Nexus - 1603 - New Times Magazine-pages

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OB OY Le VEN? PATIENTS CAN SUE DRUG COMPANIES, US SUPREME COURT RULES pzs"'s have the right to sue drug companies when they've been harmed by medications whose risks aren't adequately disclosed, the US Supreme Court ruled today [4 March] in an important 6-3 decision. The much-watched case is a significant defeat for the pharmaceutical industry and could open the door to thousands of lawsuits against drug firms. The suit was brought by a Vermont musician, Diana Levine, who lost her arm in 2000 after being given an injection of an anti-nausea drug at a health clinic. Gangrene set in immediately, leading to the loss of the limb. Levine sued Wyeth, the drugmaker, alleging that it failed to warn sufficiently of serious risks associated with intravenous injection of the drug. A Vermont jury awarded the woman USS6.7 million, and the Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in 2006. Ironically, a year ago, the US Supreme Court affirmed that varieties in rural Mexico. A new study resolves a long- running controversy over he spread of GM genes and suggests that detecting such escapes may be ougher than previously hought. A team led by Dr Elena Alvarez-Buylla, from the ationa Autonomous University of Mexico, found ransgenes in about one per cent of nearly 2,000 samples hey took from the region see Molecular Ecology, vol. 8, p. 750). Source: New Scientist, issue no. 2696, 21 February 2009, http://tinyurl.com/bsn758) AVA medical devices approved by the FDA were largely shielded from product liability suits in state courts. However, the laws governing medical devices are different from those governing the drug industry. (Source: Chicago Tribune, 4 March 2009, http://tinyurl.com/cwtuz9) MICROCHIPS IN HUMANS MAY BECOME COMPULSORY A. Australians could be implanted with microchips for tracking and identification within the next two or three generations, a prominent academic says. Michael G. Michael, from the University of Wollongong's (UOW's) School of Information Systems and Technology, has coined the term “uberveillance” to describe the emerging trend of all-encompassing surveillance. "Uberveillance is not on the outside looking down, but on the inside looking out through a microchip that is embedded in our bodies," Dr Michael said. He predicted that microchip implants and their infrastructure could eliminate the need for e- passports, e-tags and secure ID cards. "Microchipping | think will eventually become compulsory in he context of identification within he frame of national security," Dr Michael said. Although uberveillance is only in its early phases, Dr Michael's wife, atina Michael—a senior lecturer rom UOW's School of Information Systems and Technology—said the intravenous "ALIEN" GENES ESCAPE INTO WILD CORN ow it's official: genes from N eenetically modified (GM) corn have escaped into wild corn “Well, nobody really wanted this sort of war to start, but take a tip and buy up shares in the irradiated food industry." 6 * NEXUS APRIL - MAY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com