Progress Report: Troy's Drug Industry Ploy

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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

 

 

July 13, 2004

MEDIAFox AttacksHEALTH CARETroy's Drug Industry

PloyIRAQRevisionist-In-Chief

UNDER THE RADAR

 

MEDIA

Fox Attacks

 

With the much-anticipated premiere of the movie

" Outfoxed " set for tonight in New York City, Fox News

went on the attack, trying to intimidate other media

outlets into not covering the story. Instead of

responding to the well-documented charges made in

" Outfoxed, " Fox claimed the whistleblowers featured in

the film were only " low-level " employees, even though

at least one was a former West Coast anchorman for the

network. As Outfoxed director Robert Greenwald said,

" They're doing their standard technique, which is

name-calling and bullying. Whether the [job] title was

booker or staff booker in no way affects the fact that

Fox is a partisan network. And what I've done in the

film is objectively proven the case. "

 

NEW STUDY - BRIT HUME IS A RIGHT-WING MOUTHPIECE: A

new report by the nonpartisan Fairness and Accuracy In

Reporting (FAIR) found a serious conservative bias in

Brit Hume's " Special Report " program on Fox. In a

25-week study, FAIR found " 57 percent of Special

Report's one-on-one guests were ideological

conservatives, 12 percent were centrists and 11

percent were progressives. " Additionally, Special

Report " rarely features women or non-white guests in

these prominent newsmaker interview spots. " For more,

see Hume pushing the Bush administration's WMD myths,

and spinning for the Bush campaign.

 

RIGHT-WING MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER ADMITS FOX'S BIAS:

Facing overwhelming evidence of Fox News's

conservative bias, at least one conservative operation

was forced to admit the obvious. Rich Noyes, of the

right-wing Media Research Center, acknowledged Fox's

" commentary tends to move toward the right. "

 

FOX SAYS CASUALTIES 'NOT RELEVANT' TO WAR

CONSIDERATIONS: According to the conservative

Washington Times, in downplaying Fox News memos

instructing reporters not to dwell on Iraq casualties,

Fox's top news executive John Moody claimed

" casualties are part of war " in Iraq and " should not

be described as relevant to 'the political

question...should we be there? " With more than 900

American soldiers killed in Iraq, polls show

increasing casualties are causing more Americans to

question Bush administration policy #8211; a question

apparently not allowed on Fox News.

 

MORE PROOF FOX FLACKS BUSH MYTHS: Fox News has been a

major media force in parroting various unsubstantiated

claims to buttress the Bush White House. On tax cuts,

for instance, Fox News anchor Brian Wilson claimed on

3/5/04 that Americans were " seeing the benefits of

[the Bush] tax cuts that's in the system, " even though

Fox News's own poll from a few months earlier showed

61 percent of Americans believed the tax cuts had not

helped them. On energy policy, despite the White House

meeting with Enron CEO Ken Lay during the energy

crisis, Fox anchor Brit Hume said on 1/16/02 that

Enron " is not a scandal about the Bush energy policy. "

Even though as a presidential candidate Bush said he

was planning to propose private school vouchers (and

has since reiterated that position), Fox correspondent

Jim Angle claimed on 1/15/01 that calling it a

pro-voucher plan " is a mischaracterization, obviously,

of his education plan. " At a time when Fox's own polls

showed 69 percent of Americans thought the economy

under Bush was either " fair " or " poor " and an NBC poll

showed 62 percent of Americans believed the Bush tax

cuts did nothing or hurt the economy, Fox

correspondent Carl Cameron said on 1/18/02 that " polls

show that the public prefers the Republican economic

approach over that of Democrats. " And despite

burgeoning violence in Iraq, Fox News Sunday host Snow claimed Bush's Iraq policy " has created peaceful

conditions in more than 90 percent of Iraq " #8211; a

fact he offered no documentation to support. See a

backgrounder for more Fox distortions.

 

HEALTH CARE

Troy's Drug Industry Ploy

 

A sworn affidavit filed in a Texas court case against

Pfizer Inc. reveals President Bush's top appointee at

the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) counseled

pharmaceutical industry insiders on how to escape

oversight from his own agency. FDA Chief Counsel

Daniel Troy, a former drug lobbyist best known for

preventing the FDA from regulating big tobacco, headed

a " roundtable discussion " in December 2003 with

pharmaceutical firms and their defense lawyers.

According to the affidavit, at the meetings he " made

it abundantly clear that the FDA would exercise its

intervention powers to protect [drug industry]

defendants from liability in state and federal courts

throughout the nation. " Troy advised conference

attendees, remarkably, to invest in research that

would prove liability issues were keeping " good

products off the shelf, " even while admitting the FDA

currently had " no good evidence " to support such a

claim. " You guys really shoot yourself in the foot by

not funding research to this effect, " he said. " I'll

even take anecdotal evidence and stories if you have

them. " Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today will hold a

Capitol Hill press conference with families who have

been affected by Troy and the Bush administration's

intervention on behalf of the drug industry.

 

TROY TOUTS LIMITED INFORMATION: According to the sworn

affidavit, Troy told the drug industry conference it

was the FDA's goal to " control the flow of risk info

regarding these [drug and medical device] products " to

the public. This directly contradicts the FDA's

mission: to help " the public get the accurate,

science-based information they need to use medicines

and foods to improve their health. " The affidavit

states Troy made " no mention#8230;of the FDA's real

mandate, which is to regulate manufacturers on behalf

of consumers. " Instead, despite heading an agency

meant to protect consumers, Troy promoted the Bush

administration's tort reform agenda to the industry's

representatives, making " numerous derogatory remarks

about plaintiffs, 'runaway juries,' and even " calling

some attorneys representing plaintiffs against drug

companies " bounty hunters. "

 

A TROY IN THE HENHOUSE: Like many other Bush

appointees, Troy is now overseeing an industry which

he used to represent. The Boston Globe reports,

" During the Clinton years, Troy was best known for

suing the FDA. It was Troy who worked for the tobacco

industry on the landmark Supreme Court case that

prevented the agency from regulating tobacco. And he

fought for years to allow pharmaceutical companies to

promote drugs for unapproved uses. " Now, as FDA

counsel, Troy has made " unprecedented offer to drug

companies#8230;likely to protect their profits and

potentially hurt consumers. " Since arriving at the FDA

in 2001, " Troy's most aggressive efforts have come on

behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, " including the

unprecedented intervention in select court cases on

behalf of defendants, and the loosening of off-label

rules which health advocates say could " 'deal a body

blow' to the government's ability to defend the public

from unproven and unsafe treatments. "

TROY TAKES STAND FOR PHARMACEUTICAL GIANTS: Troy's

pro-industry stance goes way beyond words: the former

industry representative has engaged in an " open-door

policy " with industry. Early in his tenure, he " held

at least 50 meetings with representatives from the

industries FDA regulates. " Journalists have requested

records of those meetings, but were " informed by

Troy's office that there are 'no minutes, no memos, no

nothing.' " In addition, " Troy's office, which

dispatches warning letters to drug companies about

potentially false advertising, has cut the rate by

which the FDA issues those warnings by two-thirds in

the past year. " Such letters used to be sent out by a

branch within FDA, but Troy, has " arranged for all

warnings to go through his office. "

TROY'S PFIZER CONNECTION: When the pharmaceutical

giant Pfizer faced a lawsuit in 2002 alleging the

company's top selling antidepressant, Zoloft, had

caused a patient to commit suicide, the drug company

turned to its old friend Daniel Troy for help: The

Boston Globe reported, " Troy was quite familiar with

the company, having served as a Pfizer attorney in

legal combat with the FDA until just months before he

joined the agency last year. Shortly after the

one-year federal restriction on action involving his

former clients expired, Troy filed a government brief

that backed up Pfizer's case. " When FDA was asked by

the House Appropriations Committee about Troy's

connection to Pfizer, the administration claimed he

worked less than 80 hours per year for the drug

company. They did not say that, according to Troy's

financial disclosure form, Pfizer had paid Troy's firm

nearly $360,000 for services " provided directly by "

Troy in less than six months.

TROY'S FDA - A NEW FRIEND FOR THE DRUG INDUSTRY: Under

Troy's leadership, the FDA's oversight role in the

drug industry has changed dramatically. Since

President Bush took office, the FDA or Department of

Justice has intervened in at least four major cases on

behalf of pharmaceutical company defendants, each time

claiming the FDA's own judgment would " implicitly

preempt " any ruling against the industry. Each time,

FDA statements submitted to the courts have sought to

limit information available to consumers about

potentially dangerous drugs. One DOJ " Statement of

Interest " argued against requiring the manufacturer of

Paxil to remove from its advertisements the statement

the drug was " non-habit forming, " even though

testimony indicated users experienced traumatic

withdrawal symptoms.

IRAQ

Revisionist-In-Chief

In an attempt to re-write his own administration's

history, President Bush yesterday insisted the war in

Iraq was justified, even as evidence emerges that his

two central justifications #8211; WMD and an Iraq-al

Qaeda link #8211; were false. Bush insisted on a

Saddam-al Qaeda link in his speech only 24 hours after

the New York Times reported the 9/11 Commission is

likely to produce a unanimous report that " largely

dismisses White House theories both about a close

working relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda. " It

also comes as well-documented evidence shows the White

House was warned its WMD case for war was weak, yet

ignored intelligence to pursue a pre-determined

ideological agenda.

THE CHANGING RATIONALE: Bush claimed the war was

justified because Iraq had the " capability of

producing weapons of mass murder. " This echoed his

2004 State of the Union claim that Iraq had " weapons

of mass destruction-related program activities. " Both

statements are clear departures from the far more

stark ( " mushroom cloud " ) and definitive ( " no doubt

Saddam Hussein now has WMD " ) language the President

used to scare Americans before the war.

ARE WE SAFER? Even while acknowledging the failure to

find the WMD the administration said made Iraq an

imminent threat, Bush claimed the war in Iraq made

America safer. His statement stood in stark contrast

to a report from the U.S. Army War College calling the

Iraq war " unnecessary " and a " detour " that has

diverted attention and resources from the threat posed

by Al Qaeda. Former counterterrorism czar Richard

Clarke was more blunt: he said the focus on Iraq

" delivered to al Qaeda the greatest recruitment

propaganda imaginable. " A report by the International

Institute for Strategic Studies similarly concluded

that " In counter-terrorism terms, the intervention has

arguably focused the energies and resources of

al-Qaeda and its followers. "

THE WHITE HOUSE'S REVISIONIST HISTORIAN: President

Bush has chastised " revisionist historians " on Iraq,

yet even now he continues to perpetuate myths. He

claims he has a record of " working with friends and

allies and international institutions. " But only last

year, he disparaged the United Nations and was unable

to build a real international coalition to confront

Iraq in an effective way. He also alienated allies by

terminating negotiations on the Kyoto and

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaties, brushing off key

international AIDS conferences and working on behalf

of the tobacco industry to undermine international

efforts to reduce smoking. And unilateralism has its

costs: the war will have cost U.S. taxpayers more than

$150 billion by this fall.

REFUSING TO CONFRONT TERRORISTS: Bush touted his

record " confront[ing] terrorists, " yet offered no

explanation why, in 2002, he transferred troops

hunting Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in Afghanistan

and moved them to Iraq. With only 14,000 troops in

Afghanistan (as opposed to almost 140,000 in Iraq),

the administration last week acknowledged that bin

Laden and his chief lieutenants continue to operate

along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and " are

directing al Qaeda effort to launch an attack in the

United States sometime this year. " Similarly, while

Bush was bragging about his terrorism record, he

offered no explanation as to why " the Bush

administration had several chances to wipe out " top

terrorist target Abu Musab Zarqawi, " but never pulled

the trigger. " After repeatedly refusing to hit

Zarqawi, the White House " set its course for war with

Iraq. " As former Bush counterterrorism adviser Roger

Cressey said, " People were more obsessed with

developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to

execute the president's policy of preemption against

terrorists. " In all, at least 20 of the FBI's 22 most

wanted terrorists are still at large.

CHENEY'S CONVENIENT CASE OF AMNESIA: Cheney accused

Capitol Hill critics of the war with having " a

convenient case of campaign amnesia. " But as this

American Progress backgrounder shows, it was top

administration officials who displayed amnesia in

assessing the threat of Iraq. Cheney also claimed

those that voted for the war but now oppose it were

" looking at the same information [the White House] did

and coming to the same conclusion. " But as the New

Republic pointed out, both Congress and the public

were deliberately misled by the White House about that

information. In 2002, Congress was given an analysis

of the Iraq threat " that highlighted the Bush

administration's claims and consigned skepticism to

footnotes " #8211; a departure from previous, more

objective CIA reports. Similarly, Knight-Ridder

reports that the White House-approved public version

of the " intelligence community's key prewar assessment

of Iraq's illicit arms programs was stripped of

dissenting opinions, warnings of insufficient

information and doubts about deposed dictator Saddam

Hussein's intentions. "

ENVIRO #8211; WHITE HOUSE WANTS TO PAVE PARADISE AND

PUT UP A PARKING LOT: The White House wants to throw

protections for U.S. #160;forests into reverse. The

Washington Post reports, the Bush administration is

trying to " overturn a Clinton-era rule that made

nearly 60 million acres of national forest off-limits

to road-building and logging, setting aside one of the

most sweeping land preservation measures in decades. "

And according to the Los Angeles Times, this " could

lead to logging, mining and oil and gas development in

remote country " that had been previously been

protected. #160;Currently, " twelve Western states are

home to 97 percent of all roadless areas, some of

which provide drinking water to local communities as

well as wildlife habitat. " #160;#160;

ENVIRO #8211; NO, OZONE; YES, PROSTATE CANCER: Believe

it or not, the White House is fighting to protect the

use of a controversial pesticide that destroys the

ozone layer while giving farmers prostate cancer. The

Washington Post #160;reports, " The United States plans

to seek a waiver in international talks this week that

would allow American farmers to continue using methyl

bromide, a pesticide slated to be banned in 2005

because it contributes to destruction of Earth's

protective ozone layer.#160; The pesticide, which has

also been linked to prostate cancer in farm workers

and neurological problems in people exposed to large

quantities, was scheduled to be phased out in 2005

under the Montreal Protocol, the 1987 treaty struck

under the Reagan administration to restrict the use of

ozone-destroying chemicals. " #160;The current pact the

Bush administration wants to dodge was " signed by more

than 160 nations [and] is widely considered the most

successful international environmental treaty in

history. "

EDUCATION #8211; DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: A new report

coming out of Rep. George Miller's office (D-CA) shows

how conservatives " are using accounting gimmicks to

mislead the public into believing that states are

'flooded' with unspent funds for elementary and

secondary education programs. " Conservatives have

tried to use " a bookkeeping gimmick to justify

billions of dollars in education underfunding. "

However, just because money isn't spent doesn't mean

it isn't allocated. " Counting unexpended balances as

available money is no different than counting all the

money in your checkbook on payday #8211; money

committed to mortgages, rent, food, medical care, and

clothing. " The bottom line? President Bush has

consistently failed to invest in education by

underfunding NCLB by $9.4 billion next year, for a

total funding shortfall of $27 billion

[and]#8230;proposing to cut vocational education

programs by more than $300 million. "

GOVERNMENT #8211; THE WHITE HOUSE HAS A GLASS CEILING:

It pays to be one of the president's men. For women,

though, it's another story. The Washington Post has a

list of the top paid people in the Bush White House,

and found " men in the Bush White House earn an average

of $76,624 a year. Women earn $59,917 on average. That

means Bush women earn about 78 percent of what Bush

men earn. " As the WP points, out, that's " a good bit

below the 88 percent for the nearly 1 million

professional and administrative employees in the

federal workforce. Also, the White House has the

advantage of making all its hires from scratch after

the 2000 election. "

AFGHANISTAN #8211; IMPERILED VOTE: The Wall Street

Journal reports that Taliban violence and ongoing

instability with warlords have put the Afghan

elections in jeopardy. " Last week, the joint

U.N.-Afghan body running the elections announced that

because of security problems voting for parliament,

planned for September, will be postponed until next

April or May. Voting for president, initially planned

for June, will take place on Oct. 9. " (Part of the

problem: The Bush Administration drained resources

from Afghanistan to wage a voluntary war in Iraq.

There are only about 17,000 American troops in

Afghanistan compared with 140,000 in Iraq.) Also, " the

U.S.-backed incumbent, Hamid Karzai, is expected to

win, but it's unclear whether enough people will vote

to provide him with democratic legitimacy. " Why not

wait until more of the country is stabilized and

registered? The Christian Science Monitor reports many

analysts think pressure to schedule an election before

U.S. elections in November is to blame. " Given the

turmoil in Iraq, there is a strong desire to see the

[Afghan] elections this year and [give the Bush

administration] one foreign-policy success, " says

Vikram Parekh, an analyst in Kabul with the

International Crisis Group.

GOVERNMENT #8211; DATA QUALITY REPORT, HEAL THYSELF:

Irony, thy name is OMB. According to a new study by

OMB Watch, a recent report by the Office of Management

and Budget about challenges to the quality of data in

government reports was riddled with errors. Some

mistakes were factual: For example, while OMB claims

that agencies only had 35 information quality

challenges last year, the actual number is 98 #8211;

" nearly triple the number in the report. " And although

the OMB report claims " most " information quality

challenges " that were denied were appealed, " in

reality, only 28 percent of denied challenges were

appealed -- clearly not " most. " Some mistakes were

misleading: critics feared information quality

challenges would be dominated by interested

industries. OMB accurately points out that a wide

range of stakeholders have filed information quality

challenges. What they failed to disclose, however, was

that " 72 percent of the challenges - nearly

three-quarters - were from industry. "

#160;Don't Miss

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Revisionist-in-Chief

TERRORISM: The General Accounting Office yesterday

issued a report stating that the " federal government's

color-coded threat system is too vague and confusing

to help many local and state law enforcement officials

prepare for possible terrorist attacks. "

FOREIGN POLICY: Embattled neocons fight mainstream

conservatives over foreign policy strategy.

RELIGION: Oped in Boston Globe calls for progressives

to rescue hijacked religious faith from the right.

Contact The Progress Report:

pr.

#160;Daily Grill

" We know there were ties between Iraq and terrorists,

including al-Qaida. "

- Scott McClellan, 7/12/04

" The Sept. 11 commission reported...it has found no

'collaborative relationship' between Iraq and al

Qaeda. "

- Washington Post, 6/17/04

#160;Daily Outrage

" For us to be different by $140 billion is nothing. "

#160;Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas

Holtz-Eakin " dismissing the controversial discrepancy

between his estimate of the prescription drug

benefit's cost and Medicare actuaries' figure. "

#160;Archives

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