Investigations: Torture Survivors, Families Expected to Launch Tidal Wave of Lawsuits

Get ready for a tidal wave of lawsuits from Gitmo detainees and families of those killed in U.S. detention facilities, say legal experts cited in this item from the Washington Independent, accompanied by a rather striking graphic. Back in 2006, the non-profit Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project documented 330 cases in which “U.S. military and civilian personnel are credibly alleged to have abused or killed detainees” in detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan.

TAGS: torture, Guantanamo, civil rights, lawsuit, 9/11, investigations

Investigations: Black, Native Kids Spanked Twice As Often in School

Huge racial disparities exist among the 220,000 American kids who were paddled at least once in the 2006-07 school year, says this eye-opening AP item about a practice that many parents don't even know their children are subjected to. While more than 100 countries worldwide have banned paddling in schools, including all of Europe, in the U.S., African American students are more than twice as likely to be paddled, according to a new study cited in the AP story. Native Americans were also more than twice as likely to be paddled, and special education students were also more likely to be paddled. Punishments for the kids, aged 3 to 19, were for everything from chewing gum and violating dress codes to fighting.

Parents also have limited recourse, said Alice Farmer, the author of the study (see the full report here), which was done jointly by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "One of the things we've seen over and over again is that parents have difficulty getting redress, if a child is paddled and severely injured, or paddled in violation of parents' wishes," she said.

TAGS: civil rights, children, race, investigations

Investigations: Merck Vaccine Campaign Paid Doctors, Nurses $4,500 Per 50-Minute Talk

Hundreds of U.S. doctors and nurses were signed up as unofficial spokespeople and paid $4,500 for each 50-minute talk they gave to other medical professionals as part of a marketing campaign by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. to promote its cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil, says this in-depth New York Times report. Many of the professionals were also paid for attending Merck advisory board meetings. The efforts have broken new ground in pharmaceutical marketing and earned Merck plaudits at the 2008 Pharmaceutical Advertising and Marketing Excellence awards. Meanwhile, controversy about cervical-cancer vaccines hasn't abated despite the muscular marketing campaign, the Times story says.

TAGS: pharma, drugs, investigations, vaccines

Investigations: Merck Vioxx Trial Really Intended to "Seed" Market

Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. organized a trial of controversial painkiller Vioxx, now the subject of a $4.85-billion settlement that the company is finalizing with thousands of claimants, as a "seeding" study designed to prime the market to jump-start sales, says this Wall Street Journal piece about a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study is the first about the little-discussed, albeit apparently prevalent practice of marketing-related trials in the pharma business. Critics of the Merck study say it raises ethical questions for the 5,500 patients who participated. Edward Scolnick, Merck's head of research at the time, called the marketing study "intellectually redundant" and "extremely dangerous" because it could yield data that might compromise results of more meaningful clinical trials.

The goal, according to Merck documents, was to give primary-care physicians experience with Vioxx before its anticipated launch "to accelerate uptake and advocacy for Vioxx." Subsequent analysis found doctors who participated in the trial prescribed more Vioxx than a control group.

TAGS: pharma, drugs, investigations

Interesting: How Shrinks Worked At Gitmo

Military shrinks, working in so-called "Biscuit Teams," studied Gitmo prisoners in order to aid torturers, ahem, interrogators in their important work of (allegedly) abusing prisoners, says this report from the Daily Kos by ACLU investigator Jennifer Turner. Turner, who has been present during pre-trial hearings in Guantanamo, reveals new details about how the Biscuit Teams and interrogators worked. The involvement of military psychologists has sparked controversy at the American Psychological Association, which is holding a referendum on whether members can participate in such activities. See more on that in this New York Times story.

TAGS: Guantanamo, detainee, interesting, torture

Investigations: American Airlines Fined Over Maintenance Problems

American Airlines flew passengers on a plane 10 times after the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it about a malfunctioning autopilot, says the agency. That and other alleged regulatory violations earned the airline $7.1 million in fines from the agency, says this Wall Street Journal story.

TAGS: maintenance, airlines, investigations

Investigations: Indonesian Agents Had Role in U.S. Teachers' Murders

Indonesian government agents had a role in the still-unsolved murders of two U.S. schoolteachers in a remote province of the country in 2002, says this piece on a report from the peer-reviewed journal South East Asia Research. U.S. officials are said to have helped cover up evidence of the Indonesian government involvement.

TAGS: Indonesia, intelligence

Investigations: Wind Power Brings Wave of Corruption?

Lured by state subsidies - and unscrupulous local officials - wind power is the modern-day gold rush in upper New York State. Authorities are now investigating whether wind-power companies improperly influenced local officials for permission to build windmills, says this item from The New York Times. Opponents of projects say they've received threats.

TAGS: corruption, environment, investigations