US apologizes for ’40s syphilis study in Guatemala

WASHINGTON – American scientists deliberately infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis 60 years ago, a recently unearthed experiment that prompted U.S. officials to apologize Friday and declare outrage over “such reprehensible research.” However, The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is one of the most horrendous examples of research carried out in disregard of basic ethical principles of conduct. The publicity surrounding the study was one of the major influences leading to the codification of protection for human subjects.

In 1928, the director of medical services for the Julius Rosenwald Fund, a Chicago-based charity, approached the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) to consider ways to improve the health of African Americans in the South. At the time, the PHS had just finished a study of the prevalence of syphilis among black employees of the Delta Pine and Land Company of Mississippi. About 25% of the sample of over 2000 had tested positive for syphilis.

The PHS and the Rosenwald fund collaborated in treating these individuals. Subsequently, the treatment program was expanded to include five additional counties in the southern U.S.: Albemarle County, Virginia; Glynn County, Georgia; Macon County, Alabama; Pitt County, North Carolina; and Tipton County, Tennessee (Jones, 1981).

During the set-up phase of the treatment program, the Great Depression began. The Rosenwald Fund was hit hard and had to withdraw its support. Without the Rosenwald Fund, the PHS did not have the resources to implement treatment.

During this period, there was a debate occurring in health circles about possible racial variation in the effects of syphilis. Dr. Taliaferro Clark of the PHS suggested that the project could be partially “salvaged” by conducting a prospective study on the effects of untreated syphilis on living subjects. Clark’s suggestion was adopted.

In the beginning stages of the project, the PHS enlisted the support of the Tuskegee Institute. Since the Tuskegee Institute had a history of service to local African Americans, its participation increased the likelihood of the “success” of the experiment. In return, Tuskegee Institute received money, training for its interns, and employment for its nurses. In addition, the PHS recruited black church leaders, community leaders, and plantation owners to encourage participation.

At the time of the project, African Americans had almost no access to medical care. For many participants, the examination by the PHS physician was the first health examination they had ever received. Along with free health examinations, food and transportation were supplied to participants. Thus, it was not difficult to recruit African American men as participants in the study. Burial stipends were used to get permission from family members to perform autopsies on study participants (Jones, 1981).

While study participants received medical examinations, none were told that they were infected with syphilis.

Supply and Demand(DEA seize drug-smuggling submarine)

There are good reasons why The global drug trade is controlled and run by the intelligence agencies. The major pharmaceutical companies are big backers of the Drug War… It’s not that they don’t want us on drugs – they just want us on theirs. The demand for drugs is the engine of the trafficking problem. We will not solve the problem. It doesn’t matter how much we work against the trafficking of drugs, how many lives we lose. It doesn’t matter how great our effort, the problem will be there. The consumption of drugs is the real problem.

WEED vs ALCOHOL

Marijuana is much less addictive than alcohol, with just nine percent of users becoming dependent, as opposed to 15 percent for booze. And marijuana is much less toxic. Heavy drinking is well-documented to damage the brain and liver, and to increase the risk of many types of cancer. Marijuana, on the other hand, has never caused a medically documented overdose death, and scientists are still debating whether even heavy marijuana use causes any permanent harm at all

True Cost of Chevron

True Cost of Chevron. “Chevron Lies, People Die.”

misleading drug ads

Big Bucks, Big Pharma. The real war on drugs!

Currently the FDA relies on a few dozen staffers to review hundreds of pharmaceutical ads, brochures and presentations voluntarily submitted by companies or reported to the agency by drug industry personnel. 

The drug industry’s lobbying group said in a statement it supported the effort as “another step to help educate — and receive feedback from — health care providers about prescription drug advertising and promotion.”

The lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, represents most of the world’s largest drugmakers, including Pfizer, Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline.

Drugmakers spend about $20 billion per year to promote their products in various mediums, ranging from medical journal ads and information booths at conferences to multimillion dollar TV campaigns.

About $4 billion of industry spending goes toward patient-targeted advertisements. Some drug industry critics charge TV drug advertisements encourage over-prescribing of medications by emphasizing the benefits and minimizing the risks.

Psychiatry: An Industry of Death

Psychiatry: An Industry of Death. The major pharmaceutical companies are big backers of the Drug War… It’s not that they don’t want us on drugs – they just want us on theirs.

Monopoly Men.War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.

Monopoly Men. Our system of electing politicians to office is rotten and corrupted to its core, because organized money has long since replaced organized people as the author of our politics. And most of it comes from rich people and corporations, who now own our political process—lock, stock, and pork barrel. Money becomes evil not when it is used to buy goods but when it is used to buy power, Government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.

Real Rulers

Arrest that war criminal!” was shouted outside the White House before being arrested, referring to Obama.  Protesters — many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama — marched through the nation’s capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. What the  protesters don’t understand is that President Obama is not the blame.  Here’s the proof: The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes….They are moved merely by greed, and there’s no longer any respect for decent or honest government.  It is not power that corrupts but fear.  The fear of  losing power corrupts those who wield it,  and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

Lawmakers cleared, that’s what friends are for!

Defense appropriation subcommittee members Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Bill Young (R-Fla.), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and the late John Murtha (D-Pa.), Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) were all cleared Friday of violating House rules in relation to securing millions of dollars for clients of the PMA Group, a now defunct lobbying giant, which donated piles of money to their campaigns. C’mon man, When the money’s on the table, virtually everyone’s  is going to grab some.  If you can’t see these things just by looking, you have simply closed your eyes to the realities of our world…..Look, Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem, always have.  Always will.

The powers that control Congress

WASHINGTON – Rep. Charles Rangel said  he won’t step down as chairman of the powerful House tax-writing committee  for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean. This goes to show that our officials are Corrupted by wealth and power, our government is like a restaurant with only one dish. They’ve got a set of Republican waiters on one side and a set of Democratic waiters on the other side. But no matter which set of waiters brings you the dish, the legislative grub is all prepared in the same corporate kitchens….