Investigations
In the Name of Healing
Unwitting test subjects in clinical trials often kept in the dark
Doctors infused a solvent also used as a gasoline additive into Laura Michalski’s abdomen. Within hours, she died. Eight years later, her family learned it had been an experiment. Such unwitting test subjects abound: Most of the researchers involved in clinical trials fail to clearly disclose the experimental nature of their work. Risks and alternatives are not always explained (The Cleveland Plain Dealer)
‘Used Our Kids as Guinea Pigs’
U.S. conducts, pays for experiments on unsuspecting Americans
The letter from school said nothing about a medical experiment (The Plain Dealer)
F-14 Parts, Anyone?
How Iran obtains sensitive weapons — from the U.S. (BusinessWeek)
The Lariam Files
Why didn’t patients know of popular drug’s devastating effects? (Washington Post)
The New E-spionage Threat
Cyber attacks compromise military and corporate secrets
U.S. military and scientific institutions – along with the defense industry that serves them – are being robbed of secret information on rocket engines, satellites, launch systems, and even the Space Shuttle. Many of the digital intrusions, into sensitive networks of multiple agencies and defense contractors, have been traced to China. Officials say it’s espionage on a massive scale. (BusinessWeek)
Toxic Taxes
Obama tax credits are good for preparers — and a likely stimulus for fraud. (BusinessWeek)
The Poverty Business
The drive to extract corporate profits from the poor
Roxanne Tsosie was able to find a job and a car because greater access to credit has put many goods within reach of the working poor. Tsosie hoped it would help her achieve self-sufficiency. But zealous companies have new ways to lure unsophisticated shoppers into a thicket of debt. Furor over mortgages? That was only part of the larger story of the explosion in subprime credit. (BusinessWeek)
The Dubious Promise of Digital Medicine
In a stimulus-fueled frenzy, GE, Google and others are piling into the business. But electronic health records have a checkered history. (BusinessWeek)
Network Security Breaches Plague NASA
Cyberspies, thieves lurk in satellite and shuttle networks
As workers prepared for a Space Shuttle launch in 2005, cyber-burglars slipped into supposedly super-secure digital networks at Kennedy Space Center. Their clandestine gathering of data soon spread to Mission Control in Houston, the Lockheed Corp., and other public and corporate networks. Nobody knew – even though NASA has suffered from such significant intrusions since the 1990s (BusinessWeek)
Killer Trucks – Why the Slaughter Won't Stop
Big rigs aren't required to have the safest brakes available
Trucks equipped with self-adjusting brakes would have fewer accidents, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in medical costs and property damage – and hundreds of lives. Yet the government dawdled in requiring them. (The Plain Dealer)
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