The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "sterilize" ...
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Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough not to be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes -- sterile and nonsterile -- can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.
Tags: alcohol wipes; public safety; bacteria; public health
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Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough to not be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes--sterile and nonsterile--can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.
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Dental Woes
Tipped off by a series of complaints against Family Dental Care Associates, WCPO TV investigate further to bring out some starking revelations. The investigation reveals, apart from fraudulent billing practices, the low standards of cleanliness and hygiene maintained by FDCA. Parts of the investigation also focused on a state investigation by the Attorney General's office and relationships between the dental board's investigator and FDCA's cheif dentist, Dr. J Michael Fuchs.
Tags: dental chain; malpractice; patient care; sterilize; tape; transcript; 18:31
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Little notice and less explanation
The Winston-Salem Journal follows up on its series on North Carolina's eugenic sterilization program. The five-part series, entitled "Against Their Will," ran December 8-12, 2002. The eugenics program ended December 12, 2002 with Gov. Mike Easley issuing an apology on behalf of the state. The paper's investigation "revealed that more than 7,600 North Carolinians were sterilized by state order--many of them poor, black women and girls."
Tags: eugenics; sterilization; North Carolina; sterilization petitions; state programs
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Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program
The Winston-Salem Journal investigates the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, a state sterilization program that sterilized more than 7,600 residents from 1929 to 1974. The board "operated under the principle that some human suffering could be eliminated by allowing sterilization for three reasons -- epilepsy, sickness and feeblemindedness" -- but before it was officially disbanded, the board "veered far off it's original path with little public scrutiny and virtually no official oversight." The Winston-Salem Journal investigation found that "North Carolina continued -- and even expanded -- its sterilization program long after most other states backed away from the idea that mental illness, genetic defects and social ills could be eliminated by sterilizing the 'unfit.' ... In the later years, the program increasingly targeted unwed mothers, especially black women and girls. By the 1960s, more than 60 percent of those sterilized were black although the state's black population was 25 percent."
Tags: Eugenics Board of North Carolina; sterilization; epilepsy; sickness; feeblemindedness; 1920s; Hitler; unwed mothers; blacks; African Americans; oversight
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Suture Recalls
KTVT-TV examines a problem with potentially contaminated sutures used in surgeries all over the U.S. The investigation reports on the complaints of hundreds of people who believe they have been infected this way. The vicryl sutures, produced by Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, have been recalled and destroyed. "There was never a scientific test to prove whether or not they were contaminated," the program reports.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FDA; doctors; patients; surgery; operations; sterilization; microorganisms; bacteria; class action lawsuit
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Mad Cow Autopsies
KY3 reports on the reluctance of Missouri hospitals to perform an autopsy of the corpse of Delmer Middleton, a resident of Lawrence county, MO, who died of Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Although Middletown family suspected this was a case of mad cow disease in its human version, known as the new variant of CJD, doctors refused to examine the body because it would have been too dangerous for themselves. As mutated proteins typical for the mad cow disease cannot be destroyed by conventional sterilization, an autopsy would mean destroying some hospital equipment as well. The investigative team points out that the findings "raise serious questions about the effectiveness of mad cow disease surveillance in America."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; public health; hospital; doctors; pathology; mad cow; England
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Destined to Die
An Indianapolis Star investigation into the city animal care reveals a stunning picture: thousands of animals are being killed every year, stray cats and dogs do not receive adequate veterinary care, and while the euthanasia rates are dropping in other communities, they are rising in Indianapolis. The city and the Humane society officials resist proposals that could save animals. "While the killing continues, the Humane Society sits on a huge pot of money that makes the charity one of the wealthiest of its size in the country," the Star reports.
Tags: pet adoption; charity; shelters; spay-neuter clinics; animal welfare; CAR; FOI requests; FOIA; euthanasia; sterilization
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The Poison Keeper: Biowarrior, brilliant cardiologist, war criminal, spy -- can a landmark trial in South Africa reveal who Wouter Basson really was?
South African cardiologist Wouter Basson, founder and leader of a top-secret chemical- and biological-warfare program called Project Coast, has been called "the most diabolical aspect of apartheid" by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Finnegan writes of Basson's trial, which began in October 1999, for 67 counts of murder, conspiracy to murder, drug offenses and fraud. Among the work done by Project Coast: "research into a race-specific bacterial weapon; a project to find ways to sterilize the country's black population; discussion of deliberate spreading of cholera through the water supply...; the fatal poisoning of anti-apartheid leaders" and other programs.
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One Marsupial Too Many
Discovery Magazine investigates the problems Austrialia is having with koalas. Australian islands are over-populated with the animals. Koalas, who do not have any natural predators, are rapidly destroying gum trees. However, Australians become outraged when politicians or scientists suggest culling the cute animals. "One Marsupial Too Many" explores a possible solution to the problem -- giving koalas vaccines that will essentially make them steril. Such a vaccine would be valuable in the Americas, with its problem with deer over-population.
Tags: koalas; deers; Australia; immunocontraception; over-population