The Ole’ CDC CoverUp Switcha-Roonie

Whether you’re talking about the CDC (Center for Disease Control) (Did I say coverup?), the NIH (National Institutess of Health or the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which are all involved in the exercise of validating or disproving the link between the XMRV retrovirus to CFS, you have a full plate of (so far) a “stinky” mess. As far as we the public knows, there is no conclusion. We’re at a standstill and continue to wait for word of an outcome.

I am reminded of the ole’ CDC coverup and switcha-roonie that they pulled a few years ago with millions of research dollars mis-spent and diverted from the cause of understanding and researching Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It’s hard to forgive them… .

And because of that history, I urge you take a few moments to watch the following video about the past documented CDC Coverup. It’s important and it comes up in the second half of this post.

If you’re a patient -or a loved one or a caregiver of a patient- you probably cannot excuse or justify many of the things the CDC has done. They get very little (if anything) right, while making little process. They even attempted to circumnavigate (squander; re-direct) millions of research dollars, but were caught. It will be a long time before the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome population forgives them for that under-handed maneuver. Respect and trust have to be earned and the CDC has not done it.Since the 1988 Nevada outbreak of the illness that came be known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the combinations of the agency’s disparaging remarks, lackluster research tactics and dearth of conclusive results have worn thin. Millions of tax payer funded research dollars have produced virtually nothing except a few population studies. If there are countless scientists working on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the Center for Disease Control, I’m still waiting to see what they have to show for their efforts. So far, not much. No cause. No cure. No answers.

To me that breeds more questions about shame and blame. It points to the reality that this whole process (to date) has been a waste of time, people and resources. I wonder whose tax dollars they’re wasting today? Nothing would make me happier than to eat those words and find out that the CDC really is doing its job and something wonderful in store for us!

 

 

 

Recently I blogged about Skye Dailor, who had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a teenager. Twenty years ago this year, her taunting and bullying classmates encouraged her to end it all and take her young life in an act of suicide. Such a tragedy.

However, personally, as I explore the emotions and guilt of the people who exhibited this peer pressure, I cannot find them that much more blameworthy than the CDC bureaucrats who have pretended to support the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome population, but have done little to prove it. CDC personnel all collect salaries and paychecks, yet so far, they have completely let us down in results.

Yet… I am feeling a twinge of doubt and know that I must practice forgiveness. Guilty enmasse is not the same thing as individual guilt. So how do I reconcile my feelings? How do I forgive an entire bureucratic agency that is supposed to be serving my best interest? That is difficult. Maybe I simply must lay aside my negative feelings for them, realizing that those feelings will not promote my good health or any positive outcome to this dilemma.

As I am writing in this blog about the power of forgiveness and what positive effects it can have on health, I know that it’s important to refrain from my previous, seething, bared-teethed utterances of the very term “CDC.” I must not think the thoughts that once would follow. Instead, I will try my darnest to imagine people at that government agency working in all of our best interests. I will imagine them finding breakthroughs and spectacular results that will answer a lot of the tougher questions! (First stage; let’s not get carried away with them just yet.)

Surely there are people within their walls with that ambition and purpose. Surely they mean the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome population well. Time will tell.

(To find the positive results of some of the people “out of” the agency in the “good” category, check out the Health Matters Show blog’s posts and references to Judy Mikovitz, Anne Whittemore and the Whittemore Peterson Institute. Their initial testing remains our brightest hope so far. Use the search engine box function of “Search This Blog”.)

Without compassion for any and all of the people affected by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, there will be more stories like Skye Dailor.

Without research and evidence to prove that there truly is a cause of CFS, more people will be tempted to scorn and ridicule the afflicted and talking disparagingly about an illness that they do not understand.

Without the government and sponsored agencies like the CDC doing the job they were hired to do- protect our health- millions of people will continue to sit idly by and wait on the sidelines. Some frozen in fear, some frozen in disbelief because of what has happened to their lives, some frozen in a posture of complete inaction. They don’t know what to do. The future remains hazy at best.

Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show

PS- the NIH (National Institute of Health) is planning the 1st International Workshop on XMRV conference on September 6, 2010. See the referenced website and then ask yourself, how can one of our primary, government health research bodies, the NIH, hold such an important conference and not invite Dr. Judy Mikovitz of the Whittemore Peterson Institute to be among the invited speakers? She is the leader of the team that showed XMRV to be a new human exogenous retrovirus firmly associated with ME/CFS!

As far as I know, you can still send emails expressing your displeasure and need for action to: the Science Committee. Contact Wilco Keulen wilco.keulen@vironet.com from Virology Education, and Dr. Francis S. Collins francis.collins@nih.gov, Director of the NIH, to request that an invitation be extended to Dr. Judy Mikovits as a featured speaker. You may also ask your friends and family to send emails, too. Your action will help to continue the discussion and efforts to learn the truth of the connection between ME/CFS and XMRV.

Also, take a moment to review this powerful book on forgiveness:

Tagged as: cdc, cdc coverup, cfs, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, forgiveness, NIH, skye Dailor, video