Big Pharma’s “quackbuster,” operation went into overdrive a few months ago trying to find a story, any story, to take the heat off Merck’s mass murder of over 55,000 Americans with their deadly “Vioxx” product. Merck had been caught spending over 500 million dollars to mass market Vioxx after they were well aware, and took steps to cover up, Vioxx’s deadly characteristics.
As yet, no arrests have been made of the Merck executives involved – or of the US Food & Drug (FDA) agents involved in the cover-up.
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Now, we know, that the Vioxx number is closer to 139,000. And, still no arrests.
The “quackbusters” we know, are Big Pharma’s “black-ops,” a program designed, and operated, to damage, and discredit, in any way possible, anything that competes with the drugs drugs, and more drugs version of health care. It is currently run out of a New York ad agency.
The story the New York ad agency came up with was PATHETIC. They attacked South Carolina MD Jim Shortt, falsely claiming that he had, somehow (not well explained), killed a patient using an intravenous Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy.
You can read about the attack by clicking on “The Long Story About Jim Shortt.”
The attack on Shortt was so poorly thought out, it was almost as though it had been designed by failed MD Stephen Barrett, the author of the website called“quackwatch.com.” “Quackwatch” we know is the “quackbuster’s” bible, itself designed to misdirect readers, and misrepresent health alternatives to drugs, drugs, and more drugs.
Big Pharma’s plan, in the Shortt case, started out relatively well, but soon fell on hard times. As usual, the “quackbusters” sought to pick on someone who, they thought, couldn’t defend themselves – like Jim Shortt MD. Shortt, a solo practitioner in the South Carolina economy, would have had overwhelming problems dealing with the assault against him if he hadn’t had three things going for him, all of which are turning the tide: (1) A VERY good patient support system. (2) Instant support and assistance from his peers (ICIM & IOMA) (3) Humungous support from one of his patient’s husband – a State Senator and partner in one of South Carolina’s largest law firms.
Things don’t look all that good for this quackbuster assault…
About the Media Assault…
One of the usual tricks the “quackbusters” use is to create “bad media,” for their target The New York ad agency specializes in this. They did this in the Shortt case – but we just might have been able to counter their efforts this time. We’ll find out, tonight, just how well we were able to do this.
In South Carolina, the “quackbusters” had an “inside man,” in the local newspaper. Cliff LeBlanc, a writer for “The State” newspaper has a unusual fondness for quackbuster attorney Richard Gergel. Gergel is listed as a legal advisor to “quackwatch.com.” A few years ago, in one of the strangest articles I’ve ever heard of, LeBlanc praised Gergel so outlandishly, locals had to wonder…
LeBlanc, in his first articles about Jim Shortt, was so blatantly prejudiced, and wild-eyed, against alternatives, I wondered if his articles were actually written by the New York ad agency, itself. Based, on Leblanc’s sensationalism, the New York times picked up the story, then CBS’s “60 Minutes” called. Then the Associated Press.
And off we were..
You can laugh off the bigoted and shoddy reporting of the “Cliff LeBlancs” of the world, and their backwater newspapers – but you better take the New York Times, “60 Minutes,” and the Associated Press completely seriously.
Tonight, at 8:00 PM on CBS, we’ll see how well we did to counter the “quackbuster’s” construction. The “60 Minutes” Producer called me this morning – and said“tonight’s the night.”. Let’s see what happens.
Stay tuned…
Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate