Well, I wouldn’t exactly describes today’s U-T’s editorial decisions as unethical, but they’re certainly insensitive. Check out this juxtaposition:
TOP OF THE FOLD, A1
Headline: “Local swine flu cases end in sorrow survival“
Subhed: “Families of Patients urge people to get vaccination”
The story follows two pregnant women who contracted H1N1. One lived, the other died a week and a half after delivering her baby. Very sad.
“Some health officials have blamed the vaccine shortage on manufacturing delays involving the growth of H1N1 bacteria cultures in chicken eggs. This standard way of producing flu vaccine is widely seen as antiquated, but no better method has been adopted.”
CENTERPIERCE, C1, BUSINESS
Headline: “Carlsbad CEO excels in biotech tool field“
Inside subhed: H1N1 outbreak brought firm more business.
An interview with Gregory Lucier, CEO of Invitrogen
Q: The H1N1 pandemic has been significant for you…How big of an area is that for the company?
A: It’s been quite a boon for us here in 2009…we have been inundated with orders from the CDC and other public health agencies around the world to buy our equipment, to buy our consumables, do the surveillance on what’s going on with H1N1, the epidemiology. And it really is the de facto standard for H1N1 testing.
So, what we have on the front page is a heartbreaking story of the victims of poor health technology. Then, inside, a blowjob piece for biotech mogul #208, who sees swine flu as a “boon.”
Now, to be fair, it doesn’t look like Invitrogen manufactures H1N1 vaccines, but then again, its web site isn’t exactly clear what its H1N1 involvement is. Search for it, you get no results.





Just a few economic notes that jumped out at me this morning from
“Storefronts selling Valium and Vicodin—some of the drugs most abused by adolescents—are springing up across San Diego County, often within the vicinity of schools and other places kids congregate. Parents tell Channel 7 the prevalence of Walgreens, Vons and Rite Aids in San Diego sends the wrong message to children…”

