FDA Impersonators Scam

FDA Impersonators just get my dander up. Be aware, and don't fall for this stupid scam.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning the public about criminals posing as FDA special agents and other law enforcement personnel as part of an international extortion scam.

The criminals call the victims -- who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the Internet or via "telepharmacies" -- and identify themselves as FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials. The criminals inform the victims that purchasing drugs over the Internet or the telephone is illegal, and that law enforcement action will be pursued unless a fine or fee ranging from $100 to $250,000 is paid. Victims often also have fraudulent transactions placed against their credit cards.

The criminals always request the money be sent by wire transfer to a designated location, usually in the Dominican Republic. If victims refuse to send money, they are often threatened with a search of their property, arrest, deportation, physical harm, and or incarceration.

"Impersonating an FDA official is a violation of federal law," said Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "The public should note that no FDA official will ever contact a consumer by phone demanding money or any other form of payment.”

FDA special agents and other law enforcement officials are not authorized to impose or collect criminal fines. Only a court can take such action, with fines payable to the U.S. Treasury.

Anyone receiving a telephone call from a person purporting to be an FDA or other law enforcement official who is seeking money to settle a law enforcement action for the illegal purchase of drugs over the Internet should refuse the demand and call the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations Metro Washington Field Office at (800) 521-5783 to report the crime.

White House, White House, How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have been pleased to be part of the "Eat the View" Campaign, a petition asking the Obamas to plant a garden at the White House to showcase the many benefits of gardening: economic, nutritious, physical, emotional, and environmental. 

Michelle Obama is going to break ground at the White House on the South Lawn for the first formal vegetable garden in decades. 

Bravissimo, Michelle! 

TK 

Peanut-O-Phobia

Peanuts contaminated with Salmonella typhimurium have made us all a little peanut-phobic. Yesterday, my favorite lo-carb bars were recalled. 

Sadness and woe.

Hundreds, if not thousands of peanut-containing products have been recalled. This handy little widget below will help you determine if your favorite nutrition bar might now be deadly biohazard waste. 

This widget will also be on the left-hand tool bar for the foreseeable future. 

The good news is that most peanut butter, like Skippy or Jif, is safe. If you're craving peanut consumables, try these easy Peanut Butter Cookies. 

Good luck out there. 

TK Kenyon

Autism / Vaccination Link: Research May Have Been Fake

TK Kenyon, your intrepid scientist for non-majors, is not surprised to tell you that The Times of London has reported that the doctor who originally reporting in 1998 that he found a link between the MMR vaccine and sudden onset of autism may have faked his data. 

If so, this is a huge case of medical fraud. 

The Times of London reports:  

[The original Lancet paper] claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.

However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.

This is damning evidence. I mean, seriously. This is far worse than the fact that some other reports have not found the same conclusion. Autism is clearly a spectrum of conditions with similar behavioral and physiological symptoms. Not finding exactly the same results could be accounted for. 

However, in this case, ToL reviewed the kids' charts and found that the original doctor, Andrew Wakefield, misstated what was in these kids' records. Wakefield either lied or was terribly mistaken. 

Instead of 8/12 children having an onset of autism after the MMR vaccine, only 1 did. That's just a terrible error. 

While Wakefield said that he identified a bowel pathology associated with autism, pathologists could not find evidence of this in the original kids' original slides. That's gross negligence. 

This is just another nail in the vaccine-autism coffin.