Pharmaceutical machine and pills

Concerns raised over FDA’s capacity to inspect overseas drug makers

With the U.S. increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers for prescription and generic drugs, the Food and Drug Administration’s problem-plagued efforts to inspect overseas plants is under growing scrutiny. The number of inspections performed by the agency has been falling since 2016.

Oil refinery on fire

The Refinery Disaster

In Philadelphia, an air monitor on the border of the East Coast’s largest oil refinery recorded a level of cancer-causing gas more than 21 times the federal limit.

U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan

‘We were right’

They experienced the war in Afghanistan on the ground. Here’s what they had to say.

Dollar Tree storefront

Boxed in: Dollar Tree cited for job safety violations at dozens of stores

This story was produced by FairWarning, a nonprofit news organization based in Southern California that focuses on public health, consumer and environmental issues.  There are so many boxes at Dollar Tree stores that workers are always running out of room. The boxes form unstable piles that block aisles, reach precarious heights and, most seriously, block …

opioid pills piled up

‘Sell Baby Sell!’

New details about the marketing campaigns used to persuade the medical community that addiction was rare and patients were suffering needlessly.

MaryBeth Moore Zocco and son Ryan

Her son died of an overdose. Now she sends hundreds of cards to parents like her, hoping to ease the stigma.

MaryBeth Moore Zocco used to send her son, Ryan Moore, care packages. Last December, days before Moore, 25, died from an overdose, his mom mailed him a box with fun winter-themed items: hot chocolate ingredients, an ornament and a red plush blanket. Moore, who struggled with addiction on and off for at least seven years, …

story reporters

Conflict or not? A deep dive into the world of forms and data leads to collaboration

Do members of Congress know whether an expert testifying before them has any monetary connections to the outcome of their committee hearings? Do those testifying before them have an affiliation with a group or groups that might want to weaken oversight by an agency or strengthen ties with particular foreign governments? These were some of …