"Scripps Howard News Service announced Jan. 13 that it's severing its business relationship with columnist Michael Fumento, who's also a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. The move comes after inquiries from BusinessWeek Online about payments Fumento received from agribusiness giant Monsanto -- a frequent subject of praise in Fumento's opinion columns and a book." Scripps Howard general manager Peter Copeland said Fumento "did not tell SHNS editors, and therefore we did not tell our readers, that in 1999 Hudson received a $60,000 grant from Monsanto." The grant was for Fumento's book BioEvolution. Fumento called himself "extremely pro-biotech" and said he told Monsanto about the book, "The biotech industry is going to look really good, and you should contribute." Fumento said his recent columns, including a January 5 piece praising new Monsanto products, were not "quid pro quo." He added, "I think there's a statute of limitations on that."

 

"A Congressional investigation of the money that drug companies give as supposed educational grants has found that the payments are growing rapidly and are sometimes steered by marketing executives to doctors and groups who push unapproved uses of drugs." In 2004, 23 drug companies spent $1.47 billion on educational grants, a 20 percent increase from 2003. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is "seeking more information" from the companies "about their use of educational grants." Senator Grassley said, "It's hard to see how you could call some of these grants 'educational.'" Companies are only allowed to market drugs for approved uses, though doctors can prescribe drugs for "off-label" uses. Off-label uses may account for up to half of all U.S. prescriptions. The industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America pointed to its "comprehensive voluntary guidelines ... that are designed to help keep marketing practices ethical."

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's media clients included the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA) and Primedia. For MPA, Abramoff "and an unidentified Congressional aide worked to stave off an increase in postal rates - a significant benefit for an industry that depends on the postal service," reported the New York Times. In 2000, MPA contributed $25,000 to "Toward Tradition," a group Abramoff allegedly used to funnel money. Primedia employed Abramoff and associate Tony Rudy from 1999 through 2003, to lobby for Channel One. "Although it is not clear what Mr. Abramoff's firm did for Channel One, the network has faced a number of legislative threats," reports AdAge, including proposed "regulations to limit how marketers reach students. Channel One also derived much of its ad revenue from government agencies, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and military recruitment efforts." A Primedia spokesman said Abramoff's Channel One work "did not include any effort to secure government agency advertising."

"The nuclear, pharmaceutical and drinks industries are funding and even writing policy reports in the name of influential all-party groups (APG)" in British Parliament, reports The Times. There are almost 300 APG groups, and "two thirds are now being assisted by special interest groups," often "investigating controversial policies in which they have a commercial interest." Examples include the All-Party Parliamentary Nuclear Group, administered by Miranda Kirschel of the Nuclear Industry Association, a trade group representing more than 100 nuclear companies; and the All-Party Pharmacy Group, which "admitted that lobbyists working on behalf of the pharmacy industry wrote the reports on behalf of the group." The Pharmacy APG had listed the PR and lobbying firm Luther Pendragon as a source of "administrative support," without identifying the ultimate client, as is required by law.