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Computers located on the network controlled by pharma giant Abbott Laboratories have made over 1,000 edits to Wikipedia entries about the company and its products—according to WikiScanner, a tool created by 24-year-old scientist Virgil Griffith that analyzes public data about access to the online free-content encyclopedia.

Based on the data provided by the software tool, the public-advocacy group Patients Not Patents reports that "employees of Abbott Laboratories have been altering entries [...] to eliminate information questioning the safety of its top-selling drugs." The edits include the removal of a reference to a study indicating that patients taking an Abbott arthritis drug faced triple the risk of getting certain cancers.

The relationship between Abbott and consumer advocates has been acrimonious for some time, particularly when it comes to HIV issues. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company contemplated restricting an AIDS drug to its liquid form only, which was described as tasting like "someone else's vomit." Ultimately the company quintupled the price of the drug as part of an anti-competition strategy.

Other pharma companies whose computer networks have been implicated in Wikipedia-entry changes include AstraZeneca, according to the London Times.

PHOTO OF VIRGIL GRIFFITH, CREDIT: JAKE APPELBAUM

More entries on: Pharma

August 24, 2007

Friday Links: A little peace and quiet, eat it Wal Mart, one in four American adults don't read

Posted by ron at 10:44 PM ET | Comments (1)

Walkmans, CD players and iPods are all pretty great inventions, how else are we going to kill an hour each day on the subway?

But wait, isn't it all a little much? This article thinks that all these iPods, mp3 blogs and downloading has meant the death of silence and maybe even music itself.

When will companies learn that Facebook groups advertising products can backfire. Wal-Mart hasn't, the bulk of the messages on this Wal-Mart sponsored discussion board are pretty anti Wal-Mart. The photos are pretty hilarious.

A Washington Post writer has coined the word 'cutility,' what happens when simple objects are given cutesy additions. We personally like our definiton of 'cutility'; Cute objects that make us bang our heads against the wall in frustration (ie. A flying furball that escapes our reach).

Finally, one quarter of adult Americans didn't read a single book last year. Sigh.

More entries on: Weekend Links

August 22, 2007

Alternate Routes: Alternatives to Institutions

Posted by mason at 01:15 PM ET | Comments (0)

Dom and Shayna have reached Quebec as part of their summer-long road trip to explore the meaning of community in Canada, and this dispatch is part of their latest post on the Alternate Routes blog:

At Maison Emmanuel, people with disabilities are encouraged to focus on their abilities by working in a variety of areas: the garden, the woodworking shop, the bakery, the pottery workshop, or with the farm animals. Many of the products they create are sold, to cover some of the community's costs, but we were told that the biggest value in the work that they do is that personal sense of accomplishment that we all feel from creating something with our own two hands.

By creating a safe space for people with disabilities to share their lives with others, both l'Arche Saint John and Maison Emmanuel are effective and beneficial alternatives to institutionalization or total dependency on family forever. The sense of belonging that comes from being valued for their unique gifts is something that no institution can provide.

Check out the blog's front page for more.

More entries on: Alternate Routes

August 21, 2007

Unfriendly Skies

Posted by shawnsyms at 11:51 AM ET | Comments (4)

According to The Southern African (a Toronto-based diasporic news source), aviation workers in Botswana are in an uproar about new regulations requiring regular screening for HIV—and the potential for dismissal of people who test positive.

The director of the nation's civil aviation authority, Olefile Moakofi, claimed "there are certain medical conditions that if people are diagnosed to have, then it may impair their judgement in the respective professions that they are rendering." No details were offered as how the presence of HIV would prevent a pilot or air-traffic controller from conducting his or her job. Young pilots are to be tested annually and older pilots more frequently. Authorities will also test blood pressure and for the presence of diabetes.

The international AIDS organization AVERT says that Botswana has the second highest rate of HIV prevalence in the world—but the country has also been a leader among African nations in terms of the fight to get antiretroviral treatment into the hands of those who need it.

The International Labour Office, a UN agency, says that airlines once provided leadership on issues of HIV in the workplace, but that policies such as the one announced in Botswana are wrong: "Testing for HIV at the workplace [...] should be voluntary and confidential, and never used to screen job applicants or employees. Moetapele Motale of the Botswana Air Traffic Controllers Association said "There's suddenly a growing feeling of uneasiness amongst controllers and pilots." Indeed.

More entries on: Africa | HIV/AIDS

SPP Protest: Union Leader diffuses suspected provocateur

Posted by Ariel Troster at 10:04 AM ET | Comments (15)

Some of you might have heard that yesterday in Montebello, the president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union helped diffuse a situation where a rock-throwing protester attempted to breech the "green zone," by pushing through a line of riot cops.

Dave Coles from CEP did in fact break-up a potential incident, but we're pretty convinced that the "protestor" was actually a cop ... Although we can't confirm this for sure, we happened to have Paul Manly (a filmmaker) with us ... he caught the whole thing and put it up on YouTube this morning. You'll notice at the end of the scuffle that the cops just let him through, and the arrest appears to be staged ... the other black-clad protesters in the crowd were convinced he was a cop. We suspect that he was a provocateur working for one of the security forces who was instructed to shake things up to justify the police response.

Dave Coles and Joel Harden from the CLC were AMAZING in diffusing the situation, saving families and grannies from getting tear-gassed:

More entries on: Activism

August 18, 2007

Weekend Links: Can't fight the moonlight, master of nations and chickens coming home to roost

Posted by ron at 11:01 AM ET | Comments (6)

We start this week's links with a cheesy Leann Rimes reference. We're sorry but we couldn't resist. But we hope you read on about the Civic Twilight Design Collective's idea for streetlights that sync up with the phases of the moon. The award-winning idea cuts down on light pollution and power use and just looks plain beautiful.

I know that many people don't care too much about the circus that is the U.S. Presidential race (only 15 months until Nov. 2008!) but we know you like crafts and politically-inclined crafts even more. I say we bring this idea to Canada when Harper calls that election.

Paper almanacs are for chumps (except the Farmer's Almanac, that's just cool.) Why would you buy a book that'll be out-of-date in a matter of months when you can use the database over at NationMaster.

Finally, the chickens (and bunnies and ducks) come home to roost. Omlet, A British company has created a cute little home for your hens and roosters called the Eglu (awwwww). Sadly I live in a condo, so no Eglu for me.

More entries on: Weekend Links

August 13, 2007

The Evil One resigns

Posted by annette at 04:47 PM ET | Comments (3)

Karl Rove's work is done, apparently.

The Economist has a thoughtful/ detailed blurb about Rove's resignation here. It cites Rove's ability to get Bush re-elected in 2004 as his biggest triumph, which, you have to admit, was quite the feat. Rove knows his market: the American people, unfortunately, wanted the big, dumb approachable "guy next door" to threaten bad guys and reassure them.

It's hard to deny that Rove is a brilliant strategist. Maybe he'll have a crisis of conscience and put his strategizing skills to work for some charities as he eases into his retirement. Any bets on what he might get behind? Al Gore's Save Our Selves? Valerie Plame's book tour?

More entries on: Bushfraud

August 03, 2007

Mother Jones on Canada's Afghan mission: What needs to be told?

Posted by mason at 10:01 AM ET | Comments (1)

An article in the current issue of Mother Jones magazine, a stalwart of independent media in the United States, has created something of a stir in a rural part of Nova Scotia. The story is a Canadian military doctor's diary of one month at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, and in it is a detailed and sad account of the fight to save the life of Corporal Kevin Megeney.

Cpl. Megeney, a Canadian, died tragically on March 6 when a roommate's rifle went off in his tent, and as the writer, Dr. Kevin Patterson, describes it: "An accident. Ten thousand soldiers who have to carry weapons in order to be served breakfast and it is bound to happen sooner or later."

The dust-up comes in the comments following the article, in which several readers voice their anger over what they see as disrespect for the life of Cpl. Megeney. Several indicate that they are from Cpl. Megeney's native Pictou County and that they knew the victim. They say they can't get on with the grieving process knowing that the details of the man's death are being made public, and admonish both the writer and Mother Jones for exacerbating the pain of Cpl. Megeney's family.

"I cannot believe people feel the need to print this tragic yet graphic story again and again," writes a commenter calling him/herself Pictou County Upset. "The family must be heartbroken, and thus feeling very betrayed, and to think all the while this sits in print someone is making money off it. Being ex- military nothing surprises me anymore. God Bless."

"PATTERSON: You're nothing more than a crude, insensative bastard," writes Greg, Family Friend, while another commenter who signs off as Ed MacIntosh says the details in the article are a breach of patient-doctor confidentiality and indicates that he hopes the writer gets sued.

The vitriol is enough to warrant a response from Mother Jones co-editor Clara Jeffery, who tries in another comment to set the record straight.

I then spoke with Mrs. Megeney by phone at length. She assured me that the family would like to see the article, and that she was a nurse and would read it before any other members of her family; she said it would help to have closure to know more about what happened. We heard from other members of the family who also wanted to read it, and some whom after they did expressed the desire to write to Dr. Patterson "to express my appreciation to him for exhausting every effort to save [him]."

Is the anger shown by these readers justified? Should journalists be expected to omit details of a grisly death in a theatre of war out of respect for the dead, or is there a duty to report on the horrors of battle? The account in question is about one-sixth of the complete article, which provides a personal perspective on a mission the public has only limited access to. I encourage all to read it.

(CROSS-POSTED TO PROPELLER)

More entries on: Media navel-gazing | War and peace

Do the Robot

Posted by annette at 09:58 AM ET | Comments (0)

This Magazine's August Film Club Newsletter is now up here.

Highlights include a special Toronto run of Run Robot Run!, a new comedy set in the future about an office drone who declares war on a handsome robot that stole his job, and the theatrical release of A Stone's Throw, a drama set in Nova Scotia that debuted at last year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Speaking of which, TIFF is just around the corner. This year's Canada First lineup includes Canadian films like Young People F*cking, Amal, This Beautiful City and Walk All Over Me.

More entries on: Film

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August 30, 2007

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