After the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) issued a voluntary code of conduct for direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising, drug companies "are hoping to skirt the issue" by "getting more executives and experts quoted in major newspapers and magazines and sitting across from Katie Couric on 'The Today Show'," reports Advertising Age. The voluntary guidelines include waiting "an appropriate amount of time" after a drug is approved before companies advertise it, to give health professionals time to learn about the new medication. "We don't view these types of activities as 'skirting' the code of conduct," said PhRMA's Ken Johnson. "The new PhRMA guidelines are aimed at improving the educational value of DTC advertising, but there have been numerous other ways that companies, scientists and the medical community have reached out to patients."

Although their city hosted last month's White House conference on "cooperative conservation," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch isn't impressed. In an editorial, the newspaper wrote, "The most concrete example" of the Bush administration's new environmental philosophy "appeared in Congress this week in a bill that would revise the landmark Endangered Species Act." The bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, "would make it more difficult to provide federal protection for land critical to the health of endangered species. It would also impose an unrealistically quick 90-day limit for the government to object to development plans. And it requires the government to pay 'fair market value' for critical habitat if it steps in and blocks development on environmental grounds." The editorial continues, "Like Pombo's new bill, the conference was perfect for those who believe the only thing wrong with nature is the people trying to protect it."

"Philip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro ... created a crack team to transform the insides of Britain's upmarket bars and music events, in an attempt to boost its profits," reports The Observer. Marketing documents from 2004 that the newspaper obtained detail how Philip Morris offers gift certificates to bar owners for displaying furniture, ashtrays or vending machines with Marlboro's logo. In a "subliminal" approach, bar lounge areas the company calls "installations" or "Marlboro Motels" include no logos, just "comfortable red sofas in front of video screens showing scenes redolent of Wild West 'Marlboro country' to convey the essence of the cigarette brand while circumnavigating sponsorship bans." Philip Morris also specifically targets young, affluent smokers at "high-profile music events where attractive female 'Marlboro models' would sell cigarettes." But Philip Morris isn't alone; now that Britain bans tobacco ads, "all that former advertising money had to go somewhere," an industry insider told The Observer.