University of Minnesota:Town Hall Forum to Discuss Human Subjects Research

Minnesota Legislature must hold hearings on psychiatric research misconduct

By Trudo Lemmens, Raymond DeVries, Lois Shepherd and Susan M. Reverby | 05:00 am

The following commentary has also been signed by 159 scholars of health law, bioethics, medicine and pharmacy from U.S., Canadian, European, Australian and New Zealand institutions. Their names and affiliations are listed in the attached document below.

As scholars of health law, bioethics and medicine, we are calling on the Minnesota Legislature to conduct public hearings on psychiatric research misconduct at the University of Minnesota.

Two reports issued in the last five weeks have exposed serious flaws in the University of Minnesota’s system for protecting human subjects of research. When systems fail, the appropriate response is to admit to the problem and to work hard to fix it. The report by Minnesota’s Legislative Auditor [PDF], focusing on the tragic suicide of Dan Markingson in an industry-sponsored psychiatric drug trial, describes how university leaders have denied and covered up these flaws for the past 10 years.

Two years ago we wrote a letter to the University Senate, co-signed by more than 170 U.S. and international scholars, demanding an independent investigation of Markingson’s suicide. We did so to support U of M faculty members who had been repeatedly stonewalled when raising concerns about exactly the issues exposed in the two reports. Like these faculty members, we received standard responses from senior administrators claiming that several “investigations” and courts failed to find any problems. We also challenged these misleading claims, providing details as to why those independent assessments were nonexistent, cursory or compromised by conflicts of interest, but we never received an adequate response. (READ MORE HERE!)

May 3, 2015 — On Monday, May 4, 2015, the University of Minnesota administration will be holding a one-hour open forum on protecting research subjects. It is open to the public. If you want to help protect the rights and welfare of patients, please attend and make your voice heard. We would be enormously grateful for your help.

Town Hall Forum to Discuss Human Subjects Research

Hosted by: Brooks Jackson, M.D.
Dean, Medical School and Vice President for Health Sciences

Monday, May 4, 2015, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Mayo Memorial Auditorium
420 Delaware St. S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Parking is available in the East River Road Garage and Washington Avenue Parking Ramp.

 

https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2015/04/minnesota-legislature-must-hold-hearings-psychiatric-research-misconduct

White House Gives Go-ahead For Elitists to Control DNA

Michael Edwards
Activist Post

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It is official: in the name of “clean energy, pollution control and medicine,” the White House is prepared to let scientists, spearheaded by the J. Craig Venter Institute, “manipulate DNA of organisms to forge new life forms,” according to a recent AFP article.

The Orwellian language used by Barack Obama’s Presidential Commission For The Study of Bioethical Issues is a study in wordiness, misdirection, and obfuscation that is typical when trying to cover up the true intent.  For example, on one hand the Commission acknowledges that the J. Craig Venter Institute has found the ability to forge new life forms, but also states that Venter’s team didn’t create life, since the work primarily involved altering an already existing life form.