Dr. Flegel, a professor of medicine and senior associate editor of the CMAJ, last week weighed in to support compulsory flu vaccinations on the basis that the following was met: “… there must be an outbreak of serious illness; immunity levels must be low; the vaccine must be effective, safe and available; and vaccine uptake must be low.”…

Re: Clinical trial data for all drugs in current use 31 October 2012 Dr. Godlee’s editorial (BMJ 2012; 345 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e7304) underscores the importance of the GlaxoSmithKline decision to allow access to anonymized patient level data from its clinical trials. Meta-analysts can now work more efficiently in summarizing knowledge relating to the benefits and risks of…

The courageous BMJ and editor Fiona Godlee have dared to suggest the only way forward through the quicksand of clinical trial data in which we find ourselves.  When only the manufacturer knows what is in a drug’s database, and the manufacturer’s primary duty is to shareholders, medicine progresses backwards to a new Dark Age. Simply,…

The Globe updates us on the NECC tragedy/scandal. The outbreak of fungal meningitis due to contaminated drugs from New England Compounding Center  brings to mind a 1997 FDA inspection and report of the Lansing, Michigan anthrax vaccine manufacturer, which at that time was a state of Michigan subsidiary:  Michigan Biologic Products Institute.  Many of the…

Merck’s new vaccine candidate, V710, was designed to prevent post-op staph infections, a frequent and potentially devastating complication that occurs after many types of surgery.  However, in a large clinical trial that studied over 3500 patients, not only did the vaccine fail to provide this protection, but there were many initial adverse reactions, and recipients…

Opinion 9.133 Routine Universal Immunization of Physicians (from the AMA Code of Ethics) is very clearly against universal immunization mandates.  Here is the language: As professionals committed to promoting the welfare of individual patients and the health of the public and to safeguarding their own and their colleagues’ well-being, physicians have an ethical responsibility to take…

After 50 years of flu shots, governments still cannot demonstrate they save lives.  In fact, getting a flu shot in 2008 made you twice as likely to actually get sick from a case of the flu in 2009.  But these facts, discussed in earlier blog posts, are ignored as mandates increase for yearly flu inoculations….

Flu vaccines would be fine for everyone to take each year if the benefit exceeded the risk plus cost.  The cost in a drug store to be vaccinated is about $25.  No benefit can be demonstrated in those over 65 or in younger children, where 90% of flu deaths occur.  (See several posts from earlier…

From the September 2012 European ECDC report titled, “Narcolepsy in association with pandemic influenza vaccination” commissioned by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, but produced by the Brighton Collaboration: (page 149) Finland’s Squalene — ASO3 blockbuster: “Contrary to previous studies, studies at THL suggest that squalene (AS03) produces an antibody response. Preliminary studies suggest that…

From Helsiningin Sanomat: Report delayed on correlation between swine flu vaccinations and various illnesses  print this The (Finnish) National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) report on the correlation between swine flu vaccinations and incidences of various illnesses will be delayed, writes the Oulu-based daily Kaleva.      Originally, results were meant to be available already during the…

From AFP/ Raw Story: … In Finland, 79 children aged four to 19 developed narcolepsy after receiving the Pandemrix vaccine in 2009 and 2010, while in Sweden the number was close to 200, according to figures in the two countries. Both countries recommended their populations, of around five and 10 million respectively, to take part…

From yesterday’s Scientific American: Despite government recommendations, there is little evidence that flu vaccines help individuals older than 65 or younger than two. Every year around this time, 120 million Americans roll up their sleeves to get their annual flu shots. Since 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended yearly jabs…

The entire article from the Calgary Post is below, as it is important.  The article cites well known flu experts Danuta Skowronsky and Michael Osterholm (who is first author of a report that forms the basis of the piece) acknowledging the vaccine just doesn’t work all that well as has been claimed.  The report “… suggests…

It seems we have been hearing about the “new” swine flu over and over again.  Why should we care? Only 290 cases throughout the US have been identified this season.  There have been either no or next-to-no cases of human to human transmission.  CDC thinks there may have been 3 people (1%) who caught the…

Not a single doctor or paramedic of the 2,000 working at public hospitals in Pune, India have accepted free flu shots offered to them by state government, according to the Times of India. Yet hospitals in the US increasingly force their employees to receive these inoculations, although they have not been shown to reduce infections…

 Oops! Copyright Cops Return Seized RojaDirecta Domain Names – 19 Months Later From Wired:  So you thought your passwords were memorized and totally secure?  Think again.  Do you really want to bank online?  These discoveries and devices are gamechangers, and the game is life as we know it.  | Edit <img class=”size-full wp-image-47189″ title=”eeg_headset” src=”http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2012/08/eeg_headset.jpg” alt=””…

From the article “Reform Driving Physicians Out of Private Practice to Reduce Costs” a few issues are raised about rapid and dramatic changes occurring in health care, about which consumers have little knowledge.  Health care conglomerates are being forcibly created due to the new payment structure, which can only increase costs considerably in the short…

Just another example of the crazy billing environment for medicine in the US.  From the WSJ: “After David Hubbard underwent a routine echocardiogram at his cardiologist’s office last year, he was surprised to learn that the heart scan cost his insurer $1,605. That was more than four times the $373 it paid when the 61-year-old…

I was glad to see this piece, which explains that public horror at “Total Information Awareness” caused it to be cancelled in 2003–only to have a much grander, insidious and dangerous NSA program grow up in its place. The current program lacks two critical pieces, including a way to track and record who accesses data…

Pauline Chen, MD blogs at the NY Times about what it feels like to be a doctor today.  Here she discusses a new survey of 7,000 practicing doctors, 48% of whom experienced at least one symptom of “burnout.”   Excerpts from her article follow: …Research over the last 10 years has shown that burnout –…

Interesting comments were made at the last meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, reported on the Commission blog.  They include the following: Anita Allen, J.D., Ph.D., Commission member and Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania: “Military families are subject to extraordinary pressures on the need…

Below is my recent letter to the Chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, preceding the Commission’s meeting last week.  The Commission’s blog mentions some of what was discussed.  The Commission will report its views to the DHHS Secretary by year’s end. Meryl Nass, MD Board Certified in Internal Medicine Mount…

I have to give the WHO editors kudos for being brave enough to commission commentaries on WHO’s pandemic planning. Peter Doshi wrote about WHO’s waffling over the definition of pandemic, which morphed into a meaningless definition that allowed even the common cold to be called a pandemic, since severity was missing from the definition. Bonneux…

Remember the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic?  There were going to be a huge number of illnesses and deaths, but then it turned out the flu virus caused less severe disease than usual.   Since then, the H1N1 swine flu virus has remained in circulation, and we have continued to have fewer reported flu deaths in the…

From MedicalNewsToday comes the following misleading information on the dramatic benefits of flu vaccine for kids:  The UK is set to become the first country in the world to provide all children free of charge with a comprehensive flu vaccination program…  Once the program is up and running, it will cost the government over £100 million annually,…

Canberra, Australia’s capital, has about 365,000 people and has a medical school.  Its health staff totals 5,122 people.  Only 48% were vaccinated against the flu this year, down from 60% during the swine flu pandemic of 2009. But is this a problem? ACT Health said there have been fewer than five deaths a year for…

As has been noted previously, vaccination is a black art, basically a trial and error process of discovery, which has the potential to either prevent or enhance disease, and therefore must be studied carefully before vaccines are administered to large populations, despite issues of expediency.   Vet Pathol. 2012 Mar 28. Kinetics of Lung Lesion Development…

 Ellen Nakashima at the Post reports that Charles Grassley has evidence the Office of General Counsel at FDA authorized extensive spy probe of disgruntled employeess, Congressional offices and media.  This suggests authorization came from the highest levels at FDA: “Congressional investigators said Monday that the chief counsel’s office at the Food and Drug Administration authorized wide-ranging…

One CDC high-containment lab (BSL-3, the level of containment required to study anthrax) fails to contain air efflux.  And it was discovered because visitors touring the facility saw a puff of air exit through a slot in a door window.  How long had this been going on?   USAToday points out that the BSL-3 lab doors…

The FDA, reprising the Justice Department, had its own criminal enterprise going.  Using commercial $99.95 spy software, it was able to illegally read emails of its employees, members of Congress and their staffs, and journalists, and much more. Eric Lichtblau and Scott Shane of the NY Times report, although who authorized the illegal surveillance and who…

The FBI crime lab seems to have been run as an illegal enterprise to support desired convictions–evidence be damned–for decades.  Maybe justice will now be served for some of those convicted as a result of FBI criminality. This story didn’t  just come out.  There was a Justice Department review years ago… which let the original…

From Wired and ScienceNOW comes this very worrisome piece about how two different, attenuated live virus vaccines for infectious laryngotracheitis in chickens recombined to form a virus twice as deadly as the disease the vaccines were intended to prevent.  (The death rate in chickens increased from 8% to 17%.)  Chickens in multiple parts of Australia were…

According to Reuters, the US ranks close to the bottom on a number of healthcare indices, compared to   the 33 other countries in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).  Of course, the US ranks at the top in terms of cost:  17.9% of GDP is spent on healthcare in the US. There is…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

From the Lansing State Journal:  The anthrax vaccine manufacturer, with one product and basically one buyer, YOU (your taxes at work) plans to expand.  But sorry, there won’t be any new jobs as yet, although Michigan will have to pay its share.   How the state will benefit is unknown. …Emergent BioSolutions would fund the…

Thanks to Teresa Binstock for this tip– An exposure to nano-scale copper oxide particles stunted the shoots and roots of radishes and two species of rye grass.

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…

From Dr. Stephen Frost, one of the doctors making this request of the Attorney General: I am one of the doctors who have been fighting for an inquest into the suspicious death of Dr David Kelly in July 2003, pointing out that due process of the law has been subverted by four successive UK governments,…

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….

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…

Having dissected the false claims made for Tamiflu, which the US government stockpiled to the tune of $1.5 Billion dollars, Peter Doshi and Tom Jefferson draw some important conclusions about drug data and regulation in this NY Times Op-ED of April 10: IN the fall of 2009, at the height of fears over swine flu, our…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

One particularly obnoxious quality of mine is that I do not suffer fools gladly.  I get mad;  I get contemptuous;  and I want to get even.  So when I read this uneducated paean to VACCINES I was forced to respond.  When the newspaper would not publish my response and instead sent a little box that…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

Thanks to CDC for these weekly influenza stats

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…

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…

 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,…

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…

The Washington Post reviews the spectacle of the Florida DoJ denying that Bruce Ivins had the ability to prepare the anthrax that killed five and made at least 17 people ill.  He didn’t have the equipment within the hot room to dry anthrax.  That does seem to be a limiting fact. But then the DC…

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 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…

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…

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…

From US News and World Report: Relatively few cases reported, experts say, but that doesn’t mean a surge can’t happen… One barometer of flu activity, the percentage of visits to hospitals or doctors’ offices linked to influenza, also suggests a mild season so far. For example, just 1.4 percent of outpatient visits during the week…

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…

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…

 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…

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…

Fifteen minutes on vaccine regulation/safety on YouTube.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Half the US GDP was loaned to banks with no collateral.  Recall that (former NY Attorney General and Governor) Eliot Spitzer was investigating the Wall Street banks at the time his indiscretions with call girls led to his resignation, ending any hopes of seeking the presidency.  Not only American, but many foreign banks were bailed…

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…

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…

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…

… 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…

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…

More details emerge from this piece by Edward Jay Epstein about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair at the New York Sofitel hotel.  This does not wrap up the case, but provides additional information about the sequence of events and about the missing Blackberry, which DSK had arranged with his wife to be examined for a security…

Infectious Disease News has posted a report of a paper, “H1N1 pandemic less severe among adults with history of flu.”  The paper suggests that people with preexisting antibodies to different H1N1 strains had more immunity to swine flu H1N1 than those without.  Getting a flu infection (whether or not you actually get sick… since the…

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. …