98 Percent of NaturalNews Readers Say Big Pharma Should be Denied Blanket Immunity: Survey

Thursday, April 17, 2008 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: Big Pharma, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) At online survey posted at www.NaturalNews.com reveals that 98 percent of survey participants believe Big Pharma should not be granted blanket immunity for the harm caused by their drugs. A push is currently underway by Big Pharma's lawyers (aided by the FDA) to grant drug companies blanket immunity for any FDA-approved pharmaceutical, even if the drug company lied to the FDA and fabricated false clinical evidence in order to receive FDA approval. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on this issue, called "preemption," which could deny consumers the right to sue drug companies in state courts for damages or deaths caused by unsafe drugs.

The survey was posted from April 9th - April 15th, 2008, and 1947 votes were tallied. The question asked was, "Should drug companies be granted blanket immunity for the injury or death caused by their drugs?"

Forty-eight votes (2%) were cast for: "Yes: State courts should not be allowed to second-guess FDA approvals"

Opposing that view, 1899 votes were cast for: "No: Drug companies should be held responsible for the harm caused by their products"

These results reveal that an overwhelming majority of natural health consumers do not believe drug companies should be granted blanket immunity for the harm caused by their products. NaturalNews is one of the most widely-read online health magazines in the world, now reaching over one million unique readers per month. The website was recently voted the "No. 1 most trusted health news website" in a similar survey, beating out Reuters, the Associated Press, WebMD.com and other traditional news sources on the issue of reader trust.

The survey is repeated here, if you'd like to participate now:

Commentary by Mike Adams

Isn't it interesting that the U.S. government -- via the FDA -- is now so unabashedly protecting corporate America that it will even argue in favor of denying the People their Constitutional right to seek justice for the harm caused by dangerous pharmaceuticals? If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Big Pharma in this case, it will be the final failure in a catastrophic system of organized crime that masquerades as a system of medicine. In this case, however, the "mob boss" drug companies own the regulators (the FDA), the legislators, AND the courts! The rights of the People to seek justice will have been utterly abandoned, thrown to the wind by a system of pharmaceutical profiteering that has zero regard for human compassion or consumer safety.

No reasonable person believes that automobile manufacturers should be granted blanket immunity if they manufacture and sell defective cars that kill people. Similarly, nobody believes that aircraft makers should be granted such immunity, either. Nor would it be reasonable to grant such immunity to food manufacturers, nutritional supplement companies or medical device manufacturers. So why is the Supreme Court leaning towards a decision that would single out Big Pharma for this unprecedented legal immunity?

The answer, of course, is because the corporations run this country. They run the legislative branch, the executive branch, and they even strongly influence the judicial branch of our government. Government officials are corrupt, lawmakers are on the take, and government employees who were supposed to be working for the People are now working for the corporations. Big Pharma has managed to turn the Government against the People, and the advocacy of this blanket immunity position by the FDA is a perfect example of just how completely government regulators have betrayed America.

This government, which was once created "of the People, by the People and for the People" has now become the adversary of the People, siding with greedy corporations over the rights of individuals at every opportunity. I fear this is a dangerous development that will only cause our nation to slip further into corporate-controlled medical tyranny, where people are poisoned with toxic drugs, killed by the hundreds of thousands, and yet discover they have absolutely no legal recourse because the "King" has decreed that the peons no longer have any legal rights.

The enslavement of the American people is underway

What you are witnessing here, folks, is the enslavement of the American People and the systematic stripping away of their Constitutional rights. You are watching the destruction of the Republic and the downfall of justice. This is exactly how it happens, one court decision at a time, until you wake up homeless on the continent your forefathers conquered, to quote Jefferson.

Think about it: In the last eight years, America has become a country that engages in routine torture, that kidnaps people and holds them in secret prisons, that conducts routine surveillance on the American people (spying on its own citizens), that conspires with corporations to steal taxpayer dollars (the Medicare Drug Benefit scam), and that has systematically dismantled one Constitutional right after another. Do you think this government would hesitate for even a moment to deny the People their right to a fair trial? Of course not. Anything that can be done to protect the profits of the corporations will be done; even if it means betraying the People and betraying their oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

I'm afraid that this blanket immunity scheme, if passed, will completely disconnect Big Pharma from any measure of drug safety or scientific honesty. From that point forward, there is no longer any need whatsoever for drugs to be safe, effective or based on honest science. Drug companies need only trick the FDA into approving a drug -- even a highly dangerous drug -- and they earn complete immunity, even if it is later discovered that they committed FRAUD to win the FDA's approval!

I have an alternative proposal. As I am a believer in the Constitution and the rights of the People to seek justice, I propose that instead of granting Big Pharma immunity for all the harm caused by their drugs, we hold them responsible. We send in four or five hundred armed FBI agents and make nationwide arrests of Big Pharma's CEOs and top decision makers. We also arrest the top FDA officials and charge them for their crimes against humanity. We prosecute these people for their crimes: Their negligence, their conspiracy and their organized crime operation that has bilked the American taxpayers out of literally billions of dollars while killing more than half a million people in the last five years alone.

We hold public trials, open-camera hearings in the courts, and we grant immunity to all the drug reps, doctors and FDA scientists who wish to testify against the top criminals running this racket. Then we dismantle the drug racket by abolishing all patents on pharmaceuticals and medicines, ending Big Pharma's tightly-controlled monopoly that has sent countless U.S. households, businesses and state governments into downward-spiraling bankruptcy.

Remember, I never advocate the use of violence in achieving these means. I only ask that the laws of the land apply to the corporations, too. Why should drug company CEOs be granted immunity when they hide evidence that shows their drugs are killing so many people? Why should the People be denied their right to seek justice? Why should top FDA officials not be investigated by the FBI and Dept. of Justice personnel when they openly engage in organized crime operations, monopoly price fixing, intimidation of natural product providers and other similar crimes?

Selective justice is no justice at all. The laws that govern the People must also apply to the corporations. Otherwise, we don't live under a system of justice; we live under a system of control.

Must-see documentary: The Corporation (www.thecorporation.com)