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1. Too Much Information? Security & Censorship In The WikiLeaks Age

Whistleblowing website Wikileaks caused a sensation this summer with the publication of thousands of documents detailing Nato actions in Afghanistan. Was this a victory for free expression? Or a stunt that put hundreds of lives in danger? Is censorship a necessary evil in wartime? And will mass leaking of information change journalism? Join City University London and Index on Censorship for what will be a lively debate. Speakers: Jonathan Dimbleby, Chair. Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder. David Aaronovitch, The TimesDate: Thursday 30 September 2010 Time: 7:00 PM Location: Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB.
Information Release, City University London

2. Why Is WSJ Jeanne Whalen Stonewalling Me On Her WikiLeaks Story?

I was kicking back with a glass of Ransom Gin on ice while celebrating the publication of my article on WikiLeaks in The Nation, when the mojo wire crackled to life. I had incoming email via an anonymous remailer routed through Belgium. “Hi, I’m Julian Assange” it began. After digesting the memo, the fact checker at The Nation and I looked into the matter. In the first place, while talk of the letter from the human rights organizations was all over the media and Internet, all roads led back to a story by Jeanne Whalen in the Wall Street Journal (Rupert Murdoch). Furthermore, Amnesty International did deny being a signatory. More curious, however, was that the signatory for the Open Society Institute (a Soros operation) had just received her law degree from Harvard in 2007 and was listed as a program officer on the Open Society Foundation website. Was she really speaking for OSI (OSF), as the Wall Street Journal had claimed? I wr ote to the reporter with these questions. Finding myself at a dead end I turned to the only person you really can turn to in a situation like this – that most baller of baller journalists, the infamous founder of the Alphaville Herald – Urizenus Sklar.Urizenus: "Hmmm, you know Luddie, I hate to say it but there are two possibilities here. Either Jeane was played, or she is part of the game." More Urizenus: "Lud, what is the first thing I taught you when you came to work for the Herald?" Ludlow: "In the hall of mirrors that is the interwebs, we may never know the truth." Urizenus: "And what is the first question I asked you?" Ludlow:"How big is your game?" Urizenus: "Luddie, the game just got bigger."
Peter Ludlow, The Alphaville Herald
Related Links:
* WikiLeaks And Hacktivist Culture
Peter Ludlow, The Nation
* Rights Groups Join Criticism of WikiLeaks
Jeannie Whalen, The Wall Street Journal

3. Exclusive: The Real Bradley Manning Revealed

In an explosive feature for the new monthly magazine, This Land, reporter Denver Nicks goes deep into the life of enigmatic whistleblower Private First Class Bradley Manning. By gaining access to life-long friends as well as Manning’s Facebook account, Nicks illumines the extraordinary makings of the man who put Wikileaks on the international stage. Most importantly, Nicks debunks the commonly-touted media myth: Manning, it turns out, wasn’t the frail, emotional wreck as commonly portrayed. Nicks reveals that Manning was a politically-motivated genius who had a history of addressing the injustices he saw. It’s widely believed that Bradley Manning is the man behind the largest military intelligence leak in history. Among the many surprises we learn in the 4,000 word special investigative report, Manning was brought up in Crescent, Oklahoma--the same town where 35 years earlier, one of the largest whistleblowing events in American history occurred, involving Karen Silkwood and the contamination of employees at a Kerr McGee nuclear plant. “This is the most personal and revealing profile of Manning to date,” says This Land Editor-in-Chief Michael Mason, “Understanding him is critical to the conversation of government transparency. Without Manning, Wikileaks likely wouldn’t be on the world stage today.” This Land is releasing an early excerpt of highlights from “Private Manning and the Making of Wikileaks” online.
Press Release, PR Web
Related Links:
* US Soldiers Drive Tank Over Journalist, Cutting Him In Half Whilst Alive
Marjorie Cohn, Truthout News Analysis
* Collateral Murder
US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff
Information Release, WikiLeaks

4. Safety Fears Over Vaccines & Conflicts Of Interest

Australia's health authorities are failing to uphold the public safety of vaccines because of the confused and flawed monitoring of side effects, the Consumer Health Forum says. In unusually outspoken criticism, the forum, which is funded by the federal government, has called for an urgent public explanation of why the CSL-produced Fluvax vaccine triggered a higher rate of hospital admissions than it prevented. The forum's chief, Carol Bennett, writing in the Herald today, said the saga over Fluvax, which has been linked to 1000 adverse reactions, including 100 cases of convulsion in infants under five, pointed to the need for reform. The Commonwealth's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jim Bishop, issued a final recommendation against the use of Fluvax in infants under five, more than three months after the high rate of convulsions surfaced in Western Australia early this year. The Therapeutic Goods Administration assessment was that the benefits of Fluv ax outweighed the risks. Ms Bennett said there was also a perception of conflict of interest in the TGA's role as both assessing and listing drugs and then monitoring safety in a system that was funded by charges imposed on drug companies it regulated.
Mark Metherell, Sydney Morning Herald
Related Links:
* Australia: Deadly Vaccines Surveillance Plan Required
Mark Metherell, Sydney Morning Herald
* UK Doctors Warned Of Flu Vaccine Convulsion Risk
Lilian Anekwe, PULSE
* Toddler Ashley Jade Epapara, 2, Dies After Flu Vaccine
Suellen Hinde, Courier Mail
* Australia Suspends Flu Vaccine After Children Fall Critically Ill
ABC News

5. Alleged Corruption Stench As $65m Of Swine Flu Vaccines Set To Be Destroyed

Up to 10 million doses of swine flu vaccine that cost Australian taxpayers $65m might have to be destroyed as they pass their use-by date. Federal health officials have revealed that only half the government stockpile of vaccine has been used, as just one dose -- and not two, as immunisation experts had advised -- were required as protection against the potentially deadly pandemic H1N1 swine flu. The Health Department has tried donating the surplus flu vaccines to needy countries before the expiry date -- yet no nation has wanted it. Liberal senator Chris Back yesterday called for more transparency in the department's secret dealings with CSL, the nation's biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer. Senator Back, a member of the Senate's community affairs committee, said it was unreasonable for the health department to grant commercial-in-confidence status for CSL's $130m swine flu vaccine contract. The TGA and the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, will not say if the federal government will seek compensation, a refund or replacement of the vaccine purchased with taxpayer funds. CSL declared a $1.05 billion profit in 2009/10, after sales soared 21 per cent.
Natasha Bita, The Australian

6. GlaxoSmithKline's Deadly Avandia Diabetes Drug Removed From Europe

Around 90,000 British diabetes patients were warned against continuing to use one of the most popular treatments for their condition after regulators ruled it could lead to heart attacks or strokes. After a three-year battle with UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended that Avandia, or rosiglitazone, which is used by 2 million people worldwide, should no longer be used after growing concerns about its potentially damaging effects on patients. The decision means that no new prescriptions can be issued for it and that no new patients can start receiving a drug once seen as a major breakthrough in tackling the disabling effects of diabetes. Evidence linking Avandia to an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke has been building since 2007. GlaxoSmithKline has insisted that Avandia is safe but in July agreed to pay $460m (£304m) in damages to settle about 10,000 lawsuits in America linking its us e to patients suffering serious medical setbacks.
Dennis Campbell & Julia Kollewe, The Guardian
Related Links:
* Takeda's Actos & Glaxo's Avandia Are Both Equal Killers, Researchers Find
Kanoko Matsuyama, Bloomberg
* After Avandia: Does The FDA Have A Drug Problem?
Massimo Calabresi with Alice Park, TIME Magazine

7. The Pharma Arms Race Buying Off Doctors

Paul Thacker, a key staff investigator on the Senate Finance Committee, told Ed Silverman (Pharmalot) in a most interesting interview, "What's gone on with the pharmaceutical industry is a physician arms race to buy off doctors..... what they've been doing for years is buying off doctors to sell their products and a doctor's primary obligation should be to the patient not the pharmaceutical company.....There's been a blurring between science and marketing - science is supposed to be about an objective view of facts and marketing is about putting a spin." Unfortunately, for the public interest, Sen. Grassley will be leaving the Finance Committee and moving to the Judiciary. And Paul Thacker recently moved to Projects on Government Oversight, a non-profit.
Vera Hassner Sharav, AHRP

8. The Burning Of The British Quangos

One Click Note: It's bonfire time! Listed are the details of the quangos scheduled to be abolished by the Coalition government. The publication of this list that includes British Nuclear Fuels, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations, The Theatres Trust and so on has caused a great deal of controversy.
The Guardian / The One Click Group

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