June 13, 2005: Headlines: Lariam: Safety and Security of Volunteers: Awards: Washington Times: UPI honored for reporting on Lariam
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June 13, 2005: Headlines: Lariam: Safety and Security of Volunteers: Awards: Washington Times: UPI honored for reporting on Lariam
UPI honored for reporting on Lariam
Dan Olmsted and Mark Benjamin won for best wire/Internet reporting in the National Mental Health Association's annual contest. The judges cited their ongoing articles on the impact of the drug, called Lariam, on the mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq.
UPI honored for reporting on Lariam
UPI honored for GI malaria-drug reporting
Washington, DC, Jun. 13 (UPI) -- The nation's leading mental-health group has honored United Press International's reporting on the military's use of a controversial anti-malaria drug.
Dan Olmsted and Mark Benjamin won for best wire/Internet reporting in the National Mental Health Association's annual contest. The judges cited their ongoing articles on the impact of the drug, called Lariam, on the mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq.
"In 2004, UPI documented the military's unwillingness to face the problem, triggered investigations and warnings by the military and the Veterans Administration, discovered bad data given to Congress about Lariam and suicides in Iraq, and revealed a startling pattern of violence and suicide among the military's elite Special Forces soldiers after taking the drug," said the NMHA.
"Editor & Publisher and other sources credited UPI's work for a subsequent drop in suicide rates in Iraq. A charge of cowardice against a soldier who suffered a panic attack after taking the drug -- a charge punishable by death and not seen since the Vietnam War -- was dropped. CNN invited UPI to report its findings in a televised segment, which the network has nominated for an Emmy."
The award was presented at a luncheon in Washington on Friday. Olmsted is a senior editor at UPI. Benjamin is now a national correspondent at the daily Web magazine Salon.
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Story Source: Washington Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Lariam; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Awards; Journalism; Investigative Journalism
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