New Scientist

Shannon Brownlee in New Scientist | 'Condition Critical: The Medical Crisis Facing America'

Communications — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:51:00 -0400

New America in the News:
In their speeches, both candidates stress increased access. McCain favours tax credits to encourage families to get insurance, while Obama proposes mandatory coverage for children, a new public insurance plan and a requirement for employers to provide health benefits for their workers. Yet each will struggle to widen coverage if they cannot control costs. “We need to do both at the same time,”says Shannon Brownlee, a specialist in health policy with the New America Foundation, a non-partisan think tankin Washington DC. LINK (subscription required)

Jeffrey Lewis in New Scientist | 'Iraq Bans Nuclear Tests'

Communications — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:41:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Iraq's move has been welcomed by disarmament experts, though some question its significance. It's good but "relatively meaningless" given the US refusal to ratify, says Jeffrey Lewis from New America Foundation, a think tank based in Washington DC. "This is probably the only non-proliferation benefit the US got out of the Iraq invasion." LINK

Selling Out

Articles — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Elias Zerhouni, director of the US National Institutes of Health, last week took one small step along the road to repairing the tainted ethical reputation of government science. New conflict-of-interest rules that he announced will at last bar NIH scientists from moonlighting as consultants for private industry. The move follows a series of investigations by The Los Angeles Times and the US Congress that uncovered extensive financial ties -- many previously undisclosed -- between agency scientists and the drug and biotech firms that have a financial stake in the outcome of their research.

This is reassuring news, but it… more