FW: CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR EDITORIAL COMMENT ON VACCINES AND AUTISM

[Guest guest]

MHBiomed@... wrote:> > April 29, 2000> > In Reply to Editorial Comment from:> Wayne L. Pines (service@... or wayne@...)> Re: Congressional Hearings on Vaccines and Autism> > Wayne L. Pines, you belittle Congressman Burton as an "angry grandfather"> when his goal is to make vaccines safer for children. Your feeble attempt to> undermine Congressman Burton's efforts made sense only after your ties to the> vaccine manufacturers and drug companies were revealed. This is a day in> your life Wayne L. Pines. Let's see who you really are and then people will> understand that your words are meaningless because they are motivated by> avarice.> > You started your career in Washington as the associate editor for The Pink> Sheet a pharmaceutical trade magazine. Then you went to work at the FDA for> 10 years from 1972 to 1982. Your next job was with the PR firm> Burson-Marsteller. After that, you got a job with APCO Associates. Then you> joined a company called Therametrix (1). In between you became involved with> various pharmaceutical trade groups such as the Food and Drug Law Institute> (2), the Drug Information Association (3), and the Internet Healthcare> Coalition (4).> > Now let's start connecting the dots to see why you would not want a public> discussion about how to improve the safety of our children's vaccines. We'll> pick-up your career after you leave the FDA. You immediately landed a job> with the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (a subsidiary of the advertising agency> Young & Rubicam). Your title there was executive vice president. Marsteller> clients include Monsanto and their bio-engineered foods and Dow-Corning and> their silicon breast implants. In addition, Marsteller has several large> drug companies as clients including Eli Lilly. Lilly produces the drug> Prozac which has accumulated more adverse reaction reports than any substance> (besides vaccines) in the history of the FDA's adverse drug reporting system.> Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act challenged the> veracity of Prozac's clinical trials that led to FDA approval. Lilly's PR> firm Burson-Marsteller was called in to do damage control. There, according> to the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research, it was reported that you> helped Lilly get past its troubles by exploiting your contacts with current> FDA officials (5).> > You then became president of the Health Care Practice of APCO Associates a> "communications consulting firm." According to PR Watch, APCO Associates> specializes in setting up front groups and coalitions for the tobacco and> insurance companies (6). In fact, APCO's website boasts that "excellence in> public affairs and public relations, like excellence in art, is about the> power of communication" (7). No it's not. Excellence in public affairs is> about honest communication and adding substance to the public discourse.> It's what Congressman Burton is doing. It's not about ridiculous, crude and> poorly veiled attempts to protect and further your client base. You may> think excellence in public affairs and public relations is about power, but> power won't help you when it comes to our children. As much as it may> disturb your plans, parents will not sacrifice the health and lives of their> children in order to drive up the stock prices of your drug company clients.> > Next you joined Therametrix whose website gloats that "Wayne L. Pines is a> world-renowned health care consultant (who) has consulted for virtually all> of the major pharmaceutical companies..."(1). It also states that> Therametrix is a "medical marketing research agency that serves the> pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and consumer health products> industries" (8). Your clients are listed as including: Abbot Laboratories,> Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Du Pont Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Glaxo> Wellcome, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pharacia & Upjohn, Procter & Gamble> Pharmaceuticals, Roche Laboratories, Schering-Plough, Triangle> Pharmaceuticals and Warner Lambert - all of them drug and vaccine> manufacturers (9). Your company's mission statement declares, "We see> nothing more important than meeting our client's needs" (9). I don't doubt it.> > You are also on the marketing and advertising committee of the Drug> Information Association which describes itself as a "member-driven scientific> association with a membership of over 22,000 primarily from the regulatory> agencies, academia, contract service organizations, pharmaceutical,> biological and device industry, and from other health care organizations"> (10). Who are some of the other committee members in the Drug Information> Association? They include Dr. R. Venkataraghaven of Lederle Laboratories (3)> manufacturer of Orimune, Tetramune and other vaccines, Dr. B.> D'Angelo of AstraZeneca (3), and Dr. F. Bedard of Bristol-Myers Squibb> (3). The board of directors include Stuart W. Cummings of Merck, Sharp & > Dohme manufacturer of the vaccines associated with autism - MMR, MR Vax,> Meruvax II, Mumpsvax, Varivax and others, Francoise de Cremiers of> Wyeth-Ayerst another major vaccine manufacturer, C. Depew of> Kline Beecham, Brenton of Glaxo Wellcome, Murray Lumpkin of the> FDA, and Irwin G. of Parke- (11).> > In addition, you are a member of the Food and Drug Law Institute which> describes itself "as a private organization, not affiliated with the FDA.(but> our) mission, however, does relate to the activities, policies and procedures> of the FDA..."(12). As a participant in this institute you work with the> other members, and in fact, you are scheduled to moderate one of the> institute's conferences on medical technology, drugs and biologics (i.e.> vaccines) in June of this year (2). Nearly every drug company including the> major vaccine manufacturers is a member of this organization. The list> includes: American Home Products (i.e. Lederle), Bayer, Medeva> Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Organon Teknika, and Kline Beecham.> > I could go on and on about your affiliations with vaccine manufacturers and> drug companies but I believe the point has been made adnauseam.> > One of Congressman Burton's assertions is that an inherent conflict of> interest may exist amongst the people who decide what gets injected into our> children's veins. The Congressman understands that many of the individuals> in our halls of government who make health decisions affecting our children> get money from the very drug companies they are supposed to be regulating.> During the hearings, when Coleen Boyle of the CDC was asked if she thought> there was anything wrong with such a conflict she was literally speechless.> Wayne L. Pines your behavior is a text book example of what Congressman> Burton and tens of thousands of parents disdain. As a former employee of the> FDA you use your clout to influence what should be a scientifically sound,> reasonable and objective decision making process. But even with all of your> industry's money and consultants and PR firms and communication experts and> doctors on payrolls you are still missing one key ingredient - the truth.> The truth can't be bought, spun, manipulated, or turned into a sound bite.> Parents know the truth when they watch their children become ill, disabled> and die. So despite your supreme efforts to sell more vaccines, we will not> allow some greedy industry to decide what is safe and to dictate to us what> should be put into our children's bodies.> > Wayne L. Pines go back to your "medical marketing research agency" and your> "communications consulting firm," shut up, and leave our children alone.> > Sincerely,> > Horwin> Father of - a vaccine injured child> who passed away at the age of 2 ½ years old> > Footnotes:> 1) http://www.therametrix.com/staff.html> http://www.therametrix.com/wayne.html> 2) http://www.fdli.org/conf/medsymagd.htm> 3) http://www.diahome.org/dhp2d12.htm> 4) http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/content/fda_1.html> 5) http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/newsl/prozac.html> 6) http://www.prwatch.org/prw_issues/1996-Q3/index.html> 7) http://www.apcoassoc.com/gallery/gallery.html> 8) http://www.therametrix.com/company.html> 9) http://www.therametrix.com/clients.html> 10) http://www.diahome.org/> 11) http://www.diahome.org/dhp2c.htm> 12) http://www.fdli.org/about/index.html