Bird Flu: Weapon of Mass Deception

Using the threat of a bird flu pandemic in the same way he used the bogus threat of Iraqi WMD’s in the runup to the Iraq War, President Bush is hoping to intimidate Congress into passing legislation that would grant blanket immunity from liability to pharmaceutical companies.

Such liability protection would extend to all instances of catastrophic health effects arising from the use of vaccines and other medications. This comes as the pharmaceutical industry faces the possibility of class-action lawsuits, similar to those brought against tobacco companies, stemming from the inclusion of the additive Thimerosal in vaccines routinely used to inoculate children against common childhood diseases.

Thimerosal contains mercury, and has been implicated by many scientists and doctors, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, in the explosive increase in the incidence of autism in recent years

"At this moment there is no pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is our guide, there's reason to be concerned," Bush said in a speech at the National Institutes of Health on November 1. In the same speech he said the government must approve liability protection for those who manufacture vaccines.

Pharmaceuticals legislation currently under consideration by Congress which would confer blanket liability protection on drug manufacturers include S. 1783, The Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act, and a similar bill in the House, H.R. 3970.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a watchdog consumer advocacy group, has called the pending legislation “an end-run by Pharma's friends in Congress to take away the civil rights of the American people."

Avian flu outbreaks have occurred in Asia among people who live and work in close proximity to poultry. However, the disease in its present form cannot be transmitted from one human to another. The need for a bird flu vaccine to be developed under emergency conditions is questionable.

In addition, pharmaceutical companies already enjoy extensive protection against liability. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 protects drug companies and doctors from almost all lawsuits, and there are only a handful of vaccine injury lawsuits pending in civil courts.

However, the possibility of class action suits arising from the use of Thimerosal has the big pharmaceutical firms worried enough to push for the current legislation. . The U.S. Department of Education has documented the rate of increase in the incidence of autism between 1992 and 2000 as 435 percent.