Senator Denied Pharma Risk Data

In response to an article in the Washington Post, June 15, 2006
Senator's HHS Trip for Antibiotic Data Yields Only Ire

This story is not about vaccine risks. It is about a potentially deadly antibiotic and how far government health officials will go to cover for the pharmaceutical industry which they are supposed to be regulating.

Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) has been an outspoken proponent of transparency and accountability in government, especially at the Department of Health and Human Services. On June 14, 2006, he got a taste of just how powerful federal health officials have become when he showed up at DHHS last week but left empty handed after officials denied his request for pre-licensure data on the safety of Ketek, an Aventis antibiotic that has been associated with severe liver damage. One person associated with pre-licensure clinical trials has already gone to prison for fraud.

What Senator Grassley learned first hand is that the Department of Health and Human Services operates rather like an extra-territorial government.

Congress has allowed the M.D./Ph.D. officials at the helm to be given authority historically reserved for heads of State such as monarchs, prime ministers and presidents. Unfortunately, the public is reaping the bitter harvest of unchecked power now in the hands of doctors who have much to hide when it comes to the toxicity of the drugs and vaccines they have pushed on the people.

No comments: