Talk:Louis Ignarro

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[edit] Ignarro's bachelor degree

In his Nobel Laureate autobiography, He wrote that he took a major in "pharmacy" not pharmacology in Columbia. At that time there was a pharmacy program in the university but not in these days. It seems that a sort city college of pharmacy went temporary consignment to Columbia due to financial problem. I don't think there are any university that have undergraduate level "pharmacology" program. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lihmwiki (talk • contribs) 12:36, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Herbalife Controversey

Ignarro's failure to disclose information was not illegal or unethical and is a mere footnote in the bio of this amazing scientist who has helped thousands of people with his NO discovery. This section should be deleted as it is irrelevant and negative. Thoughts? 72.87.146.61 (talk) 22:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It's important that anything we write on the subject meet our three key policies: Verifiability, No Original Research and Neutral Point of View. We also have special rules for biographies of living people in our Biographies of Living People Policy. Here are references on Ignarro's relationship to Herbalife that meet our Reliable Source Guideline:
  1. "Nobel laureate criticised for spruiking health supplements" (2004-12-14). BioEdge. Australasian Bioethics Information. ISSN 1446-2117. “His consulting company received at least US$1 million from the product between June 2003 and September 2004, with his signature and Nobel laureate status featuring on each bottle.” 
  2. de Nigris, Filomena; Lilach O. Lerman, Sharon Williams Ignarro, Giacomo Sica, Amir Lerman, Wulf Palinski, Louis J. Ignarro, and Claudio Napoli (2003-02-04). "Beneficial effects of antioxidants and L-arginine on oxidation-sensitive gene expression and endothelial NO synthase activity at sites of disturbed shear stress". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100 (3): 1420-1425. National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.0237367100. 
  3. "Correction" (2004-12-28). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101 (52). National Academy of Sciences. 10.1073/pnas.0409060101. 
  4. Darmiento, Laurence. "Scientist says he should have disclosed Herbalife interest", Los Angeles Business Journal, 2005-01-10. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. "Ignarro, who shared the 1998 Nobel Prize for helping discover the role that nitric oxide plays in cardiovascular health, said that although he still believes he was not ethically required to make the disclosure, in retrospect it would have been better for him and UCLA had he done so." 
  5. Evans, David. "Nobel Prize Winner Didn't Disclose His Herbalife Contract", Bloomberg News, 2004-12-06. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. "Pharmacologist Robert Furchgott, 88, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize with Ignarro for his own, independent research on nitric oxide, said in an interview that Ignarro's claims about Herbalife's effectiveness are improperly founded." 
  6. Herbalife Ltd. (2004-12-02). Amendment No. 4 to Form S-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act Of 1933 p. 79. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. “A consulting firm with which Dr. Ignarro is affiliated is entitled to receive a small percentage of the amount of (i) Niteworks™, (ii) certain "healthy heart" products, and (iii) other products that we may mutually designate in the future that are, in each case, sold with the aid of Dr. Ignarro's consulting, promotional or endorsement services. From June 1, 2003 through September 30, 2004, we paid approximately $1 million to the consulting firm.”
  7. Ignarro, Louis (Guest) Johnson, Michael O. (President, Herbalife). (June 2003). Johnson' introduction of Dr. Ignarro, Herbalife Extravaganza meeting, Las Vegas, NV (wmv) [Videotape]. Herbalife. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
  8. Ignarro, Louis (Speaker). (June 2003). excerpt of Dr. Ignarro's comments on nitric oxide, Herbalife Extravaganza meeting, Las Vegas, NV (wmv) [Videotape]. Herbalife. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
  9. Ignarro, Louis (Guest). Luigi Gratton and Dr Heber and Louis Ignarro Show. Herbalife. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
  10. Ignarro, Louis. Niteworks® and Nitric Oxide Q&A. Herbalife. Retrieved on 2008-01-09.
  11. "Nobel Laureate Failed to Tell of Herbalife Deal", The Los Angeles Times, 2004-12-09. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. 
  12. Wanjek, Christopher. "Nitric Oxide Now -- Ask Me How: Some Find Nobel Laureate's Alliance With Supplement Marketer Hard to Swallow", The Washington Post, 2003-10-07, p. HE01. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. 


I think the Herbalife relationship is part of Dr. Ignarro's story: $1 million in a year is not chump change. It's also unusual to see Nobel Prize winners promoting products, although Dr. Ignarro is not the only one. We're sensitive to biographies of living people intruding too much into their personal lives even when they're neutrally written; however Dr. Ignarro and Herbalife have been very open and frank about their relationship.
At one point, Herbalife distributors were editing this article to plug Niteworks, which is inappropriate.
More importantly, the rest of the article needs to be expanded so that this section is one or two paragraphs out of a 30 paragraph article, not 1 paragraph out of a handful. A Google News archive search turns up a number of potential sources that can be cited when expanding the article.
Here's another, unrelated video of interest:
--A. B. (talk) 21:01, 9 January 2008 (UTC)