Sunday, February 6, 2011

Merck, Groundwater Pollution & Sick Neighbors



Yesterday, while reading one of my favorite blogs, "Pharmalot " I happened along this familiar name, Merck; the same drug company who is behind boceprevir. Merck was in court yesterday charged with polluting a local neighborhood, where 2,000 residents say they were not notified of the contaminating toxin
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According to the blog;
"A lawsuit (read here) alleges Merck’s Baltimore Aircoil unit polluted a neighborhood for years with Chromium 6, a carcinogen linked to cancer and birth defects, causing sickness and death (this is the same pollutant that Erin Brockovich made famous). Lawyers for about 2,000 people say a wood-treatment process at the site leached the toxin into the soil and Merck failed to notify residents, who attribute deaths and sickness to the episode.
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A key issue is whether evidence exists that there was a direct path from the contaminated groundwater and soil to local residents. A lawyer for Merck acknowledged in court that contamination at the plant, which used industrial chemicals to pressure-treat wood for making cooling tower frames, but denied any contaminants escaped and entered the groundwater, an adjacent canal or got into the air, according to The Bellingham Herald."
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Pharmaceutical Companies In 2010; The Lack Of Moral Character


In November of 2010 Roche was fined for offering money to a nurse working at a undisclosed clinic. Kate Hagan from age.com writes "Drug company Roche has been fined $200,000 for offering to fund a nurse's position at a health service - depending on how many patients were treated with its hepatitis C drug Pegasys"The drug company has two fines under (two different occasions) the Medicines Australia code of conduct for the maximum of 200,000 dollars. This summer a French doctor working as a consultant for "Human Genome Sciences Inc. was charged by the U.S. with insider-trading for allegedly tipping off a hedge fund about negative results of Albuferon drug trials."


In October of the same year Sam Waksal, the former CEO of ImClone Systems, whose insider trading lead to spending time in prison along with Martha Stewart, remember? Announced a new enterprise; "Waksal said his drug company Kadmon Pharmaceuticals has bought the privately held Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, and that its treatments for hepatitis C, infections and cancer will be the backbone of his new enterprise".


Let's not forget the list published on the 384 doctors and healthcare professionals who were paid by pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs. They "Drew Payments From Drug Companies" for the amount of no less then $100,000 published @ ProPublicas website: This list covered "Top Earners from 2009 and early 2010"

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