Health

As Nicotine Dose Increases, So Must Awareness of the Pitfalls of FDA Regulation

The Harvard School of Public Health released a study Thursday revealing that the amount of nicotine in cigarettes has increased significantly since the major American tobacco companies signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in 1998. Predictably, Philip Morris (PM), in a media release available at their web site, denies the study results. The U.S. Surgeon General in 1988 warned that nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine, but these drugs don't have decades of sophisticated R&D behind them aimed at heightening their addictiveness. Cigarettes, among the most highly engineered consumer products in the world, deliver nicotine into more people's bodies more times every day than aspirin. Still, they remain unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

U.K. Food Labeling Scuffle Hits Screen

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

Multinational food marketing giants, including Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kellogg and Danone have helped fund an $8 million industry ad campaign to sway consumers to "know what's going inside you"--but not necessarily to do anything about it.

No
Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2007
Topics: 
Advertising
Obesity
Children
International
Marketing

Political Mood Swings on Drug Industry Direct-to-Consumer Ads

Submitted by Bob Burton on

The $4 billion a year spent by the drug industry on direct-to-consumer advertising promoting drugs is generating a political backlash. "There's a lot of support for a ban on direct-to-consumer advertising, and the Democrats know it," said Gary Ruskin, Commercial Alert's executive director.

No
Main Source: 
Indianapolis Star, January 21, 2007
Topics: 
Advertising
U.S. Congress
Health
Pharmaceuticals
U.S. Government

Leaked Documents Spur Investigation into Lilly Drug Marketing

Submitted by Bob Burton on

A U.S. federal court judge has extended an injunction banning groups in the U.S. from adding a weblink to leaked internal documents on Eli Lilly's schizophrenia and bipolar disorder drug, Zyprexa.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, January 20, 2007
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Crisis Management
Internet
Democracy
Health
International
Marketing
Pharmaceuticals
Secrecy

Gates Foundation Retreats From Responsibility

Submitted by Bob Burton on

After two articles exposing the contradiction between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funding health programs while maintaining $8.7 billion in investments in companies involved in socially damaging projects,

No
Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, January 14, 2007
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Issue Management
Health
International

Wal-Mart's Believe It or Not: 90 Percent of Workers Have Health Insurance

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

Wal-Mart had already announced an attempt to rewrite its public image through the hire of ex-political operatives and creation of a social responsibility ad campaign. The company has now released an internal study claiming that the overwhelming majority (90 percent) of its workers have health coverage--just not Wal-Mart's health coverage.

No
Main Source: 
Washington Post, January 11, 2006
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Issue Management
Health

Phone Connections

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

A new study analyzing research on the biologic effects of cell phone use found that industry-funded studies were far less likely to identify negative consequences than studies funded by governments and non-profits. Researchers analyzed 57 studies that appeared in the academic literature between 1995 and 2005.

No
Main Source: 
Environmental Health Perspectives, January 2007
Topics: 
Health
Science

Drug-Free Medical Education For Doctors

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Medical researchers at George Washington University have launched a new website, PharmedOut, which is designed to help doctors "identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices." It also provides links to over 100 continuing medical education (CME) courses that have been developed without drug industry funding.

No
Main Source: 
PharmedOut, January 2007
Topics: 
Education
Health
Pharmaceuticals

Philip Morris’s Project Sunrise: Wake Up and Smell the Efforts to Undermine Public Health

Submitted by Anne Landman on

An article published in the medical journal Tobacco Control reveals Philip Morris' "Project Sunrise" (1995-2006), a long-term plan to bolster the social acceptability of smoking and ensure the company's future.

No
Main Source: 
Tobacco Control, Issue 15
Topics: 
Activism
Corporate Social Responsibility
Issue Management
Health
International
Tobacco

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