This Revolting Practice Targets Poor Unsuspecting People First - And You Next

Posted By Dr. Mercola | February 19 2012 |

 

Story at-a-glance

  • Pfizer and Merck have also been busted for unethical conduct in drug- and vaccine trials that led to the death of unwitting participants
  • A lack of respect for human life seems to permeate modern medical trials. A case in point is the approval of a pediatric anthrax vaccine trial by the National Biodefense Science Board, despite the fact that the anthrax vaccine has a demonstrated serious adverse effect profile of one to two percent, and 11 percent of all reported adverse events are serious
  • The Argentinean Federation of Health Professionals has accused GlaxoSmithKline of misleading participants and pressuring poor families into joining their Synflorix pediatric pneumonia vaccine trial, in which 14 children have died
  • GlaxoSmithKline denies the charges and will appeal the nearly $240,000 fine imposed on the company and two doctors

By Dr. Mercola

One of the most frustrating characteristics of multi-national drug corporations is their commitment to the corporate mantra of maximizing profits for their shareholders at any cost, including that of human lives.

The testing of dangerous drugs and vaccines on children is an area that is particularly risk-filled...

The Nuremberg Codei provides ethical guidelines for medical researchers to protect human test subjects in scientific experiments from injury, disability or death.

The first principle of the Nuremberg Code—that doctors must obtain voluntary informed consent from the person about to be experimented on—appears to be frequently ignored, especially when it comes to clinical trials of experimental vaccines.

In recent news, the Argentinean Federation of Health Professionals accused GlaxoSmithKline of misleading participants and pressuring impoverished, disadvantaged families into enrolling their children in clinical trials of the experimental Synflorix pediatric pneumonia vaccine.

Fourteen of the children participating in the experimental vaccine trial died. Glaxo Smith Kline denies the charges and says it will appeal the nearly $240,000 fine imposed on the company and two doctors. According to CNNii:

"The deaths of 14 children, who reportedly died after participating in the trials, have drawn widespread attention in Argentinean media... GlaxoSmithKline categorically denies that the vaccine caused the deaths... But the health professional federation pointed to the children's deaths in its call for increased regulations on drug testing."

The death of 14 children in a vaccine trial SHOULD draw widespread attention, but while it's a major news item in Argentina, the US approach seems coldly indifferent, to say the least. Why is this? Why are U.S. health officials expressing concern when children die from other causes but are turning a blind eye to the tragedy of children being killed by both experimental and licensed drugs and vaccines? That makes no sense at all!

Preying on the Poor and Illiterate

This certainly is not the first time children have died during drug company trials. It's also not the first time a pharmaceutical company has been accused of being less than completely honest about experimental vaccine or drug risks, when they want to persuade poor, under-educated people into signing up for clinical trials.

For example, according to Nigerian authorities, Pfizer illegally tested an unapproved drug on children with brain infections at a field hospital in 1996. Eleven of the children died and dozens were disabled before the illegal activity was exposed.

Similarly, two years ago, the Indian government suspended Merck's Gardasil study after they discovered that four of the young clinical trial participants had died after receiving Gardasil, and more than 120 girls suffered severe adverse reactions. A civil society-led investigation into the vaccine trial highlighted serious violations of ethical guidelines for clinical research and informed consent rights of study participants or their legal guardians.

Again and again we see how major drug companies scheme to enlist people, who do not have full information about experimental vaccine or drug risks and are effectively turned into human guinea pigs in scientific experiments. In fact, this almost seems to be more the rule than the exception.

Likewise, we see how conventional medicine, in general, downplays the inherent risks of drugs and vaccines. Fourteen children died in GSK's pneumonia vaccine trial and, yet, we're supposed to believe that every single one of those deaths was completely unrelated to the vaccine. Another case in point is the shocking lack of respect for individual human life in the approval of a pediatric anthrax vaccine trial by the National Biodefense Science Board!

Pediatric Anthrax Vaccine—A Disaster in the Making?

Last year, I interviewed Dr. Meryl Nass about anthrax, and she was the one who brought this terrible situation to my attention.  The idea of public health officials promoting the testing of anthrax vaccine on children is truly unfathomable considering the fact that the military's controversial mandatory anthrax vaccination program has already resulted in many reports of anthrax vaccine injuries and deaths in soldiers and civilian military personnel. Side effects occur in one to two percent of those given anthrax vaccine and 11 percent of all anthrax vaccine adverse event reports are considered serious.  

The FDA's definition of a "serious adverse reaction" to a vaccine includes a reaction that leads to:

  • Hospitalization
  • Permanent disability
  • Life-threatening event
  • Death

Anthrax vaccine was mandated by DOD for all soldiers deployed in the Gulf War to theoretically protect them against a bioterrorism attack using weaponized, inhalation anthrax. Since then, the anthrax vaccine has been implicated in the development of so-called Gulf War syndrome, and Dr. Nass believes it's a viable candidate as one of the contributing factors. Meanwhile, animal studies have shown the vaccine to be rather ineffective against anthrax infection... So, what might the ramifications of giving anthrax vaccine to infants be?  I shudder to even consider it! The very idea of subjecting infants to such a hazardous vaccine seems, quite frankly, unconscionable.

In Dr. Nass' words:

"It's completely crazy, and it's illegal.  It can only be done because the Department of Health and Human Services is denying that there are serious adverse reactions.  They have their National Biodefense Science Board, which by the way has two people who were very important in running the anthrax vaccine program in the military on that board, and their job is to protect the good name of the anthrax vaccine.

One is John Grabenstein. He ran the military vaccine program and ran the anthrax vaccine program first.  He was instrumental in creating a whole series of scientific studies that were misrepresented and poorly done to try to show that the vaccine was safe when it wasn't safe.  He's a very unethical researcher.  He is a pharmacist with a PhD, and of course where did he go after he left the military? He went to Merck and works as a so-called scientist in their vaccine division… Merck knew that this guy was unethical; that he was cooking the books on the research, and they hired him anyway."

Unethical Drug Trials Overseas: A Growing Problem

According to a 2011 investigative report published by Vanity Fairiii, 6,485 clinical drug trials were conducted overseas in 2008, up from just 271 overseas trials in 1990. And tracking of these trials is virtually non-existent. This can be a very serious problem when you consider that about 80 percent of the applications submitted to the US FDA for new drugs contain data from these foreign trials... Worse yet, drug companies are not required to report studies conducted overseas, which leaves the door wide open for studies with negative results to simply disappear.

There's also very little accountability in terms of the accuracy of these trials because many of them are not performed by academic researchers but by independent contractors, who do everything from devising and performing the trial, to reporting on the results, ghostwriting technical articles and creating promotional campaigns for the drug. There can be no doubt that scientific experiments and clinical trials that do not contain adequate informed consent protections puts innocent human participants at risk for injury and death and is a violation of our most basic freedoms and human rights.

Is a Pneumonia Vaccine Even Necessary?

Getting back to GlaxoSmithKline's pneumonia vaccine trial—in which 14 children died—a big question that really deserves an honest answer is whether such a vaccine is necessary. It is true that pneumonia, which is a severe form of acute lower respiratory infection that specifically affects your lungs, can have serious, life-threatening complications. According to the 2006 UNICEF report, Pneumonia: The Forgotten Killer of Childreniv, complications from pneumonia kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

An estimated 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 deaths of children under the age of five, worldwide, with South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa bearing the burden of more than half of the total number of pneumonia cases.  That said, the debate is not about whether pneumonia is a serious infection or not—it is.

However, UNICEF has also detailed the most effective forms of prevention of pneumonia, which include: 

1.     Exclusive breast feeding

2.     Promoting adequate nutrition and zinc supplementation

3.     Reducing indoor air pollution

4.     Expanding vaccine coverage 

While vaccination is on the list, it's by no means the most important prevention strategy. To highlight the effectiveness of simple and inexpensive nutritional intervention, consider this: After reviewing a total of 10 studies, investigators at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that zinc supplementation alone reduces the risk of pneumonia by 41 percent!

Some people, who prefer to use more natural holistic health approach to staying well, have used essential oils to help prevent respiratory infections like pneumonia. Some essential oils -- oregano, thyme and rosewood oils in particular – appear to create an autolytic reaction in organisms, including Streptococcus pneumonia. One researcher found that spraying these essential oils on S. pneumonia cells in the laboratory setting prompted the cells to fall apart!

How to Reduce Your Risk of Infectious Disease Without a Vaccine ...

Most people, who have become educated about vaccination and health, would be quite skeptical about voluntarily enrolling their child into a vaccine clinical trial. But, as discussed, many of these trials are conducted overseas, in underdeveloped countries, where families do not have the education to understand the risks they are taking or the means to protest being used as human guinea pigs in drug company sponsored scientific experiments. Some of these unsuspecting research subjects die and others are left with permanent health problems that can destroy their lives and their families.

This is a travesty. I long for the day our medical system will stop violating the informed consent rights of human subjects participating in clinical trials and drug companies will stop treating the people, who die and are injured in clinical trials, as the cost of doing business.  Unfortunately, I don't think the system will change on its own. It will only change once enough people see through it, and refuse to buy into the false promise that a pill  will cure every ill and a vaccine will prevent every disease...

It's so important to understand that, overall, your best defense against any disease is a robust immune system. Vaccines can actually compromise healthy immune function and this is true, regardless of your age. Two of the most important factors influencing the health of your immune system are:

  • Your gut flora, and
  • Your vitamin D status

About 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, so maintaining a healthy gut flora is imperative for a fully functioning immune system. Also, if your child's gut is populated with too many pathogens, he or she is likely to be more prone to vaccine damage. For more information about this, I highly recommend listening to my interview with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.

Vitamin D is another crucial component for maintaining optimal health, so I urge you to get your children's vitamin D levels tested, and, if found deficient, to follow my recommendations for optimizing their levels.  

Artificially manipulating your immune system with a vaccine does not produce the same kind of immunity and sought after disease-fighting results that a healthy lifestyle can. It may actually make you less healthy in the long run. For more information, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a good place to start to do research and obtain information that you need to make intelligent, informed decisions about vaccination.

Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know

The media is quick to warn about the dangers of infectious diseases but rarely discuss the dangers of the vaccines against those diseases. This has created a very lopsided view of the safety of vaccines. So please, if you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, talk about it. If we don't share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper, or make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.

I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the "other side" of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down.  Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.

We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than "statistically acceptable collateral damage" of national one-size-fits-all mass vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn't be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

To learn more about informed consent, the six principles for protecting your vaccine choices, and a summary of the U.S. law pertaining to vaccine exemptions, please review the article, STOP! Read This Before Vaccinating for Anything. 

I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:

  • NVIC Advocacy Portal: Protect vaccine exemptions in YOUR state. Sign up to use the free online Advocacy Portal and stay informed about threats to your legal right to make voluntary vaccine choices so you can take immediate action by contacting your state legislators with the click of a mouse or touch on your SmartPhone screen.
  • NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
  • If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
  • Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment by doctors or  government officials for making independent vaccine choices.

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