If Merck really can defend itself, the damage could be minimal--but it's difficult to make any predictions until the first of the Vioxx cases go to court later this year.

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It sounds ambitious, but Professor Parish believes it could be achieved at minimal cost, and that the benefits in terms of public health would be enormous.

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Mr Ball said exploration over the next three years would establish whether a system to vacuum up the nodules could be designed to cause minimal impact.

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So really, doctors, before you advise your patients to give up the taste of food for life, for what seem to be minimal or sketchy benefits, could you at least design and run some solid studies that settle the issue scientifically?

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But it still looks fairly minimal compared with the potential for a tablet whose cost could be substantially subsidized by ad revenues in a similar way that carriers subsidize cell phones.

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After a ten-minute Google search on the Internet, the only conclusion one could reach would be that neither the company nor its lawyers conducted even a minimal investigation, or if they did, they willfully ignored the results.

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