Federal Breast Implant Judge, C. Pointer Dies ~ Birmingham, the world is watching. ~

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----- Forwarded Message ----From: "carwol@..." <carwol@...>

Forwarding this information.. Unfortunately for us, we have all earned the lesson that there is no "justice"; Dow was allowed to set just WHAT illnesses they would recognize as "perhaps" the fault of the silicone/platinum (although the platinum was not admitted?) --and just how much they would pay. Those illnesses listed were very few --certainly not the gamut of the devastation so many have known.. Have any poisoned children been recognized? --even the child whose platinum level is over 200 times "normal"?...certainly I received no funds for Platinum Poisoning --and mine is 39 times normal..(lower than most who were in the study). Am I correct in saying that Dow does not admit --nor recognize -- the results of the use of Platinum as the catalyst in the manufacture of the silicone???May they all burn in hell with the same burning and pain we are experiencing in this life!!Carolyn Carolyn =============Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:50:40 -0600From: "Ilena Rose" <ilena.rose@...>Subject: Federal Breast Implant Judge, C. Pointer Dies ~ Birmingham, the world is watching. ~Birmingham, the world is watching. ~ Federal Breast Implant Judge, C.Pointer Dies<http://breastimplantawareness.blogspot.com/2008/03/birmingham-world-is-watching-federal.html><http://bp1.blogger.com/_g3Uk95t47fM/R96eXXFw6oI/AAAAAAAAAWw/ea1t9-r6XGQ/s1600-h/bannerrally.jpg>*Banner courtesy of Judith Patience, Photo by Kathy Nye*Judge Pointer is dead. Here<http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1205655344103940.xml & coll=2>isa Birmingham article on his passing.As his loved ones mourn his loss, we also mourn the loss of justice forhundreds of thousands of women harmed by faulty breast implants who receivedlittle or no compensation, much based on his ill fated, so called, *sciencepanel*.His rulings that gave, in our opinion, almost a * free ride *to themanufacturers, made sense when upon his retirement as a judge.Pointer went to work for Lightfoot, lin, & White<http://martindale.com/Lightfoot-lin-White-LLC/22636-law-firm-office.htm>...a veritable*Who's Who of Corporate America*, whose clients include Bristol Myers Squibband Baxter (both former implant makers) as well as tobacco andpharmaceutical and oil giants (to name but a few).After several of us made a peaceful protest on the courthouse lawn andattended hearings of his *Science Panel* in 1999, Sally Kirkland and Ipublished this piece to him.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer, Jr., Federal Courthouse,Birmingham, AlabamaMay 5, 1999Birmingham, the world is watching.To The Honorable Judge Pointer,After witnessing Dr. Hulka under cross examination in your courtroom April21st, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute right around the corner was afresh breath of hope.In the early 60's, equality for our black citizens also seemed but a dream.Equally, justice for breast implant victims presently appears to be anythingbut imminent. You, Judge Pointer, can change that and protect millions ofmedical consumers from faulty medical devices.As the sign in that historical museum read, "Birmingham, the world iswatching."Judge Pointer, the world is watching you, your courtroom and your NationalScience Panel. Regrettably though, lin's words ring loudly, "It's such a pity that our legal system has so little to dowith justice."After reading much of the testimony revealing manufacturer influence at somany turns, and the basic lack of curiosity of the researchers to even lookin medline beyond "breast implants" to "silicone," we can't help butparaphrase:"It's such a pity that our science panel has so little to do with science."The responsibility you have to the health of millions of women and theiroffspring is awesome. In the bookstore of this Luther King Museum, wehad a conversation with the 20 year old clerk. He shared that at 18, hisformer girlfriend had gotten implants as a graduation gift from her surgeonfather. Her little sister is receiving this same "gift" this year.Judge Pointer, undoubtedly, this surgeon ~ as scores of thousands of otherphysicians around the world ~ has been mislead into believing that siliconeand breast implants are "safe." Your Panel is continuing to disseminate thisrumor to the world. Do you not feel your personal responsibility in issuingfalse assurances to the millions with disintegrating and leaking implants inplace and those who purchase their first implants from now on?At a FDA / Medical Devices meeting last week, the FDA could not designatewhat they felt an "acceptable rupture rate 3 was. You did not even instructyour NSP to investigate this serious, usually inevitable event that oftenresults in multiple invasive surgeries. How could this have been ignored?While widely accepted that early detection is one of the key factors inlimiting the devastation of breast cancer, nowhere was the definiteobstruction of good mammography by all implants even addressed. Thisconsequence of breast implants alone, makes their presence highly unsafe.Judge Pointer, please tell us, what can the women do to get your attentionoff these worn manufacturer bought, teeny, skewed, short, lopsided "studies"whose purpose was to obfuscate litigation, and onto their serious healthproblems?When we heard Dr. Hulka defend the design of the Mayo study as "excellent"when she couldn't even say whether any of the control group of Mayo patients(might that bias alone not tell volumes?) had implants, or why women withone month old implants were included in a "study" investigating systemicdisease, I realized that your courtroom was just very expensivetheatre. She seemed to find the concept of "latency" almost trivial.Women spent thousands of their own dollars to have their medical recordsincluded in their cases, yet, to date, this staggering evidence ofautoimmune diseases and infections and multiple surgeries is under lock andkey while the Mayo and Harvard studies are yet again being presented asCommandments 11 and 12.Millions of women with leaking and disintegrating and ruptured implants arebeing lulled into false assurances by your panel. Plastic surgeons areimplanting between 500-750 new sets of implants every day.What if only 10% of the women were to become ill from these never FDAapproved devices? Or 25%? Or 40%?Judge Pointer, when we conducted our peaceful Rally in from of yourcourtroom April 21st, we had mounted police surrounding us for ourprotection and your Court's.Where is the protection for the implanted women past, present and future?And their offspring?What science has ever said that it is safe to gestate and nurse babies bornof implanted women?We all know that answer is sadly, "none."Please study the records of the nearly half a million women involved inthese lawsuits. And please, recognize the bias of your Panel, andre-consider the Plaintiff's Motion for their dismissal.Judge Pointer, the world is watching.Respectfully,Ilena RosenthalDirector, Humantics Foundation for WomenSan Diego, CASally KirklandKirkland Institute for Implant Survival SyndromeWest Hollywood, CA*=============