Health

California's Drug Wars

by Diane Farsetta — March 28, 2005 - 7:02pm

The industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has launched "its most aggressive counterattack," on a proposed California ballot initiative to provide cheaper prescription drugs to low-income residents.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2005

McPositioning

by Bob Burton — March 11, 2005 - 1:44am

A new round of global television advertisements developed for McDonald’s by the Leo Burnett advertising agency, Chicago columnist Lewis Lazare writes, are "pushing too hard to position itself as a health-conscious company, a claim that comes off a bit disingenuous." Across the Pacific, New Zealand Minister for Health and former dental nurse Annette King was busy dismissing the suggestion that having Ronald McDonald’s clown face p

Main Source: 
Chicago Sun Times, March 10, 2005

Must've Herd Her Wrong

by Diane Farsetta — March 4, 2005 - 5:44pm

University of California-Davis nutritionist Lindsay Allen says reporters "hyped" her concerns, when she was quoted at the February meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as saying, "It's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans." Allen says strict vegetarian diets are unethical, unless "missing nutrients" are added "through supplements or fortified foods." Allen's research with Kenyan children found that their development improved when their nutrient-defi

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California Aggie, March 2, 2005

Take with a Grain of... You Know

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2005 - 2:09pm

Due to health concerns, European countries are adopting more stringent salt regulations and U.S. consumer groups are calling for the same. But last spring, the Salt Institute industry group "joined the U.S.

Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal (reg. req'd.), February 25, 2005

The PR Plan Behind Big Tobacco's Big Victory

by Bob Burton — February 8, 2005 - 5:40pm
  • Topics: Health, Media, Public Relations

    • The tobacco industry won a big victory Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in its favor, against the U.S. Justice Department. The court's ruling means that the Justice Department cannot force the industry to disgorge $280 billion in past profits, even if it wins its fraud and racketeering case against the cigarette makers.

    Little media attention has been paid to this important decision in a landmark case concerning a major public health threat. The near-invisible nature of the ongoing federal trial to determine whether Big Tobacco engaged in a conspiracy of fraud and deceit may represent another aspect of that very conspiracy - the successful efforts of tobacco industry PR to influence journalists. Internal tobacco industry documents shed light on the largely hidden phenomena of corporate tobacco lobbyists courting favor with editorial boards.

    Chemical Industry Targets Historians

    by Laura Miller — February 1, 2005 - 8:45pm

    In an unprecedented move, the U.S. chemical industry is attempting to discredit two historians who have detailed the industry's efforts to hide links between their products and cancer.

    Main Source: 
    The Nation, February 7, 2005

    Fight for Your Right to Advertise to Kids

    by Diane Farsetta — January 26, 2005 - 3:36pm

    The "top three advertisers of packaged-foods to children," General Mills, Kellogg and Kraft Foods, along with the Grocery Manufacturers of America and several advertising associations, "have created a lobbying group to defend the right to advertise to kids." The new group, the Alliance for American Advertising, states, "There is not a correlation between advertising trends and recent childhood

    Main Source: 
    Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2005

    Goodwill Hunting

    by Diane Farsetta — January 19, 2005 - 6:40pm

    In 2003, two companies in the Manchester neighborhood, Valero Refining and Lyondell-Citgo, "ranked among the top dozen in the Houston area for accidental releases of air contaminants." But "the men and women who live there rarely complain," writes the Houston Chronicle, perhaps because of the "free car washes, donated computers, elementary school essay contests and Easter egg hunts" the companies sponsor.

    Main Source: 
    Houston Chronicle, January 16, 2005

    Heaping Piles of Food PR

    by Diane Farsetta — January 17, 2005 - 5:35pm

    "Last week's release of the much-anticipated new federal dietary guidelines," developed with assistance from the Porter Novelli firm, "is just the beginning of some major PR work from both the government and the food industry," reports PR Week.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (reg. req'd.), January 17, 2005

    The Other Armstrong Williams Scandal

    by Bob Burton — January 14, 2005 - 6:41am
  • Topics: Health, Media, Public Relations

    • Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams has been under fire recently following revelations that he was paid $240,000 to promote the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" law.

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