Sore Spots & G-Spots

G Spots

In a $5.4 million deal struck with 35 state Attorneys General, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has forced a moral conscience on Merck and Schering Plough. The lawsuit concerned the drug manufacturers’ handling of the ENHANCE drug trial. Research completed in May 2006 found that the combination of cholesterol-lowering drugs the companies used in Zetia and Vytorin were no better than the stand-alone drug. The companies failed to release the results until January 2008. In the meantime, Merck and Schering Plough spent $200 million on direct-to-consumer marketing for the drugs. The deal requires both companies to be undergo stronger regulation and refrain from ghostwriting articles on their products for medical journals.
www.gooznews.com

On August 8, Sonia Sotomayor became the third woman and first person of Hispanic decent to be confirmed to the U.S Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor brings to the Court more Federal judicial experience of any justice appointed in the last 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than any justice in the past 70 years. NWHN hopes that Judge Sotomayor’s presence on the bench will help the U.S. achieve health care and legal systems that are guided by social justice and reflect the needs of diverse women.
http://www.now.org/press/08-09/08-06.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor_Supreme_Court_nomination

The Thune Amendment was defeated in July. The amendment allowed gun owners with a “concealed carry” permit issued by one state to travel with their weapons to other states with similar laws. Gun owners would no longer need to apply for a permit in the new state, giving preference to their desire to carry concealed weapons precedence over the safety of everyone else. We are glad enough senators saw how ludicrous that was.
http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001o6_OsqWf-8_JjJT6p_Y23MQmNFzeq4MDgKSWyfQ-m3RPtezXnHiGvJaQ5GjbG0DOJmxIb1TSndpbrfv_AaXbFgXio6x_TPB6ZL4z4TDZ9G2iGnRp0N35iVekiuSxZhA5

Sore Spots

Last year, Google Adwords (which handles ad placement on Google’s search pages) implemented a policy prohibiting any advertising of abortion services in 15 countries, including Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Sinapore, and France. The policy change means that no abortion services of any kind will be advertised in these nations. Google provided no justification for this change. Sadly, despite Google’s ability to make information instantaneously available to the public, the company is using its power to limit reproductive freedom rather than enhance it.
www.feministing.com, Google AdWords Policy Disallows Ads for Abortion Services in Over a Dozen Countries

Whole Foods may not be so wholesome after all. The supermarket chain is under intense scrutiny from its progressive customer base because of the opinions expressed by its CEO, John Mackey, in the Wall Street Journal. Mackey contends that health care is not an intrinsic right and, although reform is needed, government intervention such as that proposed in current legislation is not. Mackey’s views run counter to the company’s liberal and organic image; customers have responded by organizing boycotts and protests of the chain.

Federal Marshal Service protection has been withdrawn from Dr. Leroy Carhart, who provides late-term abortions to women whose lives and health are endangered by their pregnancies, or whose fetuses have been determined to have catastrophic anomalies. Dr. Carhart was a close friend and colleague of the late Dr. Tiller, who was murdered by an anti-choice extremist this summer. Despite new extremist campaigns by several anti-choice groups targeting Dr. Carhart, the Justice Department removed his detail at the end of July.
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/08/08/dr-carhart-under-threat-domestic-terrorist-network-abandoned-federal-marshalls