Here’s something we would have never guessed: Government agencies have been rife with ethical missteps, according to Christopher Lee’s story, “Study finds government ethics lapses,” in the WaPo. Not surprisingly, of the people who observe violations, very few report them to superiors.
When it comes to keeping dangerous, sometimes life-threatening, defective products off the shelves, the Consumer Product Safety Commission often has all the urgency of someone taking a leisurely stroll through the park. A new Public Citizen review of publicly available information shows that it takes the CPSC seven months from the time it receives a manufacturer’s report of a hazardous consumer defect to the time it notifies the public.
From Todd Tucker @ Eyes on Trade: No, this isn’t spam, even if you can’t tell from the title. The New York Times had a stellar piece in this morning’s edition that looked at how the “morning after” pill is now exclusively made in China, by a company linked to serious poisonings from leukemia and cancer pills. This follows on an equally important story from earlier this week about the FDA’s inability to guarantee drug safety:
The possibility that President Bush will appoint industry consultant Gail Charnley (see Annys Shin’s article in the WaPo) to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission isn’t playing so well among progressive bloggers. Brooks Schuelke on InjuryBoard.com writes, “The potential nomination does follow in the Administration’s footsteps of putting consumers last.”
Jane Wells at CNBC has a tongue in cheek take on the whole Botox controversy. Her alter ego, Fake Jane, is calling on all the other “fake women of America” to unite to help rescue the Botox maker’s sagging balance sheet. Wells blogs about it in her post, “Fake Jane to Rescue Allergan.”
