TOPIC:

Folks
I'm thinking of starting up a petition. Let me know what you think. If anyone has any thoughts on the wording please share.

Hi Beaches
I guess James needs to green light a petition really in case we in doing a petition are accidentally shining a spotlight where it's not wanted at the mo
Just a thought about his personal GP practice
Hoping this week flies by for you xx last week! Yay
Ariel

Good thinking, 99, you are right. Shining the wrong kind of light would be the second worst thing that could happen

I am going to have a massively busy week at work, won't have time to think about EOT. Had booked Friday off but might end up going in to the office after doing the EOT bloods.
Should not have told my boss, I'm sure he is thinking if she performed that well when she was sick lets see what she can do now she's OK. Oh well, all good

Just watching an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) program Q&A - can be found under www ABC catalyst or the like.

Appears Tamiflu may be not all that it is made up to be: issues of studies being presented having commercial in confidence clauses that can keep ad side effects undisclosed; and Australian TGA being funded by industry - a pay for service set up where if you start knocking back too many drugs, you cut your own source of income off as well.

All very interesting and I am sure there are many sides to the issue I am just too stupid to understand and the ABC will soon be geoblocked as well. But I do wonder if the TGA should think more about what it is supposed to do before it interferes with my right to find information.

J.

I think their sole function is to be handmaidens of big pharma.

Sorry, I'm lost sabrecat.... where can this program or article be watched or read ... I'm sooo confused
Thanks,

MK

P.S. Any help here beaches???

Hi,

www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4190452.htm will get you there.

It's a re-run and part f it says:

"NARRATION
Funding for the TGA comes exclusively from industry. This raises concerns that the TGA could be pressured into putting the needs of industry before public safety. The TGA strongly denies this and says it usually seeks the advice of an independent expert advisory committee before making a decision to approve or reject a new product. So will the government continue to stockpile antivirals in the face of such uncertainty? A statement from the Department of Health said – (Reads) Based on all available data, including the most recent Cochrane report (about these drugs), the Australian Government will continue to maintain its stockpile of the antiviral drugs."

I just love it. All these entities that think they are in ivory towers and really are in houses made of glass. The program really proves nothing, and in the don't sue me jargon, just "raises serious questions".

My message to the TGA - 'f off' and leave me alone.

J.

P.S.

Google: "Tamiflu Gilead" - are they related in anyway? Nothing really, but "raises serious questions"?

Thanks sabrecat. I know I don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak, being an American and all but, like I've said elsewhere on this forum, I am part of the human family, and I live life within the concept that what affects one of us, affects all of us.

We all have a dog in this fight, Matt. The Aussie government 'jack boots' who are seeking to shut down this forum are bought and paid for by the same folks who are fighting to keep you and me away from an affordable path to treatment in the US.

Sabrecat, it is easy to scare people when you have a few cases of an illness we're not familiar with. So when we had the cases of H1N1 we lost most of the patients. The few that were saved were put on lung machines. So people panicked and Roche made billions selling Tamiflu . In the UK people were able to buy it without prescription.

Reports later showed that Tamiflu doesn't do much. It shortens the flu symptoms by 16 hours and doesn't prevent complications like pneumonia or hospitalizations.

Tamiflu is part of a group of anti-influenza drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors, which work by blocking a viral enzyme that helps the influenza virus to invade cells in your respiratory tract. The problem is that your nervous system also contains neuraminidase enzymes essential for proper brain functioning, and when blocked with these drugs, severe neurotoxicity may ensue (especially in the infants and children whose blood-brain barrier has not yet developed sufficiently).

The side effects included seizures, suicidal behavior, hallucinations, delirium, and other behavioral side effects (such as reports of children jumping off roofs shortly after taking the drug), which, of course, had not been reported by the drug company.

So the risk, by far outweighs the possible benefit yet the CDC put Tamiflu on the list of recommended meds and our governments wasted billions to stockpile it .

P.

Hi,

my posting was somewhat of a knee jerk reaction after watching the television.

I expect there are no easy answers with planning to protect populations from pandemics and the like. I suppose my angst was more in line with agencies that are there to protect me, wasting my tax money on restricting my right to access information from the internet.

Rant finished, my daughter wants me to pay 'crocky boys' (don't ask), so wheres the banana?

Jeff

So the shepherds work for the wolves.....
Its a great arrangement...
unless you're a sheep....