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To present the view that harm arising from aggressive marketing and sales of health-related products and services (including dangerous and defective ones) in order to maximize profits should be a cause of concern for public health academics and practitioners.

The discussion is conducted using biomedical ethics principles and supported using various real-world examples.

Harm arising from aggressive marketing and sales of health-related products and services (including dangerous and defective ones) in order to maximize profits should be a cause of concern for public health academics and practitioners. In the area of products, the most obvious would be tobacco products. In the case of pharmaceutical drugs, it would include overuse or inappropriate use because of aggressive marketing. It would also include harm caused by the continued promotion and sale of a drug in the face of evidence that it has significant negative side effects. Brody and Light’s “Inverse Benefit Law,” that is, the benefit-to-harm ratio of drugs tends to vary inversely with how aggressively drugs are marketed is discussed. Harm is also evident in health-related services, for example, misuse of ultrasonography for sex-selective abortion. This chapter will discuss how the risk of harm is increased because of questionable marketing strategies used by drug companies.

One limitation is that no attempt to quantify the harm done (e.g., through economic evaluation techniques) is carried out.

This chapter presents the view that much more attention should be paid to this aspect of medicalization as a public health threat.

She reports that this very interesting and comprehensive lecture provided an insight into the chemical complexity of food preparation, reasons for flavour change, incentives to apply some of this knowledge to one's own cooking and abetter understanding of why food additives may be necessary

In nature the siting of the organs responsible for picking up odours is very variable. In vertebrate animals such as man, the forward part of the head, usually just above the mouth is the invariable site. In the invertebrates this is far from the case. In the insects, odours are sensed by the antennae or feelers which project forward from the head. In the various worms the sensory cells are sited in pits on the side of the head and in flies they are even found on the feet. In each case, however, nature has contrived to locate these sensory organs in the most appropriate place where they can provide the maximum of information. Basically, in man the receptor area for smell is an off‐shoot of the respiratory system. (Fig. 1) A smell, odour, aroma — call it what you will — consists essentially of particles of gas and vapour and, as such, one cannot be aware of its presence until some of it enters the nasal cavity either via the nose, or, alternatively, by the back of the mouth.

The universally recognised “salty” taste is that given by sodium chloride, although the chlorides of potassium, ammonium and calcium all have what can broadly be described as a well‐defined salty taste. Other salts such as bromides, iodides, nitrates and sulphates are also somewhat salty. However, these may have more or less bitter tastes in addition to the salty effect.

The body has constant need for energy in much the same way as any piece of complicated machinery and yet the process of providing this energy in the form of food involves far more than the mere ingestion of calories. Most of us appreciate that we can derive great pleasure from eating and drinking those things which we like and that, equally, however nutritious we know them to be (or are informed of the fact on the label) we quickly lose interest or indeed entirely reject those food products which are not pleasing or do not stimulate the appetite. In other words, given a free choice we are generally discriminative and select those foods and drinks which give us most pleasure. However, we must also recognise that the majority of us try to live our lives with the least effort and as discrimination involves effort it is not surprising that a large majority of consumers approach the selection and appreciation of food at best subconsciously or even, with the ever increasing pressures of today, unconsciously.

Purpose – To compare the histories of two opioid medications that are pharmacologically similar but subject to contrasting regulations in their use in treatment of opiate dependence in the United States – methadone and buprenorphine – in order to analyze the role of racial imagery and racial politics in the legalization and clinical promotion of their use.

Methodology/approach – Historical methods of archival analysis of published articles and unpublished governmental records were used in researching methadone. Ethnographic methods of participant observation and semistructured interviews were used in researching buprenorphine.

Findings – Contrasting uses of racial imagery played a major role in shaping the current regulatory differences between the two treatments. The association of methadone with black and Latino heroin users has contributed to its increased federal regulation, while the association of buprenorphine with white, middle class prescription opioid users enabled its use in deregulated private physicians’ offices.

Originality/value of paper – Advocates of biomedicalization of behaviors and conditions thought of as social or moral, such as addiction, argue that biomedicalization reduces the stigma of the condition and imply that, in turn, it also reduces the racial inequalities associated with the condition. This study of the biomedicalization of treatment for opioid dependence indicates that the very process of biomedicalization depended on heightened racial imagery associated with each treatment and ultimately intensified, rather than reduced, the stigma of addiction for black and Latino low-income patients.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact on communication of changes in an accounting standard arising from the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards. It investigates inter and intragroup differences in measured connotative meaning of the old and new definitions of “cash”, as held by three key groups of parties to the accounting communication process (preparers, auditors and users); and determines the effect of changes in connotative meaning on decision behaviour (outcomes).

The study adopted a between‐participants 2×3 factorial design whereby the first factor reflected the definition type: old vs new definition of the concept “cash”; while the second reflected three financial reporting groups: preparers, auditors and users. The semantic differential technique developed by Osgood, Suci and Tannenbaum was used to measure connotative meaning.

The study finds that the three financial reporting groups do not share the same meaning of the concept “cash” and that the introduction of the new definition has changed the interpreted connotative meaning for these three groups. A link between measured meaning and the decisions made by the participants was also established.

The explanatory power of the typical three (evaluative, potency and activity) factor structure should be acknowledged; these factors typically explain 50 per cent of the total phenomena known as “meaning”. The study's findings make an important contribution to the earnings management and creative accounting literature.

The findings are particularly relevant to standard‐setters and regulators as a lack of shared meaning may lead to unnecessary misunderstandings and tensions among the many parties to the reporting process.

The study extends prior measurement of meaning studies in accounting through first, the inclusion of all three major groups of parties to the accounting communication process; second, examination of an accounting concept which is defined differently by two accounting standards in the same jurisdiction; and last, investigation of the impact on decision behaviour (outcomes) resulting from changes in meaning brought about through the introduction of a new standard across the three groups.

The development of ‘desire’ in a working-class artist/academic is explored through an analysis of the reminiscences between the author and her mother. It is argued that the notion of cultural capital implies a deficit in working-class subjects that is deterministic and does not fully explain those who are successful in the art world and/or academia. Rather than thinking about works of art and art practice in terms of cultural capital, they are conceptualised as resources that can have existential significance for some people. This is because early interactions with the arts enable people to connect with the world and at the same time enable them to recognise their own desires and talents while learning to think critically about their lives. The findings of this study suggest a nuanced approach based on cultural assets and resources rather than cultural capital should be considered in educational policy and practice.