Last stronghold of independent medical science blown apart

Last stronghold of independent medical science blown apart

03.06.2019

The physician and scientist Prof. Peter C. Gøtzsche was a co-founder and senior scientist of the Cochrane Collaboration, a worldwide network of scientists and physicians based in London. It has had an excellent reputation, thus far, as a network for scientists that is independent of the pharmaceutical industry. In September 2018, unnoticed by the general public, Prof. Gøtzsche's membership with the Cochrane Collaboration was withdrawn. Professor Gøtzsche became internationally known for his book "Deadly Medicine and Organized Crime: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Corrupts the Health Care System". His book deals with – I quote from the cover: “ … the dark side of the pharmaceutical industry, the way drugs are discovered, produced, marketed and monitored. It shows in detail how scientists falsify data in order to defend their opinion. When it comes to criminal structures, the pharmaceutical companies are in no way inferior to the mafia. And presumably there is no other industry that has more human lives on its conscience.” Since its foundation 25 years ago, the Cochrane Collaboration has been a guarantor for industry-critical evaluations of a number of medicines, drug tests, and vaccines—including the HPV vaccine which is supposed to be effective against cervical cancer. But in recent years there has been growing evidence that attempts have been made to weaken the independence and industry-critical stance of the Cochrane Collaboration. In September 2016 it became known that the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” donated more than 1 million Dollars to Cochrane. According to the medical journalist and vaccination critic Hans Tolzin, the Gates Foundation finances worldwide vaccination campaigns and itself even holds large blocks of shares from the manufacturers of such vaccines. This then is how the Gates Foundation benefits directly from these vaccination campaigns! What led to the dismissal of Prof. Gøtzsche was his 'retrospective analysis' of an 'independent assessment of the benefits and risks' of cervical cancer vaccinations, initiated by Cochrane. Naturopathic expert René Graeber reiterated it in the following way: “Where the matter starts to get nonsensical is when this 'independent' evaluation involves the very same authors, who have already been paid by the industry for the publications to be evaluated.” Along with two other colleagues, Dr. Gøtzsche published a corresponding “Review” of this study from the Cochrane Collaboration in the well-known “British Medical Journal”. Among other things, he criticized the following: 1. About half of all qualified studies had been suppressed. 2. The effectiveness of the HPV vaccine is evaluated by substitute parameters and not by current data, which indicate that the elimination of tumors is directly hindered by the vaccine. 3. The study ignores data that documents the severe and lasting side effects of an HPV vaccination. 4. All studies included in the evaluation were industry paid publications. The conclusion of the three authors is that “there is no reason to label this review as 'credible' – a review which classifies the HPV vaccine as harmless and effective. Reason for this assumption is the fact that all studies are supported by the industry, and therefore are biased.” Throughout this counter-publication, Prof. Gøtzsche remained faithful to his reputation for an industry-critical and independent attitude towards the pharmaceutical industry. Nonetheless, the Cochrane Collaboration dismissed him from membership after a vote by the governing body – ironically, with the justification of having caused harm to the reputation of the network by his critical and independent opinion! The pharmaceutical industry has thus managed to dismiss one of the most competent, and at the same time, most vehement and influential critics of the Cochrane Collaboration. In this way, the quasi-last stronghold of independent medical science was dismantled and taken captive by the pharmaceutical industry.

from ch

Sources/Links: https://mezis.de/mezis-stellungnahme-zum-konflikt-cochrane-peter-gotzsche/
https://www.impfkritik.de/pressespiegel/2018091901.html
https://naturheilt.com/blog/fuehrender-medizin-wissenschaftler-wird-mundtot-gemacht/
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/streit-um-cochrane-collaboration-wie-sich-die-pharmaindustrie-in-die-forschung-einschleicht-1.1606760
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009069.pub3/full
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009069.pub3/information#CD009069-sec1-0014
https://ebm.bmj.com/content/23/5/165
https://www.cochrane.org/news/statement-cochranes-governing-board-26th-september-2018