Something to Think About: Animal and Patient Rights
New Jersey is an interesting place to live. For the past month or so, there have been daily local newspaper reports (recently elevated to national status by the Associated Press) about a dog named Congo who was sentenced to be euthanized by a NJ judge. The story goes something like this: Gardeners (who happen to be Hispanic) show up an hour early for a landscaping job that they were slated to perform at a Princeton, NJ home. The homeowner decides that the workers arrived too early for the job (go figure) and tells them by phone to wait until he is ready for them and to not step onto his property because the dog was “still outside”. Well, as you may have guessed, after about an hour of waiting, the gardeners decide to get out of their truck anyway and one of them is attacked and seriously maimed by the family dog named Congo. The attack culminates in Congo’s arrest, having his day in court, losing his case and then being sentenced to death. Now here is where it gets interesting. The dog’s owner, who happens to be wealthy, decides to mount a campaign to prevent Congo’s pending death. The “Free Congo” movement gains enough public support and momentum to get Congo released from doggy jail pending an appeal (sort of the like the “Free the Chicago 7” movement for those of you who remember 1968).
Yesterday, there was a Congo update story in my local paper. Congo is alive and well, living with his family and wearing a muzzle when he goes outside. Nobody really knows what is going on with the guy who was mauled but that is beyond the scope of this post. Yesterday's article was basically a rehash of the Congo epic with a spin related to immigration and immigrant rights. But, what got me thinking was this statement in the article; “ The governor’s office has received more telephone calls, e-mails, letters and faxes about Congo than any other issue since the Governor took office” (two years ago). This is in a state where its citizens recently rejected a referendum to publicly fund stem cell research and where many people (in its largest cities) do not have adequate access to healthcare or health insurance.
Personally, like NJ Governor Corzine, I do not want Congo to be euthanized (I am philosophically opposed to the death penalty). But the larger issue that ought to be addressed is:” Why can people quickly mobilize and get emotionally involved when a pet’s life is in danger and seemingly not care about the well-being of other people whose lives may also be in danger? What about the rights of guy who was mauled and the people who suffer daily because of inadequate or no access to health care?"
Think about it and let me know.
Until next time….
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!
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Rumor has it that Bristol-Myers Squibb will announce its long-awaited layoffs this week. The company announced last Spring that layoffs were necessary and that employees affected by the job cuts would be notified during the first week of December 2007. Most of the layoffs will likely occur at BMSs' New York headquarters. Job cuts are also anticipated in sales and at several manufacturing sites.
sent me a link to a plethora of job sites where you can post your resume or if you are an employer post a job ad for free.
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Fellow blogger, Jacob Goldstein, over at the 
for behavior changes. Sales of the drug totaled $101 million last year. Small potatoes in pharma land but money nonetheless. 
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I read an interesting article by G. Pascal Zachary in the Sunday Business Section of the NY times entitled 
I guess the old adage that “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks” applies to 
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Swiss pharmaceuticals producer Roche Holding AG said Thursday
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The NY Times reported today that Amgen has disclosed that it recently received two federal subpoenas seeking documents related to its products .gif)
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Finally, three years after withdrawing its pain medication 
When are drug companies going to learn that monopolies are illegal in the US? 
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I want to thank Ed Silverman over at the
The Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, 
Every major pharmaceutical company on the planet declares that it “invests billions of dollars into R &D to develop novel medicines to address unmet medical needs”. Further, pharmaceutical company advocates and lobbyists frequently justify the high costs of medicines by suggesting that they are necessary because companies must reinvest a portion of their profits into R & D to discover new drugs. After receiving several comments posted to BioJobBlog informing me that high drug prices are necessary in order for pharma companies to continue to meet unmet medical needs, I decided to delve a little deeper into what “addressing unmet medical needs” really means in the pharmaceutical industry. 
The firestorm that was ignited by the 
Genentech announced yesterday