To: IAHF List
Subject: Drug Firms Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars In "Consulting Fees" To Government Watchdogs
From: IAHF.COM
Date: 9 Dec 2003 19:57:04 -0000

IAHF List: While the info below about the pharma cartel paying megabucks to people at NIH as "consultants" is certainly nothing new, its always good to have this sort of information at our fingertips to use as ammunition. 94% of the NIH staff are paid consultants to the Cartel, that is unacceptable and we must fight like hell politically to force full disclosure. We can and will use this news against the cartel.

When I read this article, it reminded me of the day I paid a visit to my friend Dr.Dan Eskinazi, an acupuncturist who used to work at the Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH.

I went into his office and he said "John, we can't talk in here, this office is bugged." So we walked outside to a park bench where he said "John, those of you who helped establish this office have no idea what its like for those of us who actually work inside this awful place. Daily people here give me the finger. Daily they make snide comments as we pass in the hall and on the stairs. I've been shoved on the stairs, and one time I had to really restrain myself. They're going to fire me, and I know it too, but before they fire me, I'm going to succeed in accomplishing at least one good thing- I'm going to get acupuncture needles aproved by the FDA as a medial device, they've only been in use for thousands of years. I've been probing around inside the bureaucracy ruffling a lot of feathers and pissing a lot of people off, but I'm going to succeed."

Well he DID SUCCCED, and 4 days later, they fired him, but ever since acupuncturists have been able to get reimbursed by insurance.

Dan Eskinazi, wherever you are today, God bless you. I know how much you sacrificed for the cause of the truth.

Don't let this report below get you down. No reason to feel demoralized by it. The truth shines like pure gold and cannot be suppressed. Each of us who has a positive experience with alternative medicine after mainstream medicine almost kills them or has no answers will tell as many people as they can. The story of my recovery from schizophrenia has been translated into several foreign languages and has been downloaded over a million times, and forwarded massively world wide. Many other people have also posted their stories on the web with similar results. The cartel is defenseless against our constant spreading of the truth, so don't be demoralized by this news, we're going to win, we just have to hang in there and to quote Winston Churchill- "Never ever eVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER GIVE UP!" If you haven't read my story yet its at http://www.iahf.com/on_the_back_wards.html

Please forward this to more people. Anyone can sign onto the IAHF email distribution list at http://www.iahf.com and its an opt in list. No mountain is too high to climb. We shall overcome. God gave us the supplements they're trying to take away, and we're going to successfully defend our access by working together, fighting this battle the old fashioned way: any way we can.

Report: Drug Firms Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars In "Consulting Fees" To Government Watchdogs...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&ncid=541&e=1&u=/ap/20031207/ap_on_he_me/health_conflict

Excerpts: Some of the National Institute of Health's top officials have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies whose products they were responsible for monitoring, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper, citing records it said it began gathering five years ago, reported that in some instances officials of the federal institute operated as consultants for companies whose drugs were linked to the deaths of patients taking part in NIH studies.

Dr. Ruth L. Kirschstein, who as deputy director and acting director of the agency since 1993 approved many of the consulting arrangements, told the newspaper she did not believe the public's interest had been compromised.

"I think NIH scientists, NIH directors and all the staff are highly ethical people with enormous integrity," she said. "And I think we do our business in the most remarkable way."

She said she would consider making changes in the consulting arrangements.

"Systems can always be tightened up," Kirschstein told the Times during an interview in October. "And perhaps, based on this, we will do so."

A month after that interview, NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni told agency leaders he would form a committee to study the appropriateness of employee consulting work.

He told the Times he wants the institute "to manage not just the reality, but the perception of conflict of interest."

Medical ethicists said the consulting arrangements represent a clear conflict of interest.

"If I am a scientist working in an NIH lab and I get a lot of money in consulting fees, then I'm going to want to make sure that the company does very well," said Dr. Arnold S. Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.

He said the arrangement also raises concerns about patient safety.

One patient the Times said died was Jamie Ann Jackson, who had been listed as "Subject No. 4" in an NIH study of the treatment of kidney inflammation related to lupus, a disease that attacks the body's immune system.

The cause of death was linked to a complication involving use of a drug made by Schering AG, for which Dr. Stephen I. Katz, the senior NIH official involved in the study, was a paid consultant.

Katz didn't stop the study after Jackson's death or warn doctors outside the agency, which could have threatened the market potential for the drug, the Times said.

Katz said his connection to Schering AG had no influence on his decisions and his work for the company had been approved by top NIH officials.

Katz has been paid between $476,369 and $616,365 in company fees over the past decade, the Times said, citing his income-disclosure reports.

Dr. John I. Gallin, director of the NIH's Clinical Center, the nation's largest site of medical experiments on humans, has received $145,000 to $322,000 in fees and stock proceeds for consulting work done between 1997 and 2002, the newspaper said. In one case, the Times said, he co-wrote an article on the gene-transfer technology done by a company he consulted for.

Several other NIH officials were cited as receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars, including one who received more than $1.4 million. Some of them also were paid by companies involved in the agency's research or whose products were the subjects of NIH studies.

Each of them told the newspaper their consulting work was done with the approval of top institute officials.

Uncovering such payments is difficult, the Times said, because the NIH allows more than 94 percent of its top-paid employees to keep their consulting income confidential.

The NIH has been at the forefront of medical research for decades, leading the government's battles against cancer, AIDS and other diseases. More recently, President Bush pressed the institute, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, into service in the fight against biological terrorism.

For Health Freedom,
John C. Hammell, President
International Advocates for Health Freedom
556 Boundary Bay Road
Point Roberts, WA 98281-8702 USA
http://www.iahf.com
jham@iahf.com
800-333-2553 N.America
360-945-0352 World