Toothless Tigers and 'Tort Reform'
By Robert B. Reich, Prospect.org
The FDA didn't respond to warning signs that blockbuster painkillers like Celebrex and Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks. Worse yet, its own drug-safety officer says the agency suppressed his research showing the apparent dangers of Vioxx. At exactly the same time, Republicans are clamoring for what they call 'tort reform,' which critics argue is just a nice way of saying that people who are harmed by companies shouldn't be able to sue them and collect damages. -- Marca Bradt
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8978

License To Bill: Clinton, Late Convert to Climate-Change Cause Now Preaching up a Storm
By Amanda Griscom Little, Grist.org
Even though energy conservation wasn't his strong suit as president, Bill Clinton is initiating a program to wean the world off fossil fuels. In a recent address at New York University, he told a crowd of 900 students and business executives that 'the decisions we make or fail to make in this area may have a bigger impact on America and the world than virtually all the things that were debated' in the recent presidential campaign. -- Marca Bradt
http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2004/12/13/little-clinton/

Healing Africa
By Mandy Burrell, Consciouschoice.com
A couple of organic chemists takes on healing Africa as an ambitious retirement project. In reaction to money-motivated pharmaceutical giants and the U.S. refusing to join the United Nations in making AIDS drugs globally available, two organic chemists in Africa have launched a seven million dollar plan to develop pharmaceuticals from start to finish. -- Marca Bradt
http://www.consciouschoice.com/cc1801/healingafrica1801.html