Germany's Federal Medical Society is proposing to classify nicotine addiction as an illness, saying doctors should evaluate and treat heavily addicted smokers the same way they do patients suffering from physical illness. They hope that labeling smokers as being sick will pressure more of them to seek professional help to overcome their addiction. The label may be more than just a strategy, though. In June 1998, the Director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., testified before a Congressional panel that addiction, including nicotine addiction, is now considered to be a chronic, recurring brain disease. German health insurance companies fear the Medical Society's proposal will lead to a spike in smoking-related claims, and are unenthusiastic about paying for medical treatment for something they consider to be a "self-inflicted addiction." About 140,000 German citizens die annually from smoking-related illnesses.

To develop its new website that tries to help the public understand direct-to-consumer drug ads, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "turned to a nonprofit front group erected by Shaw Science Partners, a public relations firm that specializes in launching new drugs," according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). EthicAd, the nonprofit behind the FDA site, is funded by Shaw Science and its own board members. Shaw Group founder Michael Shaw admitted that "if not all, almost all" of EthicAd's funders "do work for industry." EthicAd also "shares the same physical address as Shaw Science Partners." CSPI gives a negative review of the FDA site, calling it "jargon-filled" and lacking advice on how to evaluate messages about drug side effects, among other consumer topics. CSPI is calling on the FDA "to scuttle the web site, to terminate its relationship with the drug companies' PR firm, and to seek out advice from leading physicians, pharmacists, or consumer groups."

In Bolivia, anti-government protests have led to dozens of deaths. President Evo Morales claimed the United States is supporting the violent groups and asked U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg to leave. The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), pointing to earlier reports that the U.S. Embassy "had repeatedly asked Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright Scholar to spy on people inside Bolivia," says Morales may have a point. So CEPR is calling on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) "and other U.S. agencies to 'come clean'" about which groups they support, in Bolivia. "Despite numerous requests ... the U.S. has not turned over all the names of recipient organizations of USAID funds." In related news, USAID "is looking to hire a PR firm to tout its work in Bolivia as diplomatic relations have strained with the left-leaning South American country," reports O'Dwyer's. USAID will pay $500,000 for the first year of an up to three year contract, "to highlight its emergency supply efforts, opportunities for the poor, and other economic and social welfare programs it has funded in Bolivia."