Health

RJR Tobacco's Push to Keep Smoke-Filled Rooms

by Bob Burton — May 1, 2006 - 1:40am

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is supporting a bid by the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association to amend the Ohio constitution to exempt businesses such as bars, restaurants and bowling alleys from smoking restrictions. The amendment would also override a number of local ordinances banning indoor smoking. To gather 300,000 signatures to put the amendment on the ballot in November, the business lobby is running web advertisements offering $1.50 for each signature collected.

Main Source: 
The Plain Dealer, April 29, 2006

Learning from, and Spinning, the Chernobyl Disaster

by Diane Farsetta — April 26, 2006 - 10:50am

"Chernobyl has not taught anything to anyone," Viktor Bryukhanov, the former director of the infamous nuclear power plant, told a Russian magazine.

Main Source: 
Reuters, April 25, 2006

Essential2: Better Flacking Through Chemistry

by Diane Farsetta — April 18, 2006 - 12:18pm

Working with Ogilvy PR, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) launched its "Essential2" PR campaign last year, "to reposition the $550 billion industry as not only imperative, but advantageous to all aspects of modern life." Essential2 includes "national cable TV spots, print ads, and a policymaker education program." PR Week profiles the campaign's outreach to chemical company employees.

Main Source: 
PR Week (sub req'd), April 17, 2006

Crunch Time for School Junk Food?

by Jonathan Rosenblum — April 18, 2006 - 10:12am

U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a frequent proponent of legislation protecting children, is now taking on a formidable opponent: the snack industry. Matthew Chayes reports that Harkin has introduced legislation that would tighten the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition for "foods of minimal nutritional value." Sen.

Main Source: 
Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2006

Beware Industry-Funded Researchers on Drugs

by Diane Farsetta — April 12, 2006 - 10:05am

"Whichever company sponsors the trial produces the better antipsychotic drug," researchers concluded in an American Journal of Psychiatry article.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, April 12, 2006

Fast Food Feeding Frenzy

by Diane Farsetta — April 11, 2006 - 5:15pm

"McDonald's marketing generals have convened a war council and are hatching a strategy to combat a new attack," reports Advertising Age. The "threat" they face is journalist and author Eric Schlosser. A movie based on Schlosser's 2001 best-seller "Fast Food Nation" comes out later this year, as will his new book, which is aimed at younger readers, "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food." McDonald's is "worried about a backlash," reports AdAge.

Main Source: 
Advertising Age, April 3, 2006

Mad Cows and Mad Policies

by Diane Farsetta — March 15, 2006 - 11:27am

CMD and Organic Consumers Association at a June 2005 USDA meeting

"Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease" in the United States, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) "intends to s

Main Source: 
Associated Press, March 14, 2006

Local TV News May Be Hazardous to Your Health

by Diane Farsetta — March 14, 2006 - 3:50pm

After studying health segments on 122 local television stations, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Michigan concluded, "Few newscasts provide useful information, and some stories with factually incorrect information and potentially dangerous advice were aired." Yet, "Americans rate television as their primary source of health information." The researchers noted "pervasive health stories" that aired in "more than 10 media markets" sometimes included "identical video," suggesting the use of

Main Source: 
The American Journal of Managed Care, March 2006

Coal Miners' Slaughter

by Diane Farsetta — March 6, 2006 - 11:48am

U.S. coal industry lobbyists have "resumed a longstanding effort to eliminate -- or at least greatly weaken" the federal requirement for four full inspections a year at underground coal mines. Already this year, 21 coal miners have died, including 16 at West Virginia's Sago Mine. Twenty-two miners died in all of 2005. "A decade ago, industry lobbyists and conservative activists" tried to eliminate the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Main Source: 
The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), March 5, 2006

Bad Data, and Compromised Limits, on Chromium

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2006 - 2:15pm

"This was a 10-year campaign to shape the science to fit the industry's agenda rather than shape the regulation to fit the science," Professor David Michaels said of industry attempts to avoid lower exposure limits for hexavalent chromium. In 2004, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed reducing the exposure limit set in 1943 more than fifty-fold.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2006
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