Bush Selects Head of AIDS Program: ex-Eli Lily (CIA contractor)

Bush Selects Head of AIDS Program

Washington Post

The Associated Press

Wednesday, July 2, 2003; 10:48 AM

Updated

WASHINGTON - President Bush selected former Eli Lilly & Co. chief executive Randall Tobias as the coordinator for a new $15 billion program to slow the spread of AIDS and to treat it in Africa and the Caribbean.

Bush signed into law last month a measure to direct the money to 14 countries, most of them in Africa.

He was announcing his selection of Tobias in the Roosevelt Room on Wednesday morning.

Bush travels to five nations in Africa starting Monday.

Tobias retired from Lilly in 1998. He has been a major contributor to the Republican Party.

Eli Lily- facts compiled by "FreedomFiles.org"

Information which turns up when searching information on "Eli Lilly" and "Randall Tobias" on the web :

From: trkeske@aol.com (TRKeske) Subject: George's Genocide Date: 1998/02/08 Message-ID: 19980208051300.AAA12910@ladder02.news.aol.com

GEORGE'S GENOCIDE (Pictures of Eli Lilly: making your life so wonderful)

Last week, I decided to do some research on George Bush. Former President Bush had also been the CIA Director in the critical period of time before the AIDS epidemic. He would be a character of particular interest, if any schemes against gays and minorities had been in the works....

...One odd thing in Bush's biography, that struck me immediately, was his odd journey from the Farm to the Pharmacy.

The "Farm" being the CIA's training facility in Virginia. The "Pharmacy" being Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical company.

Bush was Director of the CIA in 1976-1977, and became a Director of Eli Lilly from 1977-1978. A peculiar mix, I thought. The man was a veritable Renaissance Republican- such varied talents and interests. What was the connection, I wondered? So I decided to do some research on Eli Lilly.

As it turned out, Eli Lilly had a long-standing connection to the CIA. It had been the CIA's primary supplier of LSD during the infamous MK-Ultra mind control experiments.

Eli Lilly also has ties to the Religious Right. The Lilly family fortune is estimated at $1.3 billion by Forbes. I investigated one of the groups to which Eli Lilly made generous donations, the Hudson Institute.

The Hudson Institute lists itself as a not-for-profit organization, and is tax exempt. It claims on its home page not to advocate "ideology" or "political positions". They do use the so-subtle codewords of "an abiding respect for the importance of values, culture and religion".

I clicked on their "other links" selection. What I found was a veritable Yellow Pages of the homophobic Far Right: The Family Research Council (Gary Bauer), Focus on Family (Dobbs), "The Right Side of the Web", the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the "Internet Conservative Resource Network".

My next discovery was that Eli Lilly had extensive connections with the Rebublican party. They were major backers of the homophobic Senator Lugar. They were a backer of homophobic Senator Hatch. Both of these Senators took criticism for their conflicts of interest, pushing legislation for the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry which was lavishing them with donations.

The Quayle family owns a large share of Lilly stock.

Eli Lilly is also on the cutting edge of technology. One of their major products is a recombinant-DNA human insulin. They marketed their first recombinant-DNA product in 1982, just barely after the AIDS epidemic started. Obviously, they must have been doing recombinant DNA research for years before the AIDS epidemic, and must have been near fruitful results at the time. As discussed previously, recombinant DNA is considered the key technology that would have made engineering new viruses possible.

Probably the most well-known of Lilly's current products is Prozac, which of course has a large number of detractors and researchers who warn that it has dangerous side-effects and averse reactions in some people.

Lilly also marketed a number of drugs related to HIV treatment.

Eli Lilly also has one of the worst records in the industry for using human guinea pigs. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal has reported on this. The FDA chastised Lilly in 1994 for using alcoholics. They also use large number of homeless. They are well known in the soup kitchens and shelters of church-run inner-city missions of Indianapolis. The mission directors would protest, but they receive funding from - you guessed it- the Lilly Foundation.

Lilly has also taken heat, along with other major pharmaceuticals, for price-fixing. Nice to know of the shameless gouging of AIDS patients has gone to enrich the Bushes and Quayles.

During his administration, Bush heavily pushed AZT (not a Lilly product as far as I can see). AZT of course is widely considered to have been of little value, and may have actually caused most of the health problems in people who otherwise had few symptoms.

Bush took some heat for conflicts of interest, when he consistently applied political pressure on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. In response, he put his holdings in a blind-trust, so that a third party directed how his money was invested, supposedly without his knowledge or participation. Of course, the cynic's view is that this is merely a cute way of hiding your financial dealings and conflicts of interest.

The cynic's view is particularly justified in view of the fact that a family friend running George's "blind trusts" was a former Nazi supporter. One of the skillfully suppressed truths about George's history is that his family wealth came from his father's extensive financing of Hitler's rise to power.

During the war, some of the Bush family's Nazis banking interests were seized by the U.S. government.

George Bush also had ties to Tanox Biosystems, Inc, which he has helped to fund. A class action suit was filed against the company by Gulf War veterans. The charge is that the company developed and tested contaminated vaccines on servicemen and women.

One such vaccine appears to have been tested in Hunstville Prison (Texas). Inmates, and later their guards and surrounding communities, developed Gulf-War Syndrome-like ailments before the Gulf War.

But HELL, people. Just because you see a CIA Director who is also running a pharmaceutical company that has ties to CIA scandals, ties to the Religious Far Right, an extensive record of using human guinea pigs, political conflicts of interest, and charges of biowar experimentation-that's no reason be paranoid. Sweet dreams.

Tom Keske Boston, Mass.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

Lilly experiments: Wall Street Journal, 11/96, Laurie Cohen

Bush: http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/docs/speeches/bush.dir/bio.bushp

http://www.padrak.com/alt/BUSHBOOK_8.html

http://www.mk.net/~mcf/ckln02.tm

(CKLN-FM 88.1 Toronto, interview with Dr. Colin Ross)

Lugar: http://prince.essential.org/cpi/uti/lugar.html

http://cgi.pathfinder.com/cgi-bin/Money/congress

Lilly: http://www.lilly.com

Google Groups

From: trkeske@aol.com (TRKeske)

Subject: National Security Advisors on AIDS Date: 1998/04/06 Message-ID: <1998040609251800.FAA15079@ladder03.news.aol.com>#1/1 X-Admin: news@aol.com Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: soc.culture.zimbabwe

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORS ON AIDS

I spent last week digging information on two controversial figures, Craig Hulet and Brent Scowcroft, both with a history in National Security affairs, and both sought for their opinions during the Gulf War.

Scowcroft has a long history in National Security affairs, in a number of positions. He was an Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs 1977-80, and was National Security advisor to George Bush.

He is described as "well-respected by both Democrats and Republicans". He is a retired General. He is a Mormon. He worked closely with Henry Kissinger.

To give you an idea what "well-respected" is worth, he was the man appointed by President Reagan to "investigate" the Iran-Contra affair. As with George Bush and Eli Lilly, he has some interesting corporate ties. He was elected to the board of QUALCOMM in 1995. QUALCOMM was also the company recently accused of spying in Russia.

As I wondered, what was the big interest in pharmaceuticals for former CIA director Bush, I wonder what is the big interest in digital wireless communications, for a retired General?

Scowcroft is also the man who first used the term "New World Order" during the Gulf War, which was adopted by George Bush as a theme. Scowcroft was heavily involved as an advisor during the war.

Craig Hulet is also described as a former advisor to the National Security Council and to several multi-national corporations. He is described was someone formerly tied to the Far Right, who has "crossed over", now warning about "New World Order" and people like Scowcroft, to anyone who will listen.

Even Hulet's enemies, like progressive analyst Chip Berlet, acknowledge that Hulet was one of the most sought-after radio hosts during the Gulf War, because of his knowledge in the area.

I spent a great deal of time trying to confirm that Hulet's billing as a National Security Council advisor was accurate, because I was stunned by his blunt statements about AIDS and about the men with whom he had formerly worked.

Concerning AIDS, he said "I really hate that subject", but said that he thought it was a "biological warfare virus created by the US Military". He thought that it was being used to exterminate undesirable segments of the population.

He was deeply critical of George Bush and his connections with Eli Lilly. He expressed his suspicions concerning Bush, Kissinger, and Scowcroft as major players in the implementation of the epidemic.

I do not yet know what to make of Craig Hulet. He is certainly not without critics like Chip Berlet, who dismisses him as a "right-wing conspiracist". Berlet tends to lump Hulet in a category with militia conspiracists, which seems a bit dishonest in the light of Hulet's pointed criticisms of militia movements.

While I respect the work of Berlet, I must say that Hulet's credentials seem somewhat more relevant to the issue.

Hulet reminds me a bit of William Cooper, a supposed former CIA operative who claims to have seen documents confirming the man-made creation of AIDS.

Anyone involved in this issue could have hidden agendas, could be merely self-promoting. On the other hand, men like Hulet will pay a great price for talking this way, as they surely realize, and are highly likely to have propaganda smear campaigns against them.

Perhaps Hulet is merely a screwball. However, if his billing as a a former National Security advisor is correct, then it would have to be conceded at least that we had screwballs advising our National Security interests, which in itself would cast doubt on the trustworthiness of our national leadership.

On the other hand, maybe Hulet is a brave man with a rare conscience, speaking from with a depth of experience and a first hand view of corruption in high places. Unlike Berlet, I am not content merely to blow off someone of Hulet's apparent credentials.

Tom Keske Boston, Mass

Sources:

http://www.qualcomm.com/Press/pr9501110.html

http://www.leyden.com/gulfwar/scowcroft.html

http://www.kmf.org/williams/bushbook/bush24.html

http://www.iinet.net.au/~lister/aids.txt

Google Groups

To: The Office of the Surgeon General of the United States; The Department of Health & Human Services; The Federal Bureau of Investigations and The Justice Department We, the Undersigned, demand a Grand Jury Investigation into serious misconduct concerning Prozac on the part of Eli Lilly, the drug’s manufacturer. Specifically, we assert that Eli Lilly has known of and engaged in the suppression of the truth concerning the drug’s ability to cause suicide and suicidal ideation. We assert that Eli Lilly has knowingly and fraudulently concealed facts surrounding its drug’s deadly side effects. Documented findings of cover-ups supporting our demand include, but are not limited to, the following:

· Eli Lilly has known Prozac (fluoxetine) causes akathisia, defined as an extreme subjective feeling of inner restlessness. This condition has long been known to be caused by antipsychotic drugs and recognized as leading to suicidal and homicidal-suicidal feelings. Lilly's own internal documents show the condition was identified in association with Prozac as early as 1978.

· August 2, 1978, when only three trials were underway, minutes of a meeting of the Fluoxetine (Prozac) Project Team read: "There have been a fairly large number of reports of adverse reactions... Another depressed patient developed psychosis... Akathisia and restlessness were reported in some patients." A similar meeting held 10 days earlier stated, "…some patients have converted from severe depression to agitation within a few days; in one case the agitation was marked and the patient had to be taken off [the] drug." The minutes further state, "…in future studies the use of benzodiazepines to control the agitation will be permitted.” From that point on, Lilly's trial subjects were put on tranquillizers to get them over the akathisia experienced by some in the early days on the drug. Those who developed akathisia or who had any suicidal tendencies were excluded from the trial data on the basis that they would otherwise obscure the results of the drug's success in treating depression.

· Lilly internal documents, May 25, 1984 – Upon examing Prozac trial results, the German licensing authority (the Bundes Gesundheit Amt (BGA)) issued a letter stating: "During the treatment with the preparation [Prozac], 16 suicide attempts were made, two of these with success. As patients with a risk of suicide were excluded from the studies, it is probable that this high proportion can be attributed to an action of the preparation [Prozac]."

· January 1985, the Germans told Lilly that they would not license the drug, citing "suicidal risk" as one of the reasons for their decision. Lilly's scientists continued trying to persuade the BGA to grant a license, but focused most of their efforts on the US. By August 1989, it was clear to Lilly that the BGA would demand that Prozac carry a warning to General Practitioners (GPs) that they should be aware of the risk of suicide unless they gave patients sedation along with Prozac. A warning of a "risk of suicide" finally went on the German package insert in 1992. It also stated, "For his/her own safety, the patient must be sufficiently observed, until the antidepressive effect of Fluctin [Prozac] sets in. Taking an additional sedative may be necessary."

· During the licensing process in the US Lilly did not tell the FDA of the German concerns.

· Lilly has repeatedly attempted to suggest suicidality reflects patient’s disorders. Yet, Lilly’s own scientist, John Heiligenstein, wrote in an internal memo on September 14, 1990: "We feel caution should be exercised in a statement that 'suicidality and hostile acts in patients taking Prozac reflect the patient's disorder and not a causal relationship to Prozac'. Post-marketing reports [reports from GPs of suicides and violence in patients on the drug] are increasingly fuzzy and we have assigned, 'Yes, reasonably related', on several reports.

· This Heiligenstein memo was written two years after Prozac was granted a license by the FDA, and just months after a study report by Martin Teicher, Jonathan Cole and Carol Glod was published. According to the study, 6 patients with a history of depression became violently suicidal in a way that surprised themselves and their doctors while on the drug. The report noted that suicidal thoughts occurred within days or weeks of going on Prozac, or of having the dosage increased beyond a certain level, and that such thoughts disappeared when the patient stopped taking the drug. Lilly insisted that Prozac did not cause akathesia; the company asserted that the link between akathesia and suicide is questionable.

· Lilly's internal documents of that time show that public criticism was threatening the drug’s success. Some were coming out of the UK.

· An internal memo from Leigh Thompson, one of Lilly’s chief scientists, stated, "Anything that happens in the UK can threaten this drug [Prozac] in the US and worldwide…" "We are now expending enormous efforts fending off attacks because of 1) relationship to murder and 2) inducing suicidal ideation [suicidal behaviour].”

· Another memo from Thompson ran: "I am concerned about reports I get re UK attitude toward Prozac safety. Leber [Dr Paul Leber of the FDA] suggested a few minutes ago we use CSM [British Committee on Safety of Medicines] database to compare Prozac aggression and suicidal ideation with other antidepressants in the UK. Although he is a fan of Prozac and believes a lot of this is garbage, he is clearly a political creature and will have to respond to pressures. I hope Patrick [probably a Lilly employee, but not identified fully in the memo] realizes that Lilly can go down the tubes if we lose Prozac, and just one event in the UK can cost us that.”

(All points outlined above are supported by documented findings published in The Guardian; “They said it was safe”; Sarah Boseley; October 30, 1999)

FURTHER SUPPORTING EVIDENCE:

1.As cited above, In 1990, Martin Teicher et al, of Harvard Medical School, reported six cases of "intense suicidal preoccupation" in patients who had been prescribed the drug. According to the authors, "none of these patients had ever experienced a similar state during treatment with any other psychotropic drug." (American Journal of Psychiatry, February 1990)

2. Dr. David Graham, chief of the FDA's Epidemiology Branch, wrote on Sept. 11, 1990, that Lilly's data on suicide and Prozac, and data garnered from a study by Drs. Maurizio Fava and Jerrold Rosenbaum of Massachusetts General Hospital (citing no significant difference in "suicidal ideation" in patients treated with fluoxetine compared to those receiving other antidepressants) was insufficient to prove that Prozac was safe. In an internal FDA memo, Graham wrote: "Because of apparent large-scale underreporting, the firm's analysis cannot be considered as proving that fluoxetine and violent behavior are unrelated." Rosenbaum's objectivity has been questioned. Not only was his study on Prozac and suicide criticized by at least two sets of researchers as well as the FDA, but also documents obtained by The Boston Globe illustrate Rosenbaum's questionable relationship to Lilly. He has served as a Prozac researcher and sat on a marketing advisory panel for Lilly before Prozac was launched. (Leah R. Garnett; “As drug gets remade, concerns about suicides surface”; Boston Globe, 5/7/2000)

3. In September 1991, an advisory committee of the FDA cleared Prozac. “Suicidal ideation" and "violent behaviours" were added to the label as "reported, but not proven." (Robert Bourguignon MD; “Problems with Prozac”; http://www.camtech.net.au/malam/reports/prozac.htm)

4. In 1994, David Healy (then consultant to Eli Lilly) published an article entitled "The Fluoxetine and Suicide Controversy, a Review of the Evidence” in which he stated that antidepressants, Prozac included, can indeed induce suicidal behaviour. (CNS Drugs, March 1994)

5. The FDA's adverse event reporting system (AERS) reveals 28,623 Prozac adverse events (ADEs) (Garnered from data gathered via Freedom of Information Act): · 63% of 1,734 deaths reported - 1,089 - were attributed to suicides. · Suicide attempts numbered 1,885. · Over 10% of the total 28,623 ADEs reported were attributed to suicides and suicide attempts.

6. By the Government Accounting Office’s own admissions, reported FDA Adverse Drug Events only reflect an estimated 1%, to a conservative 10% of actual events, and “are unlikely to be representative of the much larger number of unreported events.” (“Adverse Drug Events – the Magnitude of Health Risk is Uncertain Because of Limited Incidence Date”, Jan. 2000; GAO/HEHS-00-21) Given this lack of actual data, Prozac numbers could be projected to be in the area of 10,890 deaths by suicide and 18,850 suicide attempts at 10% reporting. At 1% reporting, 108,900 suicides and 188,500 suicide attempts could be projected.

7. Recent studies reveal over 50,000 deaths related to Prozac and estimate that between 7% and 10% of individuals exposed to Prozac will have some kind of adverse reaction. (The Boston Globe; "As drug gets remade, concerns about suicides surface"; Leah R. Garnett, Globe Staff; May 7, 2000; © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company)

8. According to internal documents and other documented material made available to The Boston Globe, (Leah R. Garnett, Globe Staff; “As drug gets remade, concerns about suicides surface”; The Boston Globe, 5/7/2000):

· In 1990, Lilly scientists were pressured by corporate executives to alter records on physician experiences with Prozac, changing mentions of suicide attempts to "overdose" and suicidal thoughts to "depression." In an electronic communiqué (obtained by author Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, Prozac Backlash) from Claude Bouchy, a Lilly employee in Germany, to three Lilly corporate executives at Lilly’s Indianapolis headquarters, dated November 13, 1990: Bouchy says he and a colleague "have problems with the directions our safety people are getting from the corporate group (Drug Epidemiology Unit) and requesting that we change the identification of events as they are reported by the physicians. . ." He further reported, “Our safety staff is requested to change the event term `suicide attempt' [as reported by the physician] to `overdose.' " He added, “...it is requested that we change . . . `suicidal ideation' to `depression.' " He informed his US Lilly colleagues: "I do not think I could explain to the BGA, to a judge, to a reporter or even to my family why we would do this especially on the sensitive issue of suicide and suicidal ideation. At least not with the explanations that have been given to our staff so far."

· Three years before Prozac received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 1987, the German BGA had such serious reservations about Prozac's safety that it refused to approve the antidepressant based on Lilly's studies showing that previously non-suicidal patients who took the drug had a fivefold higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts than those on older antidepressants, and a threefold higher rate than those taking placebos.

· Lilly's own figures indicate that 1 in 100 previously non-suicidal patients who took the drug in early clinical trials developed a severe form of anxiety and agitation called akathisia, causing them to attempt or commit suicide during the studies.

· A patent for a new Prozac (US Patent no. 5,708,035), R-fluoxetine, expected to be marketed by Lilly beginning in 2002, (as of the 2000 Globe report) states the new version will not produce several existing side effects including "akathisia, suicidal thoughts, and self-mutilation…one of its more significant side effects." This is the same effect Lilly has repeatedly denied to have occurred in any substantial way in some 200 lawsuits against them over the past decade. Most of the suits were settled out of court and the terms kept confidential.

· Lilly will pay Sepracor, Inc., who holds the patent for the new Prozac, an upfront payment and license fee of $20 million and an additional $70 million based on the progression of the drug. Lilly will have exclusive world rights to the drug, will be responsible for development, product manufacturing, regulatory submissions, and marketing and sales – Sepracor to receive royalties according to a Sepracor press release dated April 13.

· Dr. Martin Teicher, whose early 1990’s studies linked Prozac to akathisia and suicide, is a co-inventor of the new Prozac, along with Timothy J. Barberich, the CEO of Sepracor Inc., (a Marlborough drug company), and James W. Young. They filed their patent in August 1993, the same year Teicher published "Antidepressant Drugs and the Emergence of Suicidal Tendencies”, which concluded that patients on Prozac were at least three times more likely to become suicidal than those on older antidepressants. (Journal Drug Safety)

· Figures in a 1984 Lilly document indicated that akathisia, the severe agitation that can lead to suicide, occurs in at least 1 percent of patients, a level considered a "frequent" event, and as such must be disclosed in a company's product literature and package inserts. But there is no such disclosure in Prozac's US literature. Akathisia is listed in Lilly's US product literature, but as an infrequent event in Prozac users. No mention is made of its potential relationship to suicide.

In conclusion, we believe the FDA and Eli Lilly must be held accountable as to their negligent, fraudulent and cover-up activities concerning this deadly drug. Given the above cited findings, we firmly believe that it is only through a Grand Jury Investigation that the rights of the unsuspecting American consuming public can be best served, that unconscionable future suffering may be averted, and many lives saved. We, the undersigned, most earnestly request that a thorough investigation into Eli Lilly’s and the FDA’s practices concerning Prozac, both past and present, be vigorously pursued as per the powers vested in you to do so. Countless innocent lives depend on it…

“All truth passes through three stages: First it is Ridiculed. Second, it is Violently Opposed. Third, it is Accepted as being Self-Evident.” - Arthur Schopenhauer (1778-1860)

Respectfully Yours,

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/lilpro/petition.html

"...A "who's who" of the Indianapolis business community is being issued subpoenas from state regulators involving the sale of shares in IPALCO Enterprises around the time the utility company was bought by AES Corp. in 2001. Corporate governance is in the spotlight these days.

It's pretty clear that this was an example of bad corporate governance. They include former IPALCO director Mitch Daniels, a former Eli Lilly and Co. executive who is now President Bush's budget director. Daniels, who sold about $1.45 million in IPALCO stock in January 2001, on Tuesday announced he is resigning the federal post, leading to speculation he will run for governor here.

Other key insiders being issued subpoenas are former IPALCO chairman John Hodowal and former vice chair Ramon Humke. Directors include former Bank One Indiana chairman Joseph D. Barnette Jr. and Anthem Chairman L. Ben Lytle. About 2,000 IPALCO employees alleged in the suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis that the insiders "dumped" $71 million worth of stock in the Indianapolis electric utility, in part because they saw trouble ahead with AES' stock price, which later tumbled..."

Note: Eli Lilly, which made $1.6 million of political contributions in the last election cycle, has strong ties to the Bush administration. Bush's budget director, Mitch Daniels, formerly worked at Lilly; the company's CEO, Sidney Taurel, sits on the Presidential Homeland Security Council; and the president's father, George Bush, sat on Eli Lilly's board of directors.

Eli Lilly runs a monopoly. Narcotics such as cocaine and heroin cannot be manufactured without the precursor chemicals.

One of the largest makers of these precursor chemicals is the Eli Lilly Company of Indianapolis, Indiana. The Quayle family is a large stockholder, and George Bush has been on the Board of Directors. Eli Lilly is also the company that first synthesized LSD for the CIA. After leaving the CIA in 1977, Bush was made director of Eli Lilly by none other than Dan Quayle’s father and family, who owned controlling interest in the Lilly company and the Indianapolis Star. Dan Quayle later acted as go-between for drug kingpins, gun runners, and government officials in the Iran-Contra scandals. The entire Bush family were large stockholders in Lilly, Abbott, Bristol, and Pfizer, etc.

After Bush’s disclosure of assets in 1979, it became public that Bush’s family still had a large interest in Pfizer and substantial amounts of stock in the other aforementioned drug companies. In fact, Bush actively lobbied illegally both within and without the Administration as Vice President in 1981 to permit drug companies to dump more unwanted, obsolete, or, especially, domestically-banned substances on unsuspecting Third World countries.

Bush synchronised his Africa-AIDS campaign with another war about oil in Africa

Bush's Look to Big Pharma for AIDS Czar Evokes Concern

WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (IPS) -

U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s surprise pick of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as his global AIDS (news - web sites) co-ordinator has drawn expressions of concern and even outrage among Africa and AIDS activists here.

Bush's choice of former Eli Lilly & Co. boss Randall Tobias was announced at the White House Tuesday, just four days before Bush's first trip as president to Africa. The nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, head of Columbia University's Earth Institute and a special advisor to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) on the AIDS crisis, called the appointment ”surreal.”

”This is an emergency that requires someone who's worked in the field and knows it thoroughly. We don't need someone who raises all sorts of questions about commitment and agenda,” he said.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies.

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