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This post on the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta is the second in a Magna Carta series, and the twentieth in the Persecution series. Faced in 2012 with questions about the $3 Billion fine imposed on GSK - triggered by a sequence of events starting with Study 329, – is it just the cost of doing business? Andrew Witty snapped back: “Although corporate … [Read more...] about Magna Pharma

Editorial note: This is the first in a Magna Carta series, and the nineteenth in the Persecution series. As the days lengthen and things warm up in England, historically it has been the time for the people to get restive. Eight Hundred years ago, the people meant a group of us who counted – we called ourselves the Barons. There were other human beings – our serfs - who … [Read more...] about A Magna Carta for Healthcare

Editorial Note: This post is by John Stone at my invitation. I am broadly speaking pro-Vaccination and reluctant to stray into the Vaccination Wars but the issues about free debate in recent posts seem most acute in this domain. Anyone who even thinks about questioning is vilified. There are important public policy issues involved in MMR but less so with the HPV vaccine and … [Read more...] about The Couric Incident: HPV Vaccine & Mass Bullying

Science Media Centre roundup Expert reaction to editorial on serotonin and depression as published in The BMJ (British Medical Journal)* Dr Clare Stanford, Reader in Experimental Psychopharmacology, UCL, said: “Prof David Healy's article treads a path that is well-worn but out of date. He argues that selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants are used … [Read more...] about Switch on Anti-Depression Today

Editorial Note: This post by James Bennett, a research coordinator on RxISK, follows on from last week's Everyone has the right to challenge "Scientific Experts". The article accompanying the image of War on Science from the National Geographic featured in that post made the case that we increasingly live in a world of tribes - the tribes who see vaccination as an unmitigated … [Read more...] about A Broken Utopia? The Internet and Health Activism

Editorial Note: This post is from John Horgan who writes for Scientific American. The original is here. There is one change - the image used. JH's posts are always worth reading. In this he takes on a worrying trend to regard science as sacrosanct. A recent front cover for National Geographic brought this home to me. To question whether vaccines might cause autism it seems is … [Read more...] about Everyone Has The Right To Challenge Scientific Experts

The crash last week of the Germanwings plane has shocked many. In view of the apparent mental health record of the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, questions have been asked about the screening policies of airlines. The focus has generally been on the conditions pilots may have or the arguments they might be having with partners or other situational factors that might make them … [Read more...] about Winging It: Antidepressants and Plane Crashes

Editorial Note: A riff by Laurie Oakley on the issue of Rape and Consent. See Laurie's recent post on RxISK - Over the Top: Tackling Medical Power and for pharmaceutical lawyers on the issue or Rape and Consent - see Dangerous Liaisons II. It should be read in conjunction with Doctors Writing Scary Scripts: Saving Grace on RxISK. We are interested in any additions anyone - … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical Rape

Editorial Note: This is the eighteenth post in the Persecution series, and a sequel to Dangerous Liaisons. See Brand Fascism for a listing of prior posts in the sequence. Slightly over a week ago in New York I was subject to a blizzard of questions from a lawyer for Forest, who taking great pleasure in using the word Fucked in a deposition asked among others questions … [Read more...] about Persecution: Dangerous Liaisons II

This is the seventeenth in the Persecution Series. See Brand Fascism for a listing of prior posts in the sequence. In the novel Les Liaisons Dangereux, later the movie Dangerous Liaisons, the Marquise de Merteuil engages the Vicomte de Valmont to corrupt the incorruptible Madame de Tourvel... From 1951, a system designed for heroin and cocaine addicts - … [Read more...] about Persecution: Dangerous Liaisons