Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg introduced the Truth in Broadcasting Act; a Senate Commerce committee hearing is expected in early May. The bill would require "all pre-packaged news stories produced by Executive Branch agencies to contain a continuously visible disclaimer stating 'Produced By the U.S. Government'," when aired on U.S. television stations. The bill does not require disclaimers from broadcasters. The disclaimer would not be required for reports from government-supported news agencies like PBS and NPR, or for international broadcasts, "since the U.S. government has no prohibition on exporting propaganda." Broadcasting & Cable suggests the bill "has a good chance of becoming law," given the overwhelming support for a similar measure authored by Senator Robert Byrd.

The U.S. Army Reserve 7th Psychological Operations (Psyops) group "is offering soldiers a crash course in Iraqi community relations intended to help them defuse potentially hostile situations when they arrive in the region." Over the past year, the group has trained more than 300 Army Reservists at three locations in California, using "simulated Iraqi towns populated by Arab-Americans hired by outside contractors to play the role of curious, sometimes disgruntled Iraqi citizens." Exercises include "simulated meetings with local tribal leaders," "attempts to enforce crowd control" and soldiers "coming under attack while traveling between towns." Lt. Col. Steve Goto said of the Psyops unit, "We're the military's version of Madison Avenue."

A National Cancer Institute study found that "workers exposed to average levels of benzene" were four times more likely to develop cancer. Benzene is a component of gasoline, so tighter regulations would have "an impact on gasoline production," said a former Mobil Oil toxicologist. So, BP, Chevron Texaco, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell Chemical raised $27 million to carry out their own benzene study, under the American Petroleum Institute. Although their research won't be completed until 2007, information from "depositions, proposals to oil companies and other documents collected by a Houston law firm in unrelated lawsuits" suggests "the results of the study already have been predicted." An independent toxicologist called parts of the oil companies' study "scientifically inappropriate" and said the researchers seemed to be "promising a result in advance." The data could also be quashed, at the request of two-thirds of the funding oil companies.