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Here is the full transcript of this interview: (Including pre and post video edit)
SCARBOROUGH: I had to wait a second for that, but it was worth the wait.
Anyway, this is where we share the sometimes inhumane ways that corporate America has found to screw consumers. Tonight’s spotlight, the Bayer corporation. And I’ve got to tell you, this is one of the worst drug-related medical disasters I think in history.
And let me bring in Mike Papantonio right now, who is a legal adviser to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, to talk about what Bayer did.
Mike, welcome to the show. We appreciate you being on tonight.
MIKE PAPANTONIO, NBC LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks for the invitation, Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: OK, let’s talk about the “Rat of the Week.” Why is Bayer Corporation the “Rat of the Week”?
PAPANTONIO: Internal documents show that after this company positively, absolutely knew that they had a medication that was infected with the AIDS virus, they took the product off the market in the U.S. and then they dumped it in France, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The medicine is called Factor VIII. It was an injection medicine that was used for hemophiliacs, mostly children, children who had been born with an incurable disease.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Hold on. So you’re telling me that Bayer knew that this drug was infected with the AIDS virus, they yanked it from the market in America, and then they dumped it in markets overseas?
PAPANTONIO: They had to figure out a way, Joe, to make a profit on a product that they could not sell in America. So they made a huge profit. They dropped the product in Japan, Spain and France.
By the way, Joe, government official in France that allowed that to happen actually had to go to prison for it. In America, not one corporate executive for this company has been indicted or even criminally investigated by our Justice Department.
SCARBOROUGH: Why not? You’re telling me that these people that dump this AIDS-tainted blood in foreign countries, who killed children, have not been taken to task in the United States?
PAPANTONIO: It’s worse than that.
The U.S. government allowed it to happen. The FDA allowed this to happen. And now the government is completely looking the other way. Thousands of innocent hemophiliacs have died from the AIDS virus. And not only they are dying. Their family members are dying, because they’re becoming infected with the disease. This company knew absolutely that they had a problem with the product. They knew that it was infected with AIDS.
They dumped it because they wanted to turn this disaster into a profit.
SCARBOROUGH: Mike, I want to read to you what Bayer told “The New York Times” about this scandal.
They said: “Bayer behaved responsibly, ethically, and humanely. Decisions made nearly two decades ago were based on the best scientific information of the time and were consistent with the regulations in place.”
That sounds like a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. Now, you say you have internal documents that show that they knew that this drug they were dumping was tainted with the AIDS virus?
PAPANTONIO: The documents show that there was no question that this company absolutely understood the risk. They knew the it was contaminated. It wasn’t a possibility. They knew it was contaminated.
Americans were dying from the product before it was pulled off the market. The only reason it was pulled off the market is because lawyers found the documents and showed it to the government. And, finally, the government said, you can’t sell it here, but then the government allowed them to dump it in Spain, France and Japan.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: That’s just amazing.
I want to read to you what “The New York Times” said. And this is an investigation that they also did. And they said, the federal government was part of the problem, while the Food & Drug Administration told the company not to ship the drugs overseas. The man responsible for the drug supply-quote-“asked that the issue be quietly solved without alerting the Congress, the medical community and the public.”
This is a cover-up, and our Congress is not doing anything. What should Americans do? Should they call their congressman? Should they call the FDA? What should they do to take care of this rat?
PAPANTONIO: Joe, I don’t think it does any good to call the government. The government has seen the problem. They’re ignoring it. It’s pretty obvious that our government doesn’t care.
But one thing you can do is understand that, every time you buy one of these products from Bayer Corporation, a German corporation, every time you buy one of their products, you are participating with a company that killed unsuspecting hemophiliacs by the thousands. And you know what? They got away with it. This is a company that only Ann Coulter could love. Thanks, Joe.
SCARBOROUGH: Oh, don’t say that. Don’t say that, Mike. You’re killing me here. I love Ann Coulter.
Well, thanks so much for being with us. And if you don’t watch yourself, you’re not going to come back to tell us who the “Rat of the Week is.” Seriously, thanks for coming on the show.
And I’ve got to tell you, Bayer, what a rat. You should be ashamed of yourself.
