The writing of hitlists is something most people associate with gangs, criminals and the Mafia. So perhaps it will come as a surprise to read of a trial in Australia about a hit list of the names of doctors who spoke out against a drug called Vioxx. This particular list was not made up by Gambino Mafia, but by white collar pushers and shovers at ... Merck. it's common knowledge that Merck is relying on Gardasil profits to pay off the settlement amounts for Vioxx. That isn't my opinion, but comes from the "mouth" of one of the HPV bigwigs.
Perhaps that's why the Medical profession have decided to concentrate on calling Gardasil, the "cervical cancer vaccine", rather than the HPV vaccine. After all, too many people might really start looking at all the information and realise that perhaps, far from a Human PapillomaVirus vaccine, the letters HPV could represent the Hidden Persuaded Victims who Helped Pay for Vioxx.
This Australian report of the Merck hit-list trial reads:
"The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words "neutralise", "neutralised" or "discredit" against some of the doctors' names.
It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.
"We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff."
The unitiated into the ways and means of drug companies, might consider this an atypical hiccup, but as more seasoned observers of the medical world in general will know, this is normal Modus Operandi worldwide. And even amongst the medical profession in New Zealand.
We know this, in this house; not just because we have bookcases highlighting similar examples within medical history, but because our lives are enriched by words from New Zealand doctors whose lives have been, and continue to be blighted by the system within which they work, which seeks to shape them into it's own Mould of Conformity.
Outside the moulds of conformity, is sometimes a lonely place to be.
Until you start hearing about a sick vaccinated New Zealand child, showing symptoms similar to an American girl, Jenny, who died recently. Once you start reading widely, you hear about children vaccinated with both Gardasil and Cervarix ~ all with a similar pattern of symptoms, whose parents are either blamed for the problems themselves, or are told that all these side effects are "coincidental". Then you realise that perhaps it's not a lonely place to go against the flow; to swim against the tide, for the sake of the health and safety of children in your care. Perhaps that's actually the safest place to be. So long as this country doesn't descend into dictatorial madness exhibited by doctors and politicians in places like Belgium and UK.
People who state that Merck's tactics are business as usual, will of course be called "conspiracist theorists". When it comes to health, people must believe that all is altruism, love and peace. Most don't want to know that this trial exemplifies the "real world" that Merck would rather no-one knew about. It's always convenient to label or shoot a messenger, rather than face the facts from both history and today.
Keep your ear well tuned to the going on in the murky world of Merck, because "rumour" has it, that more Merck Murk is there to be flung.