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PATH: BS | Business | Corporations | Big Pharma
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Criticism of Herbal Products Squelched
Posted by Pile
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[Faulty Products] |
One of the marketing success stories in the world of herbal pills is the hype and advertising that has made Tebonin one of the big-time sellers. If you believe the ads, popping a Tebonin pill a day will relieve tinnitus (the ringing sound some people have in their ears), dizziness and even improve mental alertness. The promoters claim the drug, which is based on a patented extract from the ginkgo biloba tree, improves "impaired micro-circulation," reduces "free radicals" and "promotes optimum cell function."
According to the German manufacturer, Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co KG, eight million pills are consumed every day. Schwabe, like so many companies in the herbal supplements sector, trades on its feel-good image. "From Nature, For Health," its website claims. That's the story the company wants you to hear. However, when a small group of Australian doctors and pharmacists, AusPharm Consumer Health Watch, drafted a report raising doubts about the benefits of Tebonin, they discovered a company that was not so warm and fuzzy. Soon after sending a copy of their draft report to the company, they were hit with a writ seeking an injunction that may bury their critical assessment forever. |
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Can't Sleep? You're Not Alone. Take a Pill.
Posted by Pile
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[Polls] |
 This spring, a poll that found half of adult Americans have frequent sleeping problems was reported on "by virtually all of the country's major newspapers and television networks," as well as international media. "Lost in the somber warnings and survey results, however, was that the poll, the proclamations and the press kits that spread the information were paid for by sleeping pill manufacturers," reports the Sacramento Bee. Although the group that released the poll, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), receives more than half of its income from drug companies, only 17 of 84 newspaper stories "mentioned the foundation's pharmaceutical sponsors." And while the New York public relations firm Zeno Group was touting the NSF poll, it was also hyping the launch of a new sleeping pill, Lunesta. Zeno Group included "a pitch for coverage of the release of the Lunesta sleeping pill" in the NSF press packets announcing the poll results. |
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PETA Exposes Cruelty at Drug Company
Posted by Pile
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[Mean People]
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While most Americans' view of PETA seems to involve bored supermodels whining about mink coats, the organization has continued to address far more important issues than the mainstream media wants to call attention to.
Recently, an undercover PETA investigator worked as a technician inside a Vienna, Virginia laboratory, owned by Covance, a billion-dollar Princeton-based company. She videotaped workers who were striking, choking, taunting, and deliberately tormenting terrified monkeys. She documented small monkeys, choking, gagging and suffering from daily bloody noses after having large tubes forced up their nostrils and down into their stomachs. Other monkeys had developed painful protrusions of the intestines through the rectum resulting from constant stress and diarrhea, and monkeys with broken arms and other severe injuries were denied proper veterinary treatment. Sadly, many animals in desperate need of euthanasia were kept alive and in agony just to please drug companies.
PETA has filed a 272-page complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that asks for the Vienna laboratory to be shut down until a thorough investigation can be conducted.
There's a controversial video of the mistreatment of these animals that the Covance company is deperately trying to bury. |
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Bumper Sticker Store
The widely prescribed diabetes drug Avandia (generic name rosiglitazone) is linked to a greater risk of heart attack and possibly death, says a new scientific analysis published online Monday.
As many as 11 million bottles of the painkiller acetaminophen manufactured by generic brand drug manufacturer Perrigo Co. and marketed by stores such as CVS, Wal-Mart, and over a hundred other retailers are being recalled. The reason? They may contain fragments of unidentified metal ranging from "microdots" to 1/3 of an inch pieces of wire. I think it's actually brilliant--it'll make you forget the pain in your head by making you focus instead on your lacerated mouth, throat, or intestinal tract!
Early clinical trials of a new gel to treat skin cancer have returned promising results.