Max Keiser: America will lose it's sovereignty

This was posted on the 29th of July

FDA to Investigate Vaccines for XMRV Retrovirus

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

Age of Autism

As part of my continuing series of articles which I think should be subtitled, Official Documents which Scare the Living Daylights Out of Me! I offer this July 24, 2011 publication from the Food and Drug Adminstration.

The release is entitled Investigating Viruses in Cells Used to make Vaccines; and Evaluating the Potential Threat Posed by Transmission of Viruses to Humans. XMRV is prominently featured as a virus about which they are concerned. Please feel free to read the entire document at FDA.gov.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the question of XMRV and autism, please allow me to give a brief recap. The xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV) was discovered in 2006 by scientists working for the University of California at San Francisco and the Cleveland Clinic. It is a human gamma retrovirus and there are many who say we should be referring to this family as XMRVs or HGRVs. 

The retrovirus was originally found in the tumors of men with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, in 2009 the virus was found in high numbers in people with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, and there has been some very preliminary findings of its presence in children with autism. In the interest of full disclosure I must note that my daughter with autism/seizures, my wife who has had a number of mysterious health ailments, and my mother-in-law have all tested positive for the XMRV retrovirus. I've tested negative, as has my father, who is my only surviving parent.

Chronic fatigue syndrome/ME and autism share many common clinical features including immune dysregulation, increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, mitochondrial abnormalities, and chronic active microbial infections. In my own investigations I've been surprised how many of the mothers of children with autism say they have either been formally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, or believe they have subclinical indications of the disorder. 

Onto the FDA release of July 24, 2011. After first describing the need for new vaccines and that the virus-based vaccines require the use of living cells for a substrate, there's this paragraph. 

In some cases the cell lines that are used might be tumorigenic, that it, they form tumors when injected into rodents. Some of these tumor-forming cell lines may contain cancer-causing (author's note - autism causing?) viruses that are not actively reproducing. Such viruses are hard to detect using standard methods. These latent or "quiet" viruses pose a potential threat, since they might become active under vaccine manufacturing conditions. Therefore, to ensure the safety of vaccines, our laboratory is investigating ways to activate latent viruses in cell lines and to detect the activated viruses, as well as other unknown viruses, using new technologies. We are also trying to identify specific biological processes that reflect virus activity.

Translation for the average reader - Hey, the cell lines in which we grow the viruses we want in vaccines, may contain some viruses we don't want! Including those which may cause cancer!

I don't think most readers appreciate the advances which have been made in pathogen detection by the use of advanced micro-arrays. As an example I point out the finding made about a year ago of an unexpected pig circovirus found in the rotarix vaccine. The levels of this unexpected virus were more than ten times the level of the target virus for which the vaccine had been developed. While the decision to certify that virus as "safe" was in my opinion unconscionable, the fact remains that detection of the unexpected virus was made and its amount quantified with amazing accuracy.

I believe that scientific advances are proceeding at a rate which will allow us to ask and answer some very disturbing questions about vaccine safety. In my science classes I always try to instill in my students the idea that there's "data" about which we should all agree, but that some of the biggest fights are over "interpretation" and the meaning of that data. For example, the finding of an unexpected pig virus in a vaccine at a rate ten times higher than that of the target virus is something which all parties seem to agree upon. 

A vaccine with this level of contamination would probably never receive initial approval. This finding begs the question, why do we allow an already approved vaccine to have this level of contamination, just because we've only recently developed the tools to test its composition? Even to the average person who doesn't think much about vaccine safety this reasoning is a little bit like saying you'll continue to allow your teenage son to drink and drive because he's done it before and he never got into an accident.

Further on in the article was this paragraph:

Similarly, we are investigating the transmission and infectious processes of a new human retrovirus, xenotropuic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV). We are pursuing this work both in vitro ("test tube studies) as well as in the monkey model, in order to assess potential safety concerns in vaccine cell substrates and in blood products.

Translation - We're really worried about XMRV! We're so worried that we're going to test in both test tubes, and in monkeys (very expensive!) We are spending major dollars on this question!

The article ends with the following paragraph, which makes me think it's XMRV (XMRVs/HGRVs) that has the scientists at the FDA worried.

Xentoropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a recently discovered human retrovirus that has been found in both chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer patients. Although the findings need further confrimation, there is a potential safety concern regarding XMRV in cell substrates used in vaccines and in transmission by blood transfusion and blood products. We are developing sensitive detection assays for XMRV to evaluate cell substrates and investigate virus transmission by blood transfusion in a monkey model.

Translation - We at the FDA are really concerned about XMRV. Yeah, we know there's a dispute going on about whether it's an actual virus and whether it's present in people with specific diseases, like chronic fatigue syndrome, prostate cancer, and maybe even autism (CDC is doing that study), but did I mention that the FDA is really concerned about XMRV? We're concerned about XMRV in vaccines, from blood transfusions from people who already have the virus, and blood products. Did I mention that we at the FDA are really worried about XMRV? 

I've been following the XMRV story for more than a year and a half and there are a couple things I'd like to say. 

While I understand the majority of the scientific and medical community are avoiding the serious questions and research about vaccines, they are not monolithic entities. There are people in the research community, some of them very highly placed, who share many of our concerns. A few are actively and quietly trying to develop the data to help us. Although the numbers are not large, we do have friends in the research community.

While we fight so hard for our children against the majority of the medical establishment we must remain aware that there are those on the other side who can help us win this battle. For those on the other side I can only say I understand the risks you are taking. The forces which oppose your investigations will do things to thwart you which will stagger your imagination. I am truly sorry for what you will likely be forced to endure as you do honest research.

But despite the roadblocks which are thrown in your way I hope you keep in mind the greater need of hundreds of thousands of children with autism, their families, and the other disease communities which this research might impact. For my part in the autism community I will do my best to recognize potential friends and allies, even though we may not agree on all things.

In that spirit I must commend the FDA for looking into the question of XMRV contamination of vaccines. I look forward to the results.

Kent Heckenlively is a Contributing Editor to Age of Autism

http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/08/fda-to-investigate-vaccines-for-xmrv-retrovirus.html

China agency to lower US credit rating

Selling drugs as scholarly opinion

By Nancy Banks MD and Clark Baker
OMSJ
Office of Medical and Scientific Justice

Would you buy a home loan from a Countrywide loan rep? Would you invest your life savings with Bernie Madoff? Would you ask Casey Anthony to babysit your children? Probably not. So why should anyone believe David Ropeik when he says you need a vaccination?

Drug Company Marketing Shill

Although the Times vaguely identifies David Ropeik as “an instructor at Harvard University,” Harvard’s websites identify the former TV news reporter as Director of Communications for the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA).

According to SourceWatch, Public Citizen and the Integrity and Science Project, HCRA has been funded by a who’s who of petrochemical, biotechnology and vaccine companies that include AstraZeneca, BMS, GSK, Hoffman-LaRoche, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough Corporation, Wyeth-Ayerst and Eli Lilly – companies that were responsible for products that have killed, crippled or injured millions of Americans since 1990.

In his “opinion piece” published last week by the Los AngelesTimes, Ropeik calls for new laws, incarceration and economic hardships against parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. To lend credibility, the Times identified Ropeik as “an instructor at Harvard University.” 

By using the “Harvard brand,” the Times editorial staff knew, or should have known, that the division that employs Ropeik offers no-credit open-enrollment courses, professional development seminars and certificates.

The Times also failed to disclose that Ropeik and his cohorts specialize in “risk communication,” a skill designed to make consumers feel better about products and services that kill and injure more than a million Americans annually. With credentials that once earned him a position as a local TV news reporter, calling Ropeik a “vaccine expert” is akin to calling Capt. Kirk an astrophysicist.

In an opinion both Orwellian and unscientific, Ropeik declares that parents who do not vaccinate are as dangerous as drunk drivers and smokers, but fails to disclose that:

• The CDC and vaccine manufacturers pay him, directly or indirectly, to promote their marketing campaigns.
• The resurgence of eradicated diseases has arisen in populations that have been more than 95% vaccinated. 
• Recent outbreaks of common diseases like measles occur in highly vaccinated populations, making the vaccinated population a greater risk to the unvaccinated – the exact opposite of what he proposes on behalf of vaccine promoters. 
• Ropeik’s clients are prohibited by law from making the false claims that they pay Ropeik to make.

Criminal Enterprise

Since 2004, the pharmaceutical industry has paid more than $9 billion to settle thousands of criminal and civil complaints related to the illegal marketing of drugs that kill or injure more than a million Americans EVERY YEAR. To stay in business, drug giants like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) routinely create shell companies to admit guilt and fold, leaving the parent companies intact and the injured uncompensated.

Although the Federal Government requires vaccine manufacturers to disclose the deadly effects of their products to consumers, drug companies circumvent these laws by hiring public relations experts to promote their products without full disclosure in the print and television media. 

In this case, the Times allowed Ropeik & Associates to post their pharmaceutically-funded ad as a credible public policy opinion. It’s hard to say how much pharmaceutical advertising the Times will receive for promoting Ropeik’s marketing campaign.

Legendary reporter John Carroll spoke of demise of the media in 2006;

“(There was a time) when there were rules that strictly governed and protected journalistic integrity and accuracy, and rewarded original and innovative important journalism… What dominates the news industry now… is marketing, public relations, and money.”

Pharmaceutical Ads

Celebrities sell drugs the same way.

In her book Our Daily Meds [2009], former New York Times reporter Melody Petersen describes how actresses like Lauren Bacall and Debbie Reynolds promote drugs like Visudyne and Detrol but are never required to warn viewers that the drugs cause blindness and dementia or that they were both paid by drug companies to promote these drugs. And while basketball great Magic Johnson pushes HIV drugs and tests in black neighborhoods, few know that Abbott Labs paid him $60 million to do it.

Like these pitchmen, Ropeik makes his living not by protecting the public, but by convincing Americans to believe what his corporate clients pay him to say. He’s not required to disclose payments made by vaccine makers to his consulting firm or those made for the use of Harvard’s name to sell his promotion as a credible opinion piece.As Petersen explains, when shills like these sell drugs and vaccines, “consumers don’t even know that a sell has taken place.”

Selling Panic and Hysteria

Ropeik cites “global outbreaks” of measles that have sickened 118 in the US this year, but fails to disclose THOUSANDS of vaccine-related injuries and deaths that are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) every year in the US. He also claims that there is “overwhelming evidence” that vaccines do not cause autism, while the overwhelming evidence produced by independent researchers unaffiliated with the pharmaceutical industry strongly suggests they do.

More than 3,000 new cases of autism were reported in California in 2006, compared with 205 in 1990. In 1990, 6.2 of every 10,000 children born in the state were diagnosed with autism by the age of five, compared with 42.5 in 10,000 born in 2001. The numbers have continued to rise since then.

In fact, vaccines injure and kill so many people each year that parents are no longer allowed to sue vaccine manufacturers in court. Instead, parents must follow special rules and submit claims to special masters. So even if the vaccine doesn’t cripple or kill you, the claims process probably will.

While the financial cost of caring for an autistic child is estimated to be greater than $2 million, Congress has capped most claims at $250,000. And while it is impossible to imagine the pain endured by parents whose decision to vaccinate results in the crippling or death of their own children, “Manufacturers are not liable for failure to provide warnings directly to the injured party…” Homeland Security Act of 2002.

According to former FDA Director David Kessler MD, only about ONE PERCENT of all serious adverse drug events (reactions) are ever reported; which means that the actual number of vaccine casualties is probably closer to one to three million Americans annually. To underscore this fact, the American Medical Association (AMA) reports that – if tracked like real diseases – adverse drug reactions (ADRs) would represent the 4th to 6th leading cause of death in the United States – a number far higher than all of the infectious disease fatalities that occur in the US each year.

When infectious diseases like measles and pertussis became statistically irrelevant in the US by 1955, drug companies continue to market fear and hysteria to sell their pathogenic snake oil. They are now so desperate to maintain market share and profit – and so alarmed that parents are refusing to expose their children to heavy metals and vaccine pathogens – that they spend twice as much on shills like Ropeik to promote their drugs than they do researching them. 

Every belief system runs its course. Eventually, shared consensus is confronted by incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Every medical historian and honest epidemiologist (i.e. those not paid by the drug industry) who has bothered to read the data knows why the rate of infectious diseases has precipitously fallen in the West. They know the impact of public health measures like clean water, sanitation, better food, housing and education.

They understand the with social and economic improvements that benefited the nation as a whole. It had very little to do with 20th century vaccines, which unfortunately continue to be marketed to take credit for something they did not accomplish.

As OMSJ reported last month, the final patient tally attributed to the CDC’s current pertussis campaign (whooping cough) will likely be eclipsed by the number of vaccine-related injuries and fatalities that American children will unnecessary suffer this year.

For example, pertussis reportedly killed 17 Americans in 2000, the same year that vaccines killed or seriously injured 14,153 men, women and children. This means that Americans were 83,152 times more likely to be seriously injured or killed by vaccines than pertussis in 2000. In 2010, CDC reported that ten children were killed by pertussis, the same year that VAERS reported that pertussis vaccines killed 17 children. Although Ropeik’s corporate clients expect that 334 English and Welch children will spend a few weeks in bed with the measles this year, they will fare better than those who will be permanently crippled from vaccines. 

Nancy T. Banks MD (Harvard Medical School) practiced general obstetrics and gynecology for 25 years and is the author of AIDS, Opium, Diamonds and Empire (2010). Clark Baker served 20 years with the LAPD and is the founder and principal investigator for the Office of Medical & Scientific Justice, Inc.

http://www.omsj.org/corruption/selling-drugs-as-scholarly-opinion

The British Watergate: A Backgrounder on the Murdoch Hacking Scandal

The London-based journalist Richard Gizbert, host of the Al Jazeera program The Listening Post, chronicles how the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal has shaken the British government, media system and public. A must-watch interview on how the scandal has unfolded and what it means for people in the United States.