The Ten Worst Corporations of 2001

[Guest guest]

Happy New Year!

 

I apologize for sending out articles that may irk you

on the second day of 2002, but this information needs

to be publicized!

 

On a brighter note, I received " How It All Vegan! :

Irresistible Recipes for an Animal-Free Diet " for

Christmas from a meat-eating family. We read all about

" products to avoid " in front of the fire. The

descriptions had a major impact. Most people don't

realize that beetles are killed for dye in juices or

the process involved in making gelatin. They need to

be told in a friendly way - in front of a fire is a

perfect setting...

We went out for ice cream later in the evening - they

chose Soy Delicious Chunky Mint Madness and loved it.

I highly recommend serving this ice cream to your

non-vegan friends. Delicious.

 

Here's a link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1551520672/qid=1010009873/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1\

_11_9/103-7105412-0107809

 

Soy Delicious:

http://www.turtlemountain.com/flash.html

 

Article:

 

The Ten Worst Corporations of 2001

By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

 

In a year marked not only by the now-standard forms of

corporate

marauding but also by brazen wartime profiteering, it

was no easy chore

to identify Multinational Monitor's 10 corporations of

2001.

 

The competition was even tougher than usual. But

choices had to be made.

And now decisions have been reached.

 

Multinational Monitor has named Abbott Laboratories,

Argenbright, Bayer,

Coke, Enron, Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris, Sara Lee,

Southern Co. and

Wal-Mart as the 10 worst corporations of 2001

 

Appearing in alphabetical order, the 10 worst are:

 

Abbott Laboratories, for its TAP Pharmaceuticals, a

joint venture with

Japanese Takeda Pharmaceuticals. TAP was forced to pay

$875 million to

resolve criminal charges and civil liability in

connection with

allegations of major Medicare reimbursement fraud.

Among other alleged

fraudulent activities, as a way of hooking doctors on

prescribing

Lupron, its prostate cancer drug, TAP gave doctors

free samples and then

encouraged doctors to bill Medicare for the free

samples.

 

Argenbright, the security company, for repeat

violations of regulations

for airport security. Argenbright's appalling record

-- including

violations of security rules it had been caught

breaking just a year

earlier -- helped convince Congress to federalize U.S.

airport security

operations.

 

Bayer, for its overcharge of the government and public

for the

anti-anthrax drug Cipro, based on a patent monopoly

that may well be

improperly maintained by virtue of a collusive

arrangement with a

generic manufacturer. Bayer also secured a place on

the 10 worst list

for its dangerous peddling of antibiotics for poultry

(contributing to

antibiotic resistance among humans) and its harassment

of a German

watchdog group, Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, for

maintaining a

BayerWatch.com website.

 

Coca Cola, for its sponsorship of the first Harry

Potter movie and

possible sequels, using a children's favorite to hawks

its unhealthy

product, and for alleged complicity with death squads

in Colombia

targeting union leaders there.

 

Enron, for costing many of its employees their life

savings by refusing

to let them dump company stock from their pension

plans, as Enron

plunged toward bankruptcy.

 

ExxonMobil, for leading the global warming denial

campaign (even

O'Dwyer's a leading rag of the public relations

industry, has chastised

the company for its " stubborn refusal to acknowledge

the fact that

burning fossil fuels has a role in global warming " )

and blocking efforts

at appropriate remedial action, plus a host of other

reckless

activities.

 

Philip Morris, for its " we've changed " marketing

campaign -- revealed to

be a hoax by a Czech study it commissioned alleging

cost savings from

smoking-related premature deaths, as well as the

company's ongoing

efforts to addict millions of new smokers.

 

Sara Lee, for a scandal involving its Ball Park Franks

hot dogs.

Listeria-contaminated Ball Park Franks killed 21 and

seriously injured

100 in 1998. In 2001, with civil and criminal

litigation around the case

heating up, the Detroit Free Press reported that Sara

Lee stopped

performing tests for bacteria after it started

recording too many

positives. The U.S. attorney, which handled

prosecution of the criminal

case, insists Sara Lee did not know about the presence

of listeria in

its hot dogs. In an extraordinary move, the U.S.

attorney issued a joint

press release with Sara Lee announcing settlement of

the case. The final

tally: 21 dead. A misdemeanor plea. A $200,000 fine.

 

Southern Co., the largest electric utility in the

United States, for its

efforts to defeat sensible air pollution regulations.

Southern is a

heavy user of coal, and leads the fight to maintain a

ridiculous

" grandfather " clause in the U.S. Clean Air Act, which

exempts power

plants built before 1970 from Clean Air Act standards.

 

Wal-Mart, for continuing to source products from

overseas sweatshops,

for viciously battling efforts to unionize any

fraction of its workforce

(the largest in the United States, among private

employers), and for

contributing to the sprawl that blights the U.S.

landscape.

 

For a complete version of Multinational Monitor's

article naming the 10

worst corporations of 2001, see

www.essential.org/monitor.

 

 

Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington,

D.C.-based Corporate Crime

Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington,

D.C.-based

Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of

Corporate Predators: The

Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy

(Monroe, Maine: Common

Courage Press, 1999;

http://www.corporatepredators.org)

 

© Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Send your FREE holiday greetings online!

http://greetings.