Fwd: Drug Firms Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars In Consulting Fees To Government Watchdogs

[Guest guest]

9 Dec 2003 20:13:01 -0000

 

Drug Firms Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars In " Consulting Fees "

To Government Watchdogs

" IAHF.COM "

 

IAHF Webmaster: Breaking News, All Countries, What to Do

 

IAHF List: While the info below about the pharma cartel paying megabucks to

people at NIH as " consultants " is certainly nothing new, its always good to have

this sort of information at our fingertips to use as ammunition. 94% of the NIH

staff are paid consultants to the Cartel, that is unacceptable and we must fight

like hell politically to force full disclosure. We can and will use this news

against the cartel.

 

When I read this article, it reminded me of the day I paid a visit to my friend

Dr.Dan Eskinazi, an acupuncturist who used to work at the Office of Alternative

Medicine at NIH.

 

I went into his office and he said " John, we can't talk in here, this office is

bugged. " So we walked outside to a park bench where he said " John, those of you

who helped establish this office have no idea what its like for those of us who

actually work inside this awful place. Daily people here give me the finger.

Daily they make snide comments as we pass in the hall and on the stairs. I've

been shoved on the stairs, and one time I had to really restrain myself. They're

going to fire me, and I know it too, but before they fire me, I'm going to

succeed in accomplishing at least one good thing- I'm going to get acupuncture

needles aproved by the FDA as a medial device, they've only been in use for

thousands of years. I've been probing around inside the bureaucracy ruffling a

lot of feathers and pissing a lot of people off, but I'm going to succeed. "

 

Well he DID SUCCCED, and 4 days later, they fired him, but ever since

acupuncturists have been able to get reimbursed by insurance.

 

Dan Eskinazi, wherever you are today, God bless you. I know how much you

sacrificed for the cause of the truth.

 

Don't let this report below get you down. No reason to feel demoralized by it.

The truth shines like pure gold and cannot be suppressed. Each of us who has a

positive experience with alternative medicine after mainstream medicine almost

kills them or has no answers will tell as many people as they can. The story of

my recovery from schizophrenia has been translated into several foreign

languages and has been downloaded over a million times, and forwarded massively

world wide. Many other people have also posted their stories on the web with

similar results. The cartel is defenseless against our constant spreading of the

truth, so don't be demoralized by this news, we're going to win, we just have to

hang in there and to quote Winston Churchill- " Never ever eVER EVER EVER EVER

EVER EVER EVER GIVE UP! " If you haven't read my story yet its at

http://www.iahf.com/on_the_back_wards.html

 

Please forward this to more people. Anyone can sign onto the IAHF email

distribution list at http://www.iahf.com and its an opt in list. No mountain is

too high to climb. We shall overcome. God gave us the supplements they're trying

to take away, and we're going to successfully defend our access by working

together, fighting this battle the old fashioned way: any way we can.

 

 

Report: Drug Firms Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars In " Consulting Fees "

To Government Watchdogs...

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & cid=541 & ncid=541 & e=1 & u=/ap/20031207/\

ap_on_he_me/health_conflict

 

Excerpts: Some of the National Institute of Health's top officials have received

hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies whose

products they were responsible for monitoring, the Los Angeles Times reported

Sunday.

 

The newspaper, citing records it said it began gathering five years ago,

reported that in some instances officials of the federal institute operated as

consultants for companies whose drugs were linked to the deaths of patients

taking part in NIH studies.

 

Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein, who as deputy director and acting director of the

agency since 1993 approved many of the consulting arrangements, told the

newspaper she did not believe the public's interest had been compromised.

 

" I think NIH scientists, NIH directors and all the staff are highly ethical

people with enormous integrity, " she said. " And I think we do our business in

the most remarkable way. "

 

She said she would consider making changes in the consulting arrangements.

 

" Systems can always be tightened up, " Kirschstein told the Times during an

interview in October. " And perhaps, based on this, we will do so. "

 

A month after that interview, NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni told agency leaders

he would form a committee to study the appropriateness of employee consulting

work.

 

He told the Times he wants the institute " to manage not just the reality, but

the perception of conflict of interest. "

 

Medical ethicists said the consulting arrangements represent a clear conflict of

interest.

 

" If I am a scientist working in an NIH lab and I get a lot of money in

consulting fees, then I'm going to want to make sure that the company does very

well, " said Dr. Arnold S. Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of

Medicine.

 

He said the arrangement also raises concerns about patient safety.

 

One patient the Times said died was Jamie Ann Jackson, who had been listed as

" Subject No. 4 " in an NIH study of the treatment of kidney inflammation related

to lupus, a disease that attacks the body's immune system.

 

The cause of death was linked to a complication involving use of a drug made by

Schering AG, for which Dr. Stephen I. Katz, the senior NIH official involved in

the study, was a paid consultant.

 

Katz didn't stop the study after Jackson's death or warn doctors outside the

agency, which could have threatened the market potential for the drug, the Times

said.

 

Katz said his connection to Schering AG had no influence on his decisions and

his work for the company had been approved by top NIH officials.

 

Katz has been paid between $476,369 and $616,365 in company fees over the past

decade, the Times said, citing his income-disclosure reports.

 

Dr. John I. Gallin, director of the NIH's Clinical Center, the nation's largest

site of medical experiments on humans, has received $145,000 to $322,000 in fees

and stock proceeds for consulting work done between 1997 and 2002, the newspaper

said. In one case, the Times said, he co-wrote an article on the gene-transfer

technology done by a company he consulted for.

 

Several other NIH officials were cited as receiving hundreds of thousands of

dollars, including one who received more than $1.4 million. Some of them also

were paid by companies involved in the agency's research or whose products were

the subjects of NIH studies.

 

Each of them told the newspaper their consulting work was done with the approval

of top institute officials.

 

Uncovering such payments is difficult, the Times said, because the NIH allows

more than 94 percent of its top-paid employees to keep their consulting income

confidential.

 

The NIH has been at the forefront of medical research for decades, leading the

government's battles against cancer, AIDS and other diseases. More recently,

President Bush pressed the institute, part of the Department of Health and Human

Services, into service in the fight against biological terrorism.

For Health Freedom,

John C. Hammell, President

International Advocates for Health Freedom

556 Boundary Bay Road

Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA

http://www.iahf.com

jham

800-333-2553 N.America

360-945-0352 World

 

 

 

 

 

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