Shame on You, Pfizer
It seems that after an outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria in the year 1996, Pfizer tested a new antibiotic on 200 sick children with somehow falsified consent forms. The drugs name is Trovan and the damage it did was to cause eight of those kids to die, some others to develop brain damage and severe arthritis.
In 1998 adults here in the US were allowed to take the drug but it’s use was restricted after reports it caused liver damage. The European Union banned its use in 1999 entirely.
The reason it’s in the news now is because two of the Nigerian families tried to sue Pfizer here in the US and a lower court Judge said it couldn’t be tried here and would have to be tried in Nigeria.
A higher court has now ruled those families can come after Pfizer here. Let’s see what happens with that.
How the Tainted Nuts Went Out
There are reports that even after 12 internal tests came out positive for salmonella the machines handling these tainted nuts at the Peanut Corp. of Georgia were never cleaned. The company would just keep sending out samples from the same batches until they got clean results from an outside lab, then they would send out the product. Remember I explained in an earlier post it’s possible for a small sample to test positive and another small sample from another area in the same batch to come out negative. Just don’t mix them well, even though you know after the testing they will get mixed and probably pick up the bacteria.
More Trouble with Nuts?
My husband went to a chain drugstore and brought back the house brand of peanuts. It was already open and he was enjoying them and offered me some. I reminded him about the contamination with the peanuts and how do we know these are safe but he never gives in to that sort of thing so he just shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat them. I however being of poor health can’t afford to get sick so I passed on the offer.
I did however want to read the fine print on the back to see where they were made. It only had the store name, but what got me to thinking about it again was that it said on the bag that the machinery that made the peanuts also made wheat, soy, and dairy products.
I find this scary because if they don’t thoroughly clean the machine with bleach it could be passing the contamination onto various other types of food. A lot of food.
Where does it end, and who can we trust to manufacture food products that are safe for our families? What companies are ran tightly by folks who care more about public safety than personal profit? The answer is my friends, I don’t know, I just don’t know.
Mom of Octuplets
I thought married people were nuts for having multiple births, but this mom is divorced and single.
Of couse it’s her body and she can do as she pleases with it, however, she cannot afford the six little ones she already has plus eight more. That gives all of us taxpayers a right to an opinion on whether a woman has a right to have so many especially all at once.
She’s very good with kids and always wanted to be a mom, that’s why she went to a clinic and used the same sperm donor to have more babies.
Doesn’t that just sound so sweet? The first thing I think of is what’s wrong with this woman that she things having more than one baby makes her more of a mom? Good for her to want to be a mom. Problem is she already had six and yet she obviously didn’t feel like enough of a mom. Anyone else see there’s something wrong with that?
My daughter lives with us and has one new baby and even with two of us taking care of him, it’s a handful. Having to divide her time into fourteen little ones is really going to make her less of a mom to all these children. She will never be able to devote any individual quality time to any of them and that’s a shame and not good for any child.
In another few years, what will happen is that the children she already has will be drafted into spending hours of their own time being caregivers for these octuplets. That is even more unfair that they will lose their childhoods as well as their moms attention. What a selfish women, this mom is.
Her mother says she just wanted another girl, but the practice is that multiple eggs are implanted because not all of them may take. However this woman and her doctors should certainly been aware that the possiblity of all or most surviving was very possible. They should have implanted half that at the most and if they didn’t take they could have tried again.
That brings up another point. I’m sure she had to be having a hard time supporting the six kids she had already so where did all this extra money come from to pay this clinic for implanting more embryos, and furthermore if she did pay for it wouldn’t any average good mom rather use the funds on the kids she already has? I don’t have the answers . Perhaps she was offered a reality show.
Facebook and Breastfeeding
I heard on the news a brief snipit that Facebook is not going to allow people to put up photos of women breastfeeding and of course, breastfeeding moms everywhere are all up in arms about the decision.
The last time I got involved in this debate ( on a moms forum no less ), I was also skinned alive by the lynch mob they were forming.
That however does not stop me from stating my opinion as is my right.
The moms first point is that it’s beautiful and natural. The counter point is that farting, puking, and sex are also natural.
The next point is that a womens breasts are for breastfeeding and not made for sexual reasons.
In my opinion, while it may be beautiful and natural to the parents does not mean it’s that way to everyone else. Moms say if you don’t like it you shouldn’t look. I say if you don’t want people to look you shouln’t be doing it in public. I don’t want to have to explain it to a four year old who’s never seen it before. I have the right to take a child to a mall and not have to expose him to something I feel he’s too young to understand.
I’ll also bet that most breasts spend more of their lifetimes engaged in sexual activities than breastfeeding. In this country anyway. Right or wrong that’s the truth of the matter.
Sick Nuts
It seems that the Peanut Corp. of Georgia knew about the contamination of the peanuts, but sent the product out anyway. The FDA knew about it and supposedly there was communication back and forth between them, but the nuts went out anyway.
Over 500 people were made ill, and eight died from the greed of this company not to lose product and profit. The problem here is that only a little is tested from a batch and at the time of testing the contamination might only be in one part of the batch. However it’s the same batch that is in contact with healthy nuts and through any touching or mixing will get into the rest of it. Once the product is tested and found to be tainted they retest and if a lab does not find a problem with the part they test then the product can be sent out.
To make matters worse, they believe it was sent out to three schools as part of a school lunch program.
It’s also been revealed that this same company has sent out peanuts mixed with metal fragments mixed in with a past batch.
The justice department is now trying to get into it and Obama is looking to replace the head of the FDA for this and many other violations.
FDA Asleep at the Wheel
It used to be that I respected and listened to the FDA warnings and passing of products. Now I find them pretty much useless. They are supposed to be there to find harmful products and let the public know about them. Lately however they’ve been asleep at the wheel and it’s been contamination one right on the heels of another.
Now they are talking about High Fructose Corn Syrup. Some of this product is made with lye and some of this lye is made at plants with an old mercury technology. Now, it’s never occured to anybody till now to check for the mercury level in foods made with this. The person who checked found that about three in fifty-five brand names have foods that contain mercury.
Of course the FDA could care less. Their new standard answer is ” you’d have to consume more than is possible for a person to ever consume before any harmful effects would be seen “. The real kicker on top of that is they have no answer when you ask how much do you have to consume before it becoms harmful. They usually have no idea what even a small amount will do and no or weak plans to find out. Thanks for the protection FDA.
Hospitals Lose Lawsuit
A lawsuit that was started six years ago ended with manyAdventist hospitals in the Chicago area on the losing end of a settlement agreement.
It seems that the hospitals get a tax exemption for treating the non and under insured and the suit says they have been charging the same top rates to the non and under insured as those who are not eligible for those rates.
To be eligible a family of four would have to make less than 82,000 a year to qualify for dicounts and those who have no insurance or are at twice the poverty level I believe are not supposed to be charged at all.
The hospitals have been ordered to repay those people from 2000 to present who were charged or overcharged.
The word is also that they haven’t been treating enough of those people to justify the tax exemption that they are getting.
I don’t think many people are aware of this. I always thought no hospital could turn you down for treatment if it was a matter of life or death. It seems you don’t have to wait until you’re at death’s door, which makes sense because it could save money. The more progressed a disease becomes the more has to be done and the more expensive the costs.
Recall List Growing Fast
This latest recall of products that use peanut butter is growing so fast the FDA can hardly keep up with it and many of these products are still on store shelves. Follow this link the the FDA’s site to get the list as complete as it is for now.
The best thing to do for now is probably to be mindful of what products you might use that could contain peanut butter and either check them against the latest list, or better yet stay away from them alltogether for the time being.
Product Recall You Should be Aware of.
Kellogg has voluntarily recalled some of it’s products due to a salmonella outbreak in Canada and 43 states. The bacteria was found in peanut butter and five deaths have been linked to it. The five who have died though also had some underlying conditions that made their immune systems weak. The products are,
“Cheese & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Toast & PB’n J Flavored Sandwich Crackers and Toast & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies (2.5-ounce); and Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies (2- and 3-ounce).
They also included Austin Quality Foods products: Cheese Crackers with Peanut Butter; Cheese & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Mega Stuffed Cheese Crackers with Peanut Butter; PB & J Cracker Sandwiches; Super Snack Pack Sandwich Crackers; Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter; Reduced Fat Cheese & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Reduced Fat Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers; Cookie/Cracker Pack, and Variety Pack.”