Former Pfizer Scientist & Her Lawsuit Over A Virus
3 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // January 20th, 2010 // 8:10 am
Three years ago, molecular biologist Becky McClain sued Pfizer, claiming she was infected by an unknown virus at the drugmaker’s Groton, Ct., labs. And next month her trial begins, giving her the chance to prove that Pfizer violated whistleblower laws, exposed her to a hazardous workplace and violated her freedom of speech by firing her after she pursued her workplace complaints.
McClain, who worked at Pfizer for nearly a decade before being terminated in 2005, was employed in an embryonic stem cells program when she became ill after allegedly being subjected to noxious fumes coming from the hood of a device at her lab. Her supervisor also became ill, but later conspired to cover up the incident, warning her that she “would lose her job if she made too big an issue out of lab safety,” according to her lawsuit.
In its response, Pfizer writes it “does not retaliate against employees who raise health and safety concerns,” and the drugmaker denies McClain was wrongfully discharged. McClain’s attorney, Bruce Newman, tells The Day that he considers the case to be precedent-setting because there are few government standards regulating the bioengineering field.
McClain later went on medical leave, according to the suit, but “continued to raise safety concerns which were never addressed,” including filing five complaints about Pfizer’s lab with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She received a termination notice during her medical leave, according to the suit, even though “Pfizer had promised McClain that she would not be retaliated against in any way for raising health and safety concerns.”
patrons99
The horror! How utterly creepy! Genetically-engineered viruses, vaccines, and embyronic stem cell “research”, and it’s completely unregulated, or else how did this lawsuit take place. Another clear manifestation of the dangers our future holds, if left to “Pharma gone wild”. Corporate greed knows no bounds. This represents hubris and man meddling in an area that should arguably be left solely to God. The reality has become stranger than fiction. I’m reminded of H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Dr Moreau”. This story is undoubtedly just the tip of the iceberg. There will doubtless be more lab “accidents” and accidental “releases” in our future.
Pharma Vindicator
I am a former employee of the Pfizer/Wyeth machine who was deemed a high performer for many years in a row. I discovered a serious safety breach that was due to an incompetent manager’s lab design and blatant disregard for the health of his employees and those in the vicinity of his ill designed lab. Note that his office was in another building, safely away from the problem.
When I informed my supervisor, I was told to ignore the problem. Due to state and federal laws as well as company policy, I was required to report it. Foolishly, I followed the company’s internal procedures, which promise anonymity, a thorough investigation, and no retaliation (as per company policy and whistleblower laws), even if the investigation finds no safety violations. You can guess what happened next.
Basically, they “investigated” (actually stalled) until the 180 statute of limitations (obviously I didn’t know this, but they did) expired for reporting the issue. Then, I was asked to resign and told that if I did not, I would be put on a PIP that I would not be able to complete successfully. The HR rep even told me, as if I was stupid, your inability to complete the PIP successfully will have nothing to do with your abilities. When I refused to resign, true to their word, they put me on PIP and ultimately fired me for me for my “increasingly poor performance” despite their efforts to “help” me. Those f**kers are lucky that I have a family that cares about me, otherwise, some of them would be six feet under by now.
Despite the landmark $2.3 billion judgment Pfizer had to pay this year, which was due in part to whistleblowers, whistleblower protection laws are a joke. If anyone is considering being a pharma whistleblower, before you take any action, even just talking to an attorney, check search engines for “Peter Rost”, “Becky McClain”, “Mark Livingston”, and “Anthony Sokol” before you take any action. These people’s stories are only the tip of the iceberg, as most people quietly accept “pharma hush money” for fear of being blackballed. I hope that Becky is awarded millions in punitive damages for the hell they’ve put her and others through and all of the lives these arrogant f**ks have destroyed.
joepublic
If everyone keeps sidestepping this issue due to conflict of interest and fear, there will be many more illnesses like this cropping up and more scientists’ lives ruined while the media bought by the pharma industry keeps it quiet. This allows them to keeps those profits flowing and keep getting in new people at lower salaries while the healthcare costs of their safety lapses are shifted over to disability, Workers’ comp, and SSI. Why should they remodel their labs to make them safer and more efficient if it’s cheaper to infect their scientists, fire them and hire a PR firm to discredit them and squelch their story? How many other scientists out there are sick and can’t get their exposure records and are forced into seclusion and can’t get any medical care for their genetically-engineered viruses? I hope more come forward from these stories and someday they draft some new laws or the publics’ health and safety is in trouble.