Urgent government action is needed to stop Big Pharma making mega profits from drugs developed with taxpayers' money. HEIDI CHOW from Global Justice Now reports on her charity's new ground breaking report.
Award winning documentary maker Bruce Parry has raised the money to direct his first independent film. He wants to tell the story of the Penan indigenous tribe - so we can learn the secret of interconnected living. But should we believe him, asks BRENDAN MONTAGUE in Part II of this exclusive interview.
Faced with the rise of antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs' we desperately need to curtail the use of antibiotics on farms - and develop new and effective treatments. The answer, says Aidan Hollis, is to make the farmer pay.
The phony justification for the US's ban on hemp makes even less sense than it did before Colorado and Washington State legalized marijuana. Jill Richardson says its high time to legalize them both.
Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation is a groundbreaking treatment for allergy sufferers. But the recent closure of a firm championing EPD leaves its future in doubt. Drug companies and mainstream doctors are unlikely to be mourning, says Charlotte Davis
Official data suggests antidepressants, antipsychotics, stop smoking drugs, vaccines against swine flu and even paracetamol cause adverse drug reactions. So just how safe are they? Andrew Wasley & Bethany Hubbard report
The current testing protocol for new medicines is proven to be inadaquate. It's time for a radical new approach, argues Kathy Archibald, director of the Safer Medicines Campaign
A growing number of American patients say they've been poisoned by fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Not only has this ruined lives, they say, it's exposed the unhealthy relationship between some drug manufacturers and medical regulatory bodies. Carey Purcell reports
Delny Britton investigates the hidden impacts of western mainstream medicine - including pollution from pharmaceutical products, high carbon emissions and adverse drug reactions - and asks whether the healthcare sector can ever be truly sustainable
Strong industry lobbying sees Defra ignore concerns from its own vets about overuse and the spread of antibiotic-resistant bugs from farm animals to the food chain
How much rainforest does it take for one celebrity to snort another one under the table? Nick Kettles investigates the devastating environmental impact of cocaine use.
Taking a pill for a headache may seem like the most natural thing in the world, but prescription drugs are forcing their way into every corner of our lives and environment, says John Naish
Britain has a serious and unnecessary drug habit, but the implications of our pill-forevery-ill culture go far beyond the adverse effects on human health. The complex chemicals in modern pharmaceuticals, as well as the manufacturing processes involved, leave a massive industrial footprint on the natural world that is largely ignored by both science and government.
We get an entertaining selection of press releases each week at the Ecologist. Recently, however, amid claims for the greenest 4x4s ever, vegan-friendly breastmilk ice cream and strip-mining with a heart, one stood out.
It usually takes a major public health crisis to remove profitable toxins completely from marketplace. In the meantime most of us continue to be exposed to a variety of profitable poisons, including:
What do government and industry do when something is toxic but massively profitable? Most of the time, says Devra Davis, they just invest in better class of PR…
The exuberance of childhood celebrated in books such as Just William is now frowned upon as inappropriate behaviour, resulting in more and more children being prescribed behavioural drugs. Rachel Ragg investigates
