What’s New May 2003

This page lists recent changes made to this site such as new pages, or updates to existing sections. The "Find Out More" links will take you to the changes. If this jumps to the middle of a page, you can easily scroll up to understand the context of the new information a bit further.

Date of Update

Description


May 27, 2003


  1. Updates to the Iraq section have been made. Updates include more about the media reporting of the war, about the aftermath in Iraq and the geopolitics of the region, as well as about sanctions. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Iraq / Middle East / War On Terror / Propaganda


  2. The consumerism and consumption section has been updated. Updates include more about the rise of consumerism and the change in culture needed to increase consumerism, its impact on consumers, some more about consumer debt, the impact on children, etc. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Behind Consumerism and Consumption / Trade-Related Issues


  3. The foreign aid page has been updated with new graphs and statistics. As with previous years in recent times, the contributions of the 22 rich nations and their aid to developing countries was far below what they had promised. For the second consecutive year, the U.S. interestingly ranked first in terms of dollar contributions, but last in terms of percentage of its gross national product. The rich nations are supposed to contribute 0.7% of their GNP but hardly any do so. In addition, there is a lot of politics associated with the aid that is given, which often benefits the donor. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Sustainable Development / Trade-Related Issues


  4. Additional updates have been added about large pharmaceutical companies. The updated page adds more about how influence and power has been used in a variety of ways, from testing drugs on humans without consent, to pressuring doctors to be silent about possible problems with some drugs on people, to the issue of high pricing. For a while now, some of the large pharmaceutical companies have been criticized for using political clout to attempt to prevent developing countries from producing or selling cheaper versions of drugs to fight illnesses such as AIDS. Following a documentary on this subject, this page also mentions how that documentary followed a 12-year old child in Honduras that died in front of the camera from an AIDS-related illness, because their family could not afford the drug needed, even though it was far cheaper in neighboring countries. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): Pharmaceutical companies and AIDS / Diseases: Ignored Global Killers


  5. SARS has been getting a lot of media attention lately, but what about other diseases that are easily preventable, which kill millions of people year after year? Small updates to some statistics about number of people dying each year from some diseases have been made. Some 2 million people die each year from Tuberculosis, a million from malaria, about a million children die from measles, and unfortunately the list goes on. Find Out More »
    - Related Section(s): AIDS around the world / Pharmaceutical companies and AIDS / Corporations and Medical Research