Alston & Bird
Alston & Bird describes itself as a "major U.S. law firm with an extensive national and international practice and 675 attorneys in five major markets".[1]
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Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals
In September 2004, the firm "signed a number of new pharmaceutical companies and healthcare groups after hiring two key players from last year's Medicare reform act." The key players are Thomas Scully, the former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator , and Colin Roskey, former Senate Finance Committee counsel. A&B's new clients include Jerome Stevens Pharmaceuticals of Bohemia, New York; Adams Laboratories of Chester, New Jersey; Mylan Laboratories of Morgantown, West Virginia; HealthSouth, a healthcare services company; and the American Clinical Laboratory Association, a trade group.[2]
Indonesia
In December 2003, Alston & Bird registered as an agent for Yohannes Hadrian Widjonarko, who is commissioner of P.T. Pacific Barito Timber, an Indonesian forestry company. According to the filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), A&B's role is to promote positive developments in Indonesia to "U.S. policymakers, and opinion-shapers in the print and broadcast media, think tanks and academia."
Atrazine
In August 2003, Syngenta Crop Protection hired the firm to lobby on the safety of one of its products, the herbicide atrazine. Atrazine has been linked to human prostate cancer, cancer in laboratory animals, and reproductive system abnormalities in frogs and other animals. The chemical has been banned in the European Union. [3]
Over a year and a half, Sygenta spent $260,000 on the lobbying campaign, focusing on the Environmental Protection Agency, White House officials and members of Congress. Alston & Bird special counsel (and former Senate Majority Leader) Bob Dole set up at least one White House meeting to lobby on atrazine. The EPA concluded hat it found no studies "that would lead the agency to conclude that potential cancer risk is likely from exposure to atrazine." [4]
Other Clients
Contact information
http://www.alston.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main
External links
- Frederic Frommer, "Company spent $260,000 lobbying for herbicide," Associated Press, October 27, 2004.
- Business & Lobbying, The Hill, September 28, 2004.
- "Indonesia wants better ties", O'Dwyers PR Daily, January 27, 2004.
