Valentine's Day is approaching, and the public relations industry is readying fake news promotions for jewelry, candy, flowers and other traditional gifts. A February 8 press release from the broadcast PR firm Medialink Worldwide and the Flower Promotion Organization reads, "More than 190 million stems of roses will be bestowed upon sweethearts in the U.S. While Cupid is busy keeping the love alive, it may take a flower doctor to help prolong the life of your beautiful blooms." Sound familiar? Medialink is currently promoting the exact same video news release to television stations that it distributed this time last year. In February 2006, at least five TV stations aired the flower flack package. How many planted stories will bloom this year? If you see Dr. Bridget Behe and the Flower MD website on your local news, please let us know.

An investigation by the Defense Department's Inspector General -- called "very damning" by Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Carl Levin -- found "inappropriate but not illegal" manipulation of intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War. The investigation focused on the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, headed by Douglas Feith. Feith called the Inspector General's report "quibbling" and "bizarre," adding, "The policy office has been smeared for years by allegations that its pre-Iraq-war work was somehow 'unlawful' or 'unauthorized' and that some information it gave to congressional committees was deceptive or misleading." One particular claim of Feith's office was that U.S. intelligence agencies were ignoring or downplaying links between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein's government. No such links have been substantiated. The Senate Intelligence Committee is also expected to report on the Office of Special Plans, as part of its ongoing "investigation into the prewar intelligence on Iraq."

"Some public-health officials say [drug] industry-funded doctors are ignoring ... studies that suggest cold turkey is just as effective or even superior to nicotine patches and other pharmaceuticals over the long run, not to mention cheaper," reports Kevin Helliker. One example: Dr. Michael Fiore, who headed the panel that developed federal guidelines on smoking cessation, "runs an academic research center funded in part by drug companies that make quit-smoking aids" and has personally "received tens of thousands of dollars in speaking and consulting fees from those companies." At least eight other members on the federal panel also "had ties to the makers of stop-smoking products," such as GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The panel now revising the guidelines includes seven members with industry ties, including Fiore, who continues to head it. Health researcher Lois Biener pointed out that most smokers "who do quit successfully do so without" drugs. But the bias for patches and drugs is strong. "In November 2006, during the week of the Great American Smokeout, doctors around the country participated in a campaign called 'Don't Go Cold Turkey.' the creator of the campaign was GlaxoSmithKline."