Whistleblower News from the Inside - December 30, 2013

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Seminal ADHD study overstated benefits of drugs – Authors of study say design and presentation skewed the results and push for a re-evaluation of effective, long-term treatment.  NYT

Judge upholds legality of NSA phone collection program – Just 11 days after DC District Judge Richard Leon struck down the NSA surveillance program as “almost-Orwellian” and likely unconstitutional, NY District Judge William Pauley III reaches the exact opposite conclusion, leaving the question wide open for the higher courts to decide.  NYT

Channeling Kafka in NSA ruling – One particularly troubling passage in most recent decision is court’s rejection of ACLU Patriot Act challenge because “ACLU would never have learned about [] order authorizing collection of telephony metadata . . .  but for the unauthorized disclosures of [former NSA whistleblower] Edward Snowden.”  Washington Post

2013 is a good year for those opposing Ag-Gag anti-whistleblower legislation – Of the 15 bills introduced in 11 states this year, which would have criminalized taking photos or videos of internal factory farm operations, not one of them passed.  NPR

Can a cow kill you? — Yes, according to Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), the only microbiologist in Congress, who argues the new FDA restrictions on antibiotics still fail to protect the public from the “superbugs” evolving from overuse of antibiotics in food animals.  CNN

Calorie information to be listed on vending machines – As part of the Obamacare rollout, calorie information will need to be displayed on roughly 5 million vending machines nationwide costing the industry about $26M initially and $24 million per year going forward.  AP