As you know, current U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld not only dabbled in health chicanery at G.D. Searle, but served as a chairman for Gilead Sciences, a company that developed, then leased the rights to Roche Pharmaceuticals, to the worthless flu drug Tamiflu. You probably heard about it here first, considering I was one of the first people to discuss that lethal connection.
So far, Rumsfeld has made a “killing” (pun intended) on the stock market to the tune of more than $5 million in capital gains from selling Gilead stock in 2004. And, based to the most recent financial disclosures by Rumsfeld for 2005, the current value of his stock may be worth $25 million, an estimate on the very small side, considering Roche’s decision to expand Tamiflu production.
An even sadder fact about all this: Current ethics rules in American government don’t prevent Rumsfeld from owning stocks or making money from health-harming substances like Tamiflu or aspartame of which he may have some influence in the White House.
No surprise, since drug companies use their largesse to buy favors and influence from Congress and the White House. You’ll read more about the bird flu hoax in a new book I’m publishing later this summer.