Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Bringing "together politicians and academics on different ends of the political spectrum to participate in forums on health policy," with the goal of reforming "the nation's healthcare system" sounds like a good idea. But the organizer is the drug company Pfizer, through its public affairs agency, Spectrum Science Communications.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
From 1990 to 2005, General Electric spent more than $122 million on public relations, lobbying and legal efforts, "to fight demands that it clean up three contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sites," reports O'Dwyer's.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The PR firm Dix & Eaton "is serving as 'media coordinator' for International Coal Group, the owner of the Sago Mine in West Virginia in which a dozen miners lost their lives," reports O'Dwyer's. The U.S.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Microsoft shut down "a popular Chinese-language blog" by journalist Zhao Jing on December 30, on the grounds that it "has run edgy content potentially offensive to Chinese authorities." The blog "had criticized the government's firing of top editors at a progressive Beijing newspaper." Microsoft stated, "Most countries have laws and practices that require companies providing online services to make the internet safe for local users. ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
A "stealth marketing campaign" by Sony in Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York and other large U.S. cities is generating controversy. The "ads" are "black-on-white graffiti" with "wide-eyed cartoon characters riding a PlayStation like a skateboard, licking it like a lollipop or cranking it like a Jack-in-the-Box." A Philadelphia official sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sony, due to its zoning violations.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"After learning that researchers for two studies it published this year didn't reveal financial ties to the maker of heart-surgery equipment that they evaluated favorably," the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery decided to go beyond publishing corrections that "reveal the financial ties of the researchers to AtriCure Inc." The American Association of Thoracic Surg
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
After students at two Canadian universities, McMaster and the University of Guelph, voted down campus exclusivity deals with Coca-Cola, "the world's largest soft-drink company has launched a counter-offensive in hopes of heading off further boycotts." In December, Coke reps visited McMaster and the University of British Columbia.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
A groundbreaking public health study by Chinese doctor Zhang JianDong in 1987 was used by U.S. regulatory agencies "as evidence that a form of" the chemical chromium "might cause cancer." Ten years later, "a 'clarification and further analysis' published under his name in a U.S. medical journal said there was no cancer link to chromium." But "Dr.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Working Families for Wal-Mart, a new nonprofit group "partly funded by the Bentonville-based retail giant," has "a mission to support Wal-Mart Stores Inc." and "famously wholesome singer Pat Boone" is a member.
Submitted by John Stauber on
The New York Times notes that corporations including Ford, Exxon Mobil, BP, General Electric and Alcan "appear to be spending ever-bigger chunks of their advertising budgets to promote" what critics call
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