By Jon Rappoport
http://www.nomorefakenews.com/

JUDGE’S CHAMBERS, E BARRETT PRETTYMAN FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, WASHINGTON DC

JUDGE:  Gentlemen, I only need a few minutes of your time.  This unusual closed hearing has been convened to determine whether the FDA is liable for the crime of negligent homicide. 

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  Your Honor, our brief also lists RICO violations.

JUDGE:  I want to focus on the other charge this morning, counselor.  First, I want to hear from you about the deaths of one million Americans.  Cite your evidence.

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  We begin with a landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on July 26, 2000.  The title of the paper was, “Is US Health Really the Best in the World?”  Volume 284, Number 4.  The author of this paper is Barbara Starfield, who at the time was associated with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.  Starfield concludes that 106,000 Americans are killed every year by correctly prescribed medicines.

JUDGE:  So if we multiply that figure by ten years, we arrive, roughly, at one million deaths.

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE: And the FDA figures into this in what way?

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  The FDA, by federal law, is tasked with approving every medical drug that is released for public use.  FDA certifies every such drug as both safe and effective.  Without its seal, no medicine can be prescribed by a doctor or sold over the counter in the United States.

JUDGE:  So you’re ascribing a pattern of neglect on the part of the FDA.

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  Neglect, of course.  But anyone who keeps up, even in a cursory way, with the medical literature, knows about the Starfield study and other corroborating evidence.  Therefore, the FDA must assume direct guilt for its actions. 

JUDGE:  The FDA, by its actions, is, you believe, accountable for killing at least a million Americans.

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  There is no other way to interpret the facts.  Drugs it certified as safe then killed one million human beings.  The logic is quite simple. 

JUDGE:  All right.  Now I want to hear from the FDA’s attorney.

FDA ATTORNEY:  Your Honor, first I’d like to point out several recent actions FDA has taken to ensure the safety of all Americans.

DOJ PROSECUTOR:  And the relevance of this is?

JUDGE:  I’ll allow it.  I’m willing to grant a little latitude in this hearing.

FDA ATTORNEY:  The FDA has just sent a letter of warning to Proctor&Gamble, which markets a popular cold remedy.  The remedy contains, among other ingredients, Vitamin C.  FDA considers there is insufficient evidence to warrant making claims that Vitamin C can lessen the symptoms of a cold.  Also, FDA has sent a similar letter to Dr. Andrew Weil, who, on his website, suggests that certain herbs may help maintain health during the flu season.  This website sells herbal remedies.  FDA will not permit unproven claims to be made about nutritional supplements.

JUDGE:  I see.  So this is what you mean by protecting the public.

FDA ATTORNEY:  Yes.

JUDGE:  Because Vitamin C or the herbs in questions could severely injure or even kill the large numbers of people who ingest them.

FDA ATTORNEY:  No, but they could divert people from seeking authentic medical help.

JUDGE:  And these warning letters somehow mitigate or offset the charge that the FDA has caused the deaths of a million Americans.

FDA ATTORNEY:  The letters illustrate that FDA has the health of the public at the forefront of its agenda.

JUDGE:  You sound like a publicity man, counselor.  I’ll overlook the issue of relevance.  Now, how you answer the charge brought by the Department of Justice?

FDA ATTORNEY:  It’s preposterous to assume FDA has killed anybody.  The FDA certifies medicines as safe and effective.

JUDGE:  Yes, and DOJ is saying that, since FDA has sole responsibility for this task, if 100,000 Americans die every year from the correct administration of these FDA-approved drugs, the FDA must be held to blame.

FDA ATTORNEY:  It’s our contention that a government agency with administrative duties only cannot be prosecuted for a felony.  It would be contradiction in terms.

DOJ ATTORNEY:  Then no one is responsible?

FDA ATTORNEY:  What’s called for here, Your Honor, is an FDA in-house investigation and a full report to the director of Health and Human Services.

DOJ ATTORNEY:  A report.  After a million dead.

JUDGE:  Who, exactly, should be brought to trial?

DOJ ATTORNEY:  At the outset, all the directors of the FDA who allowed these crimes on their watch.  All the directors over the last ten years.  Then we’ll go from there.  

FDA ATTORNEY:  Absurd!  These are prestigious men and women!  Their credentials are impeccable!  Their dedication is unchallenged. 

DOJ ATTORNEY:  Objection.  The attorney for the FDA is merely writing script.

JUDGE:  I’m inclined to issue arrest warrants for these FDA directors.

FDA ATTORNEY:  Your Honor!  Think of the damage to public morale!  The directors are doctors!

JUDGE:  And that excuses a million deaths?

FDA ATTORNEY:  An in-house FDA investigation will give us what we need.

DOJ ATTORNEY:  Not if we’re seeking justice.

JUDGE:  And justice is supposed to be the point of this exercise, is it not?  Therefore…let’s have a trial.  A public trial.

FDA ATTORNEY:  No!

JUDGE:  Calm down, counsel.  You know, I have to confess something.  Of course, I reviewed both of your arguments before we convened today, but sitting here now, I feel a sense of unreality.  That we could be talking about so many lives lost, and the laying of those deaths at the door of a civilian federal agency.  It seems impossible.  And yet, here we are.  Off the record, I believe it’s that unwillingness to think a thing like this is possible that’s kept the secret in the dark for so long.  But it’s my duty to help carry it into the light.  We’re adjourned here, gentlemen.  See you at trial.

FDA ATTORNEY:  The very heavens will fall, Your Honor.

JUDGE:  Your rhetoric is interesting, counselor, but I doubt it’s accurate.  A sort of revolution could occur, however.  The outcome may largely depend on the People.  There was a time when we didn’t think that was such a bad thing.