Gender & Health

The Paris Criminal Court has found pharmaceutical giant Laboratoires Servier guilty of manslaughter for marketing benfluorex, an appetite suppressant, for years after the company discovered that the drug could cause major damage to the heart and lungs, and even kill users. Read More

Pinterest, a social media network with an overwhelmingly female user base who share images of hobbies and ‘ideas,’ has a reputation of being a family friendly company. All that changed recently when three top female executives came forward to say they were subjected to major workplace discrimination. Read More

Ubisoft Entertainment, publishers of popular video games like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Watch Dogs, has been accused of looking the other way in response to claims of sexual misconduct by senior management at company offices in Canada and France. Read More

Rent the Runway, a high-end U.S. fashion rental business, is forcing their majority immigrant workforce to compromise their health during the coronavirus pandemic, say employees. The company, which ships most of its dresses from New Jersey, has stayed open by exploiting a loophole in the state’s emergency lockdown laws. Read More

The algorithms that make social media addictive have become powerful mechanisms for drug dealers to peddle prescription-only medicines and banned substances. One of the more popular tools for pushers is Instagram where dealers market drugs like Adderall, Oxycontin and Xanax, used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, pain and anxiety respectively. Read More

New York city is the latest U.S. city to bring a lawsuit against Purdue Pharmaceutical and other companies involved in manufacturing and distributing prescription painkillers, known as opioids. Some 250 such lawsuits have been filed alleging that deceptive industry marketing practices have caused opioid overdose deaths to skyrocket. Read More

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) plans to hold a protest outside the offices of Nelson Peltz, board chair of Wendy’s fast food restaurants from March 15-18. The protest will highlight ongoing human rights abuses faced by the agricultural workers in Mexico who pick tomatoes for the chain. Read More

"Bitter Grapes-Slavery in the Vineyards," a new television documentary made by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann, alleges that many South African wineries pay their workers less than the legal minimum wage; discourages them from unionizing; and exposes them to toxic pesticides. Top of the list is Robertson's Winery. Read More

Eli Lilly, an Indianapolis based company, that has sold insulin products to diabetes patients since 1921, has quietly raised some U.S. prices 700 percent in the last 20 years by marketing so-called improved versions to consumers. Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, has also profited handsomely from this practice. Read More

Every four years, billions tune in to watch the Olympics on television. And every four years, major corporations pay millions for prime advertising opportunities as official sponsors. The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are no different with Coca-Cola and McDonald's igniting a storm of controversy over their role. Read More