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Mortar Attack on U.S. Base in Mosul: Deadliest Incident for
U.S. in Iraq Since Start of Occupation
Can the FDA Protect the Public? Agency Accused Of Approving
Unsafe Drugs Under Pressure From Pharmaceutical Industry
Guinea Pig Kids: How New York City is Using Children to Test
Experimental AIDS Drugs
Mortar Attack on U.S. Base in Mosul: Deadliest Incident
for U.S. in Iraq Since Start of Occupation
In the single deadliest attack on Americans since the March
2003 invasion of Iraq, 14 U.S. soldiers, 4 American civilians
and 4 Iraqis were killed in a mortar attack on a U.S. military
compound in Mosul. We hear a report from an embedded journalist
who was on the scene and we speak Paul Reickoff, a former
soldier who served in Iraq and is founder of Operation Truth.
It is being called the single-most deadly incident in Iraq
for Americans since the invasion began in March of 2003. On
Tuesday afternoon in Iraq, a mortar slammed into the dining
tent at a US military compound in the northern city of Mosul,
killing 14 U.S. soldiers, four American civilians and four
Iraqis.
More than 70 people were wounded. A reporter embedded with
the troops in Mosul, Jeremy Redmon of the Richmond Times-Dispatch,
described the attack like this:
- Jeremy Redmon, Richmond Times-Dispatch, speaking in Mosul.
Shortly after the attack, the commander of the base at Mosul,
Brigadier General Carter Ham described the incident.
- Brigadier General Carter Ham, speaking in Mosul.
Meanwhile, president Bush commented on the attacks after
emerging from the Walter Reed Army hospital where he was visiting
wounded soldiers. Here is some of what he had to say.
- President Bush, speaking in front of the Walter Reed
Army Hospital in Washington DC.
- Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director and Founder of Operation
Truth, a nonprofit organization set up to give voice
to troops who served in Iraq. He served a tour of duty in
Iraq from April 2003 to February 2004 where he was stationed
in central Baghdad.
Can the FDA Protect the Public? Agency Accused Of
Approving Unsafe Drugs Under Pressure From Pharmaceutical
Industry
We take a look at the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA and
the corporate influence on the drug approval process with
Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen's Health Research
Group.
The pharmaceutical industry is still reeling from one of
its most devastating couple of days in recent history. On
Sunday, drug giant Pfizer announced that it was pulling all
advertisements for its popular pain reliever Celebrex. This
came two days after the company admitted that studies showed
high doses of the drug led to an increased risk of heart attacks.
But Pfizer said it was keeping the drug on the market and
the company says it will continue to market the drug to doctors.
In addition to Pfizer's announcement about Celebrex, drug
companies AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly also disclosed serious
problems with drugs of their own.
AstraZeneca admitted that tests show that its lung cancer
drug, Iressa, did not prolong lives. And Eli Lilly warned
doctors that, Strattera, its drug to fight attention deficit
disorder drug has caused severe liver injury in at least two
patients. The announcements resulted in the three companies
losing a total of $30 billion in stock value. Then early this
week, the Food and Drug Administration announced that yet
another painkiller drug on the market might increase people's
risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The drug is manufactured
by Bayer and is known as Aleve when sold over the counter
and naproxen when sold by prescription.
Meanwhile, retiring Congressmember Billy Tauzin has announced
he has accepted a $2 million post to head the country's largest
pharmaceutical lobbying firm PHRMA. The Center for Responsive
Politics reports that the pharmaceutical industry donated
more than $200,000 to Tauzin's campaigns over the past 15
years. We placed a number of calls to both Pfizer and PHRMA
asking them to join us on this program. They did not return
our calls.
Guinea Pig Kids: How New York City is Using Children
to Test Experimental AIDS Drugs
A new BBC documentary exposes how the city of New York has
been forcing HIV-positive children under its supervision to
be used as human guinea pigs in tests for experimental AIDS
drug trials. We speak with the filmmaker Jamie Doran and Vera
Sharav of the Alliance for Human Research Protection.
A new BBC documentary exposes how the city of New York has
been forcing HIV positive children under its supervision to
be used as human guinea pigs in tests for experimental AIDS
drug trials.
All of the children in the program were under the legal guidance
of the city's child welfare department, the Administration
for Children's Services. Most live in foster care or independent
homes run on behalf of the local authorities and almost all
the children are believed to be African-American or Latino.
The BBC identified pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline as
one of the companies that provided the experimental drugs
for the tests. In an email to Democracy Now! GlaxoSmithKline
stated "pharmaceutical companies are not directly involved
in the recruitment, enrolment or participation of patients
in such trials." GSK went on to say "the FDA encourages
studies in pediatric patients. Clinical trials involving children
and orphans are therefore legal and not unusual."
In the documentary, parents or guardians who refused to consent
to the trials claim that children were removed by ACS and
placed in foster families or children's homes. Then, acting
over their objections, ACS authorized the drug trials. We
called the Administration for Children's Services to respond
to the allegations but they declined to join us on the program
but did send us a written statement.
To talk about this story we are joined by award-winning documentary
filmmaker Jamie Doran who made the film "Guinea Pig Kids."
He joins us on the line from London. And here in New York
we are joined by Vera Sharav of the Alliance for Human Research
Protection.
- Jamie Doran, an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
He spent over seven years at BBC Television before establishing
his independent television company.
His latest film is called "Guinea
Pig Kids."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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