CONGRESS SET TO BAIL OUT BIG PHARMA IN SECRET
EMERGENCY ALERT: PROTECT YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS
Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) confirmed this morning that lawmakers are
trying to sneak language into an unnamed appropriations bill in the Senate
or House to ban citizens from going to civil court to sue drug companies
if
they are injured.
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/politics/story/2905094p-11567706c.html
Behind-the-scenes action was about to take place WITHOUT PUBLIC DEBATE as a
result of growing public outrage over S. 1873 sponsored by Senator Richard
Burr (R-NC) and a similar bill in the House (HR.3970).
CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND CONGRESSPERSON
THE MESSAGE IS:
DON'T BAIL OUT BIG PHARMA AND TAKE AWAY MY CIVIL RIGHTS
Senate: http://www.senate.gov
House: http://www.house.gov
Let them know how you feel about Congress taking away your civil right
to
exercise the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees every
citizen a day in court in front of a jury of their peers.
IMMEDIATELY CALL AND FAX AS MANY OF THE FOLLOWING SENATORS AS YOU CAN!
Ask them to VOTE AGAINST any language that is attached to any
appropriation or other bill that takes away YOUR right to go to court if
you
or your child are injured by vaccines used whenever the Secretary of
Health
and Human Services declares a "potential or actual" public health
emergency
or at any other time.
THE MESSAGE IS:
DON'T BAIL OUT BIG PHARMA AND TAKE AWAY MY CIVIL RIGHTS
Senator Thad Cochran (MS) (Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee)
Phone:
(202) 224-5054 Fax: (202) 224-9450
Senator Ted Stevens (AK) Phone: (202) 224-3004 Fax:(202) 224-2354
Senator Arlen Specter (PA) Phone: 202-224-4254 Fax: 202-228-1229
Senator Pete Domenici (NM) Phone: (202) 224-6621 Fax: (202) 228-3261
Senator Christopher Bond (MO) Phone: (202) 224-5721 Fax: (202) 224-8149
Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) Phone: (202) 224-2541 Fax: (202) 224-2499
Senator Richard Shelby (AL) Phone: (202) 224-5744 Fax: (202) 224-3416
Senator Judd Gregg (NH) Phone: (202) 224 - 3324 Fax: (202) 224 - 4952
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) Phone: 202-224-5922 Fax: 202-224-0776
Senator Conrad Burns (MT) Phone: 202-224-2644 Fax: 202-224-8594
Sen. Daniel Inouye (Ranking Member) (HI) Phone: 202-224-3934 Fax:
202-224-6747
Senator Robert C. Byrd (WV) Phone: 202-224-3954 Fax: 202-228-0002
Senator Patrick Leahy (VT) Phone: 202-224-4242 Fax: 202-224-3479
Senator Tom Harkin (IA) Phone: (202) 224-3254 Fax: (202) 224-9369
Senator Byron Dorgan (ND) Phone: 202-224-2551 Fax: 202-224-1193
Senator Richard Durbin (IL) Phone: (202) 224-2152 Fax: (202) 228-0400
Senator Harry Reid (NV) Phone: 202-224-3542 Fax: 202-224-7327
Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) Phone: (202) 224-3841 Fax: (202) 228-3954
Senator Barbara Milkulski (MD) Phone: 202-224-4654 Fax: 202-224-8858
Sen. Edward Kennedy (MA) Phone: 202-224-4543 Fax: 202-224-2417
Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) DC Phone: 202-224-5344 Fax: 202-224-1946
Sen. Susan Collins (ME) Phone: 202-224-2523 Fax: 202-224-2693
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI) Phone: 202-224-4822 Fax: 202-228-0325
Sen. Lincoln Chaffee (RI) Phone: 202-224-2921 Fax: 202-228-2853
Sen. John McCain (AZ) Phone: 202-224-2235 Fax: 202-228-2862
Sen. Lindsay Graham DC Phone: 202-224-5972 Fax: 202-224-3808
Congressman Jerry Lewis (CA) Chair, House Appropriations Committee) Phone:
202-225-5861 Fax: 202-225-0351
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
for immediate release
November 15, 2005 5:00 PM
CONGRESS SET TO BAIL OUT BIG PHARMA IN SECRET
Washington, D.C. - A behind-the-scenes plan is reportedly taking shape in
Congress to attach language to an unspecified conference report giving
drug
companies blanket immunity from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a watchdog consumer
advocacy
group critical of provisions in "The Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and
Drug Development Act of 2005" (S. 1873) sponsored by Senator Richard Burr
(R-NC) and a similar bill in the House (H.R. 3970), calls the reported
plan
"an end-run by Pharma's friends in Congress to take away the civil rights
of
the American people."
In the past few weeks, public criticism about the proposed bail-out of
drug
companies has been mounting as Americans are being told that a pandemic
bird
flu is coming and drug companies are asking Congress to bar citizen access
to the civil justice system when they are harmed by vaccines. Because the
bird flu virus has not mutated into a form that is transmissable from
human
to human, questions have been raised as to whether irrational fear about
bird flu is being generated in an attempt to stampede Congress into
passing
liability protections the pharmaceutical industry has been seeking for 40
years.
Pointing out that there are twice as many drug companies marketing
vaccines
in the U.S. today as there were in 1982 when NVIC was founded, NVIC
President Barbara Loe Fisher said, "It is a big lie that drug companies
have
been driven out of business by lawsuits in the past two decades. The
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 protected drug companies and
doctors from almost all lawsuits. There are only a handful of vaccine
injury
lawsuits pending in civil courts but Pharma is on the brink of conning
Congress into destroying Americans' Seventh Amendment Constitutional right
to seek redress in a civil court in front of a jury of their peers.
Apparently drug companies only want profits and not accountability when
Americans die or are injured by experimental and poorly tested biodefense
and pandemic flu vaccines they can be forced to take whenever the
Secretary
of Health and Human Services declares a public health emergency and state
officials follow suit."
In a November 15th letter to Senator Burr's staff director, U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness, NVIC
President
Barbara Loe Fisher describes S. 1873 as "arguably unconstitutional"
because
it (1) lacks transparency into the research, development, licensure and
post-licensure surveillance of vaccines and drugs used in public health
emergencies; (2) lacks accountability for either manufacturers of these
products or government health officials who mandate their use without
informed consent; and (3) lacks justice for those who will inevitably die
or
suffer chronic illnesses after being compelled to take these products.
The proposed law will also create a new agency within the Department of
Health and Human Services that will secretly develop experimental drugs
and
vaccines to be used by civilian and military populations whenever the
Secretary declares "a potential or actual" public health emergency. The
agency may deny Freedom of Information Act requests by citizens and is not
subject to review of its actions by the judicial branch of government.
In 1982, there were four drug companies marketing vaccines in the U.S.:
Wyeth, Lederle, Merck and Connaught. Today there are eight: Wyeth, Merck,
Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Chiron, Bioport, and VaxGen.
There are ten vaccine injury lawsuits currently pending in U.S. civil
courts, with the majority involving a highly reactive whole cell version
of
DPT vaccine no longer distributed in the U.S.
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