technology that eliminates dangerous protein

contaminants vaccines can be produced more safely than through the

methods used by the major drug companies. These biotech companies say

that they do not need liability protection in order to move ahead to

manufacture the new generation of safe vaccines. Biotech firms using

new technology have sufficiently high confidence in the safety of

their product that they are not worried about lawsuits.

I urge you to place the interests of injured adults and children

above those of the pharmaceutical industry. Along with many voters

across the country, I am deeply concerned that by providing

unnecessary liability protection, vaccine manufacturers will cease to

have an incentive to make their products safe. Lack of safety

endangers all Americans.

Please act to protect Americans by repealing the drug company

liability protection from the Department of Defense Conference Report.

Sincerely,

Ingri Cassel

208-255-2307

Click on this URL to take action now

http://capwiz.com/a-champ/utr/2/?a=8328971 & i=75598429

If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,

copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.

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--- End forwarded message ---