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Unearthing Fraud In Medical Trials
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration holds a position of trust among citizens that few government agencies share. So when NYU professor Charles Seife found out the FDA is not forthcoming about misconduct in the scientific trials it oversees, he and his class set out to bring it to light. "For more than a decade, the FDA has shown a pattern of burying the details of misconduct. As a result, nobody ever finds out which data is bogus, which experiments are tainted, and which drugs might be on the market under false pretenses. The FDA has repeatedly hidden evidence of scientific fraud not just from the public, but also from its most trusted scientific advisers, even as they were deciding whether or not a new drug should be allowed on the market. Even a congressional panel investigating a case of fraud regarding a dangerous drug couldn't get forthright answers." Seife suggests the FDA is trapped in a co-dependent relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, and needs strong legislative support to end its bad behavior.
there is no accountability because Government is nothing more than puppetry for industry.
You get what you pay for.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Seife suggests the FDA is trapped in a co-dependent relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, and needs strong legislative support to end its bad behavior.
This is clearly the case, and this not only means that some drugs that should not be on the market are approved. It also means, and in my mind this is more important, that the big Pharma are using the FDA as a barrier of entry against startups. Getting a new drug on the market costs an average of $2.558 billion in 2013 dollars.
This days are the early days of the biotech revolution where we will gain enormous control over our health are just starting, and progress is slow due to regulation capture. If some of this money would be given back to researchers instead of lawyers and bureaucrats, we would get better treatments available sooner.
As an example, big pharma companies get old drugs whose patents are about to run out, change their chemical formula and improve them just a bit and then go to market with them so the can reap huge margins with basically the same compound. This is safer business than trying to produce a breakthrough with a completely new compound. And the reason for this is the way the FDA operates. This results in very valuable resources being used with little benefit to the public.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
Most government agencies are mere puppets for the owned representatives in office. Like the FDA, the EPA will not protect the interest of the citizens but rather corporate interests. Many victims of fracking where once fertile land has become toxic have found the EPA's sole job is to protect the frrackers, not the land they supposedly steward. Commerce Department is another example. The Commerce Departments job is to protect and secure 'commerce' not individuals but huge corporations. The FBI diligently attacks people who illegally share music - with the same ferocity as mass murders or terrorists.
Net neutrality will become another victim. It will eventually die since It 'burdens' profiteers.
. Our rights as citizens is a veneer. Till we change how campaigns are financed, corporate puppets will continue to operate with impunity sealing more and more wealth from the masses for the benefit of the few.
Libertarians decry fraud, and view prevention/punishment of same as one of the legitimate functions of government.
I don't know who you've been talking to, but if they're calling what you describe as libertarian, they're lying. (Both Democrats and Republicans would rather nobody understood what Libertarians really stood for, or they'd see their voter bases begin to evaporate.)
No, Yes, No, and No again.
No to the first part is based on who owns the argument and what they want your perception to be. Hint: It may not be the real argument.
Remember that 5 companies that own all broadcast media in the US, Government agencies like the FDA are revolving doors for agriculture and pharmaceutical company exec's, many News Papers have been complicit in cover ups (see NY Post whistle blowers, Washington Post, etc..). Finally consider that even small papers rely on Government agencies like the FDA for information (you did read TFA right?).
Are most anti-vaxxers really anti-every vaccination, or just against the ones that treat the small threats and come with high risk? Here is an exercise for you. What is the highest modern (post 1970) morbidity rate for influenza? What is the morbidity rate of the vaccine? Now do that same comparison with the highest morbidity rate for Vericella (Chicken Pox).
I know plenty of people that have had, and fully support most vaccines but not the two I mentioned. Believe it or not their decision is not "crazy anti-vax" stuff like the media portrays, it's based on the numbers. Run the numbers yourself, don't take anyone's word for it. Everything is available through the CDC and US Census data. You may not agree with their opinions, and that's fine.. but you will at least understand their opinion is not "crazy".
That's not saying there are not some whackos who are completely against all vaccines, it's saying that is not the prevalent issue with people.
The second part, I fully agree with. The Government and people in public positions must be trusted. Many of us lost trust decades ago. Funny that things I talked about then resulted in "tin foil hat" comments, and "crazy", and "conspiracy theorist" yet today it's all been proven to be true. I'm honestly glad that more people are catching on, maybe the momentum will finally swing and we can fix things without a revolution. I'm doubtful, but always have hope.
To the third part, this has nothing to do with budget cuts. We pay more in taxes today than any other time in history. Middle class people are paying 30-40% of their income in taxes, and Government tax revenue is simply staggering. It's wasted in layers and layers of cronyism, nepotism, bribes, and hush money but the money is in the system.
To the last part, again you have been misinformed (see the opening about media). Anarchy is not the same thing as Libertarianism. Libertarianism is about reducing Federal institutions, not abandoning them. Read just about everything Ron Paul put(s) out, and that aligns with the majority Libertarian view. As with anti-vaccine people there are surely exceptions, but that is not the prevalent view from Libertarians.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.