TV News LIES

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should make more information public, including its reasons for refusing to approve a drug or device, an agency task force recommended on Wednesday.

If adopted, the changes would shed considerable light on a review process that affects the entire drug and device industries. All of the proposals would offer the public more details on key agency decisions.

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) calls for independent vaccine safety agency and Congressional hearings on government's lax record on safety issues.

A three-part investigative series on Merck's cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil®, highlights serious conflicts of interest across agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in the development, approval and safety surveillance of vaccines. The series, by Mark Blaxill, Editor-at-Large for the Internet newspaper Age of Autism and a Director of SafeMinds, was posted on the newspaper's site on May 12-13 (www.ageofautism.com/mark_blaxill). It preceded the announcement on May 14 that FDA, a DHHS agency, is allowing use of rotavirus vaccines despite their contamination with viral particles from pigs. (http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm212149.htm)

Relatively low-level exposure to common pesticides -- probably from residues on foods -- doubles kids' risk of ADHD, Harvard researchers find. The findings come from a nationally representative sample of 1,139 U.S. kids aged 8 to 15  who were tested for ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and had urine samples tested for signs of exposure to various organophosphate pesticides such as malathion.

The May 6 report by the President's Cancer Panel is well-documented. It warns of scientific evidence on avoidable causes of cancer from exposure to carcinogens in air, water, consumer products, and the workplace. It also warns of hormonal risks from exposure to Bisphenol-A (BPA) and other toxic plastic contaminants, says Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition (CPC).

Many who think they have food allergies actually do not. A new report, commissioned by the federal government, finds the field is rife with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and tests that can give misleading results.

While there is no doubt that people can be allergic to certain foods, with reproducible responses ranging from a rash to a severe life-threatening reaction, the true incidence of food allergies is only about 8 percent for children and less than 5 percent for adults, said Dr. Marc Riedl, an author of the new paper and an allergist and immunologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Environmental carcinogens are responsible for a far greater number of cancers than previously believed -- a fact that suggests eradicating these environmental threats should be a priority for President Obama -- according to the report of a presidential advisory panel.