Blog
A Cure Worse than the Disease
As I explain in a new CEI paper, which is out today, most of the alleged cost-cutting measures in the Baucus bill merely shift costs…
Study
A Cure Worse than the Disease
Obama Care Won’t Cut Costs, But May Cut Quality…
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Science and the Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture
The UK Royal Society's long-awaited study on improving agricultural productivity and increasing food security was released this morning. it suggests that a healthy concern for…
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Health Insurer Competition and Democratic Saber Rattling
Last week, after the industry association America’s Health Insurance Plans released a study showing that premiums would rise 18 percent under the Senate Finance Committee’s…
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Bill Gates Says Africa Needs GMOs
On Friday, Bill Gates announced at the World Food Summit in Des Moines that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be redoubling its efforts…
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Silencing Criticism through Libel Law
The physicist turned science journalist Simon Singh has been sued in a UK court and, this past summer, found liable for libel for an April…
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Senate Finance Passes Health Reform Bill
Earlier today, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) announced that she would vote in favor of the health care reform bill authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman…
Study
FDA and Internet Advertising
The Medium is the Message…
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Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option
Liberal Democrats are fuming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) remain committed to a "public option". President Obama…
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Obama Losing Youth on Health Care
The National Journal had an interesting article this week describing the difficulty Democrats have been having getting young adults interested in the health care debate.
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Public Option Is Not The Worst Aspect Of ObamaCare
"If liberal health-care reform is going to make people better off, why does it require "a very harsh, stiff penalty" to make everyone buy it?…
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NYT Love Letter to FDA
New York Times reporter Gardiner Harris has a front page article in today's paper on the head of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of…
Blog
The Man Who Fed the World
Norman Borlaug was an American agricultural scientist and plant breeder whose work sparked what is now known as the Green Revolution. He was recognized with…
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The New Organic and Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Congratulations to Pamela Ronald, a UC Davis plant pathology professor, on winning one of this year's Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National…
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Political Malpractice
Most Americans agree that our health care system is broken. But it is increasingly clear that what ails health care is not too little, but…
Blog
‘The Times’ it is a changing
On Saturday, The Times of London published a news article under the headline "Organic food is a waste of money". The hard-0copy print edition of…
Blog
No Savings from Preventive Care
A new study published in the journal Health Affairs calls into question claims by congressional Democrats and President Obama that mandatory coverage of preventive care…
Citation
Draft Guidance on Drug, Device Ads Needs Revisions, Stakeholders Tell FDA
Blog
FDA Regulation of Internet Drug Advertising
Today, CEI filed comments on a draft FDA guidance document advising prescription drug manufacturers on how to comply with regulations requiring the presentation of risk…
Comment
Comments on the FDA’s Draft Guidance for Industry, Presenting Risk Information In Prescription Drug and Medical Device Promotion
In comments on an FDA draft guidance document for drug industry advertising, CEI challenged the agency to bring its “1960s approach to prescription drug advertising…
Blog
The Antitrust Anachronism
Wall Street Journal columnist Gordon Crovitz has a great column in today's paper on the anachronism that is antitrust law. He writes: "Markets were so…
Blog
Penn and Teller on Organics
The irreverent and hilarious comedians Penn and Teller have produced another episode of their television show Bullshit about organic foods. Friends of CEI, Ron Bailey…
Blog
Food Safety Bills Moving Through Congress
With all out attention diverted to the government's attempted takeover of the half of US health care that isn't already nationalized, the attempted destruction of…
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Food Police Attack Denny’s Over Salt
It seems that the food police at the unconscionably named Center for Science in the Public Interest are at it again. Last week, CSPI filed…
Blog
Getting the Health Care You Pay For
There was a good front page article in yesterday's Washington Post on the history of advances in medical science and technology. The conclusion: Although the…
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Democrats Inconsistent on Senior Death Discount
White House health care policy advisor Ezekiel Emanuel has explicitly endorsed adopting not only comparative-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis in the health care realm, but also…
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Richard Rahn on “Washingtonosis” — The Most Destructive Disease
"Washingtonosis(n): a disease most often found in people working within three miles of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, ... Those infected tend to lose…
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House Dems Would Ban New Private Health Insurance
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first…
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Obama Admits, “We’re Out of Money”.
President Obama was in the booth during the bottom of the first inning of last night's Major League Baseball All Star Game in St. Louis.
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Fishy Politics May Harm US Consumers
The various US attempts to hobble the Vietnamese farmed-catfish industry is no less underhanded. And, in order to prevent a trade war with Vietnam, it…
Blog
Igniting Agricultural Innovation
"Biotechnology applied to agriculture has enormous potential to enhance our ability to develop seeds for improved crops and for enhanced livestock to enable us to…
Op-Eds
FDA’s Bad Medicine
President Barack Obama promised to shake up the Food and Drug Administration, so it’s no surprise that his new FDA leadership team has made…
Op-Eds
Will Americans (Literally) Be Dying For ObamaCare?
Remember Harry and Louise, the made-for-television couple whose advertisements helped scuttle the Clinton health care plan 16 years ago? President Barack Obama does. Every…
Citation
FDA Drug approval delays; new drug called Provenge
Comment
CEI Comments on Draft FDA Risk-Benefit Assessment of Fish Consumption
CEI applauds the FDA's even-handed approach.
Blog
Jack Dreyfus, FDA Reform Pioneer
My colleague John Berlau wrote a nice obituary of mutual fund pioneer Jack Dreyfus that was published in Investor’s Business Daily earlier this week.
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Virginia Postrel on Her Own Brush with Cost-Effective Drug Research
One letter writer argues that Herceptin was a poor example because "Multiple cost-effectiveness analyses have shown that, despite its high cost, Herceptin is both effective…
Op-Eds
Supreme Court Botches Preemption Case
SUPREME COURT BOTCHES PREEMPTION CASE…
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Organic Pesticides Fail EU Safety Review
Ask people who buy organic food what they like about it, and chances are, most will say "they're grown without pesticides." That's not actually true.
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Post-Modern Food Fetish
There’s very little that’s romantic about keeping a big backyard garden, and less still about the actual practice of producing meaningful amounts of food. But,…
Blog
Fishing for Rationality in the Beauty Salon
Thinking of getting one of those cool new “fish pedicures”? Well, you’d better act fast. 14 states have already banned the process. But a member…
Op-Eds
Needle and the Damage Done
The Supreme Court botches a drug preemption case.
Blog
Schadenfreude “Two-Fer”
The New York Times reported this week that the Peanut Corporation of America plants in Texas and Georgia that were shipping salmonella contaminated peanut products…
Blog
Yes, “Botch” is the right word.
Alex is right. “This IS one of these questions about what to do in the real world, where first-best solutions just aren’t politically possible†(emphasis…
Blog
Supreme Court Botches Preemption Case
Ms. Levine alleged not only that the warning on Phenergan's label wasn't strong enough, but that Phenergan was "not reasonably safe for intravenous administration," and…
Citation
Supreme Court’s decision in Wyeth v. Levine
News Release
Supreme Court Botches Preemption Case
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Black Box Panic
How the FDA’s Bad Science Leads to More Teen Suicides…
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Uber-Attorney Bert Rein to Guest Blog on Federal Preemption Case
Back in November, I wrote about the pending Supreme Court case Wyeth v. Levine, the decision in which will have a huge impact on the…
Blog
Coming to a Pharmacy Near You: One Size Fits All
Tucked away in the stimulus bill is $1.1 billion to fund a new agency modeled after the UK’s NICE, which has repeatedly denied Brits access…
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Tilting at Food Safety Windmills
Unfortunately, as long as the world's food production system continues to be highly decentralized and fragmented, there will continue to be foodborne illness outbreaks like…
Blog
Supreme Court Considers Tort Preemption for Medicines
Diana Levine suffered from chronic migraine headaches for many years. So, in April 2000, when she went to a local clinic to get treatment,…
Blog
Misplaced Priorities on Stem Cell Research
Sigrid Fry-Revere has a post over at The Hill Blog questioning the merits of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. As her new…
Blog
Anna Tomalis, R.I.P.
Last Friday, I attended the funeral of a remarkable 13-year-old girl named Anna Tomalis. For the past three years, Anna had been battling terminal…
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EU Governments Fund Environmental Activism
Op-Eds
Sick Patients Need Cutting-Edge Drugs
The story of Anna Tomalis trying to recieve a compassionate usage exemption from the FDA to treat her cancer.
Blog
FDA’s Bad Medicine
Study
FDA’s Bad Medicine
How the dispersed knowledge problem affects drug safety analysis and how markets and technology will help patients…
Study
Drug Reimportation’s Dangerous Allure
A Misguided Cost-Control Measure Guaranteed to Harm Patient Care…
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Bill Kovacic Named FTC Chairman
Blog
Oh, if only both sides could lose …
Op-Eds
Where’s the Beef?
It’s not often that American food companies join hands with environmental and consumer activists to call for greater government control over the nation’s food…
Op-Eds
Europe’s Continued Hostility to GM Crops Runs Afoul of Science, WTO
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom may have new leaders who bring the promise overall of better trans-Atlantic relations, but when it comes to the…
Study
Promoting Healthy Biopharmaceutical Competition
Full Document Available in PDF The Hatch-Waxman Act, enacted by Congress 23 years ago,…
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Robert Reich Reformed?
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Happy Birthday, Biotechnology
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Italian Frankenfood
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Commentary Roundup
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Supremes to Decide Federal Preemption of State Tort Claims
Comment
Comments to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Regarding the Agency’s Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Sta
Blog
UN Group Rejects Precautionary Principle
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a joint UN Food and Agricultural Organization-World Health Organization food safety standard-setting body, has apparently agreed to exclude the…
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Whole Foods Merger Analysis
I may be going out on a limb here, but I predict, on the basis of what happened in court yesterday, that the Whole Foods…
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Dan Koshland R.I.P.
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Dying for FDA Reform
Full Document Available in PDF This year, Congress is considering a variety of legislative…
Blog
Cell Phones and Driving
Interesting new study from James E. Prieger of Pepperdine University and Bob Hahn at the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, looking at the…
Blog
Can You Clone that Thoroughbred?
USA Today has an interesting article this morning about the position of various purebred animal promotion associations (think American Kennel Club) on animal…
Study
Healthy Competition
Comment
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute to the Food and Drug Administration Regarding the Agency’s Animal Cloning Draft
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Modern Prometheus
Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winning agronomist, will turn 93 on Sunday, March 25, 2007. It’s a birthday well worth celebrating. His life’s…
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Does Organic Food Cause Allergies?
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The Lights Are Out, But Nobody’s Home
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Spinach Contamination Confirmed As Organic
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More Evidence that Fish is Healthy and Politics Isn’t
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EU Comes Clean on Reg Policy
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Where’s The Precautionary Principle When We Need It?
Today’s Wall Street Journal (link for subscribers) has a short piece in the B section noting how a new Bush Administration…
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(Not So) Rotten Tomatoes and Sour Grapes
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Monsanto Biotech Monopoly, Courtesy of the EU
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Good News, Bad News on Food Biotech
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Drug Industry Gone to the Dogs
My dog is fat. Obese, even, if the FDA is to be believed. The arrival of my new-born son two years ago has meant fewer…
Blog
FDA Animal Cloning Decision Comes Years Too Late
In an invited post on The Hill’s Congress Blog yesterday, I argued that the…
Op-Eds
Animal cloning no barnyard bijou
There was a time when you would be labeled a right-wing extremist for demanding the Food and Drug Administration base decisions on morality…
Blog
Fake Boobs and Phony Science
To follow up on a thread from yesterday, FDA’s decision to let silicon gel filled breast implants back on the market is noteworthy for two…
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Junk Food Blogging
Sandy Szwarc, a registered nurse, certified culinary professional, CEI friend, and all around good person, recently started a blog on the science of food —…
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The Sleeping Pill Ate My Homework
Op-Eds
Why spurning food biotech has become a liability
Henry I. Miller, MD, Gregory Conko & Drew L. Kershen By rejecting gene-spliced ingredients in their products, some major food companies may be…
Op-Eds
No, Rice Krispies Aren’t Bio-Toxic
If you listen to environmental activists these days, you might think that snap, crackle, and pop coming from your Rice Krispies is the…
Products
New Era, or ‘Ancien Régime,’ for European Biotech?
The long-awaited World Trade Organization (WTO) decision on biotech food is due to be released this spring, but a leaked copy of the…
Op-Eds
The UN vs. Technology
With diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS ravaging the world's poor—and perhaps a flu pandemic in the offing—the United Nations'…
Op-Eds
WTO and Biotech Food: Who Really Won?
The long-awaited World Trade Organization decision on biotechnology applied to agricultural products, finally released earlier this month, elicited a great deal of buzz…
Op-Eds
Three Cheers for WTO Decision on Biotech Food
What do an <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Iowa corn grower, a Thai rice farmer, and a Dutch grocery shopper have…