(Continued from previous page.)

(The Sunday Times, UK, 26 February 1995.)

The Judge who sentenced Keith Mann to 14 years said he "wasn't affected" by the copy of Hans Ruesch's Naked Empress given to him during the trial. One wonders if he would be "affected" if any of the women in his family were to be struck down by the drug Femodene. According to the above report, the drug, which is advertised as "safer" and "the most popular contraceptive taken by 400,000 British women", is causing "blood-clots in arteries and lungs, partial blindness, fatal side-effects and death". Says Schering Health Care its producer:

"Millions of women use Femodene safely, but there is a risk of side-effects with any drug."

(Newsletter of Nurses AV Movement, March 1995.)

The article says:

"Confidential figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday shows that more than a thousand patients in Britain have suffered adverse reactions to Propofol, including 'heart attacks, vomiting and dizziness, and unexplained deaths, ten of them children'. Concern grows and court cases loom as reports from around the world of possible side-effects mount up at the WHO data centre in Sweden where the statistics are kept secret. Unpublished records, held by the Medicines Control Agency, list a range of reactions which doctors suspect are linked with Propofol, in addition to the 35 deaths. Among them are 42 cases of cardiac arrest, nine of potentially fatal shock, 135 of convulsions, 12 where patients stopped breathing and 121 reports of constricted airways."

On 4 February 1995 The Mail on Sunday detailed the history of a woman who earned 100,000 pounds sterling a year as one of the top financial brains in Britain. She is now destroyed and spends her days in a wheelchair staring into space. Her husband says:

"They have destroyed 23 years of marriage and the woman I love. She barely recognises me and I am certain she does not know I am her husband. She knew the Chairman, Sir Denys Henderson (of the pharma firm Zeneca which produced Diprivan) personally, but he has not been to visit her."

Ansett New Zealand
PO Box 6168
Auckland
(Attention: John Cordery, Manager Public Relations)

Dear Mr Cordery

I have waited almost four months for your response to my letter of 2 March and conclude that your role in public relations is discrepant. If you are unable to cope with correspondence from the organisation I represent I suggest you pass the case-file to someone in your Company who can.

For ease of reference I await your assertion that primates not be carried by Ansett New Zealand. I am in possession of copies of encouraging correspondence between Mr Alex Schifferegger, Campaign Director of the Guardians in Melbourne and Mr GJ McMahon, Chief Executive of Ansett Australia. Whilst I realise that your Company is autonomous I nevertheless suggest you liase with the latter if the subject matter is too complex for you personally.

Our newsletter is scheduled for July, and as you are personally responsible for how your company is reflected in it I suggest you answer the following questions quickly:

1. Has Ansett New Zealand formulated policy not to transport primates for biomedical research? If so please send me a copy (or relevant part thereof) of the document.
2. Has Ansett New Zealand any intention of cooperating with other airlines which have implemented policy? (Details of which I sent to you at your request but which you failed to acknowledge). If so please inform me what actions have been taken to achieve this.

Yours Faithfully

Bette Overell