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GLOBAL NEWS INQUIRY INTO PAN RAIDS Ihe Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must initiate a formal inquiry into the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration's use of fraud and lies to justify its 2003 corporate terror raid on Pan Pharmaceuticals and the wider natural and traditional healthcare product industry, says analyst Ron Law. Australian Federal Court documents reveal that Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) officials embarked on an orchestrated litany of lies, falsified evidence and shredded documents, and fraudulently claimed that there was an "imminent risk" of death and serious harm, despite knowing that its expert advisory committee had concluded there was no serious risk. Officials even falsified the advice of the Solicitor-General during a briefing to the then Australian Prime Minister. The New Zealand government initiated a mandatory recall of hundreds of safe products in New Zealand in May 2003 on the basis of Australia's deceit and fraud. NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark and Kevin Rudd must now formally consign the much-maligned (proposed) joint Trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods Administration to the history books. The revelations in the Australian Federal Court resulted in the Australian government paying out millions of IMF LOANS LEAD TO MORE TB DEATHS lhe International Monetary Fund lends money to countries with financial problems and in return requires them to cut spending (amongst other things) to control inflation. David Stuckler and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, England, have analysed the spread of tuberculosis in 21 countries in central and eastern Europe that received IMF loans after 1989. The researchers found that the loans were linked with a 13 per cent increase in cases of TB and 16 per cent more deaths. The team also discovered that countries spent less on TB control and had fewer doctors per person after receiving IMF loans. What's more, the bigger the loan, the bigger the increase in TB that followed. The effect was not because countries with worsening TB simply attracted more IMF attention, says Stuckler, as the TB rates were falling or at least steady before receipt of the IMF loans. The team also found that for each year of a country's involvement with the IMF, the TB death rate increased by four per cent on average. (Source: New Scientist, 23 July 2008) dollars to the majority shareholder of Pan Pharmaceuticals. Industry sources suggest that claims by the rest of the Australian and NZ natural and traditional healthcare product industry will reach over A$200 million in further payouts, with NZ companies preparing claims against the Australian and NZ governments. The TGA's vindictive behaviour extended to New Zealand regulators. Companies that opposed the proposed joint agency were subject to unwarranted, random GMP (good manufacturing practice) audits that in some cases cost companies six-figure sums. This also requires investigation. The one positive to come from the Federal Court revelations is that some of the reasons for Australian and NZ industry's contempt and disdain for the Australian regulator have now been formally revealed. "There is no place in a modern democratic society for a regulator like the Australian Therapeutic Goods Agency," says Ron Law. "Mr Rudd, do the decent thing and establish a formal inquiry to unearth the extent of the regulatory malfeasance and then provide Australia with an honest regulator, fit for purpose." (Source: Scoop Independent News, 19 August 2008, http://tinyurl .com/ 4qd56b) OLDEST SKELETON IN AMERICAS FOUND IN CAVE eep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas. Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, the female skeleton has been dated at 13,600 years old. The remains have been excavated over the past four years near the town of Tulum, about 80 miles (128 km) southwest of Cancun, by a team of scientists led by Arturo Gonzalez, director of the Desert Museum in Saltillo, Mexico. "We don't know how [the people whose remains were found in the caves] arrived and whether they came — gemarviffe “We apologise for the wnexpected interruption ta Auman conflict, Neraral hilling will resume shortly." 8 ¢ NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2008