I don't like seeing people living on the street ~ usually it stems from heartache or, in many cases, addiction that has led to loss of jobs, relationship breakdowns etc.
I don't like seeing 'one of our own' on the streets, particularly when they fight for justice, not for themselves but for other people.
Let me introduce one such person to you all.
Emily Patterson is a 48 year-old American woman who, for a number of years, has targeted the nefarious practices of pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson. She does so because she, like many other activists, myself included, have witnessed, and continue to witness, an injustice.
Some years ago Emily was working on a project for her website, Sunflower Naturals. Emily had, through her own research, discovered that lots of products on the shelves of many stores contained known toxins. Her first article related to many of these known toxins and she was contacted by victims of other products and realized just how large the problem with unsafe healthcare products had become. After participating in numerous advocacy campaigns by non-profits for over 20 years to get known toxins out of consumer goods Emily decided to to use what she had learned.
Ergo, Johnson & Toxin was born, a website that highlights Johnson & Johnson's activity, much of which that goes unreported in the mainstream media.. Emily's mission, she told me is, "If we can achieve cleaning the corruption out of Johnson & Johnson, their products will be safe globally, and all other pharmaceutical companies will have to follow suit to remain competitive."
Sadly, for Emily, she is homeless, drifting from place to place, scrimping and saving just to line her stomach with sustenance provided by food stamps. She is currently living on a beach in Florida, a blanket and tarpaulin her only source of shelter. (Fig 1) - A description of events that led to Emily losing her home can be found here.
Fig 1
Tenacious as ever, Emily still continues to target Johnson & Johnson and today (28 April) she intends to gatecrash a J&J shareholder meeting. She writes...
Johnson & Johnson Annual Shareholder Meeting is on Thursday, April 28th, 2016 at 10 AM. I'm sure every single one of us is looking forward to this Bee Ess Fest, with our beloved criminal CEO and Chairman of the Board, Alex Gorsky. He brought us global lawsuits, I mean products like, Risperdal to put boobs on boys and suck Medicaid dry through fraud. Gorsky also brought us other wonderful lawsuits, I mean products, such as Transvaginal Mesh, which turns vaginas into cheesegraters - a real turn-on for Viagra addicts, eh? And let's not forget his awesome all-metal hip lawsuits, I mean products, making your insides rot from metalosis before you are even dead. excellent way to die, ya think?
I'm wondering if maybe, this year at the Johnson & Johnson Shareholder Meeting, well-respected (well, unless you hate bankers), global leaders in finance, healthcare and supposed support for human health (well, since it includes their own, eh?), gather to be bullshitted by professional bullshitters like Alex Gorsky and Domsadick Caruso, will consider asking some real questions. Here are a few for starters:
1. When will Johnson & Johnson be required to, or grow a conscience and willingly, remove all body powder intended for women and baby girls, containing talc, which obviously dramatically increases the risk of developing killer ovarian cancer, from the shelves of physical and virtual stores of the United States?
2. When will the United States Justice Department do as requested and conduct a thorough investigation into the histories of Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky and Johnson & Johnson CFO Dominic Caruso?
3. How does Johnson & Johnson intend to repay institutional investors for lost revenue due to foreclosures, loan defaults, etc of injured/dead victims of known harmful Johnson & Johnson products.
Remember, Emily, unlike me, has never been harmed by a pharmaceutical product. She does this on behalf of the many thousands (possibly millions) that have. For that she has my utmost respect and to see her homeless is deeply saddening.
During her time advocating for the likes of you and I Emily has been contacted by Johnson & Johnson present and past employees who have had issues with certain managers. Her website is a valuable source of information and is viewed by many thousands each day.
Her mission, for the present time at least, is to target J&J shareholders. She told me...
"I realized a few years ago that shareholders don't necessarily know Johnson & Johnson products are not safe. The are told the lawsuits are frivolous and are truthfully, just more focused on numbers, not all the drama. Shareholders call victims a cost of doing business. In a way, I would agree with that, except the injuries are extreme and severe with known harmful products still on the market. I believe that shareholders will consider forcing change in the pharmaceutical industry when they realize that victims are piling up globally, and the victims are also their customers. As more bank customers become disabled and dead from known harmful Johnson & Johnson (and other pharmaceutical company) products, banks suffer the loss since disabled and dead people cannot pay mortgages, repay loans or repay credit. If I can get global investors like Vanguard to look at the *numbers*, how much money is going out the back door and not coming back in, we have a good chance of shareholders protecting their vested interest: the health and safety of their customers. They might even realize these are their products also, and decide it's in their personal best interest to ensure their own safety."
Emily has been homeless since June 17th 2011 after losing her Pennsylvania home. She has skills that would put most of us to shame, being a website developer and having worked, in the past, for Google and Yahoo.
Despite the unpleasantness of living each day hand-to-mouth Emily still remains upbeat. She told me, "All these skills and no one wants to hire me. Doing what I can until something breaks for me. I believe everything is preordained, things will change when they are supposed to."
I have to take my hat off to Ms Patterson. I salute her.
Her website, Johnson & Toxin, can be found here and you can follow her on Twitter here.
Please support her in any way you can. The world needs more people like Emily Patterson.
Bob Fiddaman.
No comments: