Category Archives: Big Pharma

Fighting efforts to save the bees

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PR Watch has this up on Bayer and Syngenta’s trying to stop efforts to save the bees :   HTTP://WWW.PRWATCH.ORG/NODE/12066

(for some reason, my “link” feature is not working on my blog.  Also–I clicked on one of my links yesterday, and now they have ads–I have nothing to do with them, and I’m certainly not being compensated for them advertising with my blog. FYI.)

From the article:

The response of Bayer and Syngenta was to unleash a barrage of letters to the food safety agency and the European Commission, followed later by threatened lawsuits.

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This is the heart of the matter—Too Big To Fails can quash efforts against them or their interests just by simply litigating their way out of it., a la Monsanto. They don’t even have to win, but keep their opponents fighting in courts to bankrupt them.  Empty what little they may have in their bank accounts, and voila! no more opposition….

More here from Purdue University confirming the neonicotinoids were causing bee deaths: http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?263169-Purdue-university-study-confirms-neonicotinoids-on-maize-killing-honeybees

 

Blood Medicine

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I’m watching Kathleen Sharp on BookTV (yay, Book TV) that has written a book called Blood Medicine about a cancer drug, Epo,  that did a great job of helping red blood cells to grow….

….unfortunately, it also helps cancer cells to grow.

Yes, yes, it is freaking amazing that this drug is on the market with serious issues such as suspected of killing people.

The operation was a success.  But the patient died.

Sharp describes a cancer patient was helped by the drug with his cancer fight, but died because he began bleeding out the nose and mouth.

Sharp is adamant against pharmaceutical companies being able to advertise on Tv.  I  believe she said that we and perhaps another country are the only developed countries that allow these commercials.

In Communications, they go to great lengths in order to sell the product.  Advertising agencies will do a study of the targeted audience to see how to construct the message for the best impact — i.e., to get the target audience  to request it from their doctors. or perhaps I should say demand it from their doctors.  They are convinced by slick advertising that *this* drug will help them get healthy again.   As someone who has been *there*, it really doesn’t take much in convincing if you’re so ill that you would do almost anything to regain your health.  Sharp didn’t even touch on the fact that these doctors who are prescribing these drugs, may be invested in these companies, and therefore, have a financial interest to prescribe these drugs.  I’ve seen how pharma works –they are not legally supposed to buy doctors lunches and other gifts….so they have “information sessions” and just happen to have it during the lunch hour….and have lunch brought in.  Ahem.

A sunshine law is part of the Obama health plan.  We’ll see if it does any good.  I’m pessimistic because the whole culture surrounding the FDA and the pharm industry and the billion dollar lobbying by Big Pharma…

More history here.

And here.  How can we forget Bush appointment, Dr. Hager,  and his ex-wife’s allegations of marital rape?

Sharp mentions the revolving door between the pharm industry and the FDA.

A man calling himself  John calls in and is identifying himself as a neonatalogist whom immediately states that Sharp has “poorly researched” her book. (red flag that this guy is perhaps an industry exec or someone tied to the billion dollar industry).   She states that there are some uses for the drug, but  the consumers are not aware of the dangers and that needs to change.

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While researching this, I found this link.  People were protesting Monsanto back in 1994….but Bill Clinton was busy in the Oval Office….something about an intern with a blue dress…

Thatcher

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Protests at her funeral here.

On the Mirror site, someone commented that they should put her in a black bag and put her out with the rest of the trash.  Okay, that’s a little harsh.  But spending  10 million is too, too much, especially for someone who promoted austerity.

Funny how people who advocate austerity measures never include themselves as recipients.

Genetics and corporations

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Well, if we had any doubt at all, it is true that corporations actually think they own us.  Literally.

What seems like a no-brainer–that you can’t own something you didn’t personally create, as in human beings–somehow becomes less clear once money is involved.

So, because someone wants to make a buck, the human body is patentable?

If that is so….and corporations own my body….who can I sue for being heavy metal poisoned??

 

Thatcher

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The comments here are priceless on Margaret Thatcher’s passing.  Gah, I used to think so well of this woman in my repub daze.  Arrgh.

And even if I had the money, I would not have seen Meryl Streep’s version of her.  I was afraid that the worst would not come out, and from the comments on the movie, my guess was accurate.  Trying to make her into someone to admire?  Wow, Streep has gone so far away from Silkwood. 

The comments on feminists praising Thatcher as being a woman that “made it” is spot on.  One doesn’t have to look any farther than Hillary Clinton to see that.

I mean, really, Clinton makes a big deal about being asked about her clothes, and there are feminists who applaud that thinking she’s being assertive. Pfft.  Men are asked about the suits they wear.  I wouldn’t know what an Armani suit was if not for that.  And a man could not walk into a courtroom, to use the above example, in jeans and flannel shirt and expect to be given the same consideration from a judge that he would if he were wearing a suit.  Men notice other men’s suits, but they’re not as obvious about it.  It may come out as “hey, nice suit” and left at that.

Should a person be judged by appearance?  Absolutely not.

In my personal observation, we are becoming worse about judging folks by the outside instead of the inside.  Our cultural programming, from watching shows like Survivor, among other things,  buys into the notion that others are superior.  Some see clothes as an indicator of superiority.  I remember that it wasn’t so much so before we moved away from an agricultural (family farm) culture.  I remember when Levi’s became the preferred jean and you were “uncool” if you didn’t have those jeans.  Uncool = lesser person.  This also coincides with “poor person”,  btw….

Somehow our culture became twisted along the way and “rich people” became associated with “good people”.  Being poor, one comes to assess folks not on their bank accounts, but on their actions.  What do they do with their funds?  Do they help others or spend their time degrading others and, like the Kochs, do their best to make sure that they have it all?

 

Anyway, Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan were the architects of what we’re dealing with today–the culture of greed.  “I’ve got mine, screw you.”   or “I’ve got mine, and I want yours, too.”

New resource from PR Watch

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PR Watch has this press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 4, 2013
CONTACT: Nikolina Lazic, nikolina@prwatch.org, (608) 260-9713

A REPORTERS’ GUIDE TO THE “STATE POLICY NETWORK:” THE RIGHT-WING THINK TANKS SPINNING DISINFORMATION AND PUSHING THE ALEC AGENDA IN STATES
New Resource Details “Think Tanks” Tanking Americans’ Rights

MADISON, WI — The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the publisher of the award-winning ALECexposed.org investigation, is releasing a new web resource, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network for reporters and citizens about the activities of Tracie Sharp’s State Policy Network (SPN) and its state “think tank” members. Although the funding of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is approximately $7 million a year, funding for SPN, its 59 state operations and the controversial Heartland Institute — an SPN ally like ALEC that tries to change both state and federal law — has topped $80 million in recent years. And these SPN operations often function like an echo chamber of the corporate-funded ALEC agenda.

CMD’s three-month investigation, http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/11909/reporters%E2%80%99-guide-%E2%80%9Cstate-policy-network%E2%80%9D-right-wing-think-tanks-spinning-disinform uncloaks some of the major funders of SPN’s expanding operations in the states and raises major concerns over whose agenda these groups are advancing in the state:

1. Mystery Funds. This investigation identifies hundreds of thousands of dollars, and perhaps much more than that, which Sharp distributes to these organizations but that is not disclosed to the IRS as passing through SPN’s books. It is possible that Sharp is distributing or designating funds made available via the Koch-connected “DonorsTrust” and “Donors Capital Fund” or some other stream of cash for the state operations she helps grow. However, some of the big bucks at her disposal did not show up in SPN’s 990 form in the same year it was distributed to an SPN group. See the SourceWatch article on SPN Funding for more.

2. Even More Koch Money Than Previously Known. This guide also flags that substantial funding for some SPN state operations has come from Koch Industries itself and not only the Koch family foundations. That is, hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least, hav been spent by the privately held energy conglomerate controlled by two of the richest billionaires in the world, Charles and David Koch. The total amount is secret because it is not passing through the Koch foundations, which are required to disclose their disbursements. The total amount of Koch money spent on SPN-related efforts to change state laws and spin the news is understated by analysis of their foundation spending alone. See the SourceWatch article on SPN Funding for more.

3. Trying to Change the Law, but Reporting Little or No Lobbying. Like ALEC, SPN and its affiliates seek to change state laws, but report little or no lobbying. That means that corporations and individuals (like Koch Industries and others) that fund their operations can get a tax write-off for funding SPN efforts. See the SourceWatch article on the SPN Agenda for more.

4. SPN Funders Help Some Interests Get Multiple Votes on ALEC Bills. The relationship between SPN affiliates and ALEC is strong and is funded by some of the same donors. That means that some corporate interests like the Kochs get, in effect, multiple votes to change the law on ALEC task forces, where corporate lobbyists and special interest groups like SPN operations vote as equals with elected officials behind closed doors. A particular ALEC task force may have multiple Koch-funded operations — including a lobbyist from Koch Companies Public Sector, a special interest representative from an SPN operation like the Goldwater Institute, and reps from national Koch-controlled or fueled groups like David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Charles Koch-founded Cato Institute, along with the Heritage Foundation, a long-time ally of the Koch agenda. Through ALEC, SPN helps write templates to change state laws; then ALEC members vote in secret for those bills; and then SPN supports the introduction or adoption of those bills as law, sometimes with help from David Koch’s AFP echo chamber in a state.

5. SPN Funders Have Included Some of the Richest and Most Ideological Families in the Country. Fueling SPN-related efforts is a bevy of right-wing billionaires and foundations beyond the Koch brothers and including the Bradley Foundation, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund (large donor-directed funds), the Olin Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation (the Amway fortune), the Coors-related Castle Rock Foundation and the Adolph Coors Foundation, the McCamish Foundation, the JM Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. SPN-related activities are also funded by the Roe Foundation, the charitable arm that is part of the legacy of Thomas Roe, the man who helped launch SPN over two decades ago, after telling one of his allies, “I’m going to capture the states,” just like Ronald Reagan was going to capture the U.S.S.R.

6. SPN’s Legislative Agenda Is Frequently Buttressed by Its Forays as “Press” and the Echoes of Its Allies in the Growing Right-Wing State “Press” Corps. As CMD was one of the first to document, SPN groups like the Goldwater Institute are hiring people to act as reporters, and the legislative agenda of SPN is increasingly echoed by the growing right-wing infrastructure of groups that pose as press. Some even get their stories or “reports” picked up as news and delivered to state newspapers as a “wire” service like the Associated Press, as with the Franklin Center’s Watchdog.org groups and the Ryun brothers-allied “American Majority” and “Media Trackers” operations.

This Reporters’ Guide details how SPN works, who funds it, what the network’s groups do, and looks at some of their legislative goals, including undermining workers’ rights and weakening unions as well as undoing renewable energy laws and expanding ways in which tax dollars are redirected to the private sector, for example through funding so-called “virtual schools.”

Key resources include:

1. PRwatch Special Report with Key Findings: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/11909/reporters%E2%80%99-guide-%E2%80%9Cstate-policy-network%E2%80%9D-right-wing-think-tanks-spinning-disinform

2. State Policy Network Main Portal: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network

3. SPN Funding: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Funding

4. SPN Ties to ALEC: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Ties_to_ALEC

5. SPN Members: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members

6. SPN Agenda; http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Agenda

7. SPN_Founders,_History,_and_Staff: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/

Monsanto, the Godfather…

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…of destruction to human beings and the environment…

And President Obama signs the Monsanto Protection Act.  WTH?

From the Union of Concerned Scientists link:

In 2008—the last year a federal Farm Bill was completed—the company reported a whopping $8.8 million in lobbying expenditures (see table below) intended to influence decisions in Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other federal agencies.

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$8 million. Just for lobbying, folks….that’s not counting the money spent on persecuting farmers. It was common for farmers to keep seeds to plant crops with–nothing was wrong with that….until Monsanto made it illegal…and one has to ask why?  Why are they allowed to persecute farmers for saving seed?  In some cases, such as Percy Schmeiser, a farmer doesn’t even have to have purchased the poisonous seeds….

Don’t forget the Hoosier farmer fighting this Goliath in the Supreme Court.

One of the articles I passed over with my search made a statement that Monsanto’s seeds are popular with farmers…perhaps that is what the problem is…and where the solution lies…NOT purchasing seeds from Monsanto.  I think it is going to take a helluva boycott on the part of the farmers to bring this giant to its knees.  It’s obvious by now that the gov’t is not going to do the right thing and regulate this poisonous agriculture or the corporation responsible for it.  And Monsanto is doing its best to destroy the family farm.

What a fight on our hands….

Hansen leaving NASA

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Common Dreams has this up on NASA scientist James Hansen leaving the agency to work actively against climate change.

What’s really depressing about this article is that Hansen has been telling Congress since 1988 that climate change was real and a growing problem.

1988….twenty-five freaking years ago….and we’re still dragging our feet?  It is so depressing at all that has happened since then and how much better off we would be now if action had been taken at that time!

 

…because even the low minimum wage is too much to pay…

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As Susie Madrak says, just when you think WalMart can’t get any lower…they provide you with even more reasons to loathe them….

As a side note, here is a list of the companies paying the least in taxes.  (hat tip to huffington post)

Note that Verizon is on the list–Verizon in recent years was sending their sales folks out on the street (door to door) to sell their product.  They paid them nothing. Not one cent.  Meanwhile, the poor sap employee used their gas/vehicle to get to the assigned area….only getting a paycheck if they signed someone up–low pay that maybe, just maybe covered their gas expenses…or not.

Here’s another post on companies that pay employees the least. Note Walmart on here, too.  Shock. Surprise. /snark

More here on employees not being paid.  More here.

And here. 

And this on Walmart doing what it does best–using the law for its own purposes to avoid paying health insurance: forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/12/09/walmart-bails-on-obamacare-sticks-taxpayers-with-employee-healthcare-costs/

Same here: gawker.com/5950331/olive-garden-red-lobster-scale-back-employee-work-hours-to-avoid-paying-for-health-insurance

(A note here–when I did my search, page after page came up with links for business owners and helping them with legal questions of not paying their employees.  I’m thinking WTH?)

And given the golden parachute….um, yeah, paying one or a handful of people millions of dollars as they leave a company…paying someone for not working versus not paying folks who do work…makes no sense at all….

Krugman on Cyprus

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(hat tip to common dreams)

Paul Krugman has a few thoughts on Cyprus:  Leave the euro now.

The only issue with Krugman’s column is that he should get a little more detailed and put it into context.  Most folks are not literate in the financial world (which I think they bank on (pun intended)), so a little “lesson” on the history of economics and why we continually bail out banks and financial institutions and anyone else they deemed “worthy”…just as long as they don’t give those sleazy poor people food stamps!!

Banks and profiteering on food.