Fined $3 Billion for Illegal Sales and Marketing of Drugs…but it’s just the cost of doing business / NY Times

From the NY Times: In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay $3 billion in fines for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a top diabetes drug, federal prosecutors announced Monday. The agreement also…

Cellphone carriers responded to 1.3 MILLION requests from law enforcement agencies in the US last year / NY Times

From Eric Lichtblau at the NY Times: WASHINGTON — In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber information last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations. The cellphone carriers’ reports,…

The biodefender that cries wolf / LA Times

David Willman does another deft job with the story of BioWatch, hopefully in time to influence the upcoming purchase of BioWatch’s next generation of detectors.  None have yet worked as billed.  The “detectors” are simply air samplers:  filters attached to vacuum tubes.  The filters have to be collected, then tested elsewhere using PCR devices specific…

Ireland preserves Democracy, Scraps E-Voting Machines/ The Independent

From the Irish Times: In a final vote of no confidence, Ireland’s ill-fated e-voting machines are finally headed to the scrap heap. From the June 29 Independent: THE Government has sold the infamous €54m e-voting machines for scrap — for €9.30 each. [Sold as scrap for about 15 cents per ten dollars spent on their…

Anthrax Vaccine Manufacturer, with no expertise and no new products after 14 years in business, gets $220 million grant to develop nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological countermeasures for the US government/ Biz Journals

The Gang who Couldn’t Shoot Strait at Emergent BioSolutions gain more largesse from the USG.  Yet this company cannot do anything right except obtain government contracts, kill off the competition, co-opt watchdog nonprofits and set up their own education agencies. See “Anthrax Vaccine:  to the Victor the Spoils” “This award underscores Emergent’s core competencies not only in product…

Clinical Trial Ethical Underpinnings: reflecting on a pediatric anthrax vaccine trial / Sci Am Blogs

In her third excellent Scientific American blog post, Infectious Disease doctor Judy Stone has delved into the ethical and regulatory framework under which clinical research must be conducted.  Dr. Stone provides a succinct historical overview of the important documents, and how they were enshrined in regulations guiding the conduct of research in humans.  For readers…

Skewed Results? Failure to Account for Clinical Trial Drop-Outs Can Lead to Erroneous Findings in Top Medical Journals / BMJ

Unmanned satellite-aircraft devices can now stay in orbit more than a year, then return to earth and make a soft landing at a military base!  Just imagine the accuracy and precision of the measurements and analysis needed to achieve this.  This accomplishment deserves more than a hat-tip to the scientific method. Yet when it comes…

Narcolepsy traced to specific vaccine batches/ The Local

Very interesting:  the Narcolepsy Association discovered that specific lots were involved, after the Swedish Medical Products Agency denied it.  Bad lots may mean that the regulators were not doing their job.  If this devastating narcolepsy epidemic was caused by bad lots, liability for the injuries might land on the manufacturer, in this case GSK.  From…

Anthrax vaccine – To the victor, the spoils / Scientific American blogs

From infectious disease MD Judith Stone at Scientific American comes this comprehensive look at what is behind the push to keep buying anthrax vaccine and even give it to children: In my last post, we began to play “Follow the Money” to better understand the history of the anthrax vaccine and the current proposal to…

Additional Forensic Investigation of 2001 Anthrax Attacks

From the University of Pittsburgh Center for Biosecurity comes this short report, a reiteration that the spores in the anthrax letters could not have come directly from those prepared by Bruce Ivins at Fort Detrick, as they lacked two substances contained in the RMR1029 anthrax spore collection. Thanks to Ross Getman for the citation. Additional…

SuperPACs: faster than a speeding bullet; able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Is this even politics?/ NY Times

Why are Super PACs different than all other PACs?  [No, we are not discussing Passover tonight.]  See what the NY Times has to say.  But here is a quick summary: Super PACs can accept and spend donations throughout the year, not just during election periods Super PACs have few or maybe only one donor, and…

Are You Unwittingly Sharing Your Health Information?

The federal government has spent $547 million issuing grants to “independent” “health information exchanges” to collect and share citizens’ medical records.  Each state and territory has an agency established for this purpose.  The federal government has promised up to $27 billion in Medicare/Medicaid incentives for medical practices and hospitals to use electronic medical records, which…

Treating sinusitis: Politically incorrect drug resistance due to Pneumococcal vaccine

I have treated so many patients with sinusitis in the last several weeks, I decided to review new guidelines that were issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently on sinusitis.  Wow, the changes were BIG and I had missed them.  Seems the drugs I used to use don’t work so well any…

Untitled Post

Published on Deccan Chronicle (http://www.deccanchronicle.com) Rise in paralysis cases after polio vaccine Cases of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis, better known as AFP, has sharply increased with the increase in the administration of oral polio vaccination (OPV) in the country under the much-acclaimed polio eradication programme. According to a report by Dr. Neetu Vashisht and Dr….

Ireland: Narcolepsy rate 13 fold higher after Pandemrix/Irish Times etc.

All the Irish papers report on the government’s announcement that Pandemrix swine flu vaccine is associated with many cases of narcolepsy.   The Irish Times reported: An official report has concluded that an increase in the sleep disorder narcolepsy among young people since 2009 is associated with the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix. The report, commissioned by…

Sid Wolfe/Public Citizen Warned about YAZ contraceptive 10 years before FDA added warning: for this he was disqualified from serving on his FDA advisory committee

Today FDA said that YAZ, Yazmine, Beyaz and Safyral  (oral contraceptives made by Bayer) cause a higher than usual increase in blood clots in users.  Blood clots are increased by all contraceptives and other drugs utilizing female hormones.  It is estimated that in the US, 200,000 people die yearly from blood clots that travel to…

Emergent and its 44.75 million dose sale of Biothrax for civilians

With respect to the 44.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine that Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) has announced it is selling to DHHS for the civilian stockpile (for the past several years), comes this curious notice from the Maryland Gazette.  Perhaps not all federal bureaucrats are happy about paying a king’s ransom for an unsafe and unproven…

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)/ Wired

Total information awareness, we can know all about those over here who are plugged in.  But those people over there who aren’t, well, they aren’t so easy to know about.  So let’s ignore them, and watch the ones we can.  Hey, some of us plugged in ones may be financing some of the unplugged and…

Bye Bye Bill of Rights/ NY Times

Welcome to the 2012 US Homeland.   Where’d we mislay that old Constitution? Ours is now the land of extrajudicial killings performed by drones; strip searches for speeding, or for bicycling without an audible bell or having a too-audible muffler; widespread extralegal cell phone surveillance by police, mobile phone companies (for whom it is a new…

Pennsylvania flu cases drop by 97% over last year/Pennlive.com

Documented flu cases have dropped by 97 percent compared with this time last year.  There have been NO flu-related deaths registered in Pennsylvania this year. Why are pharmacies still advertising flu shots? CDC reports only 5 child deaths due to flu, in the entire United States, have occurred this 2011-2012 flu season. The reason for…

Medical societies fight CMS efforts to make CME funding more transparent

On February 9, 2012, I wrote about how Merck manages to evade FDA regulations on advertising by funneling money through third party intermediaries: educational institutions and education/PR companies.  These third parties then pay doctors to provide advertising to other professionals in the form of continuing medical education.  Merck can then have the doctors speak about…

Bradley Manning revealed information of major international import/ Bill Blum

Bradley Manning spent nearly a year in solitary, being tortured with ploys like forced nakedness (perfected in Iraq as a torture method?).  He is unlikely to ever be free.   Julian Assange got the honeypot treatment and is likely to spend much of his remaining life incarcerated. Yet we were told those leaked cables had…

Early diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination associated with higher female mortality and no difference in male mortality/ Arch Disease Childhood

Peter Aaby’s group from Statens Serum Institute, Denmark, has been studying the effects of many vaccines in African children for many years.  The group has found some similar results in the past.  The fact that they continue to see the same effect (huge increases in death rates in young vaccinated female infants, increases not seen…

Common toxic exposures can affect future generations/PLOS

This story was reported today in Science News, and the scientific publication from which the story was derived also came out today in PLOS. The concept is troubling:  toxic materials we encounter in everyday life may seriously scar our progeny generations later.  Although this research was performed for the Army, using toxics encountered by military…

Metal on Metal Hips release two probable carcinogens and fail at rates 300% plus higher than other hip materials/ BMJ

One million Americans have received faulty hips, which continue to be promoted by manufacturers according to the British Medical Journal. The cobalt and chromium they release into local and distant tissues destroy muscle and bone and cause so-called genotoxicity, which may translate into cancer.  Definitely worth a read of the whole article, but excerpts are…

Linking side effects that develop many years after an exposure to the exposure

Over the past two weeks, several people asked me about illnesses they developed a number of years after exposures to the Gulf War, to anthrax vaccine, and to other toxic products.  Because this is an extremely complex subject, and a recurring issue, I thought I should address it in the blog, rather than try to…

In Sweden, 5.4 million swine flu jabs saved six lives/ The Local

An estimated five lives were saved in Sweden by swine flu shots–while 170 Swedish children have developed narcolepsy as a result, and no one has any information on how many other severe side effects were due to the vaccine.  (Sarcoidosis, for example:  see below.)  Add in the cost of the vaccinations (about $100 million was…

Effectiveness of vaccine against pandemic influenza/ BMJ

If you read the second post below this one, you will see evidence from several countries that suggests a previous seasonal flu vaccine may actually increase the risk of getting flu, and may worsen one’s short and long-term immune response to a newer flu vaccine. As if that wasn’t enough reason to avoid getting routine…

Narcolepsy caused by swine flu vaccine: 170 Swedish children affected, according to health minister

Narcolepsy has been in the news the past 10 days.  Severe disabilities in 31 affected Irish children were reported; 70-100 Finnish children were reported with the disorder after receiving Pandemrix; 86 Norwegian claims have been made; now 170 Swedish children are affected, according to Sweden’s health minister.  A Swedish study found the relative risk of…

Mandatory Flu Vaccinations: Points to Consider/ New Research

1.  A significant number of healthcare workers (HCW) are already immune to new flu strains, due to exposures from previous years, crossover immunity, and high levels of exposure.  Thus a Spanish study found that 25% of its healthcare workers were already immune to swine flu prior to the 2009 epidemic.  Vaccinating those with preexisting immunity…

Mandatory vaccinations for healthcare workers continue to be pushed–and then they will be for everyone

On February 8, a federal government vaccine advisory group (NVAC) made five recommendatios to increase healthcare worker flu vaccinations.  Members have significant conflicts of interest, such as Marie McCormick, who has chaired many IOM committees on vaccine safety and efficacy.  As reported by CIDRAP: … The NVAC’s recommendations urge US hospitals to establish comprehensive infection…

Merck’s Crooked HPV Marketing to Doctors: “Strategies to combat the spread of HPV infection”

Thank retired Colonel John Grabenstein, Merck Vaccine’s King of Spin, for the following marketing technique, which detours around all FDA regulations about what companies can tell doctors regarding their products.   If the issue was stopping the spread of HPV, then CONDOMS would be the most effective strategy. Here’s the strategy Merck used, delivered to my…

My submission to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues

Public Commentary — for meeting on February 2-3, 2012 Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues 1425 New York Avenue NW, Suite C–100 Washington, DC 20005 info@bioethics.gov     Re:  Pediatric anthrax vaccine trial     Dear Members of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues:   In this statement, I want to…

Officials Recommend the HPV Vaccine for All Boys/ NYTimes

 Is any doubt left about whether US vaccine recommendations are excessive?  This wretched recommendation will surely expel the last doubt.  Universal vaccination for boys with a vaccine whose efficacy, safety and duration of effect are unknown, is being recommended for —  can you believe it? — genital warts!  Okay, rarely the warts lead to penile,…

Misconduct pervades UK research/ Financial Times

From the Financial Times‘ Science Editor, Clive Cookson: UK research is plagued with misconduct, according to a survey of 2,700 scientists by the British Medical Journal. It found that 13 per cent had first-hand knowledge of UK-based researchers deliberately altering or fabricating data, while 6 per cent were aware of misconduct that had not been…

Biothrax for Kids is Back! Now for an Ethics Review! / DHHS

The DHHS’ momentum to test anthrax vaccine in kids did not abate after the NBSB advisory committee suggested the pediatric trial should go forward, following review by an ethics panel.  That way the NBSB members would not be the last ones holding the bag. On January 10, DHHS Secretary Sibelius (ex-Governor, insurance commissioner and lobbyist)…

The emperor is marching around buck naked/BMJ

The validity and quality of research underpin the entire research enterprise worldwide.  However, a number of studies have shown that many researchers take “shortcuts” and that perhaps 1-3% of research is grossly false, fitting into the category of research misconduct. Research misconduct has been defined in US federal law as fabrication, plagiarism and/or falsification.  Identified…

Effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination in healthcare workers: a systematic review.

J Hosp Infect. 2011 Dec;79(4):279-86.  Abstract is here. Ng AN, Lai CK. Infectious Disease Control Training Centre, Hospital Authority/Infection Control Branch, Centre for Health Protection, Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR, China. ngngaiming@gmail.com Abstract Vaccination is considered a key measure to protect vulnerable groups against influenza infection. The objectives of this review are to determine…

Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces/ NY Times

Damon Winter/The New York Times The NY Times obtained a classified coalition report that acknowledges “a rapidly growing systemic homicide threat, a magnitude of which may be unprecedented between ‘allies’ in modern military history”– i.e., US soldiers are being murdered by the very Afghani forces they are training and working alongside.  A full 6% of…

Mental scores decline precipitously at 30 months after anthrax vaccine, but CDC spins study to say vaccine safe/ Vaccine

A new paper on anthrax vaccine safety, presumably published to support DHHS’ desire to test the vaccine in small children, has just been published online.  Its authors are all from CDC, and most have previously published papers of very poor quality supporting the so-called safety of anthrax vaccine.  I don’t understand why they still have…

Anthrax jabs stockpiled in (Olympics) biological terrorism alert/ London Evening Standard

Interesting that the authorities vaccinated 500 health workers with smallpox vaccine, but are only stockpiling anthrax vaccine, not using it preemptively.  Yet you can vaccinate with smallpox vaccine up to several days after an exposure and it will still prevent the disease, due to smallpox’s several week long incubation period.  On the other hand, one…

Clinical Trial Tests Unsafe Anthrax Vaccine For Post-Exposure Use

 From The Vaccine Exchange: We have been writing about the anthrax vaccine here at Vaccine Xchange for some time. It seems clear that Emergent BioSolutions, the maker of the only human anthrax vaccine (BioThrax) currently available in the US, is working to aggressively market the vaccine, including ensuring that its vaccine is authorized for use…

Compensation paid out for vaccine-related narcolepsy sufferers/ YLE

Per YLE, the government of Finland is paying out small sums to 80 children who developed narcolepsy after Pandemrix vaccination, while 30 cases are still being evaluated.  That is a lot of childhood narcolepsy in a country of only 5.4 million people, and only about 44 swine flu-related deaths. Compensation is being granted to youngsters…

My Guantánamo Nightmare/ NY Times

In my view, the term “American exceptionalism”had a meaning, which stemmed from our adherence to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Those days are gone, and institutionalized brutality is no longer unlawful.  The NY Times essay below, published on the 10th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo prison, was written by the former Sarajevo Red…

Proven Ways to Avoid Influenza Safely and Inexpensively

How well does flu vaccine work? Two major reviews have come out in the past two months.  Michiels et al from the University of Antwerp found that the vaccine does prevent influenza among those aged 6-65, “however, there is strikingly limited good-quality evidence of the effectiveness of influenza vaccine on complications such as pneumonia, hospitalization…

Judge says no to inquest on weapons inspector Dr Kelly/ Mail

And the judge adds insult to injury by asking retired surgeon Halpin to pay Attorney General Grieve’s legal costs.  The Mail provides the details: A retired surgeon lost a major court battle yesterday in his campaign to secure a proper coroner’s inquest into the death of weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. Dr David Halpin was…

Judge to hear campaigner’s plea for inquest into Dr Kelly’s controversial death/ Mail

From the Daily Mail: A retired surgeon campaigning for a full coroner’s inquest into the death of Dr David Kelly will have his case heard by a High Court judge  on Monday (December 20). David Halpin, 71, is seeking permission to challenge the Government’s decision in June not to order a coroner’s inquest into the…

SIGA’s sweetheart deal for smallpox drug questioned by Anderson Cooper/ CNN

This story, detailed by David Willman in the LA Times (and blogged by me 4 weeks ago) has now been re-reported (in great detail for television) by CNN.  It certainly deserves plenty of scrutiny, especially after SIGA’s stock rose 32% yesterday, supposedly due to board member Fran Townsend’s denying company interference with the contract.  DHHS…

FDA disqualifies advisory committee member due to “intellectual conflict of interest”/ NJ.com

Sidney Wolfe, MD, is a well-known drug safety advocate and founder/ director of the organization Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.  FDA finally blessed the quality of his work and reputation by inviting him to join its Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee in 2008. But suddenly FDA has disqualified him from full voting membership…

Fukushima nuclear catastrophe closer than thought/ The Australian

The Japanese government and TEPCO have released new information (based on simulations, however) on the extent of damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactors.  The Australian reports on the catastrophe: MOLTEN nuclear fuel in one reactor at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant burned through the steel pressure vessel and three-quarters of the surrounding concrete containment vessel…

New Swine Flu Strain Keeps Health Officials on Alert/ ABC News

ABC News reports that a new strain of influenza has appeared in several states.  CDC officials are worrying that it might become the predominant strain this flu season.  Based on modelling, CDC thinks Tamiflu might help.  (However, Tamiflu only shortens bouts of flu by one day, according to the package insert.  It is probably a…

Australian Medical Association urges watch on vaccines/ The Australian

This article is by Natasha Bita, who just won a Walkley journalism prize for her series on flu vaccine dangers in The Australian. UPDATE:  The public’s responses to her story “Virus in the System.”  It is astounding that after the widely publicized problems with last year’s childhood flu vaccine, the Health Minister (a lawyer) has…

Unused German swine flu vaccine goes up in smoke (about 250 million Euros worth)/ The Local

… But the [2009 swine] flu was much milder than expected, and this, combined with safety fears over the new vaccine, led to only around seven percent of Germans opting to get the vaccine. Germany actually purchased two different types of swine flu vaccine:  one with a novel adjuvant (that used less antigen and instead…

US to pay $2.5M in photo editor’s anthrax death/ AP

From the Associated Press, Maureen Stevens settles with the US government for her husband’s death by anthrax, due to lax control of the material at government’s Fort Detrick lab. UPDATE:  From Scott Shane at the NY Times: … A Justice Department spokesman, Charles S. Miller, said he could not comment on why the government was…

Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden/ AP

As long as the research is methodologically sound and designed to capture a broad range of possible adverse outcomes from radiation released at Fukushima (where people have been exposed to many different isotopes through skin contact, inhalation and ingestion at widely varying doses), you will probably learn a lot about how the radiation affected health. …

Dr. Joe Mercola’s wide-ranging interview with me

Last month I went to Chicago to do a video interview with Dr. Joe Mercola on bioterrorism issues, anthrax, government responses and some of their ramifications (especially vaccines).  I thought he performed masterfully, asking the right questions and providing perspective.  The material he elicited builds a surprising story, which encapsulates most of my work over…

Cost, need questioned in $433-million smallpox drug deal // aka Biodefense: Giving from the 99% to the 1% / LA Times

UPDATE:  Senator Claire McCaskill calls for DHHS IG to investigate the government’s sole-source contract with Siga. If you are unconvinced that government seeks ways to buy products from “insider” companies that tithe to those at the center of government, read David Willman’s article in today’s LA Times.  A few grams of anthrax, grown from stock…

Secret reports: With security spotty, many had access to anthrax /McClatchy

A McClatchy piece I thought was duplicative, but there is more meat than I realized at first glance: … The existing security procedures _ described in two long-secret reports _ were so lax they would have allowed any researcher, aide or temporary worker to walk out of the Army bio-weapons lab at Fort Detrick, Md,…

Infamous Endorsement of Anthrax Vaccine for Children/ AHRP

The Alliance for Human Research Protection has written about the NBSB recommendations for testing anthrax vaccine in children: … The NBSB recommendation was made despite its own report acknowledging that: “Currently, U.S. children are not at immediate risk from anthrax and would not benefit directly from pre-event AVA [anthrax vaccine] administration.” “There is no known…

High Court judge will hear call for inquest on Dr David Kelly’s death/ Daily Mail

From the Daily Mail’s Miles Goslett: The death of Dr David Kelly is to be examined at the High Court next month after a senior judge ordered a special hearing as part of  his review of the case. Mr Justice Kenneth Parker is considering an application from retired West Country surgeon David Halpin to challenge…

Public Citizen Goes on Record Opposing Unethical Anthrax Vaccine Trial in Children

From the Public Citizen advocacy organization, discussed by periodical The Hill: November 1, 2011 The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius Secretary Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20201 RE: Proposed Clinical Trials Testing the Anthrax Vaccine on Children Dear Secretary Sebelius: Public Citizen, representing more than 225,000 members and supporters nationwide,…

Critically important piece on biopreparedness: How Ready Are We for Bioterrorism?/ NY Times

Here is another blog post coming from the long NY Times article on our government’s response to the threat of bioterrorism.  This article is brilliant in its simplicity.  It simply covers the field.  The author interviewed over 100 people who work in biodefense, and he makes clear that the $60+ billion spent on bioterrorism efforts…

CDC’s Withholding Information on its Civilian Anthrax Trial is a Travesty

Why did the most important trial to have been conducted on anthrax vaccine safety (by CDC between 2002 and 2007, with 1564 civilian subjects) only publish an interim report, and never discussed the 229 serious adverse events reported in trial participants?  The trial tested serologic efficacy also.  The investigators published partial data in JAMA on…

No anthrax vaccine testing on children — for now/ AP

I decided to just say briefly what happened yesterday at the NBSB conference call. Every member of the NBSB, with the exception of Iowa’s top public health officer, Patricia Quinlisk, MD, voted in favor of testing anthrax vaccine in children.  Kudos to Dr. Quinlisk for making clear that her public health background precluded agreement. Panel…

Reforms Seen Failing to Rescue U.S. Biodefense Drug Efforts/ GSN

From the NY Times, adapted by Global Security Newswire: … The nation’s preparations for a biological strike face numerous challenges, according to more than 100 interviews with high-level officials at participating federal entities such the National Institutes of Health and the White House, as well as the the Health and Human Services, Defense and Homeland…

Lantana anthrax widow settles $50 million lawsuit against federal government

From the Palm Beach Post: … While he is legally prohibited from revealing much of what he learned and many of the court documents are sealed, Weisser said he was stunned by the lack of security at the lab. In court papers, the government conceded that before the attacks, Fort Detrick didn’t have cameras to…

NBSB urges pre-attack studies of anthrax vaccine in kids/ CIDRAP

From the NY Times, adapted by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, U Minnesota: Oct 28, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – An expert advisory panel today approved a recommendation that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) develop a plan to study the use of anthrax vaccine in children before an attack…

How critical is it to test drugs and vaccines in kids before giving them to kids?

According to the FDA: As of 2008, an estimated 50 to 60 percent of prescription drugs used to treat children have been studied in some part of the pediatric population. Still, the likelihood that a medicine has actually been studied in neonates—children less than a month old—is close to zero. So nearly a decade into…

Possible study of anthrax vaccine’s effectiveness in children stirs debate/WaPo

The people on the NBSB could only come up with a recommendation to test anthrax vaccine on children if they were ignorant about the vaccine and/or the law’s requirements for testing children under 45 CFR 46.407.  I will have much more to say about this unfolding story over the next few days.  Here is Rob…

With security spotty, many had access to anthrax at Army lab/McClatchy, ProPublica

Greg Gordon and Stephen Engelberg continue their important series of reports for McClatchy and ProPublica, here focusing on the inadequate security at USAMRIID and potentially wide access to Ivins’ anthrax spores by 419 or more people: The Army laboratory identified by prosecutors as the source of the anthrax that killed five people in the fall…

Vaccine Safety in the News

From the Irish Herald: We need a jab inquiry The link between the Pandemrix swine flu vaccination and narcolepsy in at least 16 children has to be scrutinised. Manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline were indemnified by the State from any liability for side effects as the vaccine was rushed through. We need a full explanation from the Irish…

New adjuvants on horizon for influenza vaccines/ IDSA Annual Mtg

From the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting comes this [WHO] discussion of how novel adjuvants affect the immune response, and how we can expect to see more of these adjuvants added to vaccines in the US: … Martin Friede, PhD, who heads the Technology Transfer Team within the Department on Innovation, Information, Evidence…

New questions about FBI anthrax inquiry deserve scrutiny/ Washington Post Editorial

The Washington Post calls for Congress to perform a definitive investigation of the anthrax letters attacks, adding to the impact of the NY Times’ editorial asking for the same 3 days earlier: BRUCE E. IVINS has been dead for three years, but questions still abound about whether he carried out the 2001 anthrax attacks that…

Anthrax countermeasures better than in 2001, but work remains/ CIDRAP

 What does $60 billion buy in terms of enhanced security?  From CIDRAP we get a detailed look at what our government’s bioterrorism establishment has been shopping for: If someone tried to kill Americans with Bacillus anthracis spores today, the nation would have a better medical tool chest for treating the sick and those potentially exposed than it…

Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters?/ NY Times Editorial

Today’s NY Times wants to know if the FBI’s evidence — linking Bruce Ivins to the anthrax letters — really holds up.  Frontline/ProPublica/McClatchy last week informed us, after reviewing thousands of FBI documents obtained through FOIA, that the FBI misled us.  Ivins’ late-night hours at the lab in September-October 2001 were not really that different…

Despite evidence of FBI bungling, new probe into anthrax killings unlikely/ ProPublica

From Pro Publica: A senior Republican senator says it would take a powerful grassroots movement or startling new evidence to reopen the Justice Department’s investigation that branded a now-deceased Army researcher as the anthrax mailer who killed five people a decade ago. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and…

Science in anthrax letter case comes under attack/ Sacramento Bee

David Willman continues to write stories designed to sell his book on Bruce Ivins, and buttress the FBI ‘s Ivins theory.  I thought journalists were required to at least make a stab at even-handedness, but this once-great journalist didn’t bother. Here’s an example:  Willman mentions, then tries to discredit, the paper of Hugh-Jones, Rosenberg and…

Useless, Expensive Anthrax Vaccine Has Everyone On Board/ The Vaccine Xchange

From the vaccinexchange website, on October 12, 2011 · Leave a Comment It seems that Emergent BioSolutions, the only manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine in America, has been working aggressively to promote its vaccine throughout our nation. Its efforts have paid off: according to MarketWatch.com, the company has been awarded a $1.25 billion contract to…

FBI’s case against anthrax suspect rife with questions/ Kansas City Star (McClatchy)

In case you were looking for a synopsis of the important parts of the Frontline anthrax letters program, here it is.  This piece was written by the TV show’s investigative team, and details important flaws in the FBI’s case.  Definitely worth a read, and maybe a reread, to feed your anthrax letters obsession.

New California law lets 12-year-olds consent to “preventive care for STDs” aka Gardasil/ LA Times

From the LA Times: California Gov. Jerry Brown stepped into the middle of a debate over parental rights Sunday by signing legislation  giving children 12 or older the power to consent to medical care involving the prevention of sexually transmitted disease. Asssemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) sponsored AB 499 with the aim of providing young…

Frontline’s ‘Anthrax Files’ takes hard look at FBI role in suicide of Ft. Detrick scientist: Report asks if FBI overstated case against Frederick resident Bruce Ivins/ PBS Frontline

David Zurawik at The Baltimore Sun writes about tomorrow’s important Frontline story on Bruce Ivins and the anthrax letters.  This will be the first episode. Nobody does investigative journalism on TV like Public Television’s “Frontline” — nobody, and week in, week out that includes “60 Minutes.” And Tuesday night at 9, the venerable series revisits…

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