CorpWatch Radio: A bi-weekly review in Corporate news

CorpWatch radio is a bi-weekly review and contextualization of corporate news. This week, we interview Pratap Chatterjee, author of "Iraq, Inc." and director of CorpWatch about Wednesday's announcement that the military is cancelling Halliburton's contract.

TRANSCRIPT: (EXCEPT INTERVIEW)

Welcome to corpwatch radio, your bi-weekly review of corporate news. Coming up, our headlines will take us from the corporate influence over the Mexican elections, to the shady tactics of pharmaceutical giants for keeping their profits high. Next, we will interview Pratap Chatterjee, about the recent cancellation of Halliburton’s exclusive contract for military services in Iraq . But first, for the week of July 12th to july 17th, I’m sakura saunders, and these are your corpwatch headlines.

NET NEUTRALITY

Net neutrality advocates were dealt a blow by US lawmakers last week when the Senate commerce committee voted not to include amendments to a telecommunications bill that would have guaranteed equal access to broadband services for content providers.

Net neutrality is the concept that internet service providers like
AT&T and Verizon should not be allowed to charge content providers, like Google or any other website, higher prices for faster
internet connection. Simply stated, net neutrality is the principle that guarantees that stopwatch's website will download to your computer just as fast as at&t's. It has been a guiding principle of the internet since it's inception, but now net neutrality is being challenged by those who stand to profit from it's demise: the internet service providers. Advocates of net neutrality fear that allowing telecommunication companies to vary their pricing will lead to unequal access to web hosting and in some case even censorship. These suspicions were validated earlier this year, when AOL was cited for blocking e-mails that linked to the website, dearaol.com, which publicized views critical of the world's biggest internet service provider.

A wide variety of internet content companies, civil libertarians,
consumer groups and other activists are committed to bringing up the issue of net neutrality again in Congress, despite several other
previous failures to pass a proposal. They face opposition mainly from the telecom giants and the Republicans in the Senate commerce committee, who say that adopting net neutrality would stand in the way of developing high-speed networks and fostering future innovation. Meanwhile, the pro-net neutrality coalition argues that this would simply give the telecom giants more power and endanger the internet's democratic character and level playing field.


MEXICO: TV spots throw Mexican business into election fray

As Felipe Calderon appeared to emerge with a razor-thin winning margin in Mexico's still-contested presidential race, questions began as to how this business-friendly dark horse suddenly emerged victorious. he did it, it appears, with help from a last-minute fear campaign funded by Mexico's major industry interests. In the days leading up to the July 2 nd vote, the Mexican Business Coordinating Council funded a series of TV spots urging voters to support Calderon, a fiscal conservative like outgoing president Vincente Fox. The advertisements implied that a victory by Calderon's leftist opponent Lopez Obrador would mean economic collapse.

Obrador accused the business group whose members include major banks like BBVA-Bancomer and Banamex and cement giant Cermex of whipping up a fear campaign, calling its members "influence peddlers" and "white collar crooks".

HEALTH SOUTH

The former CEO of HealthSouth, Richard Scrushy, has been convicted in
a bribery case involving former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. In the scandal, Scrushy agreed to donate $500,000 to Siegelman's reelection campaign in order to get a position on the state's hospital advisory board. Siegelman blamed losing the Democratic nomination for governor in the June primary on the bribery charges.

Scrushy was previously involved in a 2003 corporate accounting scandal at HealthSouth, in which he was accused of instructing HealthSouth employees to massively exaggerate company earnings in order to increase the price of the company's stock. He was acquitted of all the fraud charges against him by the SEC last year, only to hit the headlines again last month by being convicted of bribery, conspiracy, and fraud, charges which potentially entail up to a 20-year prison sentence and $250,000 in fines.

HealthSouth, which is based in Birmingham, Alabama, is the largest healthcare services provider in the US.



PHARMACEUTICALS

In a report issued last week, Consumers International—the world federation of consumer organizations—sternly reprimanded drug companies, accusing the pharmaceutical industry of deliberately endangering public health by misleading consumers through deceptive marketing practices.

These practices include encouraging physicians to prescribe their drugs and convincing consumers that certain drugs are necessary. Many of the companies cited in the report were said to have had inappropriate dealings with healthcare professionals in the past.

The study notes that the drug companies spent a whopping $60 billion on marketing campaigns last year, double the amount spent on research. This doesn't sit well with most Americans, many of whom have long been frustrated with high drug prices, which drug companies attribute to high costs in research and development.

GENERIC DRUGS

Also in pharmaceutical news, members of Congress are re-evaluating an FDA measure designed to ensure the safety of market-bound drugs.

Certain FDA officials, lawmakers, and generic drug makers in particular are concerned that citizen petitions are being used by brand-name drug companies to subvert the generic drug approval process in order to maintain market dominance.

Citizen petitions may be filed by any individuals or groups—including companies—who wish for the FDA to further examine certain drugs or policies. These petitions can take up to several years to process.

Senators Debbie Stabenow and Trent Lott have introduced legislation that, if passed, would regulate petitions filed by pharmaceutical companies. In support of this legislation, they revealed that 20 out of 21 of these petitions settled by the FDA since 2003 have been tossed out.

Soaring drug prices in recent years have increased the demand for generic drugs, which are up to 75% cheaper than their brand-name counterparts


MOTOROLA

Greenpeace International recently praised computer giant Dell for its commitment to phase out the use of toxic brominated flame retardants, or BFRs, and hazardous plastic PVC by 2009.

Campaigners report a change of attitude in the electronics industry, signified by similar commitments from Sony, LGE, Samsung, Nokia, and HP. Meanwhile, other companies have renegged on similar agreements. Motorola informed Greenpeace that it would not follow through on its commitment to phase out the use of BFRs and PVC.

BFRs are suspected endocrine disruptors, or substances that either block, disrupt or mimic hormones in the body. BFRs also accumulate over time in animal tissue. Recently high levels of BFRs have been detected in human blood and breast milk.

FORD

Detroit Giant Ford Motor Company irked environmentalists last week by announcing that it would not live up to its commitment to produce 250,000 hybrid vehicles by the year 2010.

Instead, the company will concentrate on the production of flexible-fuel vehicles, said Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. Flex-fuel vehicles are able to run on mixed fuels—generally part gasoline, part ethanol. There are currently 5 million such vehicles on the road in the US, although filling stations that offer alternative ethanol-based fuel are few and far between.

While ethanol is touted as a green fuel, recent studies have indicated that the merits of corn-derived ethanol fuel may not even outweigh its negatives. While ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, it's production generates tremendous amounts CO2 and other air pollutants, because it is produced in largely coal-powered plants. In addition, large-scale hybrid corn cultivation requires a lot of energy to produce and has been found to have a devastating effect on the environment, through fertilizer and pesticide run-off and top-soil erosion. At best, ethanol is a zero-sum solution from an environmental perspective.

The Sierra Club criticized Ford's announcement, saying that it was appalled by the Ford Motor Company's step backwards.

The pentagon today announced that it is discontinuing it multimillion dollar contract with oil services giant, Halliburton. this exclusive contract was scrutinized by watchdogs, who complained that the politically connected corporation was profiting off of the war, at the expense of the US taxpayer and Iraq itself.

[interview with Pratap Chatterjee, author of “Iraq, Inc.”, and director of CorpWatch]

That’s all for this week’s edition of CorpWatch radio, brought to you by corpwatch.org. A special thanks to David Morley, Lisa Xu, and Liam Odonoghue for research assistance. Brooke Biggs for editorial support andSteven Valentino for anchoring. Also, thanks to pacifica, odeo.com, and indymedia for distribution assistance. You have heard music from the Art ensemble of Chicago, Sleater Kinney, and outhud I’m your host, Sakura Saunders, thanks for listening!