Misinformation: The Atlantic delves into why going after medical misinformation is a very bad idea

From Politico, this story of how over $100,000 was spent to dig up dirt on the head of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research: For more than two months in late 2008, private investigators working for a drug company gathered information on a high-ranking official at the Food and Drug Administration — unearthing details about…

I propose we Americans design a new political party, say the Constitution party or the Freedom party.  Suggested Principles:  Everyone must obey the rule of law  Corporations are not people  Rescind the law that allows the US government to propagandize its citizens  Uncoerced informed consent is inviolable  No illegal search/seizure/surveillance without a warrant  No digital…

Thanks to Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer, well known health journalists, for this erudite piece on the limitations of epidemiological data for flu vaccines and antiviral drugs. They are brave women to tackle and publish this piece: kudos! A new GAO report on FDA’s reliance on surrogate endpoints (such as using antibody levels generated by…

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/02/archdiocese-new-orleans-johnson-vaccine/ On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged Catholics to avoid taking the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and to choose alternatives from Pfizer or Moderna instead because Johnson & Johnson used cells derived decades ago from an abortion to create the vaccine. The bishops’ recommendation follows a similar one from the Archdiocese of New Orleans last…

The long-term side effects are unknown By Dr. Larry Kwak, Dr. Steven T. Rosen and Dr. Idit Shachar – OPINION: As physician-researchers who have pioneered the invention of vaccines and other experimental drugs for over 30 years (against cancer), we feel compelled to highlight the need for caution and honest public debate about potential long-term consequences…

The “Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) and on Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) 2009”  was charged with assessing the usefulness of existing International Health Regulations in light of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, improving preparedness, and evaluating WHO’s response to the swine flu pandemic.  Thus much of its draft report…