Tag: pharmaceutical company

Respiratory Rankings Wrong?

A recent ranking of the worst U.S. cities for respiratory infections is being called into question. The GLRC’s Erin Toner reports:

Transcript

A recent ranking of the worst U.S. cities for respiratory infections is
being called into question. The GLRC’s Erin Toner reports:


The list was compiled by BestPlaces.net, and funded by the
pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis. It was based on the prevalence
of respiratory infections, prescriptions, and the rates of antibiotic
resistance. But one physician says the methodology might not give an accurate
picture.


Doctor Randolph Lipchik teaches at Medical College of Wisconsin. He
says the data is likely being skewed by the antibiotic resistance factor.


“Most respiratory tract infections, whether it’s sore throat, or an ear
infection or bronchitis, is viral, and antibiotics don’t treat that, and
antibiotics don’t prevent spread of those infections.”


Lipchik says it might be that hospitals in cities high on the list have a
high amount of resistant bacteria, making it look like they have more
trouble with infections than cities ranked better by Bestplaces.net.


For the GLRC, I’m Erin Toner.

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Common Vaccines Contain Toxic Chemical

When you go to get your flu shot, there’s a good chance you’ll also be getting a dose of a toxic chemical. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

When you go to get your flu shot, there’s a good chance you’ll also be getting a dose of a toxic
chemical. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Thimerosal long has been used as a preservative in vaccines. But it contains mercury, and mercury
is not good for anyone. In children it can damage intellectual and nervous system
development. The mercury preservative has been removed from many vaccines, but Barbara Loe
Fisher with the National Vaccine Information Center says it’s still used too often.


“We still have it in influenza vaccine, diptheria-tetanus, some hepatitis B vaccines. Those are all
given to children. And there’s a pneumococcal vaccine that’s given to sick children that also has
Thimerosal, so, you know, on any given day a child could get more mercury than they should be
exposed to because the manufacturers just haven’t gotten it out of all the vaccine.”


Loe Fisher says manufacturers can produce the vaccines in single dose vials, eliminating the need
for the preservative, but the pharmaceutical companies have been resistant because it’s cheaper to
produce multi-dose vials with the mercury preservative.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.