Featured Posts
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Space debris and dried prunes
The privately-built Odysseus spacecraft became the first American moon lander since 1972. President Biden announced new Russian sanctions in response to opposition leader Aleksey Navalny’s…
Blog
Federal courts to the rescue on bad appliance regulations?
The US Supreme Court recently heard a case that could impact how much deference judges give to regulatory agencies. To be certain, any relief…
Blog
FDA power grab would hurt labs, patients, rule of law
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed to amend one of its rules for the purpose of unlawfully expanding its jurisdiction over diagnostic tests.
Search Posts
Blog
Biggest Study Yet Shows the Dangers of War on Salt
History, and consumers, will not look kindly on organizations that continue to cling to their unjustified war on salt.
Blog
Trump DOJ Nominee Unlikely to Bend to Anti-Gamblers’ Will
Steven Engel—Trump’s nominee to head this powerful office—indicated during his confirmation hearing that would not be swayed by political pressure or convenience.
Blog
How Flying Dog Brewery Fought Government Censors and Won
Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, sits down with Reason TV’s Nick Gillespie to discuss the brewing business, marketplace diversity, evolving consumer taste, and…
Blog
How FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Can Save E-Cigarettes and Lives
Now that he has triumphed over the confirmation process, Gottlieb’s real challenge—streamlining the FDA for the benefit of consumers—begins.
Blog
Democrats Kill Vape Amendment, Possibly Thousands of Americans
It is a dark day for science-based regulation. In the early hours of Monday morning, Congress finally rolled out its $1 trillion budget deal in…
Blog
Healthy Kids Can Coexist with Flavored E-cigarettes for Adults
Research indicates that flavored e-cigarettes help smokers switch to vaping and not go back to their deadly traditional cigarette habit.
Blog
Trump Can Fund Chemical Safety Review while Cutting EPA Budget
A recently leaked EPA memo reveals there are plenty of discretionary programs to cut.
Blog
CEI E-Cigarette Lawsuit Takes on Activist Agencies
The battle over electronic cigarettes heats up even more this week as the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s general counsel Sam Kazman argued in court against a…
Real Clear Policy
The Truth About Vaping
We can’t be trusted with the truth about e-cigarettes’ health risks — that’s what government health officials and many advocates seem to think. Almost every…
Blog
New Bill Could Save Vaping Market and Millions of Lives
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…
Blog
Five Regulatory Heartbreaks on Valentine’s Day
Tomorrow we celebrate our significant other by showering them with affection and chocolate—but is government regulation getting in the way of your date night?…
Watchdog.org
Texas lawmaker wants to raise tobacco age, dent vaping in the process
Watchdog.org discusses the FDA’s regulation on electronic cigarettes with Michelle Minton. So why do government entities want to prohibit e-cigarettes? The short answer…
Blog
Scrap Proposition 65, California’s Unscientific Chemical Safety Law
California lawmakers should oppose the effort to list glyphosate as a carcinogen under the state's chemical safety and risk law, originally adopted by voters as…
Blog
Minimum Prices Have Consumer Benefits: Contact Lens Case Study
Allowing competing manufacturers to decide for themselves how to influence how their products are sold at retail is the best way to promote innovation and,…
Learn Liberty
5 Weird Ways Prohibition Still Exists Today
You would think that more than 80 years after the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition, policymakers would have eliminated senseless restrictions on the sale of wine,…
Blog
Overturning FDA’s Vape Ban Could Save Millions of Lives
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…
Watchdog.org
Free-market coalition urges Sessions, Pence to oppose online gambling ban
Watchdog.org reports on CEI’s coalition letter to the Vice President-elect and U.S. Attorney General nominee on an online gambling ban. Following attorney general…
Blog
Best of the Blog 2016
Certain topics were especially popular with readers in 2016.
Blog
The ‘Fake News’ Problem: Health and Safety Edition
The moniker “fake news” may have entered the mainstream lexicon in 2016, but phony and misleading news stories have always been a problem—and it’s a…
Blog
Congress Should Target Unaccountable EPA Programs
The newly elected congressional majority should be ready and willing to help implement President elect-Donald Trump’s promise to tackle onerous regulations. But what about so…
Investor's Business Daily
How Can You Tell A Good Trump Pick? By The Establishment Freakout
Investor's Business Daily discusses regulatory delays in the FDA drug approval process with Sam Kazman. It is true that few drugs are "safe,"…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: The Nanny State Down Under and the Robot Revolution
In this week’s episode, Topher Field discusses lifestyle regulation madness Down Under and Katherine Mangu-Ward ushers in the robot revolution.
Huffington Post
Activists Wage War on Women’s Personal Care Choices
I suspect most women would agree that when you find a skin care product that works, you stick with it. But activist groups are waging…
Blog
Self-Driving Car Developers Blast Dangerous Draft California Regulations
Today, the California Department of Motor Vehicles held a public workshop on its latest draft deployment regulations for autonomous vehicles.
Blog
WARNING: BPA Warning Labels Threaten Public Health
The state of California has extended an emergency rule that allows companies to wait until January 2017 before placing a warning on the label of…
Cato Journal
Review of “Markets without Limits”
Are there some things that should be beyond the market, that is, which should not be permitted to be bought and sold? Jason Brennan and Peter Jaworski…
Blog
Reform of “Toxic Substance” Rules Could Increase Health Risks
Although it was not unwarranted for safety reasons (as I detailed before), TSCA reform has granted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greater power to remove…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Sensible Science and Authenticity
On this week’s RealClear Radio Hour, Tracey Brown weighs risk, reward, and science, and Glenn Carroll describes authenticity’s paradox.
Blog
CEI Files Opening Brief in “Vapes on a Plane” Lawsuit
Today, CEI filed its opening brief against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary of Transportation’s March final rule prohibiting electronic cigarette…
Blog
Q&A on the FDA’s New E-Cigarette Rules
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…
Blog
Don’t Fear DEET-Based Insect Repellents
With the Zika virus now reportedly being transmitted by mosquitos here in the United States, consumers—expecting moms, kids, and everyone else--should be sure to use…
The Huffington Post
The Best Possible Zika Prevention Kit Includes DEET
Last week, Broward Country Florida recorded the first two Zika cases transmitted by mosquitos in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
Blog
Letter to Congress: Experts Urged House to Reject Mandatory GMO Labeling Bill
In advance of a House vote on July 14 concerning mandatory GMO labeling, myself and other policy experts on biotechnology, consumer, and agricultural policy sent…
Blog
Food Safety Experts Critical of GMO Labeling Bill
In an open letter released today, several food safety experts warned of the problems with a new Senate bill that would regulate the labeling of…
Blog
Chicago Home-Sharing Rules a Loss for Residents
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel negotiated an armistice with the sharing economy last week. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have promised comply with the new rules, which…
Blog
Nobel Prize Winners Denounce Greenpeace Opposition to GMOs
For decades, the environmental activist group Greenpeace has been among the most vocal, and oftentimes vicious, opponents of biotechnology and genetically engineered crops.
Blog
New York Legislature Piles on Fines for Home-Share Listings
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently reviewing legislation recently passed by the state’s Senate and Assembly that would establish new penalties for advertising one’s…
Blog
Building on the Optimism of “Uber-Positive” Attitudes
There’s a new resource for understanding the state of play between politics and developments in the sharing economy, the pleasantly slim volume by the Manhattan…
Forbes
Leave Daily Fantasy Sports Regulation To The States
Forbes reports on Michelle Minton and Steven Titch's study on online gambling regulations. Leave it to the states. That is the conclusion of…
Daily Caller
Wasserman Schultz Slammed For Opposition To E-Cigarettes
The Daily Caller discusses with CEI's Michelle Minton, the Democratic National Commitee chair's criticism of the e-cigarette industry. “The industry exists because smokers…
Blog
Doing Away with Government Flammability Standards
During the past several years, there’s been much hype in the news alleging that flame retardant chemicals used on upholstered furniture pose unacceptable health risks. With…
Blog
Utah’s Disastrous War on Electronic Cigarettes
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…
Blog
Glyphosate in Tampons, Oh My!
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…
Real Clear Policy
‘Reforming’ the Toxic Substances Control Act
CEI's chemical policy expert, Angela Logomasini, discusses whether the proposed changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act are good or bad for consumers As early…
Blog
TSCA Reform Debate Is Not about Public Safety
At recent hearings on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), senators, environmental activists, and local government officials claimed…
Blog
Data Torturing at the CPSC
James Mills of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development lamented in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine back in 1993: “‘If…
Blog
CPSC’s Scientific Shenanigans on Phthalates
Many “stakeholders” have complained about the process through which the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) developed its proposed rule related to a class of chemicals…
Comment
Public Comment to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Summary: Since the release of the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP) report in July, many stakeholders have raised serious concerns about the process and report methodologies.
Blog
CPSC Proposal on Phthalates Likely to Do More Harm than Good
On Monday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will close the comment period for a proposed rule related to chemicals used to make soft and pliable…
Blog
Tainted Claims about “Agglomerated” Corks
A recent article in Wine Industry Insight titled “Micro-Agglomerates: 350 Million Illegal Corks Per Year?” reports: “Agglomerated cork manufacturers and importers are facing scrutiny from two major…