Courtesy of Flickr user quinn.anyaGo Canada! Integrity Award Given to Milk Hormone (rBGH) Whistleblowers
Summary: Three Canadian scientists who were fired after blowing the whistle on a controversial hormone used to boost milk production in dairy cows were honored last week for their truth-telling. Despite the retaliation they faced, the former government employees were successful in keeping the drug from being approved. GAP's Food Integrity Campaign has the story.
Related Article: Lethbridge Herald (Canada)
Consortium News: What Country Do We Want to Keep?
Summary: On November 21, NSA whistleblower and GAP client Thomas Drake was presented with the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award for 2011. This article has Drake’s full acceptance speech.
GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack was also presented with the award. Her acceptance speech can be read here.
Washington Post: Congressional Panel Investigates Dover Air Force Base Mortuary
Summary: The House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform is investigating the Dover Air Force Base mortuary for its alleged mishandling of soldiers’ bodies. Mortuary whistleblowers approached the Office of Special Counsel, revealing “gross mismanagement” at the base, with cases of missing body parts and poor recordkeeping.
AnnArbor.com (MI): Ex-Nursing Home Employees – We Were Fired for Reporting Maggots at Whitehall
Summary: Three former employees of a Michigan nursing home have filed a lawsuit alleging that they were fired for reporting patient abuse and neglect. The three certified nurses told state investigators about one patient’s fall, and finding maggots on another.
CBS News: No Free Speech at Mr. Jefferson’s Library
Summary: This CBS News opinion piece criticizes the federal government for attacking whistleblowers (like GAP clients Thomas Drake and Franz Gayl) and infringing on free speech rights.
Key Quote: There follows a pattern of punishing federal employees for speaking out or whistle-blowing: look at Davis, or me, or Franz Gayl, or Thomas Drake. In this way, a precedent is being set for an even deeper cloud of secrecy to surround the workings of government. From Washington, in other words, no news, other than good or officially approved news, is to emerge.
Daily Mirror (UK): Stafford Hospital Whistleblower Receives Death Threats
Summary: A UK hospital whistleblower revealed abuses and appalling care after her mother died during a routine hernia operation. A public inquiry later said that between 400 and 1200 patients had died needlessly at the hospital. Now, the whistleblower is receiving hate mail and death threats for her efforts.
Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
