From the Boston Globe comes this story of a drug company's aggressive effort to turn patients into lobbyists.

Ward Wetherell is used to receiving health tips about such topics as 'good' cholesterol from Pfizer Inc. , the world's largest drug company. This month, however, the glossy brochure Pfizer sent to Wetherell's home in Needham tackled a national policy issue days after a crucial House of Representatives vote to lower prescription drug prices.

Congress needs to hear that market forces, not the government, should control prices, said the 'For Living' brochure, which included form letters addressed to Wetherell's representatives in Congress. 'History reminds us that when the government interferes in a free market and controls prices, the results can be dangerous,' it warned.

Read the rest of this entry »

You may already be aware that there are "Pro-Ana" and "Pro-Mia" websites on the internet that promote anorexia, bulimia, and associated behaviors. Internet service providers frequently shut down the pro-eating disorder websites, which often provide tips on how to effectively starve oneself. Many pro-ana sites listed on other webpages had been closed when I followed the links. One site I found offered unhealthy "tips" such as "You can train yourself to forget hunger by gently punching your stomach every time you get hungry because you'll hurt too bad to eat" and "Don't swallow - chew and spit." Another site offered the motto, "What nourishes me destroys me."

Now, pro-ana videos are popping up on YouTube. I'd prefer not to link to these videos, but a few that I have viewed feature montages of startling thin women (sometimes models) with pronounced ribs, pelvic, and collar bones. Some of the images could easily be inserted into a set of photos on Holocaust victims, given the obvious starvation. One video is described as a "Supportive message to Pro Ana Nation," while another boasts that it is a "very beautiful pro ana presentation." YouTube does not block these videos, but they are often flagged as inappropriate. Once you agree to view flagged content once, there is no additional reminder when viewing new videos (at least if you're signed into your account). YouTube reviews the flagged videos to make a determination about whether the video/user can stay. YouTube's community guidelines state that users should not "post videos showing dangerous or illegal acts, like animal abuse or bomb making." Would videos encouraging anorexia (which is certainly dangerous, and arguably a form of self-abuse of the human animal) fall under this guideline? I have an email in to the site to find out what their specific take on these videos is, and how they respond to this type of video once flagged.

I'm not convinced these sites should be censored, but eating disorders are serious business. See links below for resources.

Read the rest of this entry »

33 Reasons Librarians are Still Extremely Important

(and the writer doesn't even get into the fact-checking, analysis, and competitive intelligence roles many librarians now fill - I think we could get this up to at least 50 reasons without breaking a sweat)

Related: Inept and Satisfied, Redux (although, wow, could we use a less charged word than "inept?")

Quite a few stories have appeared of late about conflicts of interest affecting the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some are worth updating.

Former FDA Commissioner Crawford to be Sentenced

We posted about the guilty plea provided by former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford for lying about his family's ownership of stocks in food, beverage, and medical device companies regulated by the FDA. According to the Associated Press (via AZCentral here), Crawford is now about to be sentenced.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fessler A. The girls who went away: the hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade. New York, NY: The Penguin Press, 2006.

I picked up this book at my local library, intending to review it for this blog, and have thus far read it twice. It is truly one of the most moving texts I've ever read. The author, Ann Fessler, has collected oral histories from numerous American women who were coerced into surrendering their babies for adoption in a pre-Roe era. Their tales are chilling and emotional, providing a clear depiction of the shame they endured and the aftermath of being forced to give up their babies.

In the chapter, Breaking the Silence, Fessler provides the background material to the women's stories. Between 1945 and 1973 (the passage of Roe), sexual activity was fairly common among young men and women, but useful education about sex and pregnancy was scarce, as was access to contraceptives. As a result of the social climate of the time, many young girls were coerced or forced by parents to enter maternity homes and eventually surrender their babies for adoption. It is estimated that between those years, 1.5 million babies were relinquished for nonfamily adoptions.

Read the rest of this entry »

WARNING: Nauseatingly offensive content below.

This morning, via Feministing, I read this story of an Australian physician jailed for raping his wife. Snippets from the story:

"An Adelaide doctor who repeatedly raped his wife while she was unconscious on sleeping pills has been jailed for 10 years. The pathologist, who can't be named, stored photographs of his crimes on his computer, the South Australian District Court was told. Some photographs were of him using foreign objects during anal and vaginal rapes, the court heard.

She testified she often woke up with bruises, which her husband blamed on "thrashing around" in her sleep. The woman said that in late 2003, she noticed her husband had left the computer on, with the monitor switched off. She turned the monitor on, and called police after finding a photograph of her asleep."

What's nearly as sickening as this story? The comments from Digg users (also found via Feministing). Normally I wouldn't want to publicize the words of these idiots (which is why I'm not linking to the offenders). However, I think it's worthwhile as an example of how not everything is fine and dandy in many people's perceptions of what is rape and a woman's rights. A few selections:

Read the rest of this entry »

I contacted the Utah Department of Human Services to request information on the New Hope Maternity Home. According to the Department's frequently asked questions, regarding how to find out if complaints have been filed against a service provider, "After making initial contact with a program and questioning the staff or clients, feel free to contact the licensor of the program you are considering. The licensor can give you results of the latest licensing visit, the current license status and basic information on substantiated complaints in the program file."

I sent a message to the appropriate licensor, and Licensor for New Hope, Kent Callister, responded thusly: "The New Hope Maternity Home's probationary residential support license expires January 31, 2007. The program does not plan to continue to operate. For additional information you can request a GRAMA."

So, despite what the DHS website says, I'd have to file a request for access to the records through the Utah Attorney General office in order to actually find out about complaints. I haven't decided whether I can do this yet, as there may be fees associated with the request. I'll keep you posted.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember the 3 girls who escaped from the Utah maternity home? They're still missing. The website for the home has also disappeared. Google cache still has it, but it's not in the Wayback Machine. Also, it's just the front page that's gone - you can move from the cached page into the back pages of the website (About, Services, Slideshow, Contact), which are still online. Maybe the home just didn't want the attention (although presumably you could still find their address through some state records). Why does this increase my suspicion that something funny was going on there? Maybe that's not fair, but the whole thing is just odd.

According to a piece in the Salt Lake Tribune, the couple who run New Hope may be closing up shop. Despite stating that "We've had a lot of parents call us and thank us for giving their girls back the way they used to be. We haven't had one negative experience with a girl," Spencer Moody says that "After this, we've decided it's the end of it." Perhaps that explains the missing homepage?

Another 1/23/07 news story (found via Musings of the Lame) includes this odd tidbit: "The 16-year-old's mother, Gina Castro of Chicago, is frantic for news of her daughter. 'I'm not getting any information at all from anybody, I'm scared to death for her life. My daughter's in more trouble now than she was before,' Castro said. She said that until Monday the police hadn't called her about the alleged assault. She now believes her daughter is in California but can't get any confirmation. American Fork Police Chief Lance Call said that they were talking to the families through Jana Moody, the caretaker of New Hope, who the girls allegedly bound and assaulted. Police had not talked to the families about their missing daughters."

Read the rest of this entry »

The American College of Nurse-Midwives Foundation has issued a request for proposals for its 2007 Hazel Corbin/Childbirth Connection Grant for Evidence-Based Midwifery. The application deadline is April 6, 2007 for grants not to exceed $6,000. According to the announcement:

"The purpose of the Grant is to further understanding of the safety and/or effectiveness of midwifery practices for mothers and newborns.

Applicants may meet the objective of this Grant through many different types of projects. Potential projects that meet these objectives include, but are not limited to, work toward:

-identifying research priorities for building the evidence base for midwifery care

-preparing or updating a systematic review about effects of a midwifery practice

-developing and offering a systematic review training course to midwifery researchers

-carrying out a pilot study that is expected to yield data to support application for a major research grant to evaluate effects of a midwifery practice

-carrying out a descriptive study to assess the degree to which care provided by midwives is consistent with the best available research

-promoting among midwives care that is consistent with the best available research

developing and making accessible resources to help midwifery clients make decisions that are informed by the best available research."

Read the rest of this entry »

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television program Panorama just did an expose that charged that GlaxoSmithKline "distorted trial results of an anti-depressant, [Seroxat in the UK, Paxil in the US, chemical name paroxetine] covering up a link with suicidal teenagers." To quote the BBC's web-page, with some editing:

Panorama reveals that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) attempted to show that Seroxat worked for depressed children despite failed clinical trials.

And that GSK-employed ghostwriters influenced 'independent' academics.

Read the rest of this entry »