ethics

Daniel Troy served as chief counsel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2001 to 2004. Starting September 2, 2008, he will head counsel for the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. It shouldn't be a surprising hire. Before his stint with the FDA, Troy "fought the agency on behalf of the right to use medical-journal articles to suggest off-label uses for drugs and medical devices." He was also an active litigator who worked against consumer interests. "Representing the Washington Legal Foundation, an industry-supported business think tank, Mr. Troy argued for the protection of commercial speech ... . He was also part of the winning team representing Brown & Williamson in a suit against the FDA regarding tobacco advertising." His tenure with the FDA did not change his priorities. He was known to be a loyal friend of the very industries the regulatory agency is charged with monitoring. "Under Mr. Troy, the agency began filing amicus briefs opposing lawsuits against drug and medical-device makers, saying that having met the FDA's approval and labeling standards, manufacturers should be protected from state-based suits for damages." His hiring by GSK is just another example of the revolving door between government and industry. GSK's spin is that "His wealth of experience in the regulatory legislative area will be of enormous benefit to us, and ultimately to patients."

Both the Democratic and Republican conventions are bringing in millions of dollars in corporate sponsors, but there is no reporting requirement for either the political parties or the companies. There are a reported 146 organizational and corporate donors, but less than a quarter have chosen to disclose information about their donations. Some of the lead donors are telecom companies that just weeks ago received retroactive immunity from Congressfor participation in the Bush spy program. AT&T is such a large scale donor that their logo is placed prominently on the attendees' welcome bags. Other identified donors include Motorola, Coca-Cola, Google, Qwest Communications, Comcast, and nuclear energy giant Xcel Energy. Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, explained that "to have that speech come off well, to have the lighting and the rigging and all of the sound and the Broadway producers who do it, to have the production and the setting look just right, to have specially built podiums and so forth, that will earn gratitude."

The Swiss drug company Roche has been suspended from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) after adverse findings over its promotion of the weight-loss drug Xenical. The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, the body created by ABPI to handle complaints over its self-regulatory code of conduct, found that an agreement by Roche to invest £55,000 in a weight loss clinic that would prescribe the company's drug "brought discredit upon, and reduced confidence in, the pharmaceutical industry." The authority also found that by selling Xenical to the clinic owner, who posed as a pharmacist, Roche "had sold a prescription only medicine to a member of the public." The complaint was brought by Ryta Kuzel, the former head of UK regulatory affairs for Roche, who argues that she was fired because the company feared she would blow the whistle on the Xenical scandal.

"The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, a recently created front group for pharmaceutical interests, has been churning out industry-funded propaganda that demonizes evidence-based medicine, universal health care, the government, and all critics of pharma while attempting to portray industry as a selfless provider of cures and education," write Norman Kelley and Adriane Fugh-Berman. CMPI's Peter J. Pitts has written opinion pieces for publications including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which fail to mention that Pitts is a senior vice president at Manning, Selvage and Lee (MS&L), a leading PR firm for the pharmaceutical industry.

Smoking was officially banned July 1 in Dutch bars and cafes. Since then, smokers have started flocking to a new religious movement in the Netherlands known as the "The Only and Universal Smokers Church of God," or the "Smokers Church." Michiel Eijsbouts, who founded the church in 2001, insists that the new smoking law does not apply to members of the Smokers Church. He says church members have a right to express their religion and they do it through smoking. Members of the Smokers Church profess to believe in a trinity of smoke, fire and ash, and their holy rite to their god is honored by smoking. People who sign up to join the church pay three British pounds and get a card that proves their religious affiliation to authorities. So far, the church boasts over 2,000 members, and over 100 bars and cafes have recently applied to the church to be considered "religious institutions." Mr. Eijsbouts said, "Converting people was not easy until the smoking ban, but now people are flocking to the church."

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to hand out free movie tickets, free passes to the Zoo, Denver's Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural attractions to homeless people during the Democratic National Convention August 25-28. They will even provide free bus tickets for the homeless to visit attractions that are beyond walking distance. Day shelters will stay open extended hours during the Convention, and some shelters will set up big-screen TVs so patrons can watch the event. Supporters of the plan say it's going to help the homeless avoid protests and large crowds that will likely fill their usual places, and say it is a "more sanitary and humane" way to take care of the homeless during the Convention. But not everyone is buying that explanation. Some citizens think the plan is an effort to hide the city's homeless during the convention. Some homeless people have shown little enthusiasm for the plan. Denver panhandler Ronnie Wand says he'll believe the free tickets when he sees them, and expects to do time in jail for vagrancy during the convention.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee has released a report investigating the White House's media management efforts over the death from friendly fire of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and the rescue from an Iraqi hospital of Private Jessica Lynch. The report noted that Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan had e-mailed the White House’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, Peter Wehner, recommending that he "find out what faith Tillman practiced and have the president go by that church and light a candle or say a prayer." In response to an email from Associated Press (AP) reporter Ron Fournier, Karl Rove asked "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this". Fournier replied "the Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight.'" Fournier told AP that he regretted the "breezy nature of the correspondence." Former White House spokesman Taylor Gross delivered the first official White House comment on Tillman's death on April 26, 2004. Gross went on to do PR for the pro-war lobby group Vets for Freedom.

The cover of the upcoming issue of the New Yorker magazine bears a satirical cartoon that incorporates practically every jab the right wing has taken at Barack Obama and his wife Michelle: the couple is pictured standing in the White House Oval Office dressed in Muslim garb. Barack is wearing a turban, Michelle has an "Angela Davis"-type afro hairdo and is shown toting a machine gun. An American flag burns in the fireplace as the couple engages in a "terrorist fist-bump." A portrait of Osama bin Laden hangs over the fireplace. The cover is titled, "The Politics of Fear." Both presidential campaigns quickly condemned the lampooning cover as "tasteless and offensive." Jeffrey Goldberg, a blogger at the Atlantic.com laments the whole situation as "the death of humor."

Reacting to a report that revealed American cigarette exports to Iran have risen tenfold during George W. Bush's time in office, Republican presidential candidate John McCain commented, "Maybe that's a way of killing 'em." He followed this by saying, "I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn't had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years." McCain's public joke about killing Iranians was the second of his campaign. Last year at a South Carolina campaign stop, when he was asked if there was a plan to attack Iran, McCain responded by saying "You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran?" He then sang "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" before discussing what he believed to be the serious threat Iran poses to Israel's national security.

Advertisers are increasingly writing swear words into television commercial scripts just so they can bleep them out. The practice, which has been especially noticeable on YouTube, gives viewers a strong illusion of authenticity by creating scenes that appear to be "real life moments." Writing bleeped swear words into a script grabs viewers' attention, and the millions of people who have been downloading YouTube advertisements that contain bleeped swear words proves the effectiveness of the strategy. This is an example of advertisers using prohibition as a "persuasive branding technique." In other words, they know that making something seem forbidden increases its appeal. Movie makers apply the same strategy when they include an extra track of out-takes, bloopers and mistakes on movie DVDs. This makes the movie seem more "real" to people, and draws more viewers to it. Manufacturing fake reality can have drawbacks, though. When discovered, it can backfire and people will rebel against it. Authentic authenticity is still the best.