THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK
This week, we hear from two veteran investigative journalists about their findings on the way some drugs make their way into your medicine cabinet. Here’s what you need to know. Drugs are tested for safety and effectiveness in what are known as clinical trials. You might think those trials always take place under the careful scrutiny of regulators charged with ensuring that the drugs will be safe to prescribe — and that those people taking part in the trials are safe as well. But as we’ve learned, it’s time to think again. James Steele and his colleague Donald Barlett are Pulitzer-winning investigative journalists. Reporting over a combined 90 years, they have covered everything from gaping tax loopholes to the dangers of nuclear waste to congressional favoritism of corporations over retirees. But they say when it comes to lack of accountability, there’s nothing quite like the health care industry.
Lucy Kennedy, Need To Know on PBS
The case filed against Johnson & Johnson by Allen Jones and the State of Texas was recently postponed until November. But some of the documents from the case are now publicly available at the Travis County, Texas courthouse. The confidential Expert Witness Report by Dr. David Rothman of Columbia University (March 22, 2011), is the most damning document that we've seen in which not only is J & J's "detestable" conduct--as described by Judge Couch who presided over the court decision against J & J in South Carolina--is laid bare, but Rothman's report also describes the shameless active collaboration by prominent academic psychiatrists--including the Chairman of the DSM-IV--in devising the Schizophrenia Practice Guidelines. "From the start, the project subverted scientific integrity, appearing to be a purely scientific venture when it was at its core, a marketing venture forRisperdal."
Vera Hassner Sharav, AHRP
The blockbuster inhaled lung medication Spiriva, which is sold by Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, may raise the risk of an early death, according to a new review of clinical studies. When administered in mist form, the drug was associated with a 52 percent increase in mortality risk, compared with patients given a placebo, according to the review of clinical trials involving more than 6,500 patients published in the British Medical Journal. The findings appear 18 months after the FDA completed a two-year review of the drug and decided Spiriva did not increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Earlier studies had suggested a potential risk. Patients who took Spiriva or an older, generic drug had a 58 percent higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease, according to a meta-analysis published in 2008 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Ed Silverman, Pharmalot
Patients with multiple sclerosis who plan to travel to areas where yellow fever is endemic need to think carefully about whether to be vaccinated against the disease, researchers warned. During a five-week at-risk period after vaccination, the annual rate of MS exacerbation was 8.57, compared with a rate of 0.67 after the end of the risk period, according to Mauricio F. Farez, MD, MPH, and Jorge Correale, MD, of Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológias de la Infancia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This gave an exacerbation rate ratio for the risk period of 12.778 (95% CI 4.28 to 38.13, P<0.001), the researchers reported online in the Archives of Neurology. Infections are thought to play a role in MS disease exacerbations, but the potential contribution of immunization is uncertain. In addition, various immunological changes were observed after immunization, including increases in numbers of cells secreting proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as interleukin-1a; interferon; and tumor necrosis factor.
Nancy Walsh, Medpage Today
Over 4,000 goats have died in eastern China after they received goat-pox vaccine, Xinhua reported Wednesday. The incident took place in Rudong county of Jiangsu province. The goats developed symptoms of tearing and fading appetite two or three days after the vaccination and suffered diarrhoea the following week, officials said. None of the common medications proved effective in this case. The provincial agricultural bureau has dispatched a group of experts to look into the cause of the deaths.
News One
Adrian Lamo
(Pic courtesy of One Click)
Last year Adrian Lamo, the ethical hacker who would turn-in Bradley Manning, did something contrary to his nature. He and Kevin Poulsen of Wired News published an article and Adrian knowingly included falsifications in his story. The article I am referring to is "Ex-Hacker Adrian Lamo Institutionalized for Asperger’s" published May 20, the day before Manning allegedly first contacted Adrian via email. This particular article would get a lot of attention the following month after the public learned about Bradley Manning and after Adrian let it be known that he was responsible for identifying Manning as the source of the leaks. It was odd that the primary witness against Manning had only weeks before been involuntarily hospitalized for apparent psychiatric reasons. Adrian lied – but why does it matter? Most importantly it is important to have accurate information to stop conspiracy theories in this volatile political climate, b ut it is also important to know that Adrian has been intentionally trying to mislead the public in their pursuit of truth directly linked to Bradley Manning. Not only that, but the primary witness against Bradley Manning has documented psychiatric issues related to drug abuse which should raise legitimate concern about his reliability as a witness in a case where the only known evidence against Manning are digital records that are legally perplexing to a prosecution who bears the burden of proof.
Bailey Carlson, An Online Ego
David House is a founding member of the Bradley Manning Support Network. He was subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury today in Alexandria, VA. House is among several Boston area residents who have been ordered to testify before the grand jury, which is investigating WikiLeaks. House was questioned for approximately one hour, beginning at 4:00pm ET. He invoked his Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent. He read from the below statement at 5:00pm ET in the plaza outside of the United States District Court at 401 Courthouse Square in Alexandria, VA. "The show trial that is now underway in Alexandria VA has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for regulating the media.... It is my conviction that the American people must call for a cessation of the Department of Justice’s politically motivated harassment."
David House, Bradley Manning Support Network
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The Associated Press, NPR
Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson has savaged The Guardian and New York Times for attempting to rush the publication of WikiLeaks material, suggesting the issue contributed to the falling-out between the online whistleblower site and the doyens of the progressive mainstream media. The Guardian and The New York Times were the key English-language vehicles for the release of both the Iraq and Afghanistan “war logs” and the initial tranche of diplomatic cables WikiLeaks continues to release via over 50 outlets around the world. However, relations between the newspapers and WikiLeaks soured and both outlets and their senior staff have since launched stories highly critical of Julian Assange. The New York Times has also been revealed to have allowed the State Department to veto and censor WikiLeaks material. Hrafnsson feels it is more rewarding working for WikiLeaks than the mainstream media. “It has changed the way I perceive journ alism. I think it’s a terribly important addition to the world of journalism and will strengthen journalism in the long run. The aim of journalism is to unearth a fact and, of course, to have an impact. WikiLeaks has certainly had an impact.”
Bernard Keane & Matthew Knott, Crikey
(Pic courtesy of One Click)
As I’ve done for over six months (with one week off recently), I’m updating news and views on all things WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning all day, with new items added at the top. As Wikileaks auctions a lunch with Assange (now up to 1200 British pounds on eBay), Mediaite columnist Frances Martel paints Assange n increasingly destructive narcissist and "...with every publicity stunt Assange hosts to sell the caricature of himself that the media wants to buy, he risks reducing Wikileaks to a vanity project with little ideological substance and only the projection of his budding megalomania as its end goal," Martel writes.
Greg Mitchell, The Nation
Related Links:
Frances Martel, Med
The unresponsive CIA website during the attack on Wednesday evening.
The CIA has become the latest target of self-styled "pirate ninja" hackersLulzSec. The Central Intelligence Agency website was unavailable for a few minutes on Wednesday evening as the group announced the attack via Twitter: "Tango down – cia.gov – for the lulz". A CIA spokeswoman said "We are looking into these reports." The hackers, who describe themselves as "the world's leaders in high-quality entertainment at your expense", have gained international notoriety this month with a series of security breaches. Over the weekend LulzSec broke into a public website of the US Senate and released data stolen from the legislative body's computer servers. The name of the group is derived from "LOL" (laugh out loud) and "security".
David Batty, The Guardian
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