Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Folk Tales/Generic Drugs
0:00
-1:11:45

Folk Tales/Generic Drugs

In an eclectic program, Ralph talks first with Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis, creators of the podcast “Circle Round,” which adapts and updates folk-tales for children. Then, investigative reporter Katherine Eban joins us to talk about her exposé: “Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom.”


Rebecca Sheir has brought thousands of stories to life as a public radio reporter and host, appearing on such shows as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here & Now, The Splendid Table and Marketplace. She’s helmed several weekly news programs and has hosted podcasts for the Folger Shakespeare Library and Slate magazine.

Her husband and partner, Eric Shimelonis is a composer, musician and audio producer, whose work has been heard on stage, screen and over the airwaves. Together from their basement studio in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts they produce a podcast called Circle Round,” a program for children that mixes music and adaptations of little-known folk tales from around the world.

“The folk tales we try to find perhaps are well known within a certain country or within a certain culture, but we’re trying to expose the entire world to these tales. So, you’re not going to hear ‘The Three Little Pigs,’ on ‘Circle Round.” You’re not going to hear ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ ‘Cinderella.’ Those are all worthwhile and worthy stories, but we’re really trying to open our listeners eyes and ears to stories that have been passed down to generations perhaps far, far from where they live.”

Rebecca Sheir, co-creator of the children’s podcast “Circle Round.”


Katherine Eban is an investigative journalist, a Fortune magazine contributor and Andrew Carnegie fellow. Her articles on pharmaceutical counterfeiting, gun trafficking, and coercive interrogations by the CIA have won international attention and numerous awards. She lectures frequently on the topic of pharmaceutical integrity. Her new book is entitled Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom.

“In China what was happening is that companies were adding a version of the heparin – it wasn’t pure heparin – but it was an adulterated version that increased the yield of the drugs. So this is an issue of seeking profits. And as a result of that contaminate in the drug, which was undetected by our own regulators, at least eighty-one Americans died.” 

Katherine Eban, author of “Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom”

“If he (Trump) really wanted to get tough on China, what he could say is, ‘Okay, you won’t have access to our pharmaceutical market anymore, unless we have a cadre of inspectors in there doing unannounced inspections.’” 

Katherine Eban, author of “Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom”


Discussion about this podcast

Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader Radio Hour
Ralph Nader talks about what’s happening in America, what’s happening around the world, and most importantly what’s happening underneath it all.