Congress Bill to allow untested birdflu drugs with no liability | |
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Sophia (OP) User ID: 23 New Zealand 12/01/2005 02:00 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Well, well, well, 3 holes in the ground...loksee what I just found... Posted on Thu, Dec. 01, 2005 Critics lambaste bird-flu bill SECRECY CREATES ACCOUNTABILITY VOID, THEY SAY By Steve Johnson Mercury News A bill moving through Congress to speed production of bird-flu vaccines and other drugs has ignited alarm from critics who claim it would not only shield manufacturers from lawsuits, but also prevent the public from learning if the medicines hurt people more than help. Under the measure backed by Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, which critics hope to derail at a meeting today, bird-flu and bioterrorism preparedness would be overseen by a new agency able to operate in unprecedented secrecy. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency would be the first federal agency not required to make at least some of its activities public under the Freedom of Information Act. The bill´s supporters say the law is needed to encourage more companies to join the few firms, such as Chiron and Gilead Sciences in the Bay Area, making drugs to counter bird flu and deadly biological agents -- without fear of being sued if the drugs produce bad side effects. But others including Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, denounced the measure as dangerously misguided. Without public scrutiny or the ability to take the companies to court, ``these drugs are going to be developed in secret, and if there are deaths and injuries, they´re going to be covered up,´´ she said. ``And there will be no way to hold anybody accountable.´´ Such worries are unfounded, said Robert Kadlec, staff director for the U.S. Senate subcommittee on bioterrorism and public health preparedness, which is chaired by the bill´s primary author, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. He insisted there was no plan to keep the public in the dark about dangerous side effects or other basic facts related to drug development. ``We´re not trying to create a super-secret agency,´´ said Kadlec, a retired Air Force colonel who previously helped President George Bush develop his bioterrorism strategy. He acknowledged that the bill, SB 1873, probably will need to be rewritten to clarify what information should be kept secret. Burr´s staff will meet today with some critics, including a coalition of journalism organizations, to discuss possible revisions. Nonetheless, Kadlec said making all of the new agency´s business public could reveal weaknesses in the nation´s drug preparedness plans that terrorists could exploit. The bill was introduced in the Senate on Oct. 17 and approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, but it´s not likely to be acted on by the full Senate until next year. It would modify the Project Bioshield Act, passed in 2004, that provided $5.6 billion over 10 years to develop biodefense drugs. A few Bay Area firms have won large federal contracts under this program, including VaxGen of Brisbane, which has gotten nearly $1 billion to make anthrax vaccines. Chiron of Emeryville has also won a contract under another federal agency to develop bird-flu vaccines, and Gilead Sciences of Foster City is likely to get federal money for its bird-flu treatment. But most companies have declined to get involved, saying they fear that making drugs for the federal bioshield program could leave them vulnerable to lawsuits. Since most drugs designed to counter bioterror agents couldn´t be safely tested on humans, company executives have argued, it would be difficult to anticipate all the side effects a drug might have before it was used on the public. Under the bill introduced by Burr, Frist, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and three other senators, companies making drugs in response to public health emergencies generally would be immune from suits. The exception would be if the secretary of Health and Human Services determined the companies had acted with willful misconduct. The insertion of blanket secrecy provisions into the bill has especially alarmed critics. Those provisions would let the new agency keep its activities quiet unless it decides ``disclosure would pose no threat to national security.´´ Although the Biotechnology Industry Organization has sought the lawsuit immunity, its spokeswoman, Kim Coghill, declined to comment on the bill´s secrecy provisions. But Gerald Epstein, a senior fellow for science and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-profit Washington think tank, said giving the agency broad authority to withhold information ``is not as scary as people make it out to be.´´ He said the alternative is to have the agency set up a system of security clearances and classified data, which can be cumbersome and costly. However, exempting the agency from public disclosure would be unparalleled, said Pete Weitzel, coordinator of the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, who plans to attend the meeting today with Burr´s staff. ``There is no agency I´m aware of in the federal government which is in and of itself totally exempt from any public access provisions, including the CIA,´´ he said. |
Sophia (OP) User ID: 23 New Zealand 12/01/2005 02:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | - A few Bay Area firms have won large federal contracts under this program, including VaxGen of Brisbane, which has gotten nearly $1 billion to make anthrax vaccines. Chiron of Emeryville has also won a contract under another federal agency to develop bird-flu vaccines, and Gilead Sciences of Foster City is likely to get federal money for its bird-flu treatment. But most companies have declined to get involved, saying they fear that making drugs for the federal bioshield program could leave them vulnerable to lawsuits. Since most drugs designed to counter bioterror agents couldn´t be safely tested on humans, company executives have argued, it would be difficult to anticipate all the side effects a drug might have before it was used on the public. Under the bill introduced by Burr, Frist, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and three other senators, companies making drugs in response to public health emergencies generally would be immune from suits. The exception would be if the secretary of Health and Human Services determined the companies had acted with willful misconduct. - |
000 User ID: 45101 United States 12/01/2005 02:44 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Hi Sophia, yesterday you made an interesting comment; "Is being banned affirmation of the truth of the message banned for??" And I think the answer is YES! But sometimes it is not for the emmediate message, it could also be for a previous point of view. I got banned again right after I was let on yesterday afternoon. This must be some kind of message I am being given, because I have been posting for over a year and one half and never got banned before, and also never violated any of the stated rules. But the past month and one half it happens often and for no reason which is obvious to me. they might zap me again after posting this. |
Sophia (OP) User ID: 23 New Zealand 12/01/2005 02:50 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I gave you a possible explanation in that other thread. Freyja is also being blocked from time to time NOT for what she posts but for something int he system here that rejects her IP address. PMing, or emailing them gets it fixed immediately. What is it you think they donīt want you to share with others? Post it here as a test? |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 45101 United States 12/01/2005 03:16 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | someone just had a thread a few slots above this thread of yours, where they were also complaining of being unfairly banned. It had numerous responses to it, and I was writing out my own response to share and as I posted it, I got a message saying that "that particular thread is no longer available.ī within the past two minutes. |
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