(NaturalNews) The Vioxx scandal widened this week as new research published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that Vioxx maker Merck held data for three years that proved Vioxx caused an alarming increase in the risk of heart attacks and strokes. And yet Merck chose not to release that data. In fact, it took three more years of patients dying from heart attacks before Vioxx was pulled off the market, and even then, Merck insisted the drug was not dangerous.
This new study was based on a meta-analysis of several
unpublished studies that Merck obviously didn't want to see published in medical journals. Drug
companies routinely engage in this subterfuge: They cherry-pick which studies they want published while burying the rest. They also choose which studies to forward to
the FDA, all while claiming the whole charade is based on "
evidence-based medicine."
It is, sort of. If you add the word "selective" in front of the phrase, making it: "Selective evidence-based
medicine."
So how were the authors of this new study able to find these unpublished studies that
Merck would much prefer remained hidden? They were disclosed
in court proceedings against Merck. So many people were harmed by
Vioxx, you see, that some of them decided to sue. And in that legal process, many "secret" studies were revealed. Some smart-minded researchers decided to analyze the data in those studies and that's what reveals Merck knew Vioxx raised the
risk of heart-related side effects by
35 percent and yet did nothing to warn the public about those risks.
In essence, these documents prove that Merck
knowingly and maliciously allowed a deadly
drug to continue to be sold to
patients for years. It's a clear case of
profits before patients from a drug company mired in one scandal after another. (Merck is also the maker of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine.)
In its defense, Merck says its own scientists couldn't find any link between Vioxx and
heart attack deaths. Understandably, it's difficult to find anything when your profits depend on not finding it.
Now that this data is public, it reveals that Merck's executives and / or
employees were engaged in a conspiracy to withhold important
drug safety data from the public and the
FDA. The aim of this conspiracy was simple: To maximize profits through the sale of a product they knew was killing people.
Of course, only the naive are surprised to hear this. Informed
NaturalNews readers already know this is
the default behavior of drug companies. They'll do anything to make a buck, including fabricating clinical trial data, withholding important
evidence, misrepresenting their
drugs in television ads and lobbying lawmakers to make their drugs mandatory. The idea that they would knowingly sell a deadly drug to the general public -- while sitting on data for years that proved the drug was dangerous -- isn't really surprising. Not once you know how the
pharmaceutical industry really works, anyway.
Many people (and many states) are fed up with the criminal
behavior of drug companies. Nearly 10,000 individuals filed personal injury
lawsuits against Merck over the
Vioxx scandal. Most were settled for $4.85 billion in 2007, but many lawsuits remain. Eleven states' Attorneys General have also filed lawsuits against Merck, alleging the company committed fraud in its
marketing of the drug to state Medicaid programs. Those lawsuits have yet to be resolved.
More legal action against Merck is no doubt on the way, as the company has engaged in questionable marketing practices spanning many different drugs (not just Vioxx). Drug companies like Merck have operated in the shadows for years, hiding data they knew would be damaging to their profits. These actions no doubt resulted in
the needless deaths of tens of thousands of health consumers who would likely be alive today if this hidden data had been made public in 2001 when it was first known by Merck.
Merck's actions fit the legal definition of "negligent homicide." By withholding this important information, Merck indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of people. And yet somehow Merck's executives and employees are literally "getting away with murder" as there are no efforts under way to prosecute these people for their crimes.
I have to ask the obvious question: Why aren't Merck's executives being arrested and hauled off to prison for prosecution? If this were a Wall Street scandal, you'd see the head honchos in handcuffs, paraded on videos blasted across the evening news. But when it comes to pharmaceuticals, it's just
business as usual. No one is held accountable. All those dead Americans essentially have their graves spit on by the failed justice system in this country that allows murderous corporations to continue killing more people with their deadly products.
The reason for all this is simple:
America values money more than it values lives. When peoples' investments are destroyed, that's a crime. But when peoples' lives are destroyed by a dangerous pharmaceutical product,
that's nobody's fault. Accountability is non-existent.
It sure puts America's priorities into perspective, doesn't it?
Public safety has been all but abandoned by the FDA and the pharmaceutical
industry -- an industry ruled by nothing other than the almighty dollar. And yet, here's something that puts it all into yet more perspective: According to Congressional testimony about Vioxx from drug safety experts,
Vioxx alone killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War.
Is that something worth investigating for potential prosecution? If you value human life, then yes, absolutely. So why do Merck's executives all seem to be immune to the law? Why is the Department of Justice too timid to go after one of the most dangerous organizations in the country that has killed many times more Americans than all terrorists combined?
Why isn't Merck on the FBI's "America's Most Wanted" list?
And why do the American people tolerate such corporate behavior on their own soil? Is killing people with chemicals any less serious than killing people with bullets? Imagine the public outcry if a car company sold a defective vehicle that resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people... that would be shocking headline news. But when it comes to pharmaceutical deaths, the people remain strangely silent.
And the reason? There's no
video footage of people dying. Pharmaceutical deaths are silent, whimpering deaths. No fiery crashes. No flying
body parts. No explosions to splash across the evening news. Just millions of people being individually and chemically snuffed out, all around the world, after taking patented prescription drugs sold by companies that lied to them about their safety.
Sources for this story include:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704779704574554071807123380.htmlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AM4MV20091123
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening.
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Email this article to a friend
Share this article on: 
Now Available from 
