Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. (MRK) is halting worldwide sales of its blockbuster arthritis drug Vioxx, once viewed as possibly being able to prevent some cancers, because new data from a clinical trial found an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Its stock price plunged more than 26 percent as the company said the recall will hurt its earnings.

They actually took the time today to announce that the recall would hurt it’s earnings? I think that’s a given, don’t you?

Merck said Thursday that data from the trial showed the increased risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular complications began 18 months after patients started taking Vioxx. About 2 million people worldwide are currently taking Vioxx, according to Merck, and a total of 84 million have taken it since it came on the market with great fanfare in 1999.

I bet their chief financial officer is sweating right about now. We all know what happened with a few “other” drugs that ended up hurting people. The money changing hands was truly astounding.

The data comes from a three-year study aimed at showing that Vioxx at a 25 milligram dose prevents recurrence of polyps in the colon and rectum. Such polyps can turn cancerous. The trial was stopped after Merck discovered study participants had double the risk of a heart attack, compared to other participants taking dummy pills.

Question: Does taking “dummy pills” make you immune from dummies or does it make you a dummy? Enquiring minds want to know.

Medical experts advised patients to stop taking Vioxx and consult their doctor about alternatives, but said patients should not panic because the risk of a heart attack was still relatively low.

I haven’t trusted any of the “new” drugs they keep advertising on TV anyway.

How can you trust a company that runs commercials that say to “ask your doctor”, when, if the drug actually does anything, your doctor should already know?

Is it just me or does the fact they were still “running tests” on the drug make anyone else just a little bit nervous?

While the Republican Party prepared for the upcoming debates with a wonderful new “debate feed“, which will automatically be updated with the facts when John Kerry attempts to mislead the American people, the Democratic Party was preparing for the debates themselves.

The Republican Party will be updating the debate feed live, while each of the debates is ongoing, and while they are doing that what will the Democrats be up too? Apparently, they will be playing bingo.

Isn’t it nice to know that the Democratic Party, and John Kerry, are so comfortable with this campaign that they actually took the time to prepare a bingo card just for the occasion?

I have been looking forward to the debates for some time. I can hardly wait to see John Kerry sweat. (You know the orange dye is going to run under those studio lights).

The flurry of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens intensified further Thursday, and one scientist put the chance of a small eruption happening in the next few days at 70 percent.

Jeff Wynn, chief scientist at the U.S. Geologic Survey’s Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., said tiny quakes were happening three or four times a minute. Larger quakes, with magnitudes of 3 to 3.3, were happening every three or four minutes, he said.

New measurements show the 975-foot lava dome in the volcano’s crater has moved 261/27 inches to the north since Monday, Wynn said.

“Imagine taking a 1,000-foot-high pile of rocks and moving it 261/27 inches. For a geologist, that’s a lot of energy,” Wynn said.

Wynn estimated there was a 70 percent chance the activity will result in an eruption.

I will go out on a limb and say there will be some sort of eruption before the weekend is over (within the next three days).

What do you think?

Flesh-eating bacteria cases, fatal pneumonia and life-threatening heart infections suddenly are popping up around the country, striking healthy people and stunning their doctors.

The cause? Staph, a bacteria better known for causing skin boils easily treated with standard antibiotic pills.

No more, say infectious disease experts, who increasingly are seeing these “super bugs” - strains of Staphylococcus aureus unfazed by the entire penicillin family and other first-line drugs.

Until a few years ago, these drug-resistant infections were unheard of except in hospital patients, prison inmates and the chronically ill. Now, resistant strains are infecting healthy children, athletes and others with no connection to a hospital.

Follow this link to read more about this nasty crap. I would not leave anything to chance if I were you. :wink:

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson joined the campaign of Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday as a poll showed support for the presidential candidate slipping among black Americans, a critical Democratic constituency.

Geologists have raised the alert level at Mount Saint Helens to a “volcano advisory,” the second highest warning of a possible eruption.

Geologists said activity at Mount Saint Helens is “ramping up” and they are more convinced now that magma is moving under the volcano. They expected an eruption would be limited to within three miles of the volcano.

“We think the likelihood of an eruption has increased,” said

Scientist told a news conference at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., that small earthquakes are now occurring at the rate of four a minute.

How soon til she blows? You can watch the mountain for yourself, if you wish, or you can read more of the article. It’s your choice.

SpaceShipOne landed safely on Wednesday in the California desert after a wild corkscrew-like ascent into space in a shot for a $10 million prize offered to the first privately funded, manned craft to reach beyond the atmosphere.

Today is an amazing day.

British hostage Ken Bigley has appeared caged, chained and pleading for his life in new video footage.

In the harrowing recording, shown on the Arab TV channel al Jazeera, Mr Bigley renews his appeal for Tony Blair to meet the kidnappers’ demands and save his life.

He then breaks down in tears as he accuses Mr Blair of ignoring his plight.

“He doesn’t care about me. I’m just one…” he says before holding his head in his hands and sobbing.

He said his captors did not want to kill him.

Brother Paul said he was relieved that Mr Bigley was alive - but was distressed by the images.

“Ken is alive, that is a good thing,” he said.

“It does not look good with him caged like a hound but he is alive.

The kidnappers obviously heard about the Italian payment, and have upped their ante’ by releasing another video to show Mr. Bigley is still alive. Or is he?

But the website message claimed the terrorists were going to free the 62-year-old in order to “humiliate” the British Government.

However, analysts urged caution over the report, pointing out that other claims made on Islamic websites had turned out to be completely false.

One report said two Italian aid workers had been “slaughtered” - but it emeged last night that they had been freed.

I guess we will find out soon enough. Pray for Mr. Bigley.

What is the price of freedom?

The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis.

The two Italians, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, were freed on Tuesday after three weeks in captivity.

They had been seized along with two Iraqi colleagues from a central Baghdad office in a brazen attack witnesses described as very organised and probably carried out by a criminal gang.

Italy rejoiced in the women’s freedom on Wednesday, but there were reports a substantial ransom had been paid.

Apparently, if you are Italian and you are kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq, the price of freedom is approximately $500,000 per person.

Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, told French radio a ransom of around $1 million (550,000 pounds) — a sum already mentioned in Arabic media reports in recent days — had been handed over.

Wonderful. They just raised the stakes for foreign aid workers who are only there to help the Iraqi people. I bet the kidnappers were not demanding a ransom. I bet they wanted some prisoners released, or citizens of some country to withdraw from Iraq. I bet the kidnappers were not even considering a ransom, until it was offered.

“In principle, we shouldn’t give in to blackmail but this time we had to. Although it’s a dangerous path to take because, obviously, it could encourage others to take hostages, either for political reasons or for criminal reasons,” Selva told RTL.

I wonder what made “this time” different? I wonder what was so damn important “this time” that they chose to feed into the chaos of the situation and put even more foreigners at a greater risk? I wonder if “next time” will be different as well?

Things are changing every day in Iraq and resolve should not be one of them.

The question was:

Should the government continue to bail out people who insist on living in areas prone to flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes?

The results were:

There were a total of 393 votes which breakdown like this:

Yes (193 votes) [49.1%]

No (185 votes) [47.1%]

Not Sure (15 votes) [3.8%]

Check out the new questions, each Wednesday, here on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff.