One of the Reasons Why the Bad Guys (* & Co.) Hate CBS

[No Exit]

CBS News reported this. I missed this story at the time.

The Man Behind The Vaccine Mystery

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2002



Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, says he's behind a provision in the homeland security bill that protects Eli Lilly and Co. (CBS/AP)
"It's a matter of national security. We need their vaccines if the country is attacked with germ weapons."
House Majority Leader Dick Armey


(CBS) It's been a mystery in Washington for weeks. Just before President Bush signed the homeland security bill into law an unknown member of Congress inserted a provision into the legislation that blocks lawsuits against the maker of a controversial vaccine preservative called "thimerosal," used in vaccines that are given to children.

Drug giant Eli Lilly and Company makes thimerosal. It's the mercury in the preservative that many parents say causes autism in thousands of children ñ like Mary Kate Kilpatrick. Asked if she thinks her daughter is a victim of thimerosal, Mary Kate's mother, Kathy Kilpatrick, says, "I think autism is mercury poisoning."

But nobody in Congress would admit to adding the provision, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta until now.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey tells CBS News he did it to keep vaccine-makers from going out of business under the weight of mounting lawsuits.

"I did it and I'm proud of it," says Armey, R-Texas.

(snip)

http://www.lovepeoplenotmoney.com/cached/thimerosol.cbs.html

Note: If you click the link, notice that they raise the possibility that the White House was possibly behind this, and that Armey was just a convenient "fall guy", someone who could do their dirty work, because he was about to retire.

[WCGreen]

1. Yea, he was leaving Congress so what did he have to lose...

Army just came out and blatantly took one for the team...

[trotsky]

2. I brace myself for the inevitable attacks by the anti-vaccine crusaders...

but thimerosal still has yet to be proven to be responsible for anything, other than a mild allergic skin reaction in some individuals.

[kedrys]

4. Granted, but what may cause a mild allergic reaction in one person

may very well kill another. There are countless examples of this with food allergies.

Another aspect to consider is that more and more research is coming out pointing to evidence that men and women do not react to the same medications in the same way, for example. One size does not fit all, never has, never will.

I concede your point that there is no direct proof that thimerosal is the culprit in some autism cases, but IMHO, it's not that far-fetched at all. Of course, the pharmacoms have other things to do than investigate anything that might negatively affect their profits.

[trotsky]

9. Autism has an incredibly strong genetic component.

One of the more fascinating reports I've seen is the analysis of a supposed "geek" gene. How up until the late 20th century, people with the "geek" gene were less likely to meet up with other "geeks," and so the gene continued on as a single copy, which tended to produce certain aptitudes and personality characteristics. But, when two geeks hook up, and an individual inherits two copies of the geek gene, "disorders" on the autism scale can appear. I wish I could remember details, but I do recall that unusally high autism rates tended to center in high-tech areas like Silicon Valley where geeks were more likely to meet & marry.

Definitely need more research into it.

[MADem]

10. Most childhood vaccinations no longer, or never contained, thimerosol

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm

There's a chart at this link that shows which ones had it, and which ones never did.

That anthrax vaccine that they are using up on the military, and is as old as the hills, is loaded with the junk.

[katsy]

6. You make a good point.

Unfortunately, we don't have a transparent government. Our reps in Congress are proven liars. They have stifled legitimate science. They have a history of protecting the rich & powerful corporations, not the average man.

Why should anyone believe their science?

For example, Europe & Asia required baby formulas to contain certain vitamins (which ones escape me now) as soon as the benefits were discovered. American baby formula companies lagged behind by years because the companies complained to congress that they couldn't ramp up to this nutritional standard fast enough.

[trotsky]

8. Because at least in this case, "their" science

is backed up by science all over the world, including places that have no ties whatsoever to the Giant Evil American Pharmaceutical Conglomerate.

[katsy]

11. Most childhood vaccines no longer have thimerosal in them...

BECAUSE of good science. Europe stopped using it in the mid-80s I believe.

The point here is that the only science corporations put forth to the public usually supports their bottom line... not public safety.

And the congress serves ONLY to protect those giant evil pharmas from lawsuits.

Edit to add:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine#Preservatives

Europe has phased out thimerosal... America is "gradually" doing so. Guess the giant evil pharmas have a problem ramping up to phase it out. Most likely they want to squeeze every dime of profit they can from existing inventory... even in the face of the risks posed to the public.

Phuck the giant evil pharmas. Their business is profit. Whose business is public safety?

[trotsky]

12. Actually,

thimerosal was phased out as part of an overall effort to reduce the use of mercury, not because the mercury in it was proven to cause any serious harm.

IIRC, pharmaceuticals don't really make that much off of vaccines in the first place. Witness the flu vaccine shortage problems - manufacturers here didn't make it anymore because the profit wasn't there.

Where we DO need to worry about "big pharma" is in the areas where they ARE making lots of money, vioxx being the latest example.

[MADem]

7. Mild?? I am deathly allergic to the shit!

If I use contact lens solution with thimerosol in it, my eyes turn BLOOD RED and swell. I found out the hard way....

I don't take flu shots because it has that crap in it, and haven't for decades.

The point is, no one knows for sure IF it causes autism or not, but it remains controversial. I find it interesting that the only ones trying to shut down the investigations into a possible link are the drug companies. And we know how they tend to game the clinical trial results when there's money to be made (Vioxx, e.g.).

[No Exit]

13. To me, the question here is not whether the vaccine actually causes

the illness(es). The problem here, IMO, is that a congressman--Dick Armey--placed a "free pass" for vaccine makers in the legislation. And he did it in a secretive and un-democratic way. And it is said that he did it at the behest of the White House.

There may or may not be negative effects from various vaccines. Certainly there are negative effects from SOME medicines and from some other treatments. Sometimes those negative effects occur with such frequency that it becomes not worthwhile to prescribe the medicine or treatment in question.

The point, IMO, is that if someone IS harmed by this, they should at LEAST have the right to seek redress!

Armey's clandestine, sneaking, sleazy action deprived people of that right. His action deprived certain people of access to the courts. That is a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.

[trotsky]

14. You won't get an argument from me on the method.

Lawsuits can be filed regardless of their scientific backing, however, and any lawsuit will cost vaccine manufacturers money. So their desire to get this exception put in might not have anything to do with how safe they view their vaccines, but rather just to prevent ANY lawsuits, frivolous or not.

Still a despicable act by Armey, something you'd expect in a Banana Republic.

[katsy]

3. Mercury poisoning...

pesticide testing on pregnant moms & kids.

These twisted, malicious dickheads don't care about America's kids. Except that they be born like breeding cattle to supply slave labor or be tested on by pesticide companies.

Culture of life my a$$.

[Village Idiot]

5. Wasn't Bush41 Director of Eli Lilly at one point?

[tanyev]

15. I think the Dan Quayle family is the connection to Eli Lilly.

Could be wrong, though.

[Village Idiot]

16. Bush 41 WAS a former director of Eli Lilly.

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/Bush-Lilly-CIA-serotonin.htm

<snip>
"Historically, the exposure of any single Lilly machination-though sometimes disrupting it-has not weakened the Bush-psychiatry-Lilly relationship. In the last decade, some of the more widely reported Eli Lilly intrigues include:
a. Influencing the Homeland Security Act to protect itself from lawsuits
b. Accessing confidential patient records for a Prozac sample mailing
c. Rigging the Wesbecker Prozac-violence trial

A sample of those who have been on the Eli Lilly payroll includes:
a. Former President George Herbert Walker Bush (one-time member of the Eli Lilly board of directors)
b. Former CEO of Enron, Ken Lay (one-time member of the Eli Lilly board of directors)
c. George W. Bush's former director of Management and Budget, Mitch Daniels(a former Eli Lilly vice president)
d. George W. Bush's Homeland Security Advisory Council member, Sidney Taurel (current CEO of Eli Lilly)
e. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (a recipient of Eli Lilly funding)

</snip>

The connection between GHWB and Zyprexa is very depressing, indeed...

[tanyev]

17. I knew I'd read there was a Quayle connection, too.

The Bush family and the administration have too many ties to Eli
Lilly. There's President Bush's father, who after stepping aside as
Director of Central Intelligence in 1977, was made director of the
Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company by the family of Dan Quayle, who
owned the controlling interest in the company. There was White
House budget director Mitch Daniels, once an Eli Lilly executive;
and Eli Lilly CEO Sidney Taurel, who serves on the president's
homeland security advisory council.
http://calltodecision.com/bfc.htm

It has been suggested, but cannot be validated, that the reason why Dan Quayle was selected as the Vice Presidential candidate was because it was a return favor from Bush for the wealth he gained working for Eli Lilly (Zietzke 2004).
http://angelingo.usc.edu/issue03/sciences/a_autism.php