Shocking news! Posted by schnro at 01/28/06 08:07 PM

There have always been doctors who question the inherent bias in information about prescription drugs that comes packaged with drug companies gifts large and small. But it's news when a major article in one of the medical communities' most respected publications calls for an end to drug company gifts to doctors.

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Really bad ideas part deux Posted by Reggie at 01/24/06 02:11 PM

If there was such a thing as a pretzel logic award (Apologies to Steely Dan) it would certainly go to the food industry for pushing HR 4167, the federal food safety uniformity bill. The bill would prohibit state and local governments from taking any action concerning food safety unless it’s first OK’d by FDA. Here’s where you have to twist, stand on your head and cross your eyes to see the logic – somehow, consumers will be safer if the most knowledgeable and accountable officials -- the ones closest to the problem -- have to get an OK from the Feds to protect their commmunities. Don't forget that the feds are constantly bombarded and frequently corralled by industry lawyers and lobbyists.

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Fronting for industry on tobacco, alcohol and now...risky fish Posted by ayusra at 01/21/06 11:35 AM

There is a slick new website (fishscam.com) that claims to reveal a terrible scam perpetrated by a few fearmongers—namely, warnings to pregnant women and children that they shouldn’t eat certain high-mercury fish. But what is the scam and who is the scammer here?

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Are legitimate nonprofits risking their reputations? Posted by schnro at 01/20/06 09:30 PM

Once again the drug industry is being called to task for the thing it does best (with the possible exception of making drugs). A US Senate Committee is investigating drug company spending for 'educational' grants that may be mostly about marketing drugs.

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Let's play "Is it Ironic?" Posted by schnro at 01/06/06 02:22 PM

Three weeks after the online publication Slate's expose questioning some of the research behind Proctor & Gamble's drug Actonel ("Did a British university sell out to Procter & Gamble?"), they are now suing the marketers of a competing drug claiming their advertising is misleading. Does anyone see any irony here?

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Cynics be banned! Posted by schnro at 01/03/06 03:28 PM

People tell me they fear for the future because young people don’t seem to give a hoot about anything. (I wonder whether this is simply because the people I know are developing a bad case of cynicism!) All is not lost! Case in point: there’s a group of medical students who are doing battle against free pharma giveaways – they simply refuse to take free stuff from drug companies.

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