THE organ retention controversy continued last night after the second company named as using pituitary glands from dead children for drug manufacturing said it was supplied by a large number of Irish hospitals.

The Southern Health Board has confirmed that Cork University Hospital and Tralee General Hospital gave pituitary glands to two pharmaceutical companies.

THE drugs company that made medication from brain tissue taken from dead infants without their parents’ knowledge confirmed last night it had paid hospitals for supplying the body parts.

Parents of the deceased children whose organs were given to a pharmaceutical company for drug production, is calling for a full public inquiry into the practices of the hospitals involved.

It has emerged today that the pituitary glands of children who died at two Dublin hospitals for adults in the 1980's were removed and provided to a pharmaceutical company for research.

FAMILIES devastated by the organ retention scandal face further heartache as they wait to be told that their deceased children’s body parts were supplied to a pharmaceutical company for drug production.

Stocks drifted lower in choppy trading in New York today as investors sifted through economic reports and corporate earnings, but Eastman Kodak surged on restructuring news.

THE bulk of Schering-Plough’s 2,000-strong Irish workforce is expected to escape the impact of a major consolidation by the company after net income fell by 71% to €173 million.

PFIZER INC, the world’s largest drugmaker’s €53.7bn takeover of Pharmacia Corp is not expected to result in any jobs losses at the enlarged company’s Irish production plants employing close to 1,500 people.

Pfizer has said it proposed partner Pharmacia will supply additional information about their planned merger to the European Commission, which earlier said it stopped the clock on its probe of the deal to gather additional facts.

MEMBERS of the public are about to go potty about the state of our toilets.

In a surprising blockbuster merger that would expand the reach of the world’s largest drug company, Pfizer has agreed to buy US rival Pharmacia for almost €60bn.

Caution has crept back into Wall Street as fears over terrorism resurfaced.

Investors gravitated toward technology stocks again today, sending the Nasdaq composite index higher - albeit modestly - for a sixth straight session, its longest winning streak since February 2000.