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KI and Bush
From another list , thought you'd find this intriguing.
norm
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There is 1 message in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Carlyle Group and Potassium Iodide
From: Terry Lodge <tjlodge50@yahoo.com>
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 14:27:14 -0800 (PST)
From: Terry Lodge <tjlodge50@yahoo.com>
Subject: Carlyle Group and Potassium Iodide
Only 3 FDA-licensed firms can make and sell KI;
one of them is a SUBSIDIARY OF THE CARLYLE GROUP - so
the President of the U.S. and his family directly
benefit from the nuclear weapons and nuclear power
threats to public health and survival. . . .
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/21/BUG\
4E5O77A1.DTL
'A firm in position to profit'
by David Lazarus
The war in Iraq is a year old, and the
military-industrial complex is making out like a
bandit.
That at least was what protesters were telling me
the other day outside the Bechtel headquarters in
downtown San Francisco, where people were chanting,
the names of slain soldiers were read aloud and signs
said "Shut Down the War Profiteers."
"We're lining Bechtel's pockets at the expense of a
number of people's lives," said Paul LaFarge, a New
York artist who was in town for the demonstration.
But why Bechtel? The engineering giant, with about
$3 billion in Iraq- reconstruction contracts, has been
accused of no wrongdoing (unlike, say, Halliburton,
which the Pentagon says received millions of dollars
in kickbacks from Mideast subcontractors and
overcharged for services provided to U.S. troops).
"They're all part and parcel of the same thing,"
explained Amy Trachtenberg, a San Francisco artist, as
she paused from reciting the names of the dead just
feet from where somber-faced Bechtel workers were
slipping past a police barricade and into their office
building.
Yet Bechtel wasn't the only object of protesters'
ire. Michael Daloisio, a San Francisco teacher,
lamented that U.S. schools are struggling for cash
while a variety of companies are "making billions off
this illegal war."
Aside from Bechtel, he cited Halliburton,
Lockheed-Martin, ChevronTexaco and the Carlyle Group.
Well now.
Since the subject has come up, here's a little
something about Carlyle that most people don't know. I
can say that with confidence because even a Carlyle
representative said he didn't know until I pointed it
out to him.
The Washington investment firm, run by a who's who
of Republican heavyweights, including former Secretary
of State James Baker and former Defense Secretary
Frank Carlucci, has put money into about 300 different
companies and properties.
Those investments include United Defense Industries, a
maker of combat vehicles, naval guns and missile
launchers; and Sippican, a maker of submarine
systems and countermeasures to protect warships.
They also include a New Jersey pharmaceutical firm
called MedPointe, which just so happens to be one of
only three companies licensed by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration to manufacture over-the-counter
potassium iodide pills.
That's significant because potassium iodide can
help protect against thyroid cancer in the event of
exposure to large amounts of radiation -- from a
small, easily transported nuclear weapon, say, or a
terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. And that's
significant because, in June 2002, President Bush
signed into law the Public Health Security and
Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. It
requires state and local officials to "provide
adequate protection" by distributing potassium iodide
to all public facilities within a few miles of a
nuclear power plant.
And that, in turn, is significant because if you're
one of just a handful of authorized makers of
potassium iodide, you're in a position to profit
handsomely if the worst-case scenario should actually
come to pass.
The Carlyle Group and another investment firm, the
Cypress Group, spent more than $400 million to acquire
a controlling stake in MedPointe in May 2001. Carlyle
alone owns about 42 percent of the firm.
Chris Ullman, a Carlyle spokesman, said he had no
idea that MedPointe produces a potassium iodide pill
called Thyro-Block. But when I explained what
Thyro-Block can be used for, he said this was
something to feel good about.
"Carlyle is proud to own companies that make
products that keep America safe," Ullman said, adding
that MedPointe allows Carlyle "to participate in the
specialty pharmaceutical space."
The other two FDA-approved makers of potassium
iodide are a small Florida outfit called Anbex that,
prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, sold its pill, Iosat,
primarily to doomsday-fearing survivalists; and a
Swedish outfit called Recip that brought its
lower-dosage pill, ThyroSafe, to the U.S. market in
2002.
John Hawkins, a MedPointe spokesman, said the
company has no current contracts to supply Thyro-Block
to any federal agency. He also said that sales of the
drug totaled less than $500,000 in 2003 (MedPointe
expects sales of all products, led by its allergy and
respiratory medicines, to reach $400 million this
year).
But Hawkins acknowledged that MedPointe has bid for
government contracts in the past. He also declined to
elaborate on the company's intentions for Thyro-Block.
"Our plans for all of our commercial products are
confidential," he said.
Asked whether production of Thyro-Block might be
increased due to continuing terrorism fears or whether
government officials have spoken with MedPointe about
ensuring an adequate national supply of potassium
iodide, Hawkins remained vague.
"For competitive reasons, our production plans for
the product and communications with customers are
confidential," he said.
This much at least is clear: If a "nuclear incident,"
as the bioterror law quaintly puts it, should occur,
MedPointe and the Carlyle Group would be uniquely
positioned to benefit from catastrophe.
That's not danger-mongering. That's a fact.
(For what it's worth, the New York Times reported
Friday that government officials have quietly revived
a cold-war program for rapidly analyzing fallout from
a nuclear attack on U.S. soil. The program is intended
to determine the perpetrator of an attack and help
coordinate a military response.)
Bechtel might make a convenient target for protesters
seeking a high- profile recipient of
Iraq-reconstruction dollars. "It's all about
capitalism," one masked protester, a self-styled
anarchist, told me outside the company's headquarters.
But to find a company truly poised to profit from
the unthinkable, he might want to make his way next
time to the Transamerica Pyramid. That's where
Carlyle's San Francisco office is located.
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