Patt Morrison for Thursday, January 5, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, January 6, 2011

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

DAVID LAZARUS FILLS-IN FOR PATT

 

1:06 – 1:39

OPEN

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

South Sudan votes, Africa waits & the world watches

On January 9^th there will be a vote in an African country that will have ramifications across the continent and the entire globe.  Sudan, a country that has fought two long, bloody civil wars over the course of almost 50 years and has another long-simmering battle raging in its Darfur province, could soon split into two different countries.  Southern Sudan, the Christian-African half of the country that has fought the Muslim-dominated North almost since Sudan itself gained independence in 1956, will hold a referendum this weekend on its own independence that could touch off a new war, a wave of similar secession movements in other African countries or a continent-wide ethnic/religious battle.  Or it could be a peaceful election that paves the way for South Sudan, with all of its poverty & problems along with several lucrative oil fields, to become Africa’s newest country.  At the heart of the matter are the deep ethnic and religious divisions between the North and South.  David gives a primer on the election in Sudan that could change an entire continent.

 

Guests:

Lako Tongun, professor of international & intercultural studies & political studies at Pitzer College

CALL HIM:

• Aside from teaching about Sudanese politics, history & culture, Tongun is from South Sudan—he fled the country during the first civil war but has returned several times.  He is voting in the election on Jan. 9^th.

 

Amir Idris, associate professor of African studies at Fordham University; author of “Conflict & Politics of Identity in Sudan”

CALL HIM:

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

FDA withdraws approval of Avastin cancer drug over outcries

What happens when a pharmaceutical drug works, but the side effects are also devastating? That’s the question the Food and Drug Administration is weighing as it considers what to do about Avastin, the widely popular anti-cancer drug, which has produced widely varied results—shrinking tumors in some patients and causing severe damage to vital organs in others. The FDA last month announced it was withdrawing approval of the drug for treatment of late stage breast cancer. Doctors can still choose to prescribe it off-label, since it remains approved for treatment of colon, lung, brain and kidney cancers, but Medicare and private insurance carriers who use FDA approval to guide their coverage policies may decide against paying for it. At about $8,000 a month, it’s unlikely many patients could afford it on their own. Meanwhile, Avastin’s fate has already divided the breast cancer advocacy community—pitting Susan G. Komen for the Cure against other leading groups like the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which applauds the decision. How does the FDA weigh the benefits and risks of a drug before approval and one it’s on the market and should it deny approval for risky, expensive treatments?

 

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED:

Dr. Susan Love, President and founder of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine

CALL HER @

 

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

4G wireless networks—more of a marketing than a technological breakthrough?

If you own a smart phone you already know that your gadget is only as good as the network that supports it—ask any frustrated iPhone owner who has to deal with the occasionally unreliable speeds and connectivity of AT&T’s wireless network.  So while carriers roll out new & improved “4G” high speed broadband networks consumers should be asking what they’re really getting from networks that are supposed to be faster and will certainly be more expensive.  AT&T flipped the switch on its new 4G network yesterday, the only problem being that all they did was change the name of its existing 3G system.  Sprint was the first carrier to offer 4G service but it’s spotty at best; and Verizon is already marketing a network that’s supposed to be faster than 4G, without perfecting or even fully implementing their own 4G approach.  While it all sounds great, how is a cell phone consumer supposed to know exactly what they’re getting for their money?

 

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED

Representative of the International Telecommunication Union

 

 

 

Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

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