After seeing many papers take the Kansas City Star article on Alatech condoms, I'm very pleased to see some solid reporting by Celia Dugger.
My favorite parts:
"Behind the scenes, the politicians have ensured that companies in Alabama won federal contracts to make billions of condoms over the years for AIDS prevention and family planning programs overseas, though Asian factories could do the job at less than half the cost.
In recent years, the state's condom manufacturers fell hundreds of millions of condoms behind on orders, and the federal aid agency began buying them from Asia. The use of Asian-made condoms has contributed to layoffs that are coming next month.
But Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, has quietly pressed to maintain the unqualified priority for American-made condoms and is likely to prevail if the past is any guide."
....
"From 2003 to 2005, Alatech and one other company making condoms for Usaid fell behind on their orders, agency officials said. Last year, the other company went bankrupt. "
.....
"Senator Sessions wrote Usaid a letter last year saying it should purchase condoms from foreign producers only after it had bought all the condoms American companies could make, noting it was 'extremely important to jobs in my state'."
Read the full Celia Dugger's International Herald Tribune article
Here's my original post on the Kansas City Star Article on Alatech
And here is Ms. Dugger's article in 2006 about Alatech where my favorite line is:
"Duff Gillespie, a retired senior Usaid official who is now a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said that over the years officials at Usaid raised the prospect of foreign competition to tamp down what he called 'the greed factor' of Alabama condom manufacturers.
But whenever the staff pushed to buy in Asia, Alabama politicians pushed right back."
The Chicago Sun Times adds to the growing reports on Alatech's performance saying, "The U.S. Agency for International Development says Alatech has had problems filling orders, and there were complaints from the field about the quality of its condoms."
My favorite parts:
"Behind the scenes, the politicians have ensured that companies in Alabama won federal contracts to make billions of condoms over the years for AIDS prevention and family planning programs overseas, though Asian factories could do the job at less than half the cost.
In recent years, the state's condom manufacturers fell hundreds of millions of condoms behind on orders, and the federal aid agency began buying them from Asia. The use of Asian-made condoms has contributed to layoffs that are coming next month.
But Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, has quietly pressed to maintain the unqualified priority for American-made condoms and is likely to prevail if the past is any guide."
....
"From 2003 to 2005, Alatech and one other company making condoms for Usaid fell behind on their orders, agency officials said. Last year, the other company went bankrupt. "
.....
"Senator Sessions wrote Usaid a letter last year saying it should purchase condoms from foreign producers only after it had bought all the condoms American companies could make, noting it was 'extremely important to jobs in my state'."
Read the full Celia Dugger's International Herald Tribune article
Here's my original post on the Kansas City Star Article on Alatech
And here is Ms. Dugger's article in 2006 about Alatech where my favorite line is:
"Duff Gillespie, a retired senior Usaid official who is now a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said that over the years officials at Usaid raised the prospect of foreign competition to tamp down what he called 'the greed factor' of Alabama condom manufacturers.
But whenever the staff pushed to buy in Asia, Alabama politicians pushed right back."
The Chicago Sun Times adds to the growing reports on Alatech's performance saying, "The U.S. Agency for International Development says Alatech has had problems filling orders, and there were complaints from the field about the quality of its condoms."
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