EXTRA: Italian Antismoking Hero Gets Three Years
18th April 2008
Girolamo Sirchia is a perfectly sinister antismoker: hypocritical, paternalistic, arrogant to the extreme, ex-smoker (the worst kind of anti), fanatical ideologist, morally clueless, a born crook. He can lie straight to your face while looking you in the eyes, although he cannot bear a steady gaze, such as an Italian court has now shown him.
Sirchia is a medical doctor. He became a hero of antitobacco when Italy had the sad distinction of becoming the second nation in Europe to embrace the Neo-Nazi healthist ideology after Ireland. Coherently with the international fraud program, Sirchia has consciously lied to Italians about the effects of passive smoking exposure to human health, to forward his extreme smoking ban. That earned him the unconditional admiration of all fascists from left and right. To be fair, the Italian ban is less extreme than many other bans today, because it still allows smoker areas that are sealed away from non-smoker areas, as a submarine is sealed from water. During his regime in the late Berlusconi government, Sirchia was charged with eight different counts of corruption and payolas, ranging from altering auctions to pocketing pharma money. Today Sirchia pays for some of them. From the Italian article to which we link: “The former minister of health Girolamo Sirchia has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment during the Milan trial where he, and other seven people, have been tried for numerous payolas in the world of public health. “The decision has been announced this morning by the fourth district of the tribunal, chaired by Judge Oscar Magi. […] The sentencing is harder than what required by the prosecutor, who asked for two years and nine months. “Specifically, the former Berlusconi health minister has been judged guilty of corruption and embezzlement. … according to the magistrates, Sirchia has cashed payolas by multinationals to favour their supplies [over those of the competition].” Please note that Sirchia put in a great effort to project the “immorality” of smokers, who “poisoned” innocent bystanders with their “fumes.” As usual, the singing chicken lays the egg. The Public Health establishment cannot fail to recognise such a perfectly sinister antismoker so we remind them here.
Appeal to the World Health Organization The extraordinary performance of the former Italian Minister of Health, and his close coöperation and obedience to the fraudulent policy on tobacco and smoking promoted by your organization merits the highest consideration, especially when today's criminal conviction is taken into account. Doctor Sirchia has fully demonstrated his immoral fitness to ascend to the highest ranks of international “public health." Perhaps he should become the next Director General of the World Health Organization. Perhaps then, more people would finally realise the true nature of your organization. We, the members of FORCES around the world, therefore humbly submit his candidacy. His dedication to the cause of antitobacco's epidemiological and social fraud is unconditionally demonstrated — to the point that Italy is considered an “example” for the rest of Europe. The fact that the smoking ban is largely ignored in many areas of the country does not have to smear the achievement of this incredible man. Ignore that and keep telling the press to ignore it. Notice how convict Sirchia has demonstrated his truest loyalty to the pharmaceutical multinationals that are partners of the WHO in the international antismoking scam by finagling such that dangerous drugs including Prozac and Ritalin are freely prescribed to pre-school age children. What is really impressive is that a High Italian Court has sanctioned and recognized his ideology with a three year criminal conviction. This is the truest testimonial to the healthist ideology of fraud, fascism, dedication to false information on smoking and lifestyle in general, money-grabbing, plain viciousness, and thoroughgoing corruption. You must consider this a sterling conviction befitting not just Mr. Sirchia but every rank ideologue at your organization, which is to say, all of you. Doctor Sirchia fully deserves to sit on the right side of WHO operatives, as he has with Stanton Glantz, with whom in 2002 he had intimate conversations in Rome on how to con Italians into believing that passive smoking is harmful to health. We have no doubt you will without jealousy give this convicted fraudster his due. Certainly he will get it, as the record shows that antitobacco always recognises its own, and it has done so abundantly in the past. We reiterate that nothing would be more prestigious and symbolic than assigning him the position of Director General of the most powerful, most crooked, and possibly the single most blithering antismoking organization in the world. Please give him the job as soon as he gets out of jail. Better yet, elect Sirchia today! Look at what he has already done to Italy, and just imagine how he could do the same to every smoker, drinker, and lusty eater in every damnably democratic country in the world. Why, this reprobate might even achieve your objective, of nullifying worldwide democracy entirely! Don't hesitate. Do as you've been doing and as we know you'll do. We'll keep watching and reporting. Please click below for the press bulletin on this story from an Italian daily. Read
3 Yrs prison for italian ex-Health-Minister Sirchia Three Year Prison for italian ex-health Minister Sirchia because of illegal trades with the Pharmaceutical Industry - 7 other challenges are waiting for him.
2008-04-17
Ex- health chief convicted of graft
Smoking ban man Sirchia took kickbacks but won't go to jail
(ANSA) - Milan, April 17 - Former health minister Girolamo Sirchia, the man behind Italy's smoking ban, was convicted Thursday of accepting kickbacks in a trial into graft at a well-known Milan hospital. Sirchia, a minister in Silvio Berlusconi's last government, was sentenced to three years in jail but will serve no time because of an amnesty passed by the recent centre-left government which cut the statute of limitations on corruption offences.
The 74-year-old blood specialist and transplant expert was convicted of accepting $6,000 from the American company Healthcare while he was head of a blood-disorder ward at Milan's Policlinico hospital. He was also found guilty of misappropriating 100,000 Swiss francs and 30,000 euros when he was treasurer of the foundation 'Il Sangue' (Blood).
As well as the jail term - three months more than requested by the prosecution - Sirchia was banned from holding public office for five years.
Before the case went to court last June, charges were dropped - again because of the statute of limitations - for cashing in three checks in 1999 of 11,000 German marks each from the Immucor multinational.
Sirchia, who has always protested his innocence, called the sentence ''unreal'' and said he would appeal to clear his name even though his offence was covered by the amnesty.
''Despite the evidence we presented, the prosecutors' theorem prevailed,'' he said.
His lawyer said he was ''sorry that the court went beyond the prosecutors' request''.
Aside from the ex-health minister, seven other people were convicted as well as the Haemonetics Italia company.
The longest term, three and a half years, was given to the commercial director of that company, Giuseppe Trudu.
Immucor Chairman Gioacchino De Chirico and Immucor sales rep Giuseppe Strazziota got two and a half years, the same term as Haemonetics manager Fabio De Rubeis. Haemonetics Italia was fined 125,000 euros.
Sirchia was health minister from 2001 to April 2003 in the center-right government of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
As health minister, Sirchia was the driving force behind Italy's tough anti-smoking laws which banned smoking in all public places including bars and restaurants.
He was left out of the executive when Berlusconi reshuffled his cabinet and some observers believe this may have had to do with his legal woes.
Italy's new health minister wants more smoking areas
26/04/2005
Italy's new health minister said he wants more public smoking areas, sharply reduced under a new ban, and slammed what he called a trend towards obsessive health policies, in published comments.
Italy's new health minister said he wants more public smoking areas, sharply reduced under a new ban, and slammed what he called a trend towards obsessive health policies, in published comments.
"There is a real threat that we are heading towards a therapeutic society ... a medical tyranny of doctors and a minister who are the only ones allowed to say what constitues 'good living'," said Francesco Storace in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
A smoker himself who is "trying to quit", Storace said he would examine whether it was possible to boost the number of smoking areas, which were slashed under the smoking ban imposed on bars, restaurants, offices and other public places that took effect on January 10.
The minister said he had already discussed with Deputy Prime Minister Giulio Tremonti whether "there is the possibility in the law to increase the areas for smokers."
His predecessor Girolamo Shirchia -- who also fought against obesity after pushing through the smoking ban -- promoted "the ideology of 'healthism'," said Storace, who was brought into the new center-right cabinet after loosing his post as president of the Lazio region around Rome in elections earlier this month.
"I don't consider 'healthism' blasphemy, but I am against its excesses.
"I prefer to concentrate more on traditional illnesses than on diet. We have to be careful of those who tell others what to do," he said. http://www.terra.net.lb/
HEALTH: SENATE WILL HEAR MAGISTRATES ON BRIBES
(AGI) - Rome, Italy, May 4
The investigation commission on the national health service will hear the magistrates who are investigating in Milan and Genoa on bribes in the health sector, which have brought to the arrest of 7 people, including San Martino di Genova Head Doctor Mauro Valbonesi, said Left Democrat Senator Aleandro Longhi, who had forward to the Chairman of the Investigation Commission the request of listening the investigators and the people involved in the investigations, including former Minister Girolamo Sirchia. "We have reached the vote in the office of the commission on my proposal today and we were successful, despite the vote against by all the representatives of the centre-right coalition who were present. It ended 5-4. Obviously if the House of Liberties senators were all present we of the opposition would not have had enough votes for this proposal. It is clear that we consider particularly serious the attitude taken by the Forza Italia, National Alliance and Northern League senators who were present today. These are fundamental investigations on the relations between public health structures and pharmaceutical companies, investigations that also involves former Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia. I think the investigation commission on the national health service cannot stay in the dark of these investigations, also so it can correct the mechanisms which allowed some illustrious Hospital Chiefs to favour certain companies. In other similar cases, the office had always been unanimously in favour. Probably the fact that former minister Sirchia was involved this time made the centre-right coalition take an attitude we don't approve of", said Longhi.
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