Big Pharma special on Canada GARDASIL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4a0-4DLRdo

"back in The Business", CBC & Harper rollout Plan: Harper government to unveil get-tough national drug strategy

what is illict?
hum: "illicit... ": which sounds more 'illicit' to you?
First we had 'let's be realistic here'. then... came Harper.
yeah, that's what we need in a Prime Minister: Harper, "our government sucks, yours is BETTER"
then the CBC turned ugly & propagandistic...

now, Harper's getting down to brass tacks: bolstering the profits to be made from the
renewed efforts on 'criminalization' & the joy of intimidating Progressive citizens.

Welcome to the Little State that Bush made...

ah, Mr. Clement: you know what creates "poor health outcomes?" industralized medicine, corporatized governments & spineless politicians, you pandering shill.
the fact remains, there is a hell of a lot of money the Corporate Conservative Party of Canada can hand out to their buddies in the prison industry, the GMO industry & the BigPharma industry... all while removing Progressives from the political debate through intimidation or by cheap pot charges that remove a citizen's voting right... think about that...
GARDASIL® for PROFIT?: Health Ontario & "CorpWatch: 'Merck's Murky Dealings: HPV Vaccine Lobby Backfires'"
The Top Ten Reasons Marijuana Should Be Legal
Opium IS medicine: "Most Canadians back 'poppy for medicine' program: poll" in Afghanistan
Frankenforests: GE Trees Threaten Ecosystem ... but its TIME TO CHARGE THE CITIZEN for *naturally occurring plants* for which humanity developed a parallel & symbiotic relationship... ? oh yeah, that's the country for me... how did Canadian citizens get so DUMB? well, Harper has been using the CBC to help push the 'pot is a CRIME & PESTILENCE' agenda while letting the BC3 case sit on ice... until Canadians forgot there is actually a serious, serious consequence to letting companies like KBR or the US DEA decide Canadian domestic & social policies...
“Petraeus ex machina”: Propaganda Works, that's why it costs so much: General Petraeus' Iraq Report Sept. 2007
CBC isn't presenting biased content?: CBC targets prince of Pot in Hockey Night in Canada suit - sounds like conflict of interest to me...
BUSH can't even PRONOUNCE 'sovereignty' & why should he, when the PC gov't is happy to sell it to him @ a personal profit??
Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2006

DNA Patents Create Monopolies on Living Organisms

From the Council for Responsible Genetics, Patenting of life forms should be considered unethical because:
- it fosters biopiracy of indigenous resources
- turns life forms into commodities to be used for profit
- hinders the free-flow of scientific research
- destroys economic sustainability of developing nations

Let's be honest here: BigPharma & AgriBiz want nothing more than DNA ownership & to develop OUR dependence on the corporate entity.
John Tory: Can't reach out to Canadians, can't show up for 'Make Poverty History' event, either.
so tell me, are we Canadian citizens? shareholders? *customers* or do we actually have a say in our own country? hell no, not when corporations are calling the shots for us... we don't need no stinking healthcare... we need care for our health, which we're not gonna get from the Progressive Conservatives, are we? they're only out for their corporate gains. I'm not alone, drive around your neighbourhoods & ask yourself: why is it that the richest cocksuckers in the country have PC candidate signs? they know where THEIR bread is buttered.

Dr. Martin says he's all for increasing penalties for people who sell illegal drugs, including gangsters, but wonders why the Tories would want to target users when he says similar strategies in other countries haven't worked.

"I can't understand why the Conservatives are embracing a war-on-drugs approach that has proven to fail," he said.

"By all means, go after the pushers. By all means, absolutely go after the organized crime gangs that are the real parasites in this situation," he added.

Harper government to unveil get-tough national drug strategy.

THE CANADIAN PRESS, September 29, 2007 at 4:50 PM EDT
OTTAWA — Health Minister Tony Clement will announce the Conservative government's anti-drug strategy this week with a stark warning: "the party's over" for illicit drug users.

"In the next few days, we're going to be back in the business of an anti-drug strategy," Mr. Clement told The Canadian Press.

"In that sense, the party's over."

Shortly after taking office early last year, the Conservatives decided not to go ahead with a Liberal bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.Vancouver police check a person's identification in Vancouver's downtown eastside in 2005. (Lyle Stafford/The Globe and Mail)

Since then, the number of people arrested for smoking pot has jumped dramatically in several Canadian cities, in some cases jumping by more than one third.

Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006 of arrests for possession of cannabis, compared with the previous year.

As a result thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence that, under the previous Liberal government, was on the verge of being classified as a misdemeanour.

Police forces said many young people were under the impression that the decriminalization bill had already passed and were smoking up more boldly than they've ever done before.

Mr. Clement says his government wants to clear up the uncertainty

"There's been a lot of mixed messages going out about illicit drugs," Mr. Clement said in an interview Saturday after a symposium designed to bring together Canada's arts and health communities to combat mental health issues.

There's also a health-care cost element to suggesting to young people that using illicit drugs is OK, the minister said.

"The fact of the matter is they're unhealthy," Mr. Clement said.

"They create poor health outcomes."

For too long, Mr. Clement argues, governments in Canada have been sending the wrong message about drug use. It's time, he says, to take a tougher approach to dealing with the problem.

"There hasn't been a meaningful retooling of our strategy to tackle illicit drugs in over 20 years in this country," Mr. Clement said.

"We're going to be into a different world and take tackling these issues very seriously because (of) the impact on the health and safety of our kids."

The Conservatives' wide-ranging $64-million anti-drug strategy is expected to combine treatment and prevention programs with stiffer penalties for illicit drug use, and a crackdown at the border against drug smuggling.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day will join Mr. Clement in announcing the plan as part of a range of initiatives to be unveiled by the Tories surrounding next month's throne speech.

Mr. Clement said treatment and prevention programs were his key priorities for the health element of the drug strategy.

"Yes, there's a justice issue to that," he said.

"But there's also a treatment issue, there's also a prevention issue."

Mr. Clement has suggested in the past that he opposes so-called harm reduction strategies for combatting illegal drug use, including safe-injection sites where nurses provide addicts with clean needles and a safe place to use drugs.

At a Canadian Medical Association meeting last month, he was quoted saying "harm reduction, in a sense, takes many forms. To me, prevention is harm reduction.

Treatment is harm reduction. Enforcement is harm reduction."

The following day, a petition signed by over 130 physicians and scientists was released, condemning the Conservative government's "potentially deadly" misrepresentation of the positive evidence for harm reduction programs.

Vancouver's Insite safe injection clinic is facing a December 31 deadline for the renewal of a federal exemption that allows it to operate.

Critics of the Conservative government's approach to illicit drug use say the federal government would be making a serious mistake by failing to renew the exemption.

"I think there's very little chance that Mr. Clement will extend the safe injection site's permit to continue," says Dr. Keith Martin, a British Columbia Liberal MP and former substance-abuse physician.

"But in doing that they will be essentially committing murder."

Advocates say safe-injection sites help to prevent the spread of serious diseases, including AIDS and Hepatitis by preventing users from sharing needles while opponents say the sites simply promote illegal drug use.

Dr. Martin says he's all for increasing penalties for people who sell illegal drugs, including gangsters, but wonders why the Tories would want to target users when he says similar strategies in other countries haven't worked.

"I can't understand why the Conservatives are embracing a war-on-drugs approach that has proven to fail," he said.

"By all means, go after the pushers. By all means, absolutely go after the organized crime gangs that are the real parasites in this situation," he added.

"But for heaven's sake, treat the user as a medical problem and adopt the solutions that have proven to work in other countries."

GARDASIL® for PROFIT?: Health Ontario & "CorpWatch: Merck's Murky Dealings: HPV Vaccine Lobby Backfires"

“There is no Dypraxa, never was, never will be. I know of no wonder-cure for TB that has recently been launched on the African market or any other - or is about to be - so with Luck I shall not be spending the rest of my life in the law courts or worse, though nowadays you can never be sure.

But I can tell you this. As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard.” - John Le Carré, The Constant Gardener, Author's Note, 2001.

okay, look: I have an academic background in HealthCare... I'm not some troglodyte or freak who thinks there is no benefit to sound HealthCare practises & preventative medicine. But I'm not stupid, BUT, BigPharma has an ugly research ethics closet... & nobody can argue that.
Judge recesses: Pfizer's Nigerian experimental malpractice suit
So, when I hear that GARDASIL® is the most expensive vaccine to date... & that *everybody* should be injected... & that all this HYPE is running around about a pretty new vaccine... I ask myself
aren't we being a bit HASTY in deciding ALL YOUNG WOMEN should get a series of HPV shots? I mean... its not as if we've had decades of unbiased research on these shots. The research is *all* done by the companies. No bias THERE, eh?

so why is the only argument about who sticks what in our daughters... about sex & not about BigPharma??
nobody's worried about a generation of women getting *permanently fucked*?

An entire generation of young Canadian women... think about that...
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“Physicians & the Pharmaceutical Industry": Is a Gift Ever Just a Gift?”: variations on an question...
HPV Vaccination — More Answers, More Questions, George F. Sawaya, M.D., and Karen Smith-McCune, M.D., Ph.D.
Flu Shot Epidemic of Mercury: Thimerosal & U.S. Campaign Funds...
"Hard Rain": Bayer Drug Scandal - Factor 8 - Bayer distributed HIV-contaminated drug
Mercury in Toronto Flu Shot? "Free Flu Shot Clinics".
Women contesting lethal side effects of contraceptive pill, CBC, 4.Mar.02
More Than 1 Million Hospital Patients Experience Side Effects and Other Problems With Their Medications
AHRQ News and Numbers, Release date: April 12, 2007
Trends in hospital admissions for adverse drug reactions in England: analysis of national hospital episode statistics 1998-2005
Environment's Chemical Soup: 'harms children's brains'
The American Medical System, Is The Leading Cause Of Death And Injury In The United States
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... yeah, & so does MSM & all the 'false choice' arguments out there. Team Science vs. Team JayZUZ! *sigh* so much for a happy middleground, everybody START YOUR ENGINES!
..

I've no problem with boys, women or even infants receiving strong healthcare & preventative medicine, yes, even for sexually transmitted diseases, BUT:

I'm not saying they *don't work*... I'm saying... aren't we getting a bit giddy in all these 'manditory vaccines'? & I gotta ask myself... maybe they whork... but there aer some *serious* side effects to Guardasil... but Ontario Health is pumping like mad to have everyone injected. Yes, I know there is an indicated correlation between HPV & bladder cancer or infertility... but, being a BAD disease doesn't make GARDASIL® a GOOD healthcare plan... especially rolled out to *everyone* with so few years of research...

Just a few years ago, we were told 'only healthcare workers, the aged or immunologically compromised' should get the 'flu' shot... now *EVERYBODY* should? that's convenient for BigPharma, isn't it?

gotta ask yourself... how many provincial politicians & mandarins have invested their futures into BigPharma stock? How many supporters of politicians work for BigPharma or are invested in the outcome of high stock performance?

so... who is guarding the chickenhouse?
10 Things You Might Not Know About Gardasil

Toronto Public Health is offering the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

free of charge to Grade 8 females at school-based vaccination clinics. HPV is a common virus that can cause cancer of the cervix and genital warts.

This is a new program funded by the provincial government. The HPV vaccination program is voluntary and students will not be suspended from school if they do not receive the vaccine. It is publicly funded only at school-based clinics to Grade 8 females.
News Release:
HPV vaccine program to protect young women against cervical cancer (PDF file size 18KB) - September 7, 2007
Backgrounder
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program for Grade 8 Girls (PDF file size 16KB) - September 7, 2007
Resources for Teachers
HPV Questions and Answers (PDF file size 53KB)
HPV Powerpoint presentation (PDF file size 199KB). Also available as a handout (PDF file size 25KB)

NVIC Calls Merck & FDA "Not Completely Honest" Re: Pre-adolescent HPV Vaccine Safety

Thursday, 29 June 2006 The FDA appears to have learned nothing from recent catastrophic disasters. The disasters are due to the agency's approval of unsafe drugs--such as Merck's anti-inflammatory drug, Vioxx.

The FDA hastily approved Merck's HPV vaccine which is designed to prevent cervical cancer and genital warts in sexually active women. However, the vaccine has not been proven safe and effective in clinical trials. The trials are being criticized for using a placebo containing aluminum adjuvant (whose adverse reaction profile makes the vaccine appear safer than it is), rather than using a non-reactive saline solution polacebo.

Here's how: the vaccine triggered adverse event reports in 90% of the test subjects within 15 days--hardly an indication of safety. However, the controversial placebo formula triggered 85% adverse event reports. How does the FDA know what long-term adverse effects the vaccine might produce? Have we learned nothing from the disastrous DES effects on the daughters of women who took the hormone during pregnancy triggering cancer and genital deformaties. See: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/DES .

The HPV vaccine is being promoted for use in girls 9-15 years of age.

National Vaccine Information Center president, Barbara Loe Fisher, says "Merck's pre and post-licensure marketing strategy has positioned mass use of this vaccine by pre-teens as a morality play in order to avoid talking about the flawed science they used to get it licensed. This is not just about teenagers having sex, it is also about whether Gardasil has been proven safe and effective for little girls."

When the science becomes politicized--whether from the conservative right or from the liberal left--don't trust ANYTHING that's being said.

Absent scientific evidence demonstrating the safety of the HPV vaccine, there is no guarantee that this will not prove to be a disaster for the next generation.
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Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav, 212-595-8974
veracare@ahrp.org

CorpWatch : Merck's Murky Dealings: HPV Vaccine Lobby Backfires.

"It used to be that funding for research was provided by government," says Canavan, the Maine legislator. "But now it comes from private corporations that stand to gain and the information can be - I won't say skewed - but made to work for the company."

What is clearly not working for Merck are the controversies around Gardasil that have derailed corporate plan to make vaccination mandatory and to capture the market before Glaxo releases its own vaccine.

The last few years have not gone smoothly for one of the world's biggest drug companies. On September 30, 2004, after it became known that Vioxx was doubling the rate of heart attacks and strokes, Merck withdrew the painkiller and saw its stock plummet nearly 27 percent. Taking the drug off the market wiped out $2.5 billion in annual sales.

In 2005, Merck's new chief executive officer Richard Clark announced a plan to cut the company's world-wide work force by 11 percent or 7,000 jobs and to close or sell five of its manufacturing facilities. The company's 2005 sales were down four percent and its net income had fallen by 20 percent. The company's financial woes will not be eased by the fact that its patent for cholesterol drug Zocor, with $5 billion in sales, expired in 2006, while patents on other best selling drugs, including, Folsom and Cozaar, are nearing expiration.

Merck's also announced on February 14 that it had signed an agreement that essentially brings to a close the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) examination of the company for the period 1993-2001. Under the agreement, the final net cash cost to Merck is expected to be approximately $2.3 billion which covers federal tax, net interest after federal tax deductions and penalties." Merck, noted the "reasonableness" of the IRS settlement and said that it had reserved the funds so the payment would not impact 2007 earnings.

"As CEO, my priorities are clear," says Clark, "meeting the needs of patients and building shareholder value."

Those priorities are particularly hard to juggle given America's love-hate relationship with pharmaceuticals. In 2004, 82 percent of the U.S. population reported that they had taken at least one prescription drug, over-the-counter medication, or dietary supplement in the previous week; 30 percent of respondents reported using five or more, according to a study by the Sloan Epidemiology Center at Boston University. Even kids are consuming drugs in great quantities. In 2005, according to an analysis performed by Medco Health Solutions for the New York Times, "approximately 1.6 million U.S. teenagers and children (almost 300,000 of whom were under 10) were given at least two psychiatric drugs in combination."

At the same time as they are popping pills, Americans are widely distrustful of a pharmaceutical industry that has a long record of marketing wonder drugs with misleading advertising and dangerous side-effects. A 2007 health poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that fewer than 18 percent of Americans "say they can trust what pharmaceutical companies say in their ads most of the time." Some 70 percent "agree that drug companies put profits ahead of people."

By choosing to promote making Gardasil mandatory, Merck fell deep into the chasm between the public's desire to see drugs as the cure for all ills and its profound skepticism that pharmaceutical companies put the public's interests before profits.

"When we lose trust in company like pharmaceuticals or a group like Women in Government," said Canavan from her home in Maine, "we start to become suspicious about everything. We need to have public dialogue. The point is not that the vaccine is bad, but that the public agenda has all been company-driven."...

Its all about good parenting & the safety of the children... isn't it?
There is a rather effective means to protecting one's daughters from cervical warts.
USE A FREAKING CONDOM. a little communication & sex education goes a LOOONG way, right? I guess jabbing a few needles with longterm effects & dubious side-effect research is infinitely easier on the parenting effort...
Opulent Ethics: feeding the Beast

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