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Harm-Reducing Tobacco Alternatives Are a Human Achievement

Blog

Harm-Reducing Tobacco Alternatives Are a Human Achievement

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/21/2017

Regardless of where the innovation comes from, we ought to embrace any safer alternative to smoking.

Human Achievement Hour

New Bill Could Save Vaping Market and Millions of Lives

Blog

New Bill Could Save Vaping Market and Millions of Lives

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/21/2017

If we can’t fully overturn FDA’s authority to regulate vapes, the next best option would be to alter the grandfather date as the Deeming Authority…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

CEI Salt Study Leaves a Bad Taste in Anti-Salt Advocates’ Mouths

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/27/2017

How do we know what to believe when it comes to science? Some might look at that question and answer that science doesn’t require belief;…

Time to Shake up Salt-Only Approach to Hypertension

Blog

Time to Shake up Salt-Only Approach to Hypertension

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/24/2017

What you’ve heard about salt and hypertension may not be right. If we truly hope to conquer this disease, we must pay attention to all…

Consumer Freedom

Overturning FDA’s Vape Ban Could Save Millions of Lives

Blog

Overturning FDA’s Vape Ban Could Save Millions of Lives

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/18/2017

If confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price could help save millions of American lives by stopping the Food and Drug Administration’s…

Consumer Freedom

Tom Price Should Focus on Reversing ‘Mission Creep’ at HHS

Blog

Tom Price Should Focus on Reversing ‘Mission Creep’ at HHS

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/18/2017

If confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price should reverse decades of mission creep and refocus federal health agencies on their…

Consumer Freedom

Crash Course in Gambling Law for Would-be Attorney General Sessions

Blog

Crash Course in Gambling Law for Would-be Attorney General Sessions

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/12/2017

Federal law does not ban all online gambling, despite what U.S. Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions has suggested.

Consumer Freedom

FDA’s Sodium Plan Would Continue Four Decades of Failed Policy

Blog

FDA’s Sodium Plan Would Continue Four Decades of Failed Policy

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/02/2016

Hypertension, which is chronically elevated blood pressure, effects about 70 million Americans, putting them at an increased risk for developing heart disease or having a…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Supreme Court Can Save America by Taking a Gamble on Sports Betting

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/15/2016

America is a betting nation, and last Tuesday we elected something of a wild card to be our next Commander in Chief.

Consumer Freedom

FDA Taking Public Comment on Ill-Advised Sodium Reduction Plan

Blog

FDA Taking Public Comment on Ill-Advised Sodium Reduction Plan

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/17/2016

The Food and Drug Administration wants to help Americans lower sodium intake to reduce rates of hypertension and associated problems like heart disease, stroke, and…

Consumer Freedom

Tom Cotton’s Last Minute Anti-Gambling Bill

Blog

Tom Cotton’s Last Minute Anti-Gambling Bill

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/26/2016

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) fears the Internet.

Law and Litigation

Q&A on the FDA’s New E-Cigarette Rules

Blog

Q&A on the FDA’s New E-Cigarette Rules

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/05/2016

After years of waiting and fighting, the new rules put forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on electronic cigarettes and other non-cigarette…

Consumer Freedom

Happy “No Food Is Junk Food” Day 2016!

Blog

Happy “No Food Is Junk Food” Day 2016!

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/21/2016

I can’t stand candy corn. Yes, I’m that person in the office at Halloween.

Consumer Freedom

Congress on the Verge of Lowering Beer Taxes

Blog

Congress on the Verge of Lowering Beer Taxes

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/01/2016

By today’s standards, the Founding Fathers were outright lushes. Ben Franklin was apocryphally known for his love of beer (although it turns out wine was…

Consumer Freedom

New York Rules DFS a “Game of Skill,” Maintains Ban on Internet Poker

Blog

New York Rules DFS a “Game of Skill,” Maintains Ban on Internet Poker

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/21/2016

Human beings have been gambling since at least the dawn of recorded history and perhaps one of the most enduring games is poker.

Tech and Telecom

Soda Tax Won’t Fix Waste and Corruption in Philly

Blog

Soda Tax Won’t Fix Waste and Corruption in Philly

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/20/2016

Last week Philadelphia enacted a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda to fund the Mayor’s proposed universal pre-kindergarten system and at the same time…

Consumer Freedom

Proposed Soda Tax a Bad Deal for Philadelphia Residents

Blog

Proposed Soda Tax a Bad Deal for Philadelphia Residents

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/15/2016

This Thursday, Philadelphia’s city council is set to approve a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda. The goal of the tax is to raise…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Time to End the Failed Experiment of “Sin” Taxes

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/07/2016

It seems like an economic no-brainer that if you can raise the cost of a good or service, people will buy and consume less of…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Leave DFS Regulation to the States, But Don’t Kneecap Skilled Players

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/16/2016

Congress is abuzz with the issue of gambling. Last month, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) inserted language from his failed online gambling ban into the…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Unpopular Online Gambling Ban Sneaked Into Spending Bill

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/12/2016

For more than two years a cadre of congressmen have worked, without any luck, to enact a bill that would create a de facto national…

Consumer Freedom

FDA’s Attack on E-Cigarette Will Cost Lives

Blog

FDA’s Attack on E-Cigarette Will Cost Lives

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/05/2016

While the public health goals of protecting consumers from possibly harmful vaping products and preventing kids from becoming addicted to nicotine are laudable goals, this…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Advocates Attempt to Debunk Idea that Any Alcohol Is Beneficial

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/25/2016

For most public health advocates, no amount of alcohol is safe. As they see it, any amount of alcohol increases a drinkers risk for certain…

Consumer Freedom

Utah’s Disastrous War on Electronic Cigarettes

Blog

Utah’s Disastrous War on Electronic Cigarettes

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/23/2016

Despite the fact that tobacco products kill nearly half a million Americans each year, it is vaping products—which help people quit smoking—that have become a…

Consumer Freedom

Congress Gets Some Common Sense on Nutritional Disclosure

Blog

Congress Gets Some Common Sense on Nutritional Disclosure

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/17/2016

Last week, members of the House approved a bill that giving customers the nutrition information they want while minimizing harm and cost. Now it's up…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Overregulation Turns Sydney into International “Laughing Stock”

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/16/2016

American city officials, take note: Sometimes the remedy to a purported problem is worse than the disease. This is a lesson fans of Sydney’s once…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

House Votes This Week on Common Sense Nutritional Disclosure Bill

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/08/2016

Many, if not most proposals that make their way through Congress seem to have comically unsuitable names. However, at the end of this week the…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

CDC Alcohol and Pregnancy Scare Tactics Backfire

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/08/2016

Are you a woman of childbearing age? Do you binge drink constantly and have unprotected sex on the reg? Well, the CDC wants you to…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

CDC Sodium Reduction Efforts: Helpful or Harmful?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/19/2016

Most people accept as gospel the nutritional limits set by government organizations. So, when the Centers for Disease Control releases a report saying that 89…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Milk, Saturated Fat, and Why You Shouldn’t Take Nutrition Advice from Jezebel

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/14/2016

Growing up lactose intolerant, I was fond of saying that drinking milk post-infanthood was unnatural. Then I found out that humans aren’t the only ones in…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

New Dietary Guidelines: Some Improvements but Also Fatal Flaws

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/07/2016

As expected, the nutritional guidelines for 2015-2020 thankfully excised the long-standing warning against cholesterol-laden food in the wake of several decades of research demonstrating that the original…

Consumer Freedom

Craft Brewers “Selling Out” Is Good For Craft Beer Fans

Blog

Craft Brewers “Selling Out” Is Good For Craft Beer Fans

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/05/2016

This week we learned that U.K. craft brewery Camden Town was the latest in a long string of purchases by the international mega-brewery AB-InBev…

Consumer Freedom

The Good the Bad and the Big: Top 3 Consumer Policy Stories of 2015

Blog

The Good the Bad and the Big: Top 3 Consumer Policy Stories of 2015

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/01/2016

2015 was a big year for health and consumer news. Unfortunately, many of the biggest stories were viral in the true sense of the word:…

Consumer Freedom

Holiday Liquor Laws: Where to Buy Your Christmas Cup of Cheer

Blog

Holiday Liquor Laws: Where to Buy Your Christmas Cup of Cheer

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/23/2015

Nobody wants to drive an hour over the border just to get booze, especially on Christmas Day. However, 27 states in the union still have…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Congressional Committee Favors State-Based Legalization of Online Gambling

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/11/2015

Wednesday’s hearing was not good for those hoping to make a case for a national online gambling prohibition. While the House Oversight Committee hearing was supposed…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Deck Stacked at House Oversight Committee Hearing on Internet Gambling

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/08/2015

Tomorrow the House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Casino in Every Smartphone – Law Enforcement Implications,” to discuss…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Repealed 82 Years Ago, the Spirit of Prohibition Lives On

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/04/2015

Tomorrow, December 5, many of us will raise a glass in celebration of Repeal Day—the anniversary of the end of that disastrous experiment of alcohol prohibition…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

3 Political Food Developments to Be Thankful For

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/24/2015

For most of us in the U.S., we don’t have to worry about getting enough food. Quite the opposite actually; holidays like Thanksgiving can be…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

House Commerce Committee Approves “Pizza” Bill to Ease Onerous Calorie Labeling Rule

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/23/2015

While most consumers are blissfully unaware, a provision tucked into the Affordable Care Act could cause food vendors a lot of headaches. Starting on December…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Should a Billionaire Decide Where Pennsylvanians Can Gamble?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/16/2015

The casino industry has been good for my home state of Pennsylvania. For whatever ills one might claim goes along with gambling, the gaming industry…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Daily Fantasy Sports Betting: Gambling or Game of Skill?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/11/2015

That is the big question in New York today after that state’s attorney general issued a cease and desist order to DraftKings and FanDuel—the two…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Federal Menu Laws Need Some Common Sense

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/02/2015

This week, the House Energy and Commerce committee will hold a mark-up hearing on the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (H.R. 2017), a bipartisan bill intended…

Consumer Freedom

The Real Question about Fantasy Sports Gambling the GOP Debate Missed

Blog

The Real Question about Fantasy Sports Gambling the GOP Debate Missed

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/29/2015

In this clown-car of a GOP primary, it’s inevitable that the discussion will sometimes veer onto more superficial avenues of questioning. After all, news is entertainment and…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Glyphosate in Tampons, Oh My!

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/26/2015

You may have seen the hilarious headlines about putting Monsanto in your vagina (if not, you’re welcome/I’m sorry). This hyperbole comes on the heels of a…

Consumer Freedom

ABI MillerCoors Merger Won’t Harm the Craft Beer Movement

Blog

ABI MillerCoors Merger Won’t Harm the Craft Beer Movement

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/14/2015

The folks at Food & Water Watch are pissed. And I don’t mean “pissed” as in drunk; they are mad as hell about the proposed…

Antitrust

Blog

What Will a Chaffetz Speakership Mean for Internet Freedom? Part 2

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/08/2015

Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz recently threw his hat in the ring in a bid to replace Speaker John Boehner, after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

The Death of RAWA: A Performance for an Audience of One

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/07/2015

RAWA (H.R. 707) is dying the slow death of bills that aren’t sexy enough to draw attention away from much sexier issues. With the House…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

On Added Sugars, Canada Gets Right What the U.S. Got Wrong

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/04/2015

Last month, I wrote about how the new nutritional labels might end up making Americans fatter and sicker. Particularly dangerous, in my opinion, is the addition…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Has Plain Packaging Reduced Tobacco Consumption?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/23/2015

In 2012, the Australian government instituted a plan tobacco packing requirement—that is, a generic package that removes all stylistic aspects of packaging: colors, imagery, corporate…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Fantasy Sports Betting Isn’t a Federal Crime, as No Sports Betting Should Be

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/22/2015

If you watched football during the open weekend of the NFL season, you probably saw an advertisement for DraftKings or FanDuel. Part of the rapidly…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Proposed Food Label Change Could Make Us Fatter and Sicker

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/21/2015

There’s a new push to finalize the Food and Drug Administration’s new guidelines for nutritional panels. The changes, which include listing “added sugars” and updating…

Consumer Freedom

Time to Throw out Michelle Obama’s Lunch Program?

Blog

Time to Throw out Michelle Obama’s Lunch Program?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/17/2015

As I wrote in The Hill today, Congress this month will decide whether or not to continue funding Michelle Obama’s favorite Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. The goal…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Drinkers Give More than They Take

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/16/2015

Public health advocates love to make the case that “sinners,” those folks who drink, smoke, or eat “unhealthy” foods, cost society money and that gives…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

New York City’s Salt Warning: Useless and Potentially Harmful

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/11/2015

You may have heard on the news that New York City is, once again, on the cutting edge of interfering with consumers and businesses. This time…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Study “Wounds” the Carbohydrate-Insulin Theory of Obesity

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/24/2015

Last week a very interesting and, by all accounts, very well-done study made waves among the nutritional science community. For many years, the idea that reducing…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Back to School Lunch Scares

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/19/2015

It’s back to school season, which for many parents means spending money on new clothes, shuttling young people from sports games to ballet, and increasingly,…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Government Nutritionists Wrong… Again

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/10/2015

Add it to the list of things that the government got wrong when it comes to nutrition: skipping breakfast may not make you fat. It…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Tell Us How You Really Feel about Federalism

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/06/2015

In the nation’s capital, many of us are eagerly awaiting tonight’s Republican presidential debate. There’s no question that it will be entertaining, but will we…

Law and Litigation

What Happens an Hour After Drinking Locally Sourced, Sustainable, Organic Kale Juice?

Blog

What Happens an Hour After Drinking Locally Sourced, Sustainable, Organic Kale Juice?

  • By: Gregory Conko, Michelle Minton
  • 08/06/2015

Remember, sugar might rot your teeth, but junk science will rot your brain.

Consumer Freedom

Blog

If You Don’t Eat Your Meat, They Can’t Have Their Taxes

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/03/2015

If you think the brainless health nannies in the United States are bad, you should read up on the absurd proposals bursting from the cranial…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Where Does Sen. Grassley Stand on Online Gambling?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/24/2015

Recent polls show that Iowans aren’t too keen on legalizing online gambling in their state. They’re mistaken, in my view, but that’s their prerogative. And…

Blog

Happy “No Food is Junk Food” Day!

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/21/2015

Yes, there’s a holiday for everything, but National Junk Food Day has particular relevance in light of a recent decision by the Food and Drug…

Blog

Slate Exposes Deceitful Heart of the Anti-GMO Movement

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/17/2015

Will Saletan has an exhaustively researched and cogently argued piece at Slate on the dishonesty of the anti-biotechnology activists and the harm they have caused.

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Federal Witch Hunt Successfully Bans Trans Fats

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/16/2015

Ding dong the witch is dead; killed by the federal government…well, that’s if the witch was a recluse people hardly ever saw, probably hasn’t hurt…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Raise a Glass to Lower Taxes

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/26/2015

You might not know it, but about half the cost of your preferred alcoholic beverage is made up of taxes and fees. One man in…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Not So Fast: Fatally Flawed Research Asserts Alcohol Taxes Save Lives

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/12/2015

Last month, researchers at the University of Florida published a study in the American Journal of Public Health that concluded, “Increases in alcohol excise taxes, such…

Automobiles and Roads

Presidential Candidate, Poker Celebs Oppose Internet Gambling Ban

Blog

Presidential Candidate, Poker Celebs Oppose Internet Gambling Ban

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/21/2015

What do two-time world poker champ Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, presidential-hopeful Rand Paul, and Fraternal Order of Police President Chuck Canterbury have in common? They’ve…

Consumer Freedom

Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?

Blog

Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/09/2015

A new study from the University of Florida asserts that because Illinois instituted an alcohol tax increase in 2009 and the rate of alcohol-related traffic…

Automobiles and Roads

Blog

White House Petition Asks President to Veto Online Gambling Ban

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/06/2015

A week after members of Congress debated a bill that would forbid states from legalizing online gambling, the Poker Players Alliance have issued a…

Blog

Human Achievement of the Day: The Sharing Economy

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/27/2015

It’s the most wonderful time of year! Human Achievement Hour is once again upon us, giving us reason to pause and consider recent innovations that…

Human Achievement Hour

A Bright Future

Blog

A Bright Future

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/24/2015

The following is a guest post by Chelsea German, Researcher and Managing Editor of HumanProgress.org. When Homo erectus first learned to control fire a million years ago, humanity…

Human Achievement Hour

Chaffetz Tells States and Lotteries: If You Don’t Want an Online Gambling Ban, Introduce Your Own

Blog

Chaffetz Tells States and Lotteries: If You Don’t Want an Online Gambling Ban, Introduce Your Own

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/11/2015

According to a Gambling Compliance story (paywall) posted today, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) participated in a conference call last week with about 20 state and lottery…

Consumer Freedom

6 Ridiculous Myths about Legal Internet Gambling Busted

Blog

6 Ridiculous Myths about Legal Internet Gambling Busted

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 03/11/2015

Should the United States government ban online poker? One billionaire casino owner thinks so. In the quest to convince Americans that they shouldn't be able…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Victory for “Caveman” Blogger and Free Speech in North Carolina

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/19/2015

Many people associate professional licensing with consumer safety. For example, we wouldn’t want any schlub doing surgery. But where occupational licensing laws may have started…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

New U.S. Dietary Recommendations to Correct Misunderstanding about Cholesterol, Not Fat

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/12/2015

Thomas Jefferson once said, “If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

GOP Divided on Internet Gambling Ban

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/05/2015

As expected, members of the GOP reintroduced a measure that would create a de facto prohibition on all Internet gambling. The effort, which was written by GOP mega-donor…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

No Sprinkles in Obama’s America: Trans Fat, Hyperbole, and the Threat Nobody Is Talking about

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/05/2015

“Say goodbye to your favorite sprinkled doughnuts,” warned Clayton Morris, guest host on Fox & Friends. “The [FDA] is now regulating Americans intake of trans fat…the…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Bet on the Big Game? You Probably Broke the Law

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 02/02/2015

Industry experts expected yesterday’s Super Bowl game to bring in around $100 million in legal sports wagering in Nevada. That’s a lot of moola, but…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Study Shows Health Benefits of Moderate Alcohol Consumption

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/27/2015

Alcohol is a favorite target for health nannies and politicians looking to boost revenue. Excessive drinkers, they say, cost society millions or billions of dollars!…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Could the FDA’s New Calorie-Count Mandate Harm Winemakers?

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 01/13/2015

The trade association, WineAmerica, which represents 600 wineries in the U.S., seems to think so. The group has hired a lobbyists to push the…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Besting a Billionaire: How a Grassroots Campaign Stopped a Ban on Internet Gambling

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/17/2014

This week we get to say goodbye to the 113th Congress. For those who believe in free markets and individual liberty, it was a doozy.

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Fraternal Order of Police Once Again Opposes Internet Gambling Ban

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 12/02/2014

Once again, the Fraternal Order of Police expressed their staunch opposition to a federal prohibition on Internet gambling. In a letter sent to Sens. Harry Reid…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Adelson’s Online Gambling Ban Losing Political Steam

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/22/2014

It was a bad week for Sheldon Adelson. The billionaire casino owner has said he’ll spend whatever it takes to stop the spread of legal…

Consumer Freedom

How the “Stupid” American Public Pays for Gruber’s Deception

Blog

How the “Stupid” American Public Pays for Gruber’s Deception

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 11/17/2014

The Washington Times points out that Jonathan Gruber, our nation’s most famous sufferer of foot-in-mouth-disease, has profited greatly from the “stupid” American public to whom he…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Journalists Called Out for Bad Reporting on Consumption Data

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 10/03/2014

Being a journalist is not an easy job; it demands fast paced and high volume production. For those “wonk” journalists tasked with analyzing data-heavy reports…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Cyanide, Tylenol and How Free Markets Make You Safer

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/29/2014

Today is the anniversary of one of the most significant food and drug related events in recent memory. Often discussed in college business classes these…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Study on Artificial Sweeteners Interesting But Flawed

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/26/2014

​A new study out of Israel on the possible effects of artificial sweeteners is making a lot of headlines this week. Unfortunately (and as usual)…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

CDC Study: Kids Eat Same Amount of Sodium as Worldwide Average

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 09/12/2014

It’s not exactly a blood-pressure raising headline, which is probably why the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is actually…

Consumer Product Safety

Blog

Cops to Destroy Rare Wine Collection in Pennsylvania

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/22/2014

In the fifth century BCE, famous Greek tragedian Euripides supposedly said, “where this no wine there is no love.” This certainly holds true in present day…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Newsweek’s Cover Story on Internet Gambling Plays Fast and Loose with Facts

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 08/20/2014

Newsweek’s recent cover article on online gambling, “How Washington Opened the Floodgates to Online Poker, Dealing Parents a Bad Hand,” by Leah McGrath Goodman,…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Happy There’s-No-Such-Thing-as-Junk-Food Day!

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/21/2014

Whomever it is that decides the dates for the ever multiplying obscure holidays apparently designated today, July 21, as “Junk Food Day.” While the origin and…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

FDA’s Trans Fat “Ban” a First Foray into Controlling Americans’ Diets

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/14/2014

Last November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its plan to revoke the “Generally Recognized As Safe” designation for partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs),…

Consumer Freedom

Celebrate Food Freedom this 4th of July

Blog

Celebrate Food Freedom this 4th of July

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 07/03/2014

“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

FDA’s Salt Phobia a Waste of Money

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/23/2014

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week plans to phase in “voluntary” reduction in the level of sodium in foods produced by manufacturers and…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Friday June 6th: Have a Doughnut for Freedom

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 06/06/2014

Do you know what today is? If you said D-Day, you’d be right. But this year, June 6 also marks another, less well known occasion.

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Reihan Salam’s Argument for Alcohol “Prohibition Lite” Doesn’t Hold Water

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/29/2014

In Slate recently, Reihan Salam argued that as America eases up on the criminalization of marijuana use it ought to consider ramping up the war…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

No, Gov. Perry, a Ban on Internet Gambling Won’t Protect the Internet or Individual Freedom

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 05/22/2014

In an attempt to save face, Texas Governor Rick Perry is trying to justify his support for a federal online gambling ban by claiming that it’s the…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Republican Internet Gambling Ban Undermines States’ and Individual Rights

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/28/2014

Despite rhetoric that we need to “restore” the Federal Wire Act in order to protect states’ rights, Republican lawmakers are pushing a bill that…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Pseudoscience and Clickbaiting Results in Beer Fear

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/22/2014

There’s a lot of pseudoscience about food out there. From genetically modified crops to organic foods to corn syrup, to preservatives, passionate opinions abound, but…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Victory for Maryland Parents and Consumers: Energy Drink Ban Voted Down

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/21/2014

A bill that would have banned the sale of energy drinks for minors in Maryland was recently voted down in committee almost unanimously. The…

Consumer Freedom

Blog

Professional Licensing: A Risk to the Free Markets and Freedom of Speech

  • By: Michelle Minton
  • 04/07/2014

From physicians to dentists to lawyers, the licensing requirements of many professions are well known—but for bloggers? A recent case in North Carolina demonstrates the…

Consumer Freedom

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