Opinions

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Apr 19, 2010

''Shining new light on payments to docs''

"Buried deep within the massive health care overhaul passed by Congress are tough new laws that will soon shine a much-needed light on physicians' lucrative financial ties to industry. Known as the Physician Payments Sunshine provisions, these are some of the most significant, yet unheralded, reforms contained in the historic health care legislation signed by President Obama last month."

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Conflicts of Interest
Dec 25, 2011

''Speed up work on payment disclosure''

"Two-and-a-half months after blowing a congressional deadline, federal officials have finally gotten around to rolling out the Physician Payments Sunshine Act -- a historic new law requiring medical device and pharmaceutical industries to disclose payments to doctors."

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Conflicts of Interest
Aug 6, 2011

''Superbugs' in our food''

"Scientists have warned for decades that routinely feeding antibiotics to poultry and livestock would lead to new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Apr 9, 2012

''Sushi Poisoning Reminder That Food System Needs Overhaul''

"Reports last week of a salmonella outbreak, possibly related to sushi, serve as a timely reminder of why the Obama administration must expedite a plan to modernize the country’s food-safety regulations, which haven’t been updated since the Great Depression."

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Food Hazards
Oct 27, 2011

''Tainted fruit''

"The deadly Listeriosis outbreak tied to Colorado cantaloupe is unusual Never before in the U.S. has this disease been known to spread via whole fruit, federal officials say."

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Food Safety
Apr 11, 2006

''Taking a Hard Look at Student Debt''

"Late last month, Penn president Amy Gutmann and the the university board sent a clear and powerful message to high school graduates from lower-income families:You can afford to go to college."

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Aug 10, 2010

''Taking credit''

"Consumers beware: Credit-card companies already are finding ways around the new law designed to crack down on their tricky fees and hidden charges. The Credit Card Accountability Act of 2009 was intended to stop lenders' unfair practices, such as jacking up a cardholder's interest rate without warning or shortening billing cycles. For the most part, the law is working."

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Oct 11, 2010

''The benefit of working together for next farm bill''

"Produce industry leaders call for unity in promoting critical programs for the 2011 farm bill."

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Food Safety
May 5, 2009

''The Credit-Card Wars''

"If you are among the 80 percent of Americans who use credit cards, you probably have your own horror story of interest rates raised without notice or credit lines reduced. A study sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts puts numbers to the anecdotes: Analyzing the practices of more than 400 different credit cards offered by the 12 largest companies, it found that 100 percent of them, every single credit card, has policies that harm consumers."

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Aug 24, 2010

''The Customer Always Comes Last''

"The credit card industry is working hard to subvert the Credit Card Act of 2009, which banned many of the industry’s most predatory practices. The Federal Reserve Board, which oversees and coddles this industry, needs to ensure that consumers get the protections Congress intended, and Americans so clearly need. The Fed also needs to take a hard look at problems cited last month by the Pew Charitable Trust Safe Credit Cards Project."

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Aug 14, 2010

''The Drug Safety and Accountability Act is overdue''

"The Drug Safety and Accountability Act, a bill filed today by Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) is long overdue in protecting American citizens from unsafe drugs."

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Drug Manufacturing and Distribution, Drug Safety
Jul 24, 2011

''The end of the era of antibiotics''

"For decades, we have lived in blissful ignorance of the infectious diseases that tormented earlier generations. Just take a pill, or get a shot, and they will go away. But the miracle drugs are starting to fail, even for common diseases - and we have ourselves to blame."

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Jan 6, 2012

''The F.D.A.’s Token Gesture''

"After withdrawing its own 34-year-old request/promise to restrict the routine use of penicillin and tetracyclines in farm animal feed, the F.D.A. made it crystal clear that, despite the increasingly common threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in supermarket meat, it would leave the regulating up to industry itself."

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Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
Jun 30, 2010

''The Fed and Your Credit Card''

"Congress passed legislation last year banning many of the worst practices of credit card companies and ordered the Federal Reserve to issue new rules to ensure that late charges and all other penalties — a major source of abuse — are 'reasonable and proportional.'

That dubious reading is especially troubling given a recent analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Safe Credit Card Project that found that some companies fail to disclose the penalty interest charges in their contracts — a clear violation of banking law."

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Mar 14, 2010

''The Fed's Responsiblity''

"Congress passed legislation last year intended to protect consumers from the credit card industry’s most deceptive and unfair practices. The main provisions finally went into effect last month. But the Federal Reserve still has to write new rules intended to stop companies from bleeding customers dry with exorbitant fees for late payments, with charges for exceeding the credit limit, or with “any other penalty fee or charge.”

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