SIRC Media Watch Archive
Comment and Opinion – October 1999
An independent panel of Irish experts has concluded that there is no substantial evidence to suggest that GM foods offer a significant risk to an individuals health or the environment.
Monsanto and the media – Once again it would appear that the much-maligned Monsanto has been re-instated to its rather unenviable position at the top of the British media's hit list.
The ultimate Green Card? Money may not grow on trees, but one day plastic credit cards just might.
Europe's fear of GM foods appears to be on the move. More
An easy to follow recipe for the definitive health scare.
A study has identified a positive correlation between eating disturbances and aggressive conduct in adolescent girls. Meanwhile Hollywood stars seem to be getting thinner. More
Messages about diet were further confused this month with an announcement warning of a potential epidemic of obesity among young people
Research has recently found that wine drinkers believe themselves to be enjoying better health than both beer and spirit drinkers. More
Pet health discusses some of the paradoxes of pet owning.
Fen-phen panic. American Home Products Corporation have this month agreed to pay nearly five billion dollars in compensation to people who took the diet drug combination 'fen-phen'. It is the largest legal settlement ever made in the American pharmaceutical industry. The settlement is made even more startling by the fact that it is based on research which continues to be the subject of intense disagreement among scientists.
Pusztai Published! The paper reporting research on GM potatoes – work that most scientists dismissed as fatally flawed – is now published in the Lancet, along with a lengthy explanation of the reasons behind the decision from the editor, Richard Horton.
Where is the vindication? The moral crusaders have gone strangely quiet. No 'Pusztai Vindicated' stories today. No mention of the Independent's rational dent to the media's collective self-congratulation.
