NEWS
FOOD INDUSTRY FRONT GROUP?
DIABETES EYE DISEASES RESEARCH
A study says that the International Life
Sciences Institute (ILSI) is a food industry
front group, despite the fact its mission is
to "improve the wellbeing of the general
public." The co-authors are calling for the
group to be recognised as a private sector
entity rather than an independent scientific
non-profit. Using documents obtained
by U.S. Right to Know via state public
records requests, the study - published
in Public Health Nutrition - uncovered "a
pattern of activity in which ILSI sought
to exploit the credibility of scientists and
academics to bolster industry positions
and promote
The study reveals how ILSI promotes
the interests of the food and agrichemical
industries, including:
• ILSI's role in defending controversial
food ingredients and suppressing
unfavourable views to the industry
• that corporations such as CocaCola can earmark contributions to ILSI for
specific programmes
• how ILSI uses academics for their
authority but allows industry-hidden
influence in their publications.
The study also reveals new details
about which companies fund ILSI and its
branches. For example, ILSI's draft 2013
Internal Revenue Service form 990 shows
that it received $337,000 from CocaCola, and more
than $100,000 each from
Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow AgroSciences,
Pioneer Hi-Bred, Bayer Crop Science and
BASF.
ILSI is incorporated as a non-profit
organisation, based in Washington DC
with 17 branches across the world. It
was founded in 1978 by Alex Malaspina,
a former senior vice president of CocaCola. Read the latest study HERE.
Retina International is asking for the views
and experiences of people and their
caregivers living with wet Age-related
Macular Degeneration (wet AMD) and
Diabetes-related Macular Edema
(DME). More than 200m people are
affected by AMD and DME worldwide.
The surveys, which have been co-created
by patients, will help people advocating
for improvements to the delivery of care
to better understand
the challenges that currently exist and
identify improvements to care pathways
and develop robust policies. Click on
the relevant survey links here if you can
contribute information:
Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration
(wet AMD) Patient Survey
Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration
(wet AMD) Caregiver Survey
Diabetes-related Macular Edema
(DME) Patient Survey
Diabetes-related Macular Edema
(DME) Caregiver Survey
Later this year it will be possible to update
the t:slim X2 Insulin Pump to Control-IQ
technology, via an optional software
update.
Control-IQ technology is an advanced
hybrid closed-loop system that uses an
algorithm to automatically adjust insulin in
response to predicted glucose levels to
help increase time in range. As with the
Basal-IQ update in 2019, the process
for the Control-IQ update will be via the
Tandem Device Updater (TDU). Users of
the pump will be able to log in at home
and, using a unique identification number,
be able to initiate the download of the new
software to their pump. The company is
working towards a Control-IQ software
launch date in July 2020.
A statement made on 18 May 2020 by
Air Liquide, which distributes the Tandem
t:slim insulin pump system in the UK, says,
"As people may be able to appreciate,
ensuring thorough training of our internal
staff during the COVID-19 restrictions
has been a challenge. We are currently
working hard to put all the required
training, processes and procedures in
place to ensure that every patient who
requires the update has received approval
from their HCP and is able to undertake
the appropriate training -which must be
completed before we rollout the launch to
our patients."
Control-IQ isn't a compulsory update
and users of the t:slim X2 who don't
wish to update to the new software can
continue to use their G5 or Basal-IQ
enabled pumps as normal.
The statement continues, "We would
like to thank the patients and the clinics
we work with for their patience whilst we
finalise the groundwork for the updates."
Tandem's Customer Service team is
based in South Shields and is available
24/7: 0800-012-1560.
CONTROL IQ
COMING