H1N1 Swine Flu: Barack Obama and the First Deadly Mistake

Illustration: "H1N1 Swine Flu: Barack Obama and the First Deadly Mistake" by: BEN HEINE. High resolution version of this image (for printing purposes) available HERE

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Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, also known as A(H1N1), is a subtype of influenza virus A, and the most common cause of influenza (flu) in humans. Some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans, including the strain(s) responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic which killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Less virulent H1N1 strains still exist in the wild today, worldwide, causing a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a large fraction of all seasonal influenza. H1N1 strains caused roughly half of all flu infections in 2006. Other strains of H1N1 are endemic in pigs and in birds.

In March and April 2009, hundreds of laboratory-confirmed infections and a number of deaths were caused by an outbreak of a new strain of H1N1.

H1N1 Swine Flu: Barack Obama and the First Deadly Mistake.

by: Lifegen.de

The H1N1 swine flu hits the US, and for the first time President Barack Obama seems to make a deadly mistake: A disease spread simulation has emphasized that flu interventions must be imposed quickly, if they are to be effective. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have shown that staying at home, closing schools and isolating infected people within the home should reduce infection, but only if they are used in combination, activated without delay and maintained for a relatively long period. The President should have acted by enforcing social separation - but economic items seem to be more important.

What all the President's men should have known: Professor George Milne and his colleagues from the University of Western Australia (UWA) simulated the effect of social distancing on the spread of a flu virus within a small town. Their research used a detailed, individual-based model of a real community with a population of approximately 30,000 (Albany, Australia) using simulation software engineered by UWA’s Dr Joel Kelso. Milne said, “Our results suggest a critical role of combined social distancing measures in the potential control of a future pandemic. Non-pharmaceutical social distancing interventions are capable of preventing less-infectious influenza epidemics and of significantly reducing the rate of development and overall burden of the worst epidemics”.

The research investigated the effects, alone and in combination, of workplace non-attendance, school closure, isolating infected family members inside the home and reducing contact within the wider community. According to Milne, “While such draconian measures seem unlikely to be mandated given their impact on personal freedom, they appear to have a key role to play in delaying the development of a ‘worst case’ influenza epidemic. They may be critical in holding back an epidemic until vaccines are deployed on a sufficient scale that subsequent relaxation of these rigorous measures will not result in a consequential acceleration in the scale of the outbreak”.

The measures described must, however, be employed as soon as possible after the first individuals within the population have been infected, if not preemptively. This study found that, for an outbreak of influenza approximately as infectious as the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the combination of all intervention measures must be introduced within 2 weeks of the first case appearing in a town or city, to prevent an epidemic developing. Delays of 2, 3 and 4 weeks resulted in final attack rates of 7%, 21% and 45%, respectively.

Milne concludes, “Social distancing interventions are important as they represent the only type of intervention measure guaranteed to be available against a novel strain of influenza in the early phases of a pandemic. They may be readily activated and thought of as a first line of defence in developing and developed countries alike”.

-------> This article appeared on http://www.lifegen.de <------------

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

N.Y.: Identical Medical Marijuana Bills Introduced in Assembly & Senate.

April 28, 2009.

Dear fellow American:

Last Tuesday, April 21, Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried and Senate Health Committee Chair Tom Duane joined MPP's lobbyist Vince Marrone and two patients for a very successful press conference on the introduction of their identical medical marijuana bills, A. 7542 and S. 4041-A, in Albany. The press conference generated lots of positive media coverage across New York State.

The media is paying attention to this important issue. Now, patients need your help to make sure that state senators hear how much their constituents care about protecting patients.

Please call to urge your state senator to support Sen. Duane's bill. Then ask your friends and family to do the same. Don't forget to fill out the feedback form so you can let us know about your senator's response. While the Assembly has passed similar bills the past two years, the Senate has never had a floor vote on an effective medical marijuana bill. Every senator's vote is key and your feedback will help us determine where to focus our efforts.

At the press conference, two patients — Joel Peacock, a Buffalo chronic pain patient and Conservative party member, and Joe Gamble, a Syracuse-area Army veteran and former commercial pilot who suffers from multiple sclerosis — had the opportunity to share their stories with the media. Joel explained, "As a registered Conservative Party member, I believe in strong conservative values like compassion for the sick and dying. Seriously ill people have enough hardship — they shouldn't be arrested for easing their suffering." Later this week, the Syracuse Post-Standard published Joe's opinion piece.

Please call your state senator today. Then ask your friends and family to do the same. Also, if you are a patient, a loved one, a medical professional, or a member of law enforcement or clergy who might be interested in speaking out please contact us at state@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help in passing this legislation. Please include your nine-digit zip code so we can identify your legislators, and please share your connection with medical marijuana.

The twin bills have a real chance of becoming law this year, but in order for that to happen it is crucial that senators realize this is an issue their constituents support. Today, the Assembly bill is already scheduled for its first committee vote of the year, and it has 49 co-sponsors. The Senate bill has 14 co-sponsors.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. With your help, this can be the year that New York stops the cruel and senseless policy of arresting the seriously ill.

Sincerely,

Noah Mamber
Legislative Analyst
Marijuana Policy Project

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Top Ten Enemies of Single Payer.

April 17, 2009.

by: Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action. Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org.

Most people, when they arrive in Washington, D.C., see it for what it is - a cesspool of corruption.

Two reasonable reactions to the cesspool: One, run away screaming in fear. Two, stay and fight back and bring to justice those who have corrupted our democracy.

Unfortunately, many choose a third way - stay and be transformed.

Instead of seeing a cesspool, they begin seeing a hot tub.

The result? Profits and wealth for the corporate elite. Death, disease and destruction for the American people.

Nowhere does this corrupt, calculating transformation do more damage than in the area of health care.

Outside the beltway cesspool/hot tub, the majority of doctors, nurses, small businesses, health economists, and the majority of the American people - according to recent polls - want a Canadian-style, single payer, everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital, national health insurance system.

Inside the beltway cesspool/hot tub, the corrupt elite will have none of it.

They won’t even put single payer on the table for discussion.

Why not?

Because it will bring a harsh justice - the death penalty - to their buddies in the multi-billion dollar private health insurance industry.

The will of the American people is being held up by a handful of organizations and individuals who profit off the suffering of the masses.

And, the will of the American people will not be done until this criminal elite is confronted and defeated.

(Remember, virtually the entire industrialized world - save for us, the U.S. - makes it a crime to allow for-profit health insurance corporations to make money selling basic health insurance.)

Before we confront and defeat the inside the beltway cesspool/hot tub crowd, we must first know who they are.

To wit, we present the Top Ten Enemies of Single Payer (listed here in alphabetical order):

American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). AARP, one of DC’s most powerful lobbying groups, has worked inside the beltway for years to defeat single payer. Why? AARP makes about a quarter of its money selling insurance through its affiliate, United Healthcare Group, the nation’s largest for-profit insurance company. AARP must defeat single payer - which if enacted, would wipe out that revenue stream.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). The private health insurance industry. Public enemy number one. The health insurance corporations must die so that the American people can live. Of course, facing the death penalty, AHIP is the most aggressive opponent to single payer. No compromise with AHIP.

American Medical Association. With a shrinking base of doctors (only 25 percent of doctors nationwide belong) - the AMA is the most conservative of the doctors’ organizations. I just returned from a health care policy forum at the Center for American Progress. As usual, not one of the panelists mentioned single payer. Only during the question period did a self-identified patient/citizen ask the single payer question. And a pit bull-like Nancy Nielsen, president of the AMA, ripped into the questioner. “Sounds more like a statement than a question,” Nielsen said. “And clearly you have a point of view about that. And I don’t happen to share that point of view.” Clearly she doesn’t. But just as clearly, the majority of doctors, probably even a majority of doctors who belong to the AMA, support single payer. Nielsen is in denial and must be defeated.

Barack Obama. He was for it when he was a state Senator in Illinois. Now, ensconced in the corporate prison that is the White House, he says single payer is off the table. To get off the list, Obama needs to put single payer back on the table.

Business Roundtable. Dr. David Himmelstein, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), was at a health care forum a couple of years ago sponsored by the Business Roundtable. And the moderator asked the audience - made up primarily of representatives of big business - to indicate their preference of health care reforms. And the majority came out in favor of single payer. Why then is the Business Roundtable opposed? Himmelstein put it this way: “In private, they support single payer, but they’re also thinking - if you can take away someone else’s business - the insurance companies’ business - you can take away mine. Also, if workers go on strike, I want them to lose their health insurance. And it’s also a cultural thing - we don’t do that kind of thing in this country.”

Families USA. A major inside the beltway liberal foundation and long-time foe of single payer. It’s chief executive, Ron Pollack, was once an advocate for single payer. But no more. In November 1991, Pollack was at a Washington hotel debating Yale University professor Ted Marmor in front of then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Marmor was making the argument for single payer. Pollack against. A November 1994 article in the Washington Monthly, co-authored by Marmor, reported the result this way: “After the two advocates finished, Clinton looked thoughtful, pointed to Marmor and said, ‘Ted, you win the argument.’ But gesturing to Pollack, Marmor recalls, the governor quickly added, ‘But we’re going to do what he says.’ Even considering the Canadian system, everyone in the room agreed, would prompt GOP cries of ‘socialized medicine’ - cries that the press would faithfully report.”

Health Care for America Now. The largest coalition of liberal groups promoting a choice between a public plan and private insurance companies. “They are saying - we can’t do single payer because Americans don’t want it,” said Kip Sullivan of the Minnesota chapter of PNHP. “That’s based on junk research conducted by Celinda Lake for the Herndon Alliance. It is bad enough to say we can’t do single payer because the insurance industry is too powerful to beat. But it is just plain insidious to say we can’t do single payer because the American people don’t want it. In fact, polling data indicates that two-thirds of Americans support a single payer system. And that level of support exists despite the fact that there is little public discussion about it.”

Kaiser Family Foundation. One of the most prestigious liberal inside the beltway think tanks on health reform policy. Saul Friedman is a reporter for Newsday. In February, Friedman wrote an article for Newsday arguing that single payer is suffering from a conspiracy of silence. And he says Kaiser is the most culpable of the co-conpsirators. Kaiser, funded initially by insurance industry money, regularly keeps single payer off the table, Friedman says. When single payer advocates released a study in January asserting that Congressman John Conyers’ single payer bill (HR 676) could create 2.6 million new jobs and would cost far less than the private insurance currently paid for by individuals and employers, “the Kaiser Family Foundation’s daily online report on health care developments at kff.org didn’t mention it,” Friedman reported. “Nor has Kaiser, the most comprehensive online source of health care information, made any mention of single-payer or the Conyers bill since it was introduced in 2003, despite widespread support for such a plan according to Kaiser’s own polls.” After a number of insistent inquiries, Kaiser told Friedman that they would publish charts in March comparing the Stark and Conyers bills. They never did.

The Lewin Group. The go-to consulting firm for health reform studies. The most recent study, released last week and widely quoted in the press, of the public plan option, showed that the insurance industry would lose 32 million policy holders if a public plan is enacted. Lewin’s health reform policy guru, John Sheils, told the Associated Press: “The private insurance industry might just fizzle out altogether.” What the mainstream press didn’t report was that The Lewin Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ingenix, which is in turn owned by UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurance corporation. Lewin Group has conducted studies on single payer at the state level - and their studies consistently show that single payer is the most efficient cost saving system. But, Lewin Group has never done a study on HR 676 - which would create a single payer for the entire country and drive The Lewin Group’s parent - UnitedHealth Group - out of business. When asked why Lewin Group never has done a study on HR 676, Sheils said - “the President didn’t propose single payer, did he?” No, he didn’t. That’s why he too is on this list. (Sheils says The Lewin Group has studied national single payer. He points to a recent comparison of the different health reform proposals floating on Capitol Hill - including one by Congressman Pete Stark (D-California). Stark’s bill would give every American the option of opting into Medicare. But that’s not single payer, because it keeps the private insurance industry in the game. Sheils counters that he modeled the Stark bill as single-payer. “The employer coverage option under the Stark bill is made so unfavorable that no employer would do it. We have everyone in Medicare, with the resulting savings.” Sheils says that of all the plans studied, the Stark bill saves the most money.)

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America (PHRMA). PHRMA chief executive Billy Tauzin says that under single payer, the government would become a “price fixer.” By which he means, the government, as a single payer, will have the power to negotiate drug prices downward, thus costing the drug corporations millions in excess profits. In recent years, PHRMA has infiltrated liberal sounding groups like America’s Agenda - Health Care for All. PHRMA’s Vice President for Government Affairs and Law, Jan Faiks, now sits on the board of America’s Agenda and PHRMA contributes money to the group - which has worked in recent years to undermine single payer at the state level. (America’s Agenda Mark Blum won’t say how much money PHRMA gives to his group.)

We have met the enemy.

And, they ain’t us.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

N.Y.: Ask your state senator to co-sponsor groundbreaking medical marijuana bill.

N.Y.: Ask your state senator to co-sponsor groundbreaking medical marijuana bill!

Dear New Yorker:

For the first time, "same as" (or identical) medical marijuana bills are being introduced by members of the majority party in both the Assembly, by Health Committee chair and longtime sponsor Asm. Richard Gottfried (D), and the Senate, by Health Committee chair Sen. Tom Duane (D). While the New York Assembly has passed medical marijuana legislation twice in the last two years, the bills died in the Senate. With new Senate leadership, this could finally be the year New York protects medical marijuana patients. Help us make sure this opportunity doesn't slip away.

Please call to urge your state senator to co-sponsor Sen. Duane's bill. Then, ask your friends and family to do the same. The bill will be introduced by the middle of next week, so don't delay!

If you are a patient with a serious medical condition, a physician, or a clergy member, please e-mail me at NMamber@mpp.org if you would be willing to speak out.

Numerous studies show that medical marijuana can be an effective treatment for patients with serious illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. 76% of New Yorkers support allowing medical marijuana, as does the vast majority of the state's medical community. Yet, thousands of patients continue to suffer, living in fear of arrest, and sometimes facing prosecution and conviction. Others will not break state law and suffer needlessly because the medicine they know would work best is not allowed in their state. You can read and, in some cases, watch 17 New York patients' stories.

In this year of change, please call to urge your senator to join the growing national consensus and co-sponsor this legislation so that medical marijuana patients from Buffalo to Montauk can live their lives without fear of prison.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. And please pass this on to friends and family in New York so that even more voices for compassion can be heard.

Sincerely,

Noah Mamber
Legislative Analyst
Marijuana Policy Project

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do! Live your values. Love your country. And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.