Secret Vaccine Agency Being Created

 National Vaccine Information Center Newsletter
  
 e-NEWS
 November 16, 2006
  
  
   "Burr's bill, commonly referred to as BARDA, would create a new position
within the Department of Health and Human Services that would be solely
responsible for the oversight of vaccine production. This individual, who
would require Senate confirmation, would administer a billion-dollar fund
for the next two years that would aid the development of vaccines. Bob
Kadlec, a bio-defense and public- health consultant, used to work for Burr.
He said that Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the need to have one person in
charge, and though the bill has many components, this is perhaps the most
critical. "This was something that (has been) left in flux," Kadlec said.
"It's important to have one identifiable person in charge." - Mary
Shaffrey, Winston Salem Journal, Nov. 14, 2006
 
 
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
 
 
 Bob Kadlec and his former boss, Senator Burr, have lobbied for the
creation of a new agency, BARDA, headed by an individual empowered to spend
billions of taxpayer dollars developing experimental drugs and vaccines
behind closed doors with no public oversight. Whenever the Secretary of
Health gives the green light, these experimental drugs and vaccines can be
forced on American citizens.
 
The millions of Americans who will become the U.S. government's human
guinea pigs will have no legal recourse if they are injured. Kadlec and
Burr made sure of that when they helped ram Bioshield Two (Biodefense and
Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005) through Congress in the
middle of the night without public knowledge.
 
BARDA is a bad idea, especially since the BARDA czar sitting in back rooms
with drug company execs will have access to hundreds of millions of
taxpayer dollars but their activities will be exempt from FOIA (Freedom of
Information Act) requests from the public to find out how that money is
being spent. Nobody but the BARDA czar and his boss, the politically
appointed Secretary of Health, will know just how toxic those experimental
vaccines and drugs might be before they are forced on citizens in the name
of protecting the public health and national security.
 
For more information on the plans that bi- partisan supporters of
authoritarian biodefense legislation have for America, read the letter NVIC
sent to Bob Kadlec in November 2005 at www.nvic.org (Under News & Features
on homepage, click on "Liability Shield Given to Pharma).
 
If you want to voice your opinion about plans to create BARDA so drug
companies can develop experimental drugs and vaccines in secret, it is
important for you to write,email and fax your Senator and Congressperson at
their Washington, D.C. office and their home office in your state without
delay. If you oppose the legislation, ask for public hearings in both the
House and Senate in January 2007 before any legislation is passed. Go to
www.senate.gov to find out how to contact your federal legislators.
 
 Burr bill may be taken up in lame-duck session
 
 If held, it will keep its support, adviser says
 
 Winston Salem Journal
November 14, 2006

By Mary M. Shaffrey
JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU

http://www.journalnow.com/.../MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=114
9191680264

Click here for the URL: (registration required)
 
 Though Republicans still control the congressional agenda, they can't do
much without widespread Democratic support.

And one of the big items expected to get consideration this week during the
lame-duck session is a bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., that
would establish a new federal agency to combat bioterrorism - the
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who will be the majority
leader come January, has said he would like to see bioterrorism and
pandemic flu-related legislation taken up before Congress adjourns for the
year.

Burr's bill, commonly referred to as BARDA, would create a new position
within the Department of Health and Human Services that would be solely
responsible for the oversight of vaccine production.

This individual, who would require Senate confirmation, would administer a
billion-dollar fund for the next two years that would aid the development
of vaccines.

Bob Kadlec, a bio-defense and public-health consultant, used to work for
Burr. He said that Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the need to have one
person in charge, and though the bill has many components, this is perhaps
the most critical.

"This was something that (has been) left in flux," Kadlec said. "It's
important to have one identifiable person in charge."

Brad Smith, a senior associate at the Center for BioSecurity at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has followed the bill closely
since Burr introduced it in 2005. He said that it would deal with the
concerns of pharmaceutical-industry officials, who have complained that
they did not have "a strong partnership" with the federal government as
industry was developing vaccines.

But Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland
Security at the University of Maryland, said that it's a bad idea to pass
the bioterrorism bill now.

"It would be a mistake to pass this now in a lame-duck Congress. It would
be the wrong approach. It needs a more thorough review," he said.

Passing the bill now is "like putting a Band-Aid on a mortal wound," said
Greenberger, who recommended fixing existing pieces of legislation before
trying to create something new.

BARDA has already passed the House of Representatives, by a voice vote
before the October recess. The Senate version is attached to a pandemic-flu
bill - also promoted by Burr - that needs to be reauthorized before
Congress adjourns for the year.

It's not clear whether the House would take up the new version of the
legislation, if it passes the Senate. The House is expected to take a
recess on Wednesday and return in early December.

There's little motivation for many House Republicans to stick around for
anything other than necessary appropriations bills - particularly those who
lost in midterm elections.

Smith said that if the bioterrorism bill is not taken up this year, he
expects it to be one of the first items discussed when Democrats take over
in January.

"All along this has been a bipartisan issue," he said. "If for whatever
reason it doesn't get done in time (this year), there will still be
critical bipartisan support."


. Mary M. Shaffrey can be reached in Washington at 202-662-7672 or at
mshaffrey@wsjournal.com.
 
  
  

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NVIC is funded through the financial support of its members and does not
receive any government subsidies. Barbara Loe Fisher, President and Co-
founder.

Learn more about vaccines, diseases and how to protect your informed
consent rights at www.nvic.org 
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  email: news@nvic.org
  phone: 703-938-dpt3
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