Romancing the Smokes
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
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Health
Environmental Defense or Nanotech Defense?
If you have concerns about the development of nanotechnology, you might want to keep an eye on the 'partnership' between the chemical industry giant DuPont and Environmental Defense (ED), the New York-based environmental group.
The project, according to a joint media release issued in October 2005 by ED's Fred Krupp and DuPont's Chad Halliday, is to "identify, manage and reduce potential health, safety and environmental risks of nano-scale materials across all lifecycle stages." Once developed, the framework will "then be pilot-tested on specific nano-scale materials or applications of commercial interest to DuPont."
To be fair, ED has flagged concerns about there being inadequate health and environmental assessments of nanotechnologies to date. However, ED hasn't mentioned publicly what they think about DuPont and other companies having products that are already on the market without such assessments.
Fish Story
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Washington, DC lobbyist Rick Berman must have a new client. Recently his front group, the Center for Consumer Freedom, launched a new website called FishScam.com along with a multimedia PR blitz including billboard and radio ads decrying the "hype" about health hazards of mercury in fish.
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Lead Paint Balloons for the Kids
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
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Senators Just Say Whoa To Drug "Education"
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"A Congressional investigation of the money that drug companies give as supposed educational grants has found that the payments are growing rapidly and are sometimes steered by marketing executives to doctors and groups who push unapproved uses of drugs." In 2004, 23 drug companies spent $1.47 billion on educational grants, a 20 percent increase from 2003. The U.S.
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Pfizer Controls the Healthcare Debate
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.
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Ruder Finn Lands Heavy Metal PR Job
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The PR firm Ruder Finn has landed an account with the U.S. Tuna Foundation to counter public concerns about mercury in canned tuna.
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Taking Researcher-Industry Conflicts To Heart
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
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A Cancer Risk Conveniently Lost in Translation
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.
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The Not-So-Sunshine State
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The monitoring of pesticide use in Florida has become make-believe. It is Disney-esque," said Alex Simons, a former environmental specialist for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
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