What Took You So Long?
By Michael Goodspeed
If life were a Star Trek episode, Commander Data would currently be postulating that the Enterprise has entered a wormhole, creating a rift in the space/time continuum. Lieutenant Worf would turn gay, Counselor Troi would become a nympho, and Captain Picard would drop trou and relieve himself on his ship's deck.
You see, at this moment in time and space, nothing is as it should be. I know this, because over the last week or so, the impossible has finally happened. The mainstream news media in the US have been consistently telling the public the TRUTH.
And it's not just inane truth, like "cigarettes will kill you," or "seatbelts save lives." The truth we are finally hearing from the "monopoly press" has long been forbidden. It is an earth-shattering TABOO that could change life as we know it, if the public is actually paying attention.
I am speaking of the media coverage of the now RECALLED arthritis drug, Vioxx. Congressional hearings on this subject have blown the lid off of a deep-rooted scandal that should have made headlines decades ago. According to one former FDA drug official (David J. Graham), the American public is "virtually defenseless" against the "safety problems" posed by the FDA's approval process of drugs such as Vioxx.
Graham also raised serious concerns about the safety of such drugs as Accutane (anti-acne), Meridia (anti-weight loss), Crestor (anti-cholesterol), Bextra (pain reliever), and Serevent (asthma).
In the wake of these revelations, high-paid newscasters on major networks are asking questions such as, "Is the FDA being funded by big drug companies?" and "Has the FDA failed the public?" and "Can the FDA ever be trusted again?"
But make no mistake, the only reason these hair-sprayed, botoxed media whores are asking these questions is because they have NO CHOICE. The Vioxx story is simply too big to ignore, so for the first time EVER, mainstream "journalists" are speaking a little bit of truth about FDA officials and the drug-dealing thugs who finance them.
Of course, the US news media would serve the public better if they asked THEMSELVES some pointed questions, most particularly, "What took us so bloody long to begin telling the truth?"
Everyone with more than a few working brain cells has known for years about the FDA's collusion with drug companies. This crime has continued steadily since Ronald Reagan installed Arthur Hull Hayes as FDA commissioner in 1981. Hayes, in conjunction with former GD Searle CEO Donald Rumsfeld, was responsible for the approval of the artificial sweetener aspartame.
In 1980, an FDA board of inquiry confirmed that aspartame "might induce brain tumors" and should not be approved for public consumption. But on January 21, 1981, the day after Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applied aspartame for approval, and Hayes appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to "review" aspartame's safety.
The panel had reportedly decided to uphold the aspartame ban by a 3-2 decision, but Hayes installed a sixth member on the commission, resulting in a deadlock. Hayes himself then had the power to break the tie, which he did in aspartame's favor. Years later, Hayes left the FDA under allegations of "impropriety," and eventually took a position with a PR firm for both Monsanto and GD Searle.
In the years since, aspartame (NutraSweet) has been implemented in thousands of food and beverage products, including all diet soft drinks. Anecdotal reports of horrendous side effects, including migraine headaches, grand mal seizures, memory loss, brain tumors, and even death are over-abundant. Recently, a $350 million class action RICO lawsuit was filed against the NutraSweet Corporation, American Diabetes Association, Dr. Robert H. Moser and John Does. (Story: http://www.newswithviews.com/BreakingNews/breaking25.htm)
The FDA's culpability in the aspartame crime was confirmed by former FDA investigator Arthur Evangelista, who claims to have personally "witnessed reports being altered, statements changed, and lies told, regarding investigations and regulations applications." Evangelista describes aspartame as "a neurotoxin by nature...extremely damaging to the central nervous system, and subsequent neural-dependent systems like endocrine and liver functions. The very fact that aspartame is in our food supply, implies an un-regulatory agency which better serves the industry that it was supposed to be regulating." (Source: http://www.rense.com/general21/parkinsonFox.htm)
Anti-aspartame activists have maintained for years that the FDA is "in bed" with the big drug companies (See Betty Martini's definitive website, dorway.com). And now, the mainstream media, totally against their will, have been forced to acknowledge this inarguable truth.
Unfortunately, many more people will have to die before the big news media shows any inclination to expose aspartame. The reason for this is obvious: just as many FDA officials have been bought and paid for by the big drug companies, big media outlets have an insatiable desire for advertising revenue. Ask yourself, when was the last time you sat through a thirty minute newscast and didn't see a single ad for a soft drink?
Many trial lawyers figure to make beaucoup dollars from Vioxx lawsuits in the coming years. In a just world, a co-defendant in these lawsuits would be the mainstream news media, who for years have knowingly turned a blind eye to rampant corruption that has directly killed countless people.
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