Cipro: The Battle Over Bayer
Today we’re going to look at the pharmaceutical giant Bayer, the maker of Cipro.
A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 800 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S.
Today’s Show
- Headlines
- As UC Regents Approve Major Tuition Hike, Students, Faculty Decry Erosion of Public Education in CA and Nationwide
- On 20th Anniversary of Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces, Thousands to Protest “School of the Assassins” at Ft. Benning
- Israel Under Widespread International Criticism for Settlement Expansion Plan
RECENT SHOWS
Thursday, November 19, 2009
- Headlines
- Shunning Dissidents, Obama Leaves China Without Firm Pledges on Trade, Climate
- Iraq Vote in Limbo with Veto of Election Law
- As Wall Street Posts Record Profits and US Hunger Rate Grows, Robert Scheer Asks: “Where Is the Community Organizer We Elected?”
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
- Headlines
- EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Responds to Court Ruling Upholding Conviction and Ordering Her to Prison
- Amidst California Fiscal Crisis and Political Gridlock, Scholar and Activist George Lakoff Proposes Ballot Measure to End 2/3 Rule in State Legislature
- “The Card Game”–New Doc Investigates History of Credit Card Industry and Proposals for Reform
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
- Headlines
- Why Are We Destroying Public Education? University of California Students and Staff Prepare for System-Wide Strike to Protest Cuts
- Obama Nominates Pesticide Executive to Be Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the US Trade Representative
- Raj Patel on America’s Growing Hunger Crisis and the UN Summit to Fight Hunger in Rome
BLOG
-
Hungering for a True Thanksgiving
“Over 1 billion people are chronically hungry,” says the U.N., yet it would take only $44 billion per year to end hunger globally.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
Lou Dobbs Resigns From CNN
The controversial TV anchor has resigned from CNN amid a campaign to force him off the air due to his reporting on Latinos and immigrants. Past Democracy Now! Coverage of Lou Dobbs:
- Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez’s 2007 interview with Lou Dobbs
- Amy Goodman’s column ‘The Dubious Mr. Dobbs’
Filed under News
-
The Man Who Put the Rainbow in ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Thanksgiving is around the corner, and families will be gathering to share a meal and, perhaps, enjoy another annual telecast of “The Wizard of Oz.” The 70-year-old film classic bears close watching this year, perhaps more than in any other, for the message woven into the lyrics, written during the Great Depression by Oscar-winning lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
The Tortured Logic Continues
“Extraordinary rendition” is White House-speak for kidnapping. Just ask Maher Arar. He’s a Canadian citizen who was “rendered” by the U.S. to Syria, where he was tortured for almost a year.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
The War Condolences Obama Hasn’t Sent
U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Chancellor Keesling died in Iraq on June 19, 2009, from “a non-combat related incident,” according to the Pentagon. Keesling had killed himself.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
Trick or Treat for Climate Change
Climate-change activists, from pranksters to presidents, are stepping up the pressure by staging elaborate stunts.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
Lt. Choi Won’t Lie for His Country
Lt. Dan Choi doesn’t want to lie. Choi, an Iraq war veteran and a graduate of West Point, declared last March 19 on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “I am gay.” Under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations, those three words are enough to get Choi kicked out of the military.
Filed under Weekly Column
-
Christian Parenti responds to Kevin Bales
Journalist Christian Parenti responds to our interview with Kevin Bales, founder of Free The Slaves
Filed under News
-
More Blog Posts »
Podcasting & Torrents
Bayer has long been a controversial company, beginning with its roots in the German company IG Farben, which workedhand in hand with the Nazis.
It has been sued by holocaust survivors for its role in forced labor, medical experiments and other crimes.
Its been sued by people with Hemophilia who contracted AIDS though tainted blood transfusions.
And it has been targeted by AIDS activists around the world for fighting against cheap AIDS drugs for poorercountries.
Cipro, the antibiotic that many say can help treat anthrax, is ten times as expensive as generic equivalents. That’swhat made Senator Charles Schumer call for the Bush Administration to break Bayer’s patent and produce genericequivalents of the drug.
The Bayer/Cipro controversy is a microcosm of the global conflict between public health and private profit, betweenthe needs of poor countries for cheap medicines and the desire of rich corporations to preserve their patents. Its aconflict that will come to head in a little over a week when the WTO hold’s a major ministerial meeting in Qatar,where poor countries will press the US to relax drug patents on life saving medicines.
Guests:
- Sharon Anne Lynch, Health Gap global access project and ACT-UP New York.
- James Love, Consumer Project on Technology.
- Philipp Mimkes, Coordination Against BAYER-Dangers (CBG).
Related links:
- Health Global Access Project (GAP) Coalition
- Consumer Project on Technology
- Coordination Against BAYER-Dangers
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org
. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions,
contact us.
