Welcome to the current edition of i2P (Information to Pharmacists) E-Magazine dated Monday 16 April, 2018.
And in this edition of i2P we turn the light on corruption and conflict of interest and what agencies are charged with dealing with the prevention of this insidious infection that damages national economies and impacts on the bulk of honest Australians who lack the power to fight it.
Few of us would be aware of the Australian government agency AUSTRAC.
Operating under the office of the Attorney-General in Canberra, it was originally charged to monitor financial transactions that had the potential to be a component of money laundering, generally involving tax avoidance.
Its brief has progressively expanded to include the monitoring of money trails associated with terrorism, the movement of money at levels of $10,000 and above through all financial services licence-holders, and partnering with similar international agencies to extend a cooperative reach.
Money laundering and criminal activities go hand-in-hand.
More recently they have engaged with cryptocurrency exchange providers (people who convert currency systems like Bitcoin and exchange them for regular currencies).
These providers will now have to:
* adopt and maintain a recognised program to identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks
* identify and verify the identities of their customers
* report to AUSTRAC suspicious matters, and transactions involving physical currency of $10,000 or more
* keep certain records for seven years.
Recognition of cryptocurrencies through this type of regulation will enhance its potential of becoming a true global currency outside of the standard banking system whilst simultaneously remove its potential to launder vast anonymous amounts of money derived through corrupt or criminal activities.
Not that the Australian banking system displays much integrity (as is being identified by the current Royal Commission) because it has corruptly avoided reporting monies exiting the country above $10,000 to the extent that Australia has become a mecca for money launderers who need to move money, often the proceeds of crime, to a safer haven. For drunk and drive crimes, Miami DUI lawyer need to be contacted. On false prosecution of DUI claims you can also seek the help of defense lawyers serving in Arkansas as they can help you legally in proving your innocence.
The incoming new head of AUSTRAC, Nicole Rose, said she was shocked at the depth and volume of money laundering within the Australian economy, private enterprise and the banking system, which was helping the criminal activities of organised crime, child exploitation and drug importation. If you are a victim of such a crime, consult experienced drug possession charges lawyers for hire to give you legal advice and help you with your case.
“There’s a misperception that money laundering is a victimless white collar crime that’s probably just looking at tax avoidance.
“It has a massive impact on everyday life for everyone”, she said.
Ms Rose, a former deputy head of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, inherited AUSTRAC’s high stakes case against the Commonwealth Bank which is fighting almost 54,000 allegations that it broke anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws through not reporting money transactions above the limit or transactions that looked suspicious.
This was a system managed at the executive level of the bank and it will be interesting to see if the perpetrators are brought to account, rather than just a fine for the bank alone.
Instead the bank opted to utilise the massive cash flows that were generated, totally violating its fiduciary standing within the Australian community.
And this type of corruption has flourished in Australia to infect a range of major corporations and our politicians who turn a “blind eye” and actively assist in corruptly providing favourable legislation that profits those corporations, which in turn provide “donations” to those same politicians who then have to launder these ill-gotten gains.
One method of laundering is to openly purchase a house, usually in need of renovation, with “clean money”.
Then they renovate it using cash in the form of “dirty money” and eventually realise a useful capital gain or a high rental return.
Check out the number of houses that federal politicians own that they declare on their public statement of assets.
There is one such politician who owns 25 houses!
Others own multiples under that figure, but still a significant number – and there are quite a number of prominent people involved in this practice.
AUSTRAC is also considering extending its reach to include the $10,000 reporting threshold on cash transactions that would be extended from financial institutions to other high-risk sectors such as real estate agents, accountants and lawyers, (and their trust accounts).
However, AUSTRAC is fully evaluating the impact on what are mostly small businesses before making such a move.
And it could eventually move to investigating corruption in the health professions and associated industries.
Corruption does exist in health and it certainly does need to be exposed.
Transparency International is an NGO that reports globally on corruption issues and defines corruption as:
“The abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.”
Watch their video on the subject:
For conflict of interest issues close to the pharmaceutical industry,we would point you to the Federal Government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), where a range of people hold conflicting interests that destroy the objectivity and independence of this organisation.
Other associated organisations include the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance.
Elizabeth Hart, who advocates against over-vaccination, has sent a report to i2P that illustrates how an intense lobby is being mounted for the meningococcal vaccine (which has been declined a listing by the PBAC on a number of occasions)..
Read the Safe Vaccine Debate page in this edition where she reports the following conflicted people:
* According to the ATAGI conflict of interest document (see link below), A/Professor Marshall is an investigator on clinical trials associated with funding from GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi.
She also presents at conferences sponsored by vaccine companies.
* Another ATAGI member, A/Professor Jodie McVernon, (recently interviewed on Dr Norman Swan’s ABC Health Report discussing meningococcal B and W), is also an investigator on clinical trials funded by GlaxoSmithKline, bioCSL, Novartis and Pfizer, and is funded to attend workshops and symposiums sponsored by vaccine companies. (These conflicts of interest were not disclosed when A/Professor McVernon was interviewed on Norman Swan’s ABC Health Report.
* The former Chairperson of ATAGI, Professor Terry Nolan, also promotes the GSK Bexsero meningococcal B vaccine product, and along with A/Professor Helen Marshall and A/Professor Jodie McVernon, has been involved with meningococcal B vaccine studies sponsored by the vaccine industry.
* Another avid promoter of the GSK Bexsero meningococcal B vaccine product is Professor Robert Booy, who is Head of Clinical Research at the National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance, a government funded body which is influential on vaccination policy. Professor Booy’s Clinical Research Group undertakes studies supported by vaccine manufacturers.
* The recently retired director of the NCIRS, Professor Peter McIntyre, was also an ex officio member of the Federal Government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, and was also involved in industry-funded vaccine clinical trials – (see the ATAGI conflict of interest link for some incomplete information in this regard at atagi-conflict-interest-disclosures ).
And to close off with one of the most toxic media releases I think I have ever sighted, concerns one of the US banks, Goldman Sachs, the bank at the centre of the sub-prime mortgage debacle that so damaged the US economy.
They have recently published an analysis for their global pharma clients as follows:
“Goldman Sachs analysts attempted to address a touchy subject for biotech companies, especially those involved in the pioneering “gene therapy” treatment: cures could be bad for business in the long run.
“Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” analysts ask in an April 10 report entitled “The Genome Revolution.”
“The potential to deliver ‘one shot cures’ is one of the most attractive aspects of gene therapy, genetically-engineered cell therapy and gene editing.
However, such treatments offer a very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies,” analyst Salveen Richter wrote in the note to clients recently.
“While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow.”
i2P believes this policy is already in play in the research and development of mainstream drugs that provide management of chronic conditions only (never cures) using a one-month prescription issue forever (never mind the side effects or other alternatives like clinical nutrition or complementary medicines that can provide better solutions).
This is why natural health modalities are always being disrupted by global pharma front organisations and government agencies that have been influenced through monetary payments.
The lead article for this edition involves an explanation of how professional services introduction may not “take” in some instances where tactics and strategy are not appropriately designed for their introduction, particularly in the marketing phase.
It is relatively easy to visualise the type and range of services you would ideally like to deliver from your community pharmacy environment.
That is a given first step.
The next step is the design phase to develop these ideas into a formal system to give tangibility to those services.
A design establishes and identifies the genuine needs that have to be serviced, the boundaries that have to be established and a map of all planned services showing how they will be linked and not left in isolation.
And the final stage is the marketing which involves a point of engagement and communication with a patient, how the services are differentiated from offerings of other health providers and how quality is infused into the service so that patients have a top experience and value what is provided.
The services map goes to the heart of service design and the formal market plan to ensure appropriate delivery.
Read: Marketing Professional Services – Tactics & Strategies
Gerald Quigley is back and highlights the fact that food choices are not always recommended by pharmacists as first line treatments for a patient’s general health and wellbeing.
His article takes the concept of health and wellness that tailors nutritious foods to provide the necessary building blocks to sustain that ojective.
The modality of Ayuverdic Medicine has been around a long time and utilises that identical concept.
But it is difficult to practice because sourcing “clean organic food” not contaminated with pesticides, herbicides or that are not genetically modified means that health and wellness is often damaged through the growing, distribution and processing of our food into toxic cocktails.
The answer?
Grow more of your own food, or source reliable suppliers of clean food and share these sources with your patients.
And reinforce your recommendations in the format of a nutri-prescription –there is a need for this professional service, one that is different to all others.
Read: Take two broccoli and call me in the morning!
John Rappoport discusses global pharma’s use of overuse promotion, as a marketing strategy is destroying certain patient populations.
Among many dubious practices that global pharma’s engage in is the promotion of gross over-usage of a drug.
This is seen in the marketing practices of vaccination promotion, opioid promotion and the OTC promotion of pain tablets, antibiotic over-prescribing as well as overuse of anti-depressants, now linked to the infamous mass school shootings in the US.
Read: The US government colludes in Mass Deaths by Opioids
The Orthomolecular Newsletter Service (OMNS) specialises in clinical nutrition solutions for many illnesses.
Their latest issue covers an integrated strategy for whooping cough, one of the more problematic infections that has been proven to be spread by failed vaccines.
The article is written by a responsible medical practitioner based on her long experience with whooping cough and the practice of integrated medicine.
It is a long and well-researched article, designed to be a reference article for the best process for treating whooping cough for all ages of patients.
As pharmacists you are able to provide the necessary health literacy to a parent or a patient for this standalone treatment of whooping cough or as a treatment integrated with another format.
Use can even be conjointly with the failed pertussis vaccine.
Read: OMNS – Sodium Ascorbate Treatment of Whooping Cough
“The science is settled”.
So say the people who promote vaccination as some form of extreme medical ideology.
“Scientism is settled” is a more accurate description of the manipulation of the science surrounding vaccines – and it is certainly “unsettling” to hear the dishonest claims that blare out in all forms of media.
“First do no harm” is the concept that underwrites all medical practice.
Australian vaccination policy is so poor and damaging, that it beggars belief that legislators can be so close to manufacturer sales objectives as to guarantee them a market through coercive legislation that involves simultaneous removal of patient choice.
The evidence supporting vaccine policy failure and its lack of safety is becoming so voluminous that it will eventually destroy the unnatural power alliance that desperately tries to hold it all together.
Read: The Safe Vaccine Debate – 1. Robert Kennedy’s World Mercury Project: The New York Times vs. the Science on the Flu Shot 2. AVN: FaceBook taking down pages that question the safety and effectiveness of vaccination3. Elizabeth Hart “OverVaccination”: Meningococcal B vaccination – conflicts of interest in vaccination policy
WHO has made a statement saying that cannabis should be decriminalised world-wide because existing laws cause health discrimination.
In Australia, patients are being actively discriminated against as police are instructed to enforce existing laws and close down “illegal” supplies, leaving critically ill people with no workable solutions for their health problems.
Flawed health policy generates bad laws and lowered community respect for policy and laws.
Yet again, Pharmacy is in a position to provide solutions very simply and simultaneously create opportunity for the profession to treat chronically ill patients efficiently and economically.
Pharmacy leaders need to be proactive in the regulatory area because other health professionals are actively competing to lock pharmacy out of any opportunity whatsoever.
Potential for pharmacists is found in the compounding of THC and CBD in specific ratios to match the best result for patients with chronic illness.
Further pharmacist potential also lies in using cannabinoids in harm minimisation programs involving opioid dependencies and as an adjunct for the management of pain.
Pharmacists also need to be active and have a voice in the regulation of these substances ensuring that maximum patient access can be obtained through the application of Schedule 3 of the Poison’s Act.
Read: Understanding Medical Cannabis – 1. Australia’s Science Channel: Where marijuana is legal, opioid use drops 2. EchoNet Daily: Medical-cannabis producer again locked up 3. Entrepreneur: A Study of One Colorado County Finds Legal Marijuana has More Benefits Than Problems
Harvey Mackay is back with an article on self-belief.
Despite the fact that national political leadership and international business leadership currently lacks integrity, there is no reason to change your personal belief system to do what is not right.
That is always the best defence against those self-appointed detractors who try to manipulate entire health modalities into changing their culture to one that simply is not in the best interests of their patients.
Harvey describes some personal strategies that can assist you in holding your belief system together.
Read: Believe in yourself even when no one else does
And we conclude our offering of content for this edition of i2P with a range of media releases from two pharmacy leadership organisations.
NPS – NPS Media Releases – 1. NMS-Early bird registration closing soon 2. April Edition of Australian Prescriber 3. Rheumatoid arthritis: early diagnosis and treatment improve patient outcomes
We hope you enjoy reading our current content and invite you to enter the debate by commenting in the panel provided at the foot of each article.
Neil Johnston
Editor, i2P E-Magazine,
Monday 16 April 2018