In a story that is disturbingly reminiscent of the Environmental Protection Agency’s CHEERS program, the Associated Press reports that for the past two decades researchers from the National Institutes of Health “tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of foster children … often without providing them a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states.” The already vulnerable population of mostly poor or minority foster children was “exposed … to the risks of medical research and drugs that were known to have serious side effects in adults and for which the safety for children was unknown.”

The studies are known to have spanned the country and the practice has been confirmed “in at least seven states — Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado, and Texas — and involved more than four dozen different studies.” A number of the studies resulted in the children “[suffering] side effects such as rashes, vomiting and sharp drops in infection-fighting blood cells.” In a particular study, “researchers reported a ‘disturbing’ higher death rate among children who took higher doses of a drug. That study was unable to determine a safe and effective dosage.”

Warning to Karl Rove: Looking at this graph may be hazardous to your health. Everyone who is not Karl Rove: click on the thumbnail below to view graph.

When the anti-inflamatory drug Vioxx was pulled from the market last year, Merck CEO Raymond V. Gilmartin adamantly defended the companies conduct. Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, Gilmartin claimed Merck had been completely honest about the health risks:

Merck has promptly disclosed the results of Merck-sponsored studies of Vioxx to the FDA, physicians, the scientific community and the media.

As part of a Congressional investigation, Rep. Henry Waxman obtained over 20,000 internal documents from Merck. The documents show “sent over 3,000 highly trained representatives into doctor’s offices and hospitals armed with misleading information about Vioxx’s health risks.” A couple ofthe lowlights:

After Merck’s VIGOR study reported increased heart attack risks, Merck directed its sales force to show physicians a “Cardiovascular Card” that made it appear that Vioxx could be 8 to 11 times safer than other anti-inflammatory drugs. This card omitted any reference to the VIGOR findings and was based on data FDA considered to be inappropriate for a safety analysis.

After the FDA advisory committee voted that physicians should be informed about the risks found in the VIGOR study, Merck sent a bulletin to its sales force that advised: “DO NOT INITIATE DISCUSSIONS ON THE FDA ARTHRITIS COMMITTEE … OR THE RESULTS OF THE … VIGOR STUDY.” If physicians asked about the VIGOR study, Merck representatives were directed to respond, “I cannot discuss the study with you.”

Much more in this report.

UPDATE: Today, Gilmartin was replaced as CEO of Merck.

A look back at the President’s 60-day public relations tour:

31: Number of Administration officials who participated.

166: Total number of events held.

2: Number of events headlined by Vice President Cheney that the administration has not released transcripts of after press reports indicate he was asked tough questions.

7.94 Million: Total circulation of newspapers that placed opinion columns by Administration officials during the tour.

More than 500: Number of radio interviews given by Administration officials over the 60 Stops in 60 Days tour.

42: Number of blacklisted from a townhall event in Fargo, ND because they were suspected of disagreeing with President Bush’s proposals.

3: Number of people thrown out of a Denver townhall event for arriving in a car with an anti-war bumper sticker.

306: Number of times President Bush described Social Security as a “problem.”

Over $3 million: Estimated cost to taxpayers of Presidential travel to Social Security tour events.

$418,000: Minimum security costs for President at Social Security tour events.

11: Number of times President Bush congratulated himself for talking about Social Security.

38: Percent of Americans who approved of the way George W. Bush was handling the Social Security issue before the tour started. (1/16/05)

31: Percent of Americans who approve of the way George W. Bush is handling the Social Security issue now. (4/26/05)

40: Percent of Americans who thought private accounts were a good idea when the tour began. (2/6/05)

33: Percent of Americans who think private accounts are a good idea now. (4/2/05)

66: Percent cut in defined benefits under the Bush plan for someone earning $36,000 a year.

89: Percent cut in defined benefits under the Bush plan for someone earning $59,000 a year.

Two of the five Republicans appointed to the House ethics committee have recused themselves from investigating Tom DeLay:

Two of the panel’s GOP members, Rep. Lamar S. Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, said they would recuse themselves from any matter involving DeLay that comes before the panel. Smith’s political action committee contributed $10,000 to DeLay’s legal defense fund; Cole’s gave $5,000.

That leaves only three Republican members with financial conflicts of interest:

All five Republicans on the House ethics committee have financial links to Tom DeLay that could raise conflict-of-interest issues should the panel investigate the GOP majority leader… Public records show DeLay’s leadership political action committee (PAC) gave $15,000 to the campaign of Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa. – $10,000 in 2000 and $5,000 in 2002. Hart would chair a panel to investigate DeLay if the committee moves forward with a probe. The same political committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, also has donated to the campaigns of ethics Chairman Doc Hastings of Washington [and] Judy Biggert of Illinois