THE FDA LOWERS THE BOOM ON CITIZENS' RIGHTS
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http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron2.htm
By Byron J. Richards, CCN
News with Views
An ominous tone is now set as the FDA embarks upon its second hundred years. New drug labels, which have been in development for years and are intended to improve consumer safety, went into effect on June 30, 2006. In typical FDA fashion, a program that should have helped patients has been twisted. The FDA took this opportunity to sneak disclaimer language on the new labels, seeking to prevent patients from suing pharmaceutical companies if a drug injures or kills.
Amazingly, the agency that exists solely to protect consumers has just attempted to shoot down the most basic rights of recourse granted by State law. This is an appalling power grab by federal government to control states and thwart individual rights. A legal review of the FDA’s position shows it to be full of holes. However, the rule of law is not something the FDA takes seriously. The FDA has demonstrated a consistent pattern of behavior that is above the law, disregarding the U.S. Constitution and federal court rulings against them.
The FDA sees itself as the final authority on all health issues facing Americans. The agency does not think Americans are intelligent enough to make health decisions for themselves. Indeed, the agency is doing everything it can to keep knowledge about safe and effective natural health options from the public. In essence, the FDA thinks it is in charge of all health-related thinking Americans should do, and is therefore justified in totalitarian authority.
Eighty percent of the American public doesn’t trust the FDA. There is plenty to be suspicious about. The FDA routinely hides and suppresses risk data regarding widely used drugs. The FDA’s parent, the Department of Health and Human Services, recently and very publicly scolded its child, telling the FDA that it was quite lax in ensuring that drugs already on the market are being adequately monitored for safety. To top it off, a new report shows that all studies done on antidepressants indicate higher suicide risk, yet the FDA knew and allowed drug companies to present statistical data in a way that watered down the evidence. With such ineptitude and callous disregard for human life, it is not surprising that the FDA would seek to further protect drug companies from product liability.
The FDA is now working on bigger and better ideas; they want to be involved in the development of the new type of bio-tech drugs. That’s right, the FDA plans on becoming a drug company. As I explain and document in Fight for Your Health, the FDA is busy designing the next generation of drug development tools. The medications of today are poisons. They work by interfering with function and seldom restore health, a crude technology. The medications of the near future will be targeted to enter cells and throw genetic switches, changing biological function in a fundamental way. The FDA is currently designing the software that will monitor and guide development of these powerful new drugs.
What happens when one of the newly designed FDA drugs starts killing people? Obviously, the FDA will be sued for damages along with other companies involved in the drug’s development, an intolerable event for the agency that is above the law.
While such technology holds promise, it is also far more risky than today’s medicine, and is already being described as a modern day Russian Roulette. This became clear when one of these new experimental drugs, TGN-1412, induced life-threatening side effects within moments of injection, as one young man’s head swelled to three times normal size causing friends to describe him as “elephant man” This formerly healthy twenty year old is lucky to be alive; he was in a coma for three weeks, suffered liver and kidney failure, and can barely walk. After four months of medical treatment he is ready to go home, but will soon have surgery to remove his damaged fingers and toes.
Just because modern technology enables us to experiment with genetic function of cells doesn’t mean that researchers actually know what they are doing. The FDA is developing new technology to monitor cellular proteins; however, this is no guarantee of safety. Americans will be exposed to far more risky and powerful drug experiments than ever before. The FDA wants to ensure that American citizens have no legal right to recourse if they are injured. This is wrong.
I believe that the FDA needs to be broken up into pieces that don’t have conflicts of interest. Drug design is one entire operation. Drug approval is another. Monitoring drugs after they are on the market requires a separate government entity. Furthermore, drugs, food, and nutritional supplements have no business being monitored by the same agency. There is no objectivity when the agency receives millions of dollars from drug companies, protects drug use, intentionally negates science-based nutritional supplement benefits, and allows significant adulteration of the food supply.
Any true improvement will require neutralizing the influence peddling of Big Pharma and multinational agribusiness. Their financial favors control the FDA and will be used to corrupt any new regulatory efforts. We must also stop the FDA collusion with the German government in the form of Codex rules that will undermine health options. The FDA’s participation with Mexico and Canada in the Trilateral Cooperation Charter is further evidence the FDA is seeking to circumvent Congress and the American people, beating to the drum of the Bush administration’s efforts to establish a new North American Union (Security and Prosperity Partnership).
Unless we establish government that is truly a representation of the people, including government agencies that are operating in sync with the will of the people, there is very little hope of improving the quality of health for Americans. A rogue agency, working secretly to establish international agreements outside the view of Congress and the American people, can hardly be trusted with our health. It is time for the American people to stand up for our sovereignty. In the short term, Congressional oversight is needed.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron2.htm
By Byron J. Richards, CCN
News with Views
An ominous tone is now set as the FDA embarks upon its second hundred years. New drug labels, which have been in development for years and are intended to improve consumer safety, went into effect on June 30, 2006. In typical FDA fashion, a program that should have helped patients has been twisted. The FDA took this opportunity to sneak disclaimer language on the new labels, seeking to prevent patients from suing pharmaceutical companies if a drug injures or kills.
Amazingly, the agency that exists solely to protect consumers has just attempted to shoot down the most basic rights of recourse granted by State law. This is an appalling power grab by federal government to control states and thwart individual rights. A legal review of the FDA’s position shows it to be full of holes. However, the rule of law is not something the FDA takes seriously. The FDA has demonstrated a consistent pattern of behavior that is above the law, disregarding the U.S. Constitution and federal court rulings against them.
The FDA sees itself as the final authority on all health issues facing Americans. The agency does not think Americans are intelligent enough to make health decisions for themselves. Indeed, the agency is doing everything it can to keep knowledge about safe and effective natural health options from the public. In essence, the FDA thinks it is in charge of all health-related thinking Americans should do, and is therefore justified in totalitarian authority.
Eighty percent of the American public doesn’t trust the FDA. There is plenty to be suspicious about. The FDA routinely hides and suppresses risk data regarding widely used drugs. The FDA’s parent, the Department of Health and Human Services, recently and very publicly scolded its child, telling the FDA that it was quite lax in ensuring that drugs already on the market are being adequately monitored for safety. To top it off, a new report shows that all studies done on antidepressants indicate higher suicide risk, yet the FDA knew and allowed drug companies to present statistical data in a way that watered down the evidence. With such ineptitude and callous disregard for human life, it is not surprising that the FDA would seek to further protect drug companies from product liability.
The FDA is now working on bigger and better ideas; they want to be involved in the development of the new type of bio-tech drugs. That’s right, the FDA plans on becoming a drug company. As I explain and document in Fight for Your Health, the FDA is busy designing the next generation of drug development tools. The medications of today are poisons. They work by interfering with function and seldom restore health, a crude technology. The medications of the near future will be targeted to enter cells and throw genetic switches, changing biological function in a fundamental way. The FDA is currently designing the software that will monitor and guide development of these powerful new drugs.
What happens when one of the newly designed FDA drugs starts killing people? Obviously, the FDA will be sued for damages along with other companies involved in the drug’s development, an intolerable event for the agency that is above the law.
While such technology holds promise, it is also far more risky than today’s medicine, and is already being described as a modern day Russian Roulette. This became clear when one of these new experimental drugs, TGN-1412, induced life-threatening side effects within moments of injection, as one young man’s head swelled to three times normal size causing friends to describe him as “elephant man” This formerly healthy twenty year old is lucky to be alive; he was in a coma for three weeks, suffered liver and kidney failure, and can barely walk. After four months of medical treatment he is ready to go home, but will soon have surgery to remove his damaged fingers and toes.
Just because modern technology enables us to experiment with genetic function of cells doesn’t mean that researchers actually know what they are doing. The FDA is developing new technology to monitor cellular proteins; however, this is no guarantee of safety. Americans will be exposed to far more risky and powerful drug experiments than ever before. The FDA wants to ensure that American citizens have no legal right to recourse if they are injured. This is wrong.
I believe that the FDA needs to be broken up into pieces that don’t have conflicts of interest. Drug design is one entire operation. Drug approval is another. Monitoring drugs after they are on the market requires a separate government entity. Furthermore, drugs, food, and nutritional supplements have no business being monitored by the same agency. There is no objectivity when the agency receives millions of dollars from drug companies, protects drug use, intentionally negates science-based nutritional supplement benefits, and allows significant adulteration of the food supply.
Any true improvement will require neutralizing the influence peddling of Big Pharma and multinational agribusiness. Their financial favors control the FDA and will be used to corrupt any new regulatory efforts. We must also stop the FDA collusion with the German government in the form of Codex rules that will undermine health options. The FDA’s participation with Mexico and Canada in the Trilateral Cooperation Charter is further evidence the FDA is seeking to circumvent Congress and the American people, beating to the drum of the Bush administration’s efforts to establish a new North American Union (Security and Prosperity Partnership).
Unless we establish government that is truly a representation of the people, including government agencies that are operating in sync with the will of the people, there is very little hope of improving the quality of health for Americans. A rogue agency, working secretly to establish international agreements outside the view of Congress and the American people, can hardly be trusted with our health. It is time for the American people to stand up for our sovereignty. In the short term, Congressional oversight is needed.
