The ESL Free Press

French Doctor Arrested for Insider Trading

Dr. Yves Benhamou of France was arrested in Boston on Sunday. He is charged with giving money managers private information about a drug that was being tested.

Benhamou worked for a company that was testing Albuferon, a drug for treating hepatitis (a liver disease). He was also being paid by fund managers and investors. They knew that, if people heard anything bad about Albuferon, the price of the company shares would go down. So they paid Benhamou to tell them whenever something went wrong with the tests.

For example, one person died while testing the drug. Right away, Benhamou told the people who were paying him. They were able to sell their shares before this got into the news and the value went down.

Janice Fedarcyk of the FBI says Benhamou's information was valuable to the managers and investors, "but passing it along wasn't fair, and it wasn't legal."

source

printable:Download French Doctor Arrested for Insider Trading.pdf (19.4K)

Gray Market

A company has been accused of selling the wrong medical test supplies, and has agreed to solve the problem.

American Health Care sells test strips for people with diabetes. The diabetics put a drop of their blood on the strip to see how much glucose (sugar) is in their blood. They need this to care for themselves.

These strips are made all over the world. Some are not meant for North America. People there have no way to call the maker if they have problems with the strips.

But there is a "gray market" for these strips. The ones made outside the U.S. are cheaper. American Health Care is accused of buying them, and using stickers to cover up the words "Not for sale in North America" on the boxes.

The company president, Edward Letko, has agreed that his workers will not do this in future.

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printable:

Doctor and Wife Found Guilty

A Kansas doctor and his wife have been found guilty of giving out prescription drugs illegally. The jury found that 68 people had died of overdoses of the drugs the couple gave them.

Stephen and Linda Schneider ran their own clinic. Mrs. Schneider, a nurse, managed the business. The court found that they had prescribed drugs to people who didn't need them. They also charged patients' insurance companies for treatments the patients didn't get.

The U.S. Attorney, Lanny Welch, says, "When prescription painkillers are unlawfully prescribed, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs."

source

printable: Download Doctor and Wife Found Guilty.pdf (19.1K)

"The World's Medicine Cabinet"

A woman has been charged with running an online business that illegally sold prescription drugs. A pharmacist accused of helping her is also charged.

The charges say Carleta Carolina owned and ran discreetonlinemeds.com. She is charged with selling controlled drugs -- mostly for weight loss -- to people who had no prescriptions for them. To get the drugs, people just had to answer some questions. Ms. Carolina hired doctors to read the answers and write prescriptions, the charge says.

The other person charged, Wayne White, ran a pharmacy in Miami. The charges say this and many other pharmacies were paid to fill the prescriptions.

People who used the site were told it was legal, the court says. But Special Agent John Bryfonski, of the Drug Enforcement Administration, calls the business "a criminal drug trafficking organization that misused technology to open the world's medicine cabinet".

source

printable:Download _The World's Medicine Cabinet_.pdf (21.3K)

The "Greatest Weapon"

The U.S. Defense Department is making a new rule: Servicemembers who have been near explosions must be checked for head injuries. In the past, this was not done unless the people themselves felt they had been injured.

The military hopes to find brain injuries and treat them before the victim gets another injury. It's hoped that early treatment will cut down on problems later.

The National Football League is helping with the research. The military is also studying how brain injuries may cause mental health problems.

Kathy Helmick of the Defense Department says the message behind this is: "Protect your greatest weapon -- your brain."

Source

Printable:Download The _Greatest Weapon_.pdf (19.8K)

Health Care Plan for U.S.

President Obama published his proposal (possible plan) for health care on Monday. It uses ideas Congress has had in the past year.

The White House says the plan will:

• lower the price of health insurance

• give people more choice between insurance companies

• make stricter rules for insurance companies -- it will be harder for them to refuse to pay

• let people who are already sick get health insurance

• help the American economy by cutting waste.

Source

Printable: Download health care plan for u.s..pdf (18.0K)

Fighting Flu Rumors

Rebels in Nuristan, Afghanistan, are spreading untrue stories about the H1N1 flu, the U.S. military says.

They are telling people you can get the flu by eating pork. They also say foreign soldiers took the virus to Afghanistan and are spreading it.

To work against the fake stories and give people real information on the flu, U.S. officers are making radio announcements.

Source

Printable:Download fighting flu rumors.pdf (18.1K)

Congressman Calls Obama a Liar, Then Says Sorry

On Wednesday night, President Obama spoke to the U.S. Congress about health care. He said he had a plan that would:

·        Improve health insurance

·        Give it to those who don’t have it

·        Keep medical costs from rising

 

He said there were false rumors about his plan – for example, that it would insure illegal immigrants. Obama said that was not true.

At that point, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted, “You lie!”

Later, he apologized to the President.

Obama says, “I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes.” He accepted Wilson’s apology.

Printable PDF:Download congressman calls president liar.pdf (20.1K)(Note: Sources will be added after tech problems clear up.)

Money for Africa

The G8 -- leaders of eight countries -- have announced that their countries will give $60 billion of aid to Africa. The money is to help fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

The leaders say that, as far as possible, they want to give HIV treatment to all who need it. They want to do this by 2010.

But some groups, like the Stop AIDS Campaign, say the money will not be enough to do this. It will pay for HIV treatment for about five million people, but there are seven million people in Africa who need it.

Adapted from www.wikinews.org . You are free to reprint this post.  (Click Permalink for a print-ready version.) To learn more, go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

Sources:

David Blair "G8 accused of failing Africa over Aids". The Daily Telegraph, June 8, 2007

Press Release: "Africa: Commitments will be honoured". G8, June 8, 2007

"G8 leaders 'make $60bn Aids deal'". BBC News Online, June 8, 2007

Madeline Chambers and Gernot Heller "G8 leaders strike deal on Africa pledge". Reuters, June 8, 2007

Man Wakes Up After 19 Years

Jan Grzewski has woken up after 19 years in a coma. He says things are very different now.

Grzewski was a railroad worker in Poland. In 1988, while he was on the job, a train car ran over him. He went into a coma. His wife cared for him at home. Last year, she found him trying to speak. A few weeks later, he woke up.

When Grzewski got hurt, Poland was still a communist country. He remembers there was not much in the stores. Meat was rationed (each person got only a certain amount). People had to line up to buy gas.

"Now I see people on the streets with cellphones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin," he says.

Adapted from www.wikinews.org . You are free to reprint this post.  (Click Permalink for a print-ready version.) To learn more, go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/

Sources:

Peter Popham "Coma victim wakes up to post-communist world". Belfast Telegraph, June 4, 2007

"Man Awakens From 19-Year Coma". CBS News, June 4, 2007

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