Health

Out with the Old Front Groups & In with the New

by Bob Burton — March 21, 2007 - 3:54am

Two former food industry websites -- Best Food Nation and the Grow America Project -- are being merged and re-birthed as a new front group, the Center for Food Integrity (CFI).

Main Source: 
Food NavigatorUSA.com, March 20, 2007

Local TV Tales: Pro-Sweatshop Fake News and Paid Smokespeople

by Diane Farsetta — March 19, 2007 - 1:07pm

After federal authorities accused Francesco Insolia "of running a sweatshop to fulfill $220 million in military contracts and employing 361 illegal immigrants," he closed his New Bedford, MA, factory to reporters. In an affidavit filed in conjunction with an immigration raid on the factory, U.S.

Main Source: 
South Coast Today (Massachusetts), March 17, 2007

Code (Red) for Cause-Related Marketing

by Diane Farsetta — March 12, 2007 - 11:24am

A year into the Red campaign -- a cause-related marketing effort that allows partners to profit from charity -- $100 million has been spent on marketing, but only $18 million has been raised worldwide for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, March 5, 2007

Pepsi's Dean

by Bob Burton — March 6, 2007 - 8:53pm

PepsiAmericas' range of products

Three months after the Dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Dr.

Main Source: 
Pioneer Press (Minneapolis), March 5, 2007

Government Health Agencies and Their Chemical Brothers

by Diane Farsetta — March 5, 2007 - 12:33pm

The U.S. Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction "was established within the National Institutes of Health to assess the dangers of chemicals and help determine which ones should be regulated," reports Marla Cone. "But much of the agency's work has been conducted by a private consulting company ...

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2007

Pentagon Declares War on Bad News

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2007 - 6:53pm

"Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media," reports Kelly Kennedy.

Main Source: 
Army Times, February 28, 2007

Industry Funding Skews Breast Cancer Research

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2007 - 6:29pm

As had previously been shown with "heart, stroke and bone marrow cancer research," a review by medical researchers found that "breast cancer studies funded by drug companies are more likely to yield positive findings than those without pharmaceutical industry backing." Researchers at the University of North Carolina "looked at 140 studies published in 2003, 1998 and 1993 in 10 medical journals on breast cancer therapies, nearly half of which were deemed to have had drug company involvement in the form of

Main Source: 
Reuters, February 26, 2007

Appetite for Profit: An Interview with Michele Simon

by Judith Siers-Poisson — February 28, 2007 - 11:16am
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Obesity, Front Groups, Corporations, Health, Marketing, Media, Politics, Public Relations, Science

    • In December 2006, I interviewed author Michele Simon about her book, "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back." The excerpts below are from that original interview, which took place on WORT, community radio in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Michele and her work, please visit her website.

    Judith Siers-Poisson (JSP): How did you personally become so involved and interested in food politics?

    Michele Simon (MS): It started about 10 years ago when I was struggling with my own weight and turned to a vegetarian diet and, lo and behold, I lost the weight I was struggling with. And then, from there, I started to learn all of the other ways our diet impacts our own health, in addition to the environment, animal welfare, and labor, and so many aspects of society -- I was just amazed at how much was impacted by those food choices.

    After Fevered Response, Merck Stops (Some) Vaccine Lobbying

    by Diane Farsetta — February 21, 2007 - 4:21pm

    The pharmaceutical company Merck, known for its aggressive marketing of the ill-fated drug Vioxx, will stop "lobbying state legislatures to require the use of its new cervical cancer vaccine," Gardasil.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, February 21, 2007
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