Dear Ginger, Have been following the Rep. Barton story closely. Did a quick scan of the campaign contributions to his Congressman Joe Barton Committee via the FEC filings.
Thought you'd be interested in the following: Alcon PAC (contact lens solution/used to have thimerosal): $16,000 Allergan PAC (ditto): $30,000 Merck: $26,000 Novartis: $8000 Pfizer: $24,000 GlaxoSmithKline PAC: $19,000
That's just a quick scan and doesn't include many other medical sounding contributors, including health insurance companies, etc. It doesn't include individual contributions, either.
So, that goes a long way toward explaining who controls Joe Barton's opinion of Autism legislation.
Best, Angelique
UPDATE: Anne Dachel has been digging too:
Texas Congressionman Joe Barton's motives for holding up the Combating Autism Act are understandable by examining his list of campaign contributers. Rep. Barton is pharma's friend and money is not given out like this without expecting something in return.
That return seems to be to stall the CAA, a bill which would provide for research into the possible environmental causes of autism. That would of course include the unchecked use of thimerosal (mercury) in vaccines.
Does Joe Barton represent the people of his district or the drug industry? What do his actions say?
Anne
Donations to Re-election committee Joseph Barton R-Tx 6 http://query. nictusa.com/ cgi-bin/can_ give/H4TX06117
Combating Autism Act of 2005 5/18/2005: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Donations to Re-election committee Joseph Barton R-Tx 6 http://query. nictusa.com/ cgi-bin/can_ give/H4TX06117
ABBOTT LABORATORIES EMPLOYEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/26/2006 4000.00 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF BIOANALYSTS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/05/2006 4000.00 AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL PAC 09/26/2006 2000.00 AMERICAN DENTAL POLITICAL ACTION CMTE. 06/21/2006 5000.00 AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION PAC 08/08/2006 2000.00 AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/14/2006 2500.00 AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC INFORMATION ASSOCIATION - OSTEOPATHIC PAC 06/23/2006 5000.00 AMERICAN PHARMACISTS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/07/2006 2000.00 AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 06/13/2006 3000.00 ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY INC 09/12/2006 2000.00 BAYER CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/19/2006 1000.00 BAYER CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/31/2006 2000.00 CONSUMER HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS ASSOC PAC 09/19/2006 3000.00 ELI LILLY AND COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/24/2006 1500.00 GENESIS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/01/2006 3500.00 GENTIVA HEALTH SERVICES INC PAC GENTIVAPAC 08/25/2006 2000.00 GENZYME CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (GENZ-PAC) 07/16/2006 1000.00 KINDRED HEALTHCARE INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/31/2006 5000.00 MEDIMMUNE INC. EMPLOYEE POLITICAL AWARENESS COMMITTEE 05/16/2006 1500.00 MERCK & CO. INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/17/2006 5000.00 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHAIN DRUG STORES, INC. PAC 09/07/2006 2000.00 PFIZER INC. PAC 06/07/2006 1000.00 QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INCORPORATED POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/13/2006 2000.00 SANOFI PASTEUR POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/02/2006 1000.00 ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 09/20/2006 1000.00
Donations to the Texas Freedom Fund (Joe Barton's Political Action committee http://herndon1. sdrdc.com/ cgi-bin/com_ rcvd/C00340661
AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE- HEARING ASSOCIATION PAC 09/27/2006 1500.00 PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA 09/22/2006 2500.00 BLUEPAC - BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION PAC 08/31/2006 5000.00 GENESIS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/26/2006 4000.00 ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/17/2006 2500.00 CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 08/3/2006 2000.00 SUN HEALTHCARE GROUP INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/24/2006 2500.00 CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/19/2006 2000.00 MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS INC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/17/2006 1500.00 AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 07/13/2006 2500.00 ALLERGAN INC POLITICAL ACTION COMM FOR EMPLOYEES (APACE) 05/22/2006 2500.00 COMMUNITY ONCOLOGY ALLIANCE PAC 05/22/2006 3000.00 LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC 05/22/2006 -1500.00 LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC 05/22/2006 4000.00 SMITHKLINE BEECHAM CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 05/4/2006 2500.00 NOVARTIS CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/28/2006 2500.00 ABBOTT LABORATORIES EMPLOYEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/27/2006 5000.00 LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY PAC 03/23/2006 1500.00 PFIZER INC. PAC 03/23/2006 2500.00 JOHNSON & JOHNSON POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/22/2006 2500.00 ELI LILLY AND COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/17/2006 2500.00 MERCK & CO. INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/17/2006 5000.00 PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA 03/16/2006 2500.00 WYETH GOOD GOVERNMENT FUND 03/13/2006 2500.00 AMGEN INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 03/7/2006 2500.00 SCHERING-PLOUGH CORPORATION BETTER GOVERNMENT FUND 03/2/2006 5000.00 ZENECA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 02/20/2006 2500.00 CAREMARK RX INC. EMPLOYEES POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 02/10/2006 1000.00 UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED PAC (UNITED FOR HEALTH) 02/9/2006 5000.00
UPDATE: Anne Dachel has been digging too: