BARDA is a bad idea, especially since the BARDA czar sitting in back rooms with drug company execs will have access to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars but their activities will be exempt from FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests from the public to find out how that money is being spent. Nobody but the BARDA czar and his boss, the politically appointed Secretary of Health, will know just how toxic those experimental vaccines and drugs might be before they are forced on citizens in the name of protecting the public health and national security.
For more information on the plans that bi-partisan supporters of authoritarian biodefense legislation have for America, read the letter NVIC sent to Bob Kadlec in November 2005 at www.nvic.org (Under News & Features on homepage, click on "Liability Shield Given to Pharma").
If you want to voice your opinion about plans to create BARDA so drug companies can develop experimental drugs and vaccines in secret, it is important for you to immediately write, email and fax your Congressperson at their Washington, D.C. office and their home office in your state. If you oppose the legislation, ask for public hearings in both the House in January 2007 before any legislation is passed. Go to www.house.gov to find out how to contact your federal legislators.