The Merck Druggernaut
The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant
Chapter One
In the Bull's-Eye
On a February morning, snow is falling lightly outside
Kathy Maglione's fifth-grade classroom in the blue-collar
town of Linden, New Jersey, some 10 miles south
of Newark. Gianna, Amanda, and Raquel are in close consultation
at a table near the back, huddled over a clear plastic
funnel and some coffee filters, screen filters, disposable cups,
and plastic bags. They are variously pouring gravel, salt, and
diatomaceous earth-earth containing the ground-up remains
of tiny aquatic organisms-into cups of water; then, they'll
try to separate the ingredients again by pouring the mixtures
through some kind of filter.
"I don't think the sodium chloride will go through this."
"Well, I don't want to use a coffee filter. The powder will
go through it."
"Are you serious? This is grounded-up bones?"
"We're touching people's bones here?"
"The salt won ... read full excerpt from The Merck Druggernaut: The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant ebook
