Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries

 

Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Baxter International Inc. has just been caught shipping live avian flu viruses mixed with vaccine material to medical distributors in 18 countries.

The “mistake” (if you can call it that, see below…) was discovered by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The World Health Organization was alerted and panic spread throughout the vaccine community as health experts asked the obvious question: How could this have happened?

“Baxter International Inc. in Austria ‘unintentionally contaminated samples with the bird flu virus that were used in laboratories in 3 neighbouring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease’. Austria, Germany, Slowenia and the Czech Republic – these are the countries in which labs were hit with dangerous viruses. Not by bioterrorist commandos, but by Baxter. In other words: One of the major global pharmaceutical players seems to have lost control over a virus which is considered by many virologists to be one of the components leading some day to a new pandemic. (http://www.lifegen.de/newsip/showne)

But there’s a bigger question in all this: How could this company have accidentally mixed LIVE avian flu viruses (both H5N1 and H3N2, the human form) in this vaccine material?
 The shocking answer is that this couldn’t have been an accident. Why? Because Baxter International adheres to something called BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) – a set of laboratory safety protocols that prevent the cross-contamination of materials.

As explained on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosaf…):

“Laboratory personnel have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially lethal agents, and are supervised by competent scientists who are experienced in working with these agents. This is considered a neutral or warm zone. All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials are conducted within biological safety cabinets or other physical containment devices, or by personnel wearing appropriate personal protective clothing and equipment. The laboratory has special engineering and design features.”

Source: naturalnews.com 

• Baxter: Product Contained Live Bird Flu Virus
• An America Pharma Baxter Vaccine Against Flu Found Contaminated By H5NI Virus In Several Europeans Countries

Rihanna & Chris Brown Secret Wedding?????????

Rihanna  has fuelled rumours she has married Chris Brown by refusing to deny U.S. tabloid reports of a secret wedding.

The pair spent the weekend (28Feb-01Mar09) together at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ mansion in Miami, Florida, reuniting just weeks after a pre-Grammy Awards fight that allegedly left Rihanna battered and bruised and Brown facing criminal threat charges.
They were spotted again on Sunday disembarking a jet in Los Angeles, where Brown will face charges relating to the bust-up on Thursday (05Mar09).
Star magazine claims the pair reconciled in Florida, where Brown proposed – and when Rihanna accepted, he arranged a whirlwind ceremony on Combs’ Star Island estate, where they were made husband and wife.
An insider tells the tabloid, “All she’s ever wanted was to be with him forever. Rihanna is looking for the husband-and-two kids deal before she turns 25. She believes in fairytales, and she wants to live hers with Chris. She was totally up front and confessed to him, ‘I can’t live without you.’”
When approached by WENN to confirm or deny the report, Rihanna’s publicist refused to comment.

Source: contactmusic.com

Canadians Attacked In Barbados

A prominent member of Ottawa’s Jewish community is in an induced coma in a Barbados hospital after she was attacked Saturday while walking on the Caribbean island’s famous Long Beach.

Terry Schwarzfeld and her daughter-in-law, Luana Cotsman of Guelph, Ont., were beaten and left unconscious.

“They were attacked, and reportedly injured by a piece of wood,” according to an unidentified Barbados policeman.

“The reports indicate that they were struck in the upper part of the body and the injuries have been mostly to the head,” he said.

Cotsman, who was travelling with her husband David and toddler son Benjamin, was knocked unconscious but came out of it while still on the beach, said her father-in-law, Stephen Cotsman. She has been released from hospital.

“She suffered from minor bleeding at the base of her skull close to her spine as well as heavy bruising on one arm. She is sore, exhausted, stressed, but OK,” he said.

Schwarzfeld was knocked unconscious by one or two blows to the back of her head, Cotsman said.

She didn’t regain consciousness and was heavily sedated at the hospital to reduce the chance of any further damage, he said.

Her brain is swelling and bleeding, she has already had several CAT scans and will be kept sedated at least until she can be safely transported back to Ottawa, Cotsman said.

“An incident like this has caused concern to [the] government and people of Barbados,” said Edward Evelyn Greaves, Barbados’s high commissioner to Canada on Tuesday.

“We are concerned about the family, the woman and her family, what has happened. We are concerned about her health,” he said.

Schwarzfeld, past executive director of Agudath Israel Synagogue, was recently named president of the Canadian chapter of Hadassah-WIZO, a charitable, international Jewish women’s organization nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Barbados police haven’t made any arrests yet.

“We have strong support here in Barbados by the police, tourism authority, the Canadian high commission, our neighbours and the local people,” Cotsman said.

Source: cbc.ca