Wampum

Over the past few years I've become increasingly cynical regarding the American public's cavalier attitude over our governmental health "watchdog" agencies, namely the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These agencies refusal to, at best, admit failure to protect from, and at worst, complicity with BigPharma in, the endangerment of over 30 million children in the US alone, and hundreds of millions of children worldwide, is criminal. For the first few years, I thought that the public, including the Left, just weren't aware of the problem. Now I believe that JQ Public cannot fathom that our own government doctors and scientists would in fact knowingly subvert the truth in order to protect their own skins, and pet project funding. [Note: It's ironic that a majority of American purportedly don't trust scientists to determine if the world is older than 4000 BP, yet unquestionably allow them to oversee the health of present and future generations.]

Even the fallout from the FDA's Vioxx scandal hasn't led to a general clamoring for heads to roll or even a review of its files. The fact that the agency is more concerned with banning Plan B contraceptives and the potential non-implantation of fertilized ova than the deaths of thousands of fully-formed humans has barely caused a ripple in either the press or a change in the Progressive critique of this Administration.

Now it's the NIH's turn at the scandal bat:

Women at NIH allege harassment, lax safety

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Women at the National Institutes of Health faced sexual intimidation and repeated disregard of their concerns for the welfare of patients in AIDS experiments, according to testimony by two senior female officers and documents gathered by investigators.

One longtime medical officer at the government's premier medical research agency alleges that the harassment and disregard for federal safety regulations are so widespread that employees are now afraid to hold up experiments even if they see a safety problem.

Her sworn testimony and other documents were obtained by The Associated Press from a variety of sources inside and outside NIH.

"It can be fairly uncomfortable," NIH medical officer Betsy Smith testified in a recent civil case deposition that has been turned over to federal and Senate investigators. "There are a number of things that you really don't talk about."

In such a work environment, "You don't hold up any projects even if you feel there are safety issues for certain projects," she said.

Testimony by Smith and the chief compliance officer for AIDS research, as well as e-mails involving more staffers and several bosses, paint a picture of a sometimes raunchy, profane-language atmosphere inside an agency regarded for its pristine science.

Documents tell of a supervisor sending a red bra to a former female subordinate and of women being hugged or kissed by bosses. In one instance, a supervisor invited a colleague to a West Coast rock concert and suggested they also visit an AIDS clinic there so the trip could be charged to taxpayers.

Smith and the top regulatory compliance officer in the NIH's AIDS division, Mary Anne Luzar, stepped forward in interviews with investigators and in sworn depositions in recent weeks and expanded upon allegations made last year by an agency whistleblower, Dr. Jonathan Fishbein. Their videotaped testimony was given in Fishbein's lawsuit against the agency.

Fishbein alleges he is in the process of being fired as the AIDS division's chief of human research protection because he raised concerns about patient safety and shoddy science. The NIH says he was fired for poor performance.

Anyone whose taken the time to even glance at David Kirby's Evidence of Harm (see below) has learned what many of us on the Parents of Autistics' bench have known for years: The revolving door between US federal health agencies and BigPharma has completely undermined the public safety, and the millions paid in political bribes, er, "contributions", namely to the same Republicans who now control Congressional oversite committees, leaves the foxes guarding the henhouse.

The fact is that the grownups are no more in control of federal health agencies than they are any other US "watchdog" agency, e.g. EPA, NRC, FCC, TSA. If Americans actually want to protect themselves, and their children or potential children, they'd better understand that they may in fact be on their own.

So start paying as much attention to tort and malpractice "reform" legislation as you do Social Security privatization, as that's where BigPharma gets its cronies to hide their perks and protections. Injured kids and dead arthritis sufferers may not vote, but their families sure can.