War is usually defined as one army in combat with another but in Afghanistan, this definition of war is obsolete to say the least. suicide attacks at weddings and outside mosques tell you that the frames offered by the media are less than accurate.
check out the rest of this post at:
http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/opinion-afghanistan-violence-why-afghanistan-never-see-peace/57285
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
(Interview) Derek Haines Interview: Get Introduced To One of the Best Writers Around
I'm not sure
that I really wrote a first book in fact. It was more a collection of thoughts,
poems and essays that I'd been scribbling into a series of spiral bound notebooks
for many years. There were songs as well, and melodies, handwritten on pencil
drawn staves. Probably due to the fact that I didn't doodle or draw pictures, I
had the brilliant idea one day to turn my notebooks into a book. As I was
involved in the printing industry back then, it wasn't difficult to run off a
hundred copies, but after I did that and had my first book in my hand, I had no
idea what to do next, so I gave most of the copies to my mum. She quite liked
them. It was a collection of poetry titled 'Loss, Limbo, Life and Love'.
With the
poems out of the way, but much later, I then went about doing the same with the
essays and short stories I had written over the years. I published the book by
Print On Demand and was quite pleased with myself at having a book that this
time had an official ISBN. I can't recall exactly when I published 'An
Uneducated View of Sex, Food And Politics', but it was well before e-books hit
the market.
2. Your large body of work has touched a
number of genres; do you think you mastered any?
In no way
whatsoever because I write for the love of writing and while I suppose it would
be more logical to stick to one genre and make my book marketing much easier, once
a story gets into my head, that's the end of the matter. Except for the trilogy
of The Glothic Tales, which kept me going on science fiction farce for quite
some time, I haven't stayed in one genre long enough to get close to knowing
what I'm doing. I warped off from the last Glothic Tale to a romance. I've got
no idea why, other that an idea popped into my head.
3. Have any writers influenced you work?
I hated reading as a child and teenager. Perhaps it was my schooling or the teachers, but I always seemed to have something better to do than read The Grapes Of Wrath. Luckily though, I stumbled across 'Chariot Of The Gods' by Erich von Daniken and was absorbed by his theories of ancient alien visits to Earth. From then on, I was hooked on reading anything science fiction. Just as an aside, I bumped into Erich von Daniken just a few years ago when I was holidaying in a little Swiss village called Beatenberg. He lives there and was buying his Sunday morning newspaper. Funnily enough, he seemed remarkably ordinary for a childhood hero.
4. Maybe it was just the genre of Milo
Moon, but there seemed to be a clear influence of Phillip K. Dick throughout
the book, was there?
No. The
writers who have most influenced me, and I keep reminding myself not to imitate,
are Douglas Adams, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who write as Grant
Naylor, and Jasper Fforde. After I'd finished writing 'Milo Moon', an editor
read the manuscript, as I was considering whether to publish with a small press
at the time. He made a clear point that my use of 'I don't like Wednesdays' in
the book was a 'lift' from Douglas Adams. But I'd forgotten all about Arthur
Dent's dislike for Thursdays and had used the line because I had lost a few family
and friends on a Wednesday in the few years before I wrote the story. Well, in
the end the editor wanted to remove it, and I said, 'Over my dead body.' So I
self- published.
5. What’s your have writing process, if
you have one?
It usually starts with one character. I like losers, anti-heroes, marginals or a character with flaws or a childlike innocence, and then develop the character in my head for a while. The story comes after I get to know my character well. From there I play around with plots, but then I'm usually guided by what the character would do given certain situations. I tend to write way too fast though, so I usually get ahead of myself and have to backtrack a lot to fix the craters in the plot that writing too fast creates. I don't know how many times I've given a character a brother or sister and then made them an only child later in my rush. However, I'm quite happy to do the repair work later if the story is coming out easily.
6. In my book review of Milo Moon, I
identified you as one of the best writers around. Are there any fellow writers you
would recommend?
With the way publishing and social media has become almost completely entwined now, I have so many writers who are friends or I know through the Internet. That makes it hard, as I would be completely biased in my recommendations by my friendships. I think the best recommendation I could make would be Geoffrey Chaucer, as by reading his works, he really proves that nothing has changed all that much in society, or writing, since the fourteenth century.
7. You only have to visit Milo Moon’s twitter
account to find out the books reach. Why
do you think Milo Moon has gained such a large following?
Twitter is
the strange beast of social networking. I have no idea why the old Milo Moon
account was so popular. But alas his account is no longer, as I changed it
recently to focus more on publishing and in particular self-publishing. As the main
topics of the messages haven't changed that much, the account has remained
quite popular and is still growing. But there is a lot of follow for the sake
of following on Twitter, simply to build up numbers, so I am always cautious
about the real number of people who actually read Twittter feeds.
8. What do you think of the state of the
book market today?
I don't
think anyone knows the answer. It's certainly in a state of flux and where it's
heading is anyone's guess. E-books have certainly changed the game, but the
current boom in e-book reading must be viewed in perspective, as most of the
change has been in the US market. When I read new articles and blogs that relate
to e-publishing, very little information regarding the advance of the e-book
outside of the US is mentioned. I was in the UK recently and the bookstores
there are still doing 'business as usual' with traditional books. Where I live
in Switzerland, and in adjoining France, the ebook is almost non-existent.
Therefore I think it's a two-part question. What is the state in the US market?
That would have to be described as volatile. What's the state of the book
market outside the US. Business as usual.
9. Do you see the growth of
self-published books and authors as good thing?
Of course.
Not just from the income perspective for authors, but because it expands
freedom of expression. I read a lot about the quality aspect of self published
books, but I think this is just literary knit picking. What I love about
self-publishing is that there is no lock keeper on what you want to write about
anymore. While there needs to be a certain degree of control over a small
number of very sensitive social and perhaps security topics, I think the
opportunity for people to express themselves is of social value. Whether they
sell a book is another issue though.
The only
downside I see is the control electronic publishing gives to corporations. It's
not fully understood that when you buy an e-book on a Kindle for example, that
Amazon can remotely remove your purchased book from your device. So do you
really own the e-books you buy?
10 . Last question, do you have any new
book projects in the works or anything not too far from release?
I have
started on a new story but it's still a long way from completion. Enough to say
though, that I have been predictable and have not only chosen a new genre to
play with but have also decided to change from my habit of writing in the third
person. It should be fun.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
(Opinion) Afghanistan election 2014; 2014 is the year of reckoning for Afghanistan
There is much that can be said about the United States and its allies 2014 exit plan, but what can be said for sure is that an awful lot is riding on one year. In that year, Afghanistan must hold free and fair elections despite little progress in democratic practice to the point that NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, two years early, stressed the importance of fair elections intimating that they weren't before. part of the occupying forces plan to leave Afghanistan with a competent army and national police force despite the fact most army and police officers are poorly paid, leaving them open to turning sides or spying for the Taliban.
If you wish to read the rest of this article, follow this link:
http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/opinion-afghanistan-election-2014-2014-is-the-year-of-reckoning-for-afghanistan/57109
If you wish to read the rest of this article, follow this link:
http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/opinion-afghanistan-election-2014-2014-is-the-year-of-reckoning-for-afghanistan/57109
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
(sports) Football: Trapattoni going nowhere
While TV pundits and football critics alike are predicting
that republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni will get his marching orders
sooner rather than later and Irish bookmaker Paddy Power have suspend bets
wagering an end to his tenure[1],
it is highly likely Trapattoni will see out the rest of his contract due to the
cost of getting rid him[2].
While results have been poor from euro 2012 onward, the 6-1 butchering at the
hands of a talented and ruthless Germany (Its biggest home defeat to date) seems to reveal all the problems that have
plagued Trapattoni’s reign.
Every time Germany found themselves in the final third of Ireland’s
half of the pitch, they look dangerous, popping the ball about and making
Ireland’s packed midfield chase shadows all game to no avail. In sharp
contrast, every time the Trapattoni side
received the ball, they were rushed off the ball or forced to pass backwards
all the way to the goalkeeper who predictably play it long up field to the
hardworking but limited Stoke City striker Jonathan Walters.
The match followed the same pattern of all their matches in
the Republic of Ireland’s disastrous Euro 2012 campaign where they were consummately
outclassed by all their opponents. It has recently been quite apparent that republic
of Ireland players have lost faith in Trapattoni and his staff as there has
been public rifts between players and management most notably Fulham’s Stephen Kelly reported
clash with Marco Tardelli, Trapattoni’s
right hand man[3].
However, despite all the speculation over Trapattoni’s
future, the Republic of Ireland still have good chance of qualify for the 2014
World Cup as they face opposition where results are possible. Trapattoni, in
full knowledge of Ireland’s still decent chances of qualification has been as
unflappable as ever stating his satisfaction of his achievements in running the
Republic of Ireland national team and his job being about ‘pride’ despite his
high salary.
In sum, while media pundits and football critics have
sharpened their knives for Trapattoni in the face of a crushing defeat,
Trapattoni will remain head coach of Republic of Ireland due the exorbitant
cost associated with getting of rid of him and the fact that Ireland still have
a good chance of qualifying for the 2014 world cup. However while it is almost
certain Trapattoni will be shown the door if the Republic of Ireland do not
qualify, it is quite clear the next man tasked with bringing success to the
national team will have tough job in his hands as Ireland suffer from a quality
and quantity problem among their current crop of players.
[1]
Reuters, 2012, Irish Bookmaker suspends betting on Trapattoni exit, http://football.uk.reuters.com/leagues/premiership/news/2012/10/15/43926ABC-16E0-11E2-A1EA-8C2E8033923B.php
[2]
Daily Mail, 2012, Trapattoni to remain as Ireland boss… only because FAI afford
to give him the boot, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2217552/Republic-Ireland-afford-sack-Giovanni-Trapattoni.html
[3]
Irish Examiner, 2012, Three changes for Ireland as Trapattoni denies Kelly row
rumours, http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/three-changes-for-ireland-as-trapattoni-denies-kelly-row-rumours-570656.html
(Opinion) EU 2012 Nobel Peace Prize: A Prize Deserved?
There are many
things you can say about Nobel peace prize and its awarding committee, among
them would be that they sure know how to pick their winners. From awarding the
peace prize to Henry Kissinger despite his well-documented involvement at the
tail end of the Vietnam War to Barack Obama winning the award in the midst of
two protracted wars, the noble peace prize has a history of awarding public
figures with a lot of blood on their hands.
However one
of its strangest awards to date was giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the
European Union. While it’s not unusual for political organisations to win the
prize such as Amnesty International and the UN, it is quite strange that a
political project has won in what is probably its most trying period.
Recent years
may have tested the EU as political and economic project, but what is not up
for debate is the EU is the most successful political project in the history of
international politics. For centuries Europe had been rife with “divisions,
tensions and conflicts” borne out of competition and imperial ambition[1].
These two
factors made sure Europe would remain a Hobbesian nightmare halfway through the
20th century as the continent experienced two world wars and several
failed attempts at diplomacy in-between, notably with the League of Nations.
However, Influenced by the brutality and death that characterised the Second
World War, leaders across Europe realised the need for a united Europe ensuring
that war will never break out in Europe ever again.
The fact
that the peace has held in Europe for so long after centuries of conflict and
competition owes much to the process of integration between the economies of EU
member states and laws strengthening human rights legislation. The success of
the EU has been that it has meant greater cooperation between nations in
Europe, particularly the big three, Britain, France and Germany, key players in
both world wars. In recent years the EU has expanded eastward with the
accession of former soviet states to full membership.
The Euro was
seen by supporters as the most audacious statement of intent by EU member
states to unify Europe by tying their fates together by establishing the
European Monetary Union (EMU). While the language of the EMU was economic, it
was motivated purely by politics as the EMU remarkably took many of the controls traditionally handled by
member states and put them in the hands of technocrats in Brussels. This was
accomplished through the rather strict monetary requirements aspiring EMU
members had to meet to join the single currency[2].
While the
idea of uniting Europe in the interest of peace and prosperity has been a
success, the undemocratic nature of the political project has been the source
of bickering among member states and the economic stagnation of many members of
the EMU, Greece being the most prominent example
The EU’s
response to the Eurozone crisis has been poor to say the least as the troika of
the EU, IMF and ECB has forced upon Greece’s strict austerity measures and
heavily conditioned bailouts in an attempt to keep Greece in the EMU despite
default being a painful but viable option. The fact that the EU has partnered
with the IMF leads to questions of it lack of accountability due to the IMF’s
use of notorious structural adjustment programs recommended to countries of the
global south.
These polices
that have caused instability in many
nations in the global south have now been imposed on Greece and has led to frequent,
often violent protest by ordinary Greek citizens against strict austerity
measures used by its government and the EU itself.
The search for consensus by
EU leaders from EU member states has led to creation of the fiscal pact, which
will impose tough fiscal measures to make sure its members keep financially
sound budgets, mostly through measures that have failed miserably in Greece.On this
evidence it is quite strange that the Nobel peace prize has been awarded to the
EU this year as its polices have caused instability in Greece and it
ideological preference for an united Europe has weakened significantly it
member states ability to react to economic and political crisis
In
conclusion, the EU is the most successful political project in the history of
international politics and should be recognised for playing a large role in why
there has been no war in Europe from Second World War onwards. However, to
award the EU the Nobel Peace Prize when its policies have caused instability in
Greece and threatened the future of the Eurozone is bizarre to say the least
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
(Video) Gangnam Style: Culture In Toilet Gangnam Style!!
Its fun and crazy but 400 million plus people around the globe lost four minutes GANGNAM STYLE!!
(opinion) Education: Presidential Grade
It's a well established fact the United States has been run more by the lucky than the smart, this great infographic gives you the skinny in words and pictures.
 |
| The best and brightest? not likely |
Friday, October 5, 2012
(Opinion) Auto Loans: A crisis in waiting?
You would have thought the events of the last five years
would have taught banks (Ok, not so much) rating agencies and insurance
companies that dabbling in subprime loan debt is an unwise decision to say the
least, but with the news of the boom in sub-prime auto loans, not much has been
heeded.
Auto loan lenders, apparently
not privy to the cause of the crisis five years ago are dropping barriers in
the way of borrowers with bad credit reports taking on debt to buy cars to the
chagrin of analysts and the joy of car dealers[1].
This may be a key factor in the current recovery and growth of the auto
industry as there is, thanks to subprime auto loans, “more demand for new cars
and more money available to finance them”[2]
.
However these loans are toxic as dealers who sell them have
an almost non-existent moral incentive to tell the truth about what they’re
selling with lenders predicting that “auto loan delinquencies will go up”[3]
. The current Boom in Subprime auto loans and the auto industry is largely down
to the fundamental problems at the crux of why the crisis happened in the first
have not really been addressed. This is
because these problems are more historic than they are financial or even
economic.
Wages for ordinary people have been on the decline for the
last 30 years which saw an explosion in credit as a response to their wages
failing to cover expenses (rent, food, holiday etc). the bottom fell out of
this process in 2007 when deals made by American banks went bad leaving the
global economy has been reeling ever since as politicians have spent more time
trying to shore up the financial system than solve the main problem, the lack
of well-paying jobs and the less than honest business ethics of credit card and
loan providers.
The effects of defaulting on Auto loans are damaging as it
can seriously affect credit history of borrowers, their ability to get loans in
the future, and the car bought with the loan can be repossessed as the car is
usually considered ‘collateral’[4].
Most people who have taken out auto loans are likely to be subject to the
consequences of default as “more than half of… (Auto loans) default” due to
astronomical interest rates[5]
However
there appear to be some good news as Marketwatch reported a drop in May this
year was the “lowest in its (the Auto loan default rate) 8+ year history” with
another decrease a month later[6].
In sum, while the subprime auto loan market may be booming
and the rate of default declining slightly, the systemic problems that
underlined the 2007-2008 crisis still exists and can send the auto loan default
into record figures of debt at any time as families still find it hard to cover
expenses without credit and the job market offering jobs that are weak in wage
and benefits. Lenders have not learned from the mistakes of 2007-2008 but ,
hopefully, for their sakes, they do not get a second lesson.
[1] M
C. White, 2012, Is Subprime Lending Fueling the Auto Surge?,
[2] Ibid
[3]
Ibid
[4]
Carsdirect.com, 2009 Defaulting on a car loan: the effects of Car Loan Default,
http://www.carsdirect.com/auto-loans/what-happens-if-you-default-on-a-car-loan
[5] L.
Picker, 2012, Why subprime Auto loans default,
[6] Marketwatch,
2012, ConsumerCredit Default Rates Decreased for the Sixth Consecutive Month
According to the S&P/Experian Credit Default Indices,
(Opinion) Afghanistan: despair would be a good thing
There is much to be said about Afghanistan, from its culture to its recent history of turmoil, grief, and political-economic dysfunction but what can't be said is that Afghanistan, for all the efforts of NATO and the UN, will come out from the other side, if such a side exists. What it would take to get Afghanistan on its feet would mean more blood and treasure for the occupying forces as Afghanistan has been on its knees for a long time.
From the British Empire, to the Soviets, and now the United States, Afghanistan has been in a state of constant conflict with foreign powers and local warlords all scrambling for their share of Afghanistan future with normal Afghans trying to survive the carnage in the middle. The violence in Afghanistan is still rampant, death prevalent, hope dimming and reality damning.
To see the full article, follow this link to filmannex.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
(sports) Cricket:Twenty20 World Cup Pay Difference Highlights Gender Inequality
It only received very brief headlines, but the recent controversy over the living allowance disparity between male and female cricketers at the twenty20 world cup highlights some continuing worrying trends in the world of sport as a whole.
England
captain Charlotte Edwards started the ‘controversy’ when she suggested that
World Twenty20 chiefs would need to review the pay divide in the daily living
allowance offered to women and men. Female cricketers at the 2012 Twenty20
world cup in Sri Lanka receive a daily allowance of £37 per day. Male
cricketers at the 2012 Twenty20 world cup in the same country playing in an
event organised by the same governing body have been receiving a daily living
allowance of £61 per day. It was also noted that female cricketers were flown
out to the subcontinent in economy class, while male cricketers travelled
business class.
The
first striking thing about these numbers might actually be the sheer quantity
of money that cricketers receive for a living allowance. £259 per week isn’t a
small amount when all of your basic expenses are handled for you. Male
cricketers at the Twenty20 world cup have over £400 per week to spend on food
and for entertainment purposes. That isn’t a bad perk for an already very good
job.
It
should also be mentioned that female cricketers are probably not overly
concerned about having to survive off of ‘only’ £37 per day. Edwards was quick
to state that ‘Our focus is on the cricket at the moment and not on how much
money we get’. Of course there is more to playing cricket for your country then
how much money you make.
However, there are also some pretty clear principles
that it would be pretty sensible to follow. There is absolutely no reason that
men would need a living allowance worth £24 more per day than women. It can be
argued that the discrepancy in the prize money is a result of their simply
being a lot more money in the men’s game in general (the winning men’s team
takes home £616,000, while the women’s winner collect £40,000). That is still a
questionable issue, but a more complex one at least. The difference in daily
living allowances at the Twenty20 world cup can only be put down to sexual
discrimination. Logistically speaking it might actually have been a lot easier
to split the money up more evenly.
So,
what’s the point? A difference in living allowances doesn’t seem to be a major
issue compared to some of the other problems of sexism in sport, which are
present at both a professional and recreational level, and start at a very
young age.
Neither will simply evening up the living allowances fix these
bigger problems. The point is rather that this difference is symptomatic and
representative of the wider problems. It really shows a complete disregard for
the equality that the sport should be striving for. If the game’s own governing
bodies have sat down and produced a difference in budgeting that is a complete
insult to the idea of equality, then what hope is there for improved gender
equality in cricket in general?
Cricket
isn’t the only sport that has this problem. Women’s football is the third
largest team sport in the UK, but this is not at all represented in terms of
sponsorship deals or in terms of television rights. Surveys including both
genders suggest that the publicising of women’s sport via television is
something that the majority of people would welcome.
The
evidence from the few sports that have offered stronger support to the women’s
game is that this is correct. At Wimbledon, the prize money for women and men
is the same. Women’s tennis draws in comparable sized audiences both in the
stands and on television to the men’s game. Does this mean that sexism is
absent from tennis? Of course not, there are still problems with the perception
of female tennis stars and with the general culture surrounding the sport. But
the sport’s governing bodies do at least seem to be taking the issue of
improving gender equality seriously.
Another
example is women’s basketball in the United States. The Women’s National
Basketball Association (WNBA) runs its league throughout the summer and
receives prime television time on ESPN. While there are still some serious
issues with the size of contracts, especially compared with the staggering figures
made by NBA players, the WNBA has forged itself as an independent and effective
sports league. It is widely recognised as such and generally popular. This is
mirrored in college basketball, where the women’s tournament takes place
alongside the men’s tournament and is a key component in helping the period
maintain its name ‘March Madness’.
The
daily living allowance handed out at the Twenty20 world cup may seem like a
minor micro issue that just needs to be fixed behind closed doors, but the
reality is that it is a part of some far larger institutional problems. The
claim here is not that the problems with gender equality in sports can be
magically fixed, or that there are models of gender equality that need to be
followed.
There
is a huge amount of work that needs to be done to improve this situation, and a
lot of it will need to be ‘bottom up’. However, it is also incredibly important
that the top governing bodies take the issue of gender equality seriously, and
engage with it. It’s very hard to find the evidence to suggest that they have
done that so far and the difference in the daily living allowance at the
Twenty20 world cup, and in fact the complete lack of real scandal surrounding
it, are just further proof that serious engagement is just not happening at
this time.
(Opinion) Pharmaceutical Industry Controversy: You Can’t Trust Your Medicine
The truth is out about medically
prescribed drugs. If you were hoping that the drugs prescribed to help cure
your illnesses by your doctors were thoroughly and transparently tested by responsible
and unbiased professionals, then I am afraid you will be disappointed. The good
news is that you can still trust your local doctor as much as you did before.
Your physicians are not acting maliciously towards you at all. The bad news is
that the legal framework of the pharmaceutical industry appears to be
specifically constructed to allow the pharmaceutical industry to put drugs into
the marketplace regardless of their effectiveness and regardless of their potential
negative side effects.
Okay,
so let’s talk this through. Medical professionals will tell you that very few
if any medical drugs are perfect and that drugs have varying degrees of success
with different people and even drugs that are extremely helpful can have
negative side effects. However, there is a very basic expectation that when you
are prescribed medicine, it will be have been proven that that medicine can
have some sort of positive effect on your health, and that the doctor
prescribing you that medicine will have enough information to decide whether
the benefits outweigh the side effects of the drug they are prescribing.
This
article will contest that the recent controversies surrounding the
pharmaceutical industry show that not only is this basic expectation not being
met, but that legal and systematic processes are insuring that it isn’t. Recent
findings paint a picture of an industry that prioritises its own financial gain
over any concern for health or even a basic sense of morality.
Ben
Goldacre recently published some absolutely incredible data in his recent book
that demonstrates the pharmaceutical industry actively deceiving physicians and
the general population. Reboxetine is marketed as an antidepressant used to
treat clinical depression, panic disorder and ADHD. If you read up on the drug
it will show you a convincing list of seemingly well-designed tests with
positive results. The drug is reported as performing better in trials both
against a placebo and other antidepressants.
However,
in October 2010 the full picture of Reboxetine was finally revealed by a group
of researchers. Seven trials had been conducted with only one showing positive
results, but the company elected to publish the only positive results. It
should be made clear at this point that there is no legal requirement for all
trial results to be revealed. However, once the other six trials were brought
to light, they showed a shocking tale of deceit. In all six trials it was shown
that Reboxetine was no better than a dummy sugar pill.
The trials showed 507
patients benefitted more from Reboxetine over other drugs with all of those
results being published. A further 1,657 patients worth of data clearly
demonstrated without question that Reboxetine was no better than other drugs.
It seems that the current structures allow the pharmaceutical industry to
actively discount three quarters of the data from their trials.Even
more worrying is that Reboxetine actually displayed several negative side
effects on certain trial subjects. This was not reported because the trials
were simply discounted. Officially, they were never conducted.
An even
more horrific example is the case of paroxetine in children. Paroxetine is
another anti-depressant drug. GlaxoSmithKline conducted trials of the drug on
children with no benefits shown. The company decided not to reveal this
information and internal documents actually revealed a deliberate cover up of
the trial results to protect the company’s interests. During that time 32,000
prescriptions were given to children by doctors believing the pharmaceutical
industry’s claim that the drug worked.
Not only did GSK withhold the fact that
the drugs were ineffective, but they also withheld much more serious
information about its side effects. A legal loophole meant that GSK did not have
to inform the regulator of the side effects on children from Parexotine.
Parexotine’s safety data was not revealed to the regulator because the drug
doesn’t have specific market authorisation for use on children. The side effect
that wasn’t reported was that Parexotine increased the risk of suicide in
children.
GSK
were not legally obligated to report the findings of their safety tests. The
pharmaceutical industry, an industry responsible for producing medicine,
prioritised their reputation and financial gain over the health and safety of
children; children whose doctors had judged needed to be treated with
anti-depressants. It might be worth dwelling on that point. Children who needed
treatment for issues like depression and panic disorder were prescribed a drug
that not only wouldn’t help them, but could increase the risk of their
committing suicide, and there were people who knew this, people who could have
prevented it.
There
are no mysteries surrounding the people who are perpetrating these travesties.
In 2010, academics in Toronto and Harvard researched a huge range of drug
trials and found that 85% of industry funded drug trials turned up positive
results, while government funded trials produced a success rate of just 50%.
This is far too large of a gulf to be anything besides manipulation. Besides
the fact that researchers are free to bury any negative results and at times
academics and researchers are even contractually obliged to maintain secrecy,
there are also other ways in which these trials can be manipulated. Researchers
can watch results as they come in, intervene at any point and even test their
drug against other drugs that they know do not work. This isn’t the way in which
science or medicine production is supposed to work.
The
pharmaceutical industry can only be trusted to act in its own financial
interest. This is a fact about businesses that is generally accepted in
society, but there has always been an implicit assumption that the production
of medical drugs was regulated and designed to ensure the health and safety of
the patients that will eventually be prescribed them. Private industry cannot
even be trusted to inform doctors of an extremely harmful side effect for a
drug being prescribed to children. The case of the pharmaceutical industry
would seem to be yet another argument against the privatisation of NHS
services. The consequences for allowing market and capital to take priority
over social responsibility can be truly catastrophic.
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