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GDP report for third quarter indicates strengthened economy: CEI analysis
The GDP report for the third quarter of 2024 shows 2.8 percent growth, indicating a rapidly growing and healthy economy. While there is still…
CNBC
Up to $400 to change a lightbulb? Appliance repair costs are no joke
CNBC quoted CEI’s expert on a sustainable future “These state proposals and state laws could lead to a lose-lose situation in which manufacturers are harmed…
Human Progress
Appliances Contribute to Human Progress—but Regulations Threaten Their Affordability
Summary: Home appliances have drastically improved human life, from preventing heat-related deaths with air conditioning to making household tasks more efficient with washing machines and…
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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…
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
Victory for “Caveman” Blogger and Free Speech in North Carolina
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…
Blog
New U.S. Dietary Recommendations to Correct Misunderstanding about Cholesterol, Not Fat
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…
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…
Blog
No Sprinkles in Obama’s America: Trans Fat, Hyperbole, and the Threat Nobody Is Talking about
“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…
Blog
New Field Study Confirms Neonicotinoids Have Little Impact on Honeybees
As the Ontario provincial government in Canada considers policies that may force farmers to stop using, or drastically reduce use of, a class of pesticides called…
Blog
Soda Makes You Old and Other “Data Mined” Myths
“‘If you torture your data long enough, they will tell you whatever you want to hear.’ Dr. James Mills noted in a 1993 New England Journal…
Blog
BPA Research Funding Linked to Researcher Bias?
The number of studies that have appeared in the news during recent years on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is staggering. Few substances undergo such scrutiny.
Blog
Journalists Called Out for Bad Reporting on Consumption Data
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…
Blog
Cyanide, Tylenol and How Free Markets Make You Safer
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…
Blog
Study on Artificial Sweeteners Interesting But Flawed
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)…
Blog
In Memoriam: Elizabeth Whelan
I was very sad to hear last week that Elizabeth Whelan, founder and president of the American Council on Science and Health, had passed…
Blog
CDC Study: Kids Eat Same Amount of Sodium as Worldwide Average
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…
Blog
Honeybee Population in Decline—Or Not?
If you read the news about honeybee survival, it’s all very confusing. Some sources sound the alarm by pointing out that the number of honeybee…
Blog
Happy There’s-No-Such-Thing-as-Junk-Food Day!
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…
Blog
Celebrate Food Freedom this 4th of July
“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a…
Blog
Friday June 6th: Have a Doughnut for Freedom
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.
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 29, 2014: Rachel Was Wrong
Seeing as Carson's book set malaria prevention back decades, CEI Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini thinks there are other figures more deserving of such tributes.
Blog
Professional Licensing: A Risk to the Free Markets and Freedom of Speech
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…
Blog
CEI Podcast for April 3, 2014: Clean Air Act Costs and Benefits
Senior Fellow William Yeatman is skeptical of an EPA report claiming the Clean Air Act will have nearly $2 trillion in annual benefits by 2020.
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Bionic Eyes
You won’t see the glory of human achievement if you abide by the World Wide Fund for Nature's recommendation that you spend an hour…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day from HumanProgress.org: Organ Replacement Technology
We are only three days away from Human Achievement Hour (March 29, 8:30pm to 9:30pm)! What better way to celebrate than with a post from…
Blog
CEI Podcast for December 18, 2013: The FDA Goes after 23andMe
The Food and Drug Administration recently banned 23andMe, a genetic testing service, from marketing its product to consumers. CEI Executive Director and Senior Fellow Gregory…
Blog
CEI Podcast for November 27, 2013: Toxic Turkey Day?
Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini debunks scare stories about chemicals in your family's Thanksgiving dinner, from BPA in canned foods to naturally occurring pesticides in potatoes.
Blog
Jane Brody’s Uninformed Attack on Cars and Suburbia
While at a conference where participants discussed the wannabe social engineers cum urbanists' war on automobility and housing affordability, Jane Brody's broadside against Americans'…
Blog
Is Katy Perry Causing Childhood Obesity?
No, of course not! However, a coalition of health advocates seems to be making that assertion when they sent her a letter this week…
Blog
Don’t Believe the Hype: Your Food Is as Safe as Ever
Supporters of big government are taking advantage of a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken to condemn Republican lawmakers and…
Blog
Obamacare Quadruples Rates for Some, Subsidizes Some Wealthy Who Retired Early
Due to Obamacare, North Carolina "will see individual-market" health insurance rates "triple for women, and quadruple for men." In Tennessee, Obamacare will…
Blog
Regulating E-Cigarettes Creates the Wrong Incentives
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is gearing up to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by early October. These regulations, rather than protecting the public…
Blog
Bad Science: CDC Forced to Reverse its Recommendations on Salt
Mother may know best, but Uncle Sam certainly doesn’t. In 1977, the federal government put a warning label on saccharine, claiming it caused cancer. It…
Blog
French Cheese Ban: An Attack on “Scientific Principles” in Violation of Treaties Protecting International Trade?
Earlier, we wrote about the U.S. government's de facto ban on the commonplace, perfectly healthy, normal-smelling French cheese mimolette (which I once confused with…
Blog
TTB to Allow, Not Require, Nutritional Labeling on Alcoholic Products
It’s a rare occasion that we get to praise government agencies. While the federal agency governing alcoholic beverages certainly took it’s time to make a…
Blog
Does Austerity Really “Kill”?
Does austerity kill? In a recent New York Times op-ed, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu claim that fiscal austerity leads to a worsening of health…
Blog
U.S. Government Bans French Cheese Based On Food Prejudices
The U.S. government is banning a standard, normal-smelling French cheese based on its own squeamishness. The cheese in question is Mimolette, a commonplace,…
Blog
Bill Would Prevent CDC’s Taxpayer-Funded Anti-Food Propaganda
Even in a divided Washington, everyone agrees on the importance of creating jobs in America. So why are some government agencies using taxpayer money to…
Blog
Food Safety Modernization Act Far More Costly Than Supporters Claimed
“Proposed FDA safety rules frustrate tree fruit farmers,” reported The Washington Post. As the FDA puts “in place a massive overhaul of the nation’s…
Blog
When The Nanny State Kills
The government told people to switch from saturated animal fats to unsaturated vegetable fats. But that advice may have killed a lot of people.
Blog
Vitter Amendment To Ban Drug Patent Settlements Would Raise Pharmaceutical Prices
With time running out for the Senate to act on a continuing budget resolution, members are trying to find some magic pot of money that…
Blog
No, Hugo Chavez Did Not Improve Health Or Human Development In Venezuela
Reuters’ recent obituary for Venezuela’s anti-American strongman, Hugo Chavez, obscured the fact that he made life worse for his countrymen — worse, that is, than…
Blog
Human Achievement Of The Day: Using HIV To Cure Leukemia
The title of the Vimeo video below is “Fighting Fire with Fire,” which conveys fairly well what doctors from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and…
Blog
Germs In Reusable Grocery Bags Can Prove Deadly
Cloth supermarket bags may be fashionable, but they can also prove deadly, according to a recent research paper published by the University of Pennsylvania…
Blog
New Study Questions Link Between Alcohol And Breast Cancer Risk
Every day, we make decisions about what to eat and drink that can affect our long-term health. Each individual is ultimately responsible for determining the…
Blog
Junk Science Is Worse For Your Health Than Egg Yolks
We all know that eggs contain a lot of fat and cholesterol. While that does not make them “bad,” most of us realize that if…
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 30, 2012: Delayed FDA Rules Should Be Scrapped
Senior Fellow Greg Conko argues that these rules should be scrapped altogether for two reasons: they will do little to improve food safety, and they…
Blog
FDA Rules Won’t Work, Will Harm Small Farmers
The FDA recently decided to delay implementing about $1.4 billion of food safety regulations until after the November election. We think the FDA should scrap…
Blog
Regulation And Government “Science” Cost Us More Than Dollars
Today, the Independent Women's Forum blog highlights a new NERA Economic Consulting study (produced for Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation) on the costs…
Blog
West Nile Outbreak Warrants Pest Control — Pesticide Spraying Included
This year, Texas is experiencing its worst outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted West Nile virus ever. Fortunately, most people who get it won't suffer…
Blog
FDA Delay Likely Killed Thousands, Imposed Billions In Costs
The FDA didn’t approve a home test for HIV until 24 years after it first received an application. According to an FDA advisory committee,…
Blog
Food Safety Regulations That Kill
In Reason magazine, Baylen Linnekin writes about "the sickening nature of many food-safety regulations," like the "poke and sniff" inspection method mandated by the…
Blog
Quick Thoughts on the Health Care Ruling
The Supreme Court upheld the health care bill, as you've no doubt heard by now. Over at the Daily Caller, I offer a few quick…
Blog
Government Restrictions on Salt Consumption May Cost Lives
Some government officials would like to curb salt consumption, even though such restrictions could increase death rates. “The Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines still…
Blog
New York City Mayor Michael “Nanny” Bloomberg Wants To Ban Super-Sized Soda
The infamous mayor, known for instituting paternalistic food policies, like banning trans fats and Four Loko, limiting salt, regulating calories, is at it again.
Blog
Long Commutes Will Kill You? A Brief Response to Matt Yglesias’s Post
Slate blogger Matthew Yglesias, a center-left economics writer whose work I generally enjoy reading, has a new post up with the title, "Long Commutes…
Blog
Senate Vote Today on FDA, Supplements, and Energy Drinks
Today, the Senate will vote to reauthorize and modify the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) prescription drug and medical device user-fee program (…
Blog
San Francisco Judge Dismisses Lawsuit against McDonald’s over Happy Meals
"In San Francisco, Judge Richard Kramer has dismissed the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s lawsuit on behalf of parent Monet Parham seeking to…
Blog
Congressional Blowout Over Cosmetics Law Reform
Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on cosmetics regulation to consider whether Congress should beef up federal…
Blog
Consumer Freedom and the Risks of Raw Milk
Earlier today, Nicole Ciandella linked to an essay by the John Locke Foundation's Fergus Hodgson, titled "The Absurdity…
Blog
EPA’s Toxic “Negotiation”
It's pretty amazing when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can essentially use extortion as a negotiating tool, and industry casts it as a plea…
Blog
Science Washes Hype about “Toxic” Shampoo Down the Drain
Every now and then, government regulators manage to do something reasonable. Last week, the Canadians made a smart move by accepting hard science over hype…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: Malaria Vaccine
You may remember last year when the Human Achievement Hour blog highlighted mosquito-zapping lasers which selectively kill female, blood sucking mosquitoes and reduces the…
Blog
Human Achievement of the Day: A Cure for Every Virus
A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory has created a treatment for viral infections that could effectively treat all…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 16, 2012: Washington’s Prescription Drug Shortage
Patients are suffering from a nationwide shortage of more than 260 different prescription drugs, many of them for different types of cancer. Senior Fellow Greg…
Blog
Congress Seems Intent on Making Drug Shortages Worse
Now that the problem of prescription drug shortages has begun to affect children, members of Congress want to be seen as…
Blog
Government Thwarts Cancer Cures and Production of Life-Saving Drugs
The federal government thwarted a promising cancer treatment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski on trial twice, saying “it did…
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 2, 2012: The FDA’s Latest Power Grab
Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton breaks down the FDA's behind-the-scenes push to regulate dietary supplements nearly as strictly as prescription drugs.
Blog
Michigan SEIU Scam the Product of Government Collective Bargaining
Proponents of government collective bargaining view it as a fundamental human right. The shameful actions of SEIU in Michigan, however, undermine this claim. In…
Blog
Obama, Scientific Integrity, and the State of the Union
With the State of the Union coming up, I’ve been wondering whether, or how, President Obama might address the Plan B fiasco…
Blog
War on Drugs Keeps Badly Needed, Perfectly Legal Medicine Away from Sick People
Sick people, like those suffering from narcolepsy, are suffering from a manufacturing shortage of Adderall. That shortage was caused by the Drug Enforcement Agency,…
Blog
Obamacare Stifles Job Creation, Causes Layoffs
At Bloomberg News, Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., explains how the 2010 healthcare law is preventing jobs from being created and resulting…
Blog
2011 Brought Lots of Good News for Salt Lovers
With holiday cooking on most of our minds this week, it's worth celebrating some good news about one of the most beleaguered food ingredients: table salt. For…
Blog
FDA Needs to Act on Internet and Social Media Policy
Way back in September 2009, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would begin using the social media site Twitter to share news and other…
Blog
FDA Was Right to Deny Petition to Restrict Animal Antibiotics
I didn't have a chance to write about it then, but a few weeks back the Food and Drug Administration denied a…
Blog
Over-The-Counter Plan B? What Would Jed Bartlet Do?
Back in March 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity to the heads of executive branch agencies and departments.
Blog
Good News/Bad News on Compensating Bone Marrow Donors
By now, there's been plenty of news highlighting last week's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the National Organ…
Blog
Legalizing Kidney Sales Would Save Thousands of Lives, Save Taxpayers a Bundle
Kidney sales should be legal, explains kidney donor Alexander Berger in The New York Times. Berger is a research analyst for GiveWell, a nonprofit that…
Blog
Is the Four Loko/FTC Settlement on the Rocks?
If you're a regular reader of OpenMarket.org, then you know we at CEI have written quite a bit on the issue of Four Loko.
Blog
CEI Podcast for November 23, 2011: The Most Expensive Regulation of All Time?
What is the single most expensive regulation of all time? Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman has one candidate: the EPA’s proposal to regulate mercury emissions…
Blog
Sen. Hagan Bill Would Expand Accelerated Drug Approval
According to Bloomberg News, North Carolina Democratic Senator Kay Hagan is set to introduce a bill that would create new “progressive”…
Blog
What’s in My Makeup Bag? — Junkscience
The Oregon Environmental Council and the regional government for the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area recently released a survey of young women regarding their personal…
Blog
Smokers’ Opportunity to Quit Smoking Opposed by Blinkered Anti-Tobacco Zealots
As The New York Times' John Tierney notes, a tool to quit smoking and save lives is being blocked by anti-tobacco zealots: If you…
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Obama Administration Contributes to Life-Threatening Drug Shortages Even as it Decries Them
In a recent column, Michelle Malkin explained how Obamacare price controls, FDA and DEA rules, and Obama administration policies have contributed to shortages of…
Blog
Biotechnology’s 29th Anniversary!
Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s and Genentech’s Humulin, making it the first ever fully…
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Hyper-Active Headlines on BPA
The journal Pediatics recently published findings from a research study suggesting that children exposed to the chemical bisphenol A (aka, BPA, which is a…
Blog
Beware of Asking FDA to Change Itself
Every five years, Congress must reauthorize a piece of legislation called the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which gives the…
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FDA Approves Device To Help Doctors Detect Skin Cancer
There's an unusual bit of good news out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In March 2010 and again last November, the…
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Flushing Oral Oncology Drugs Down the Toilet?
An interesting article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (via yesterday's Jerusalem Post) argues that the U.S. Food and…
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The Mythical Benefits of Plastic Bag Bans Debunked
Some municipalities have now imposed taxes or restrictions on plastic shopping bags, even though banning or taxing plastic bags has little effect on litter, and…
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A “Condom Mandate” is No Benefit for Adult Film Actors
I heard the news while driving home from work: a California porn star tested positive for HIV, resulting in a voluntary…
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Who’s Afraid of Snuggles the Bear?
As the East Coast braces to be pummeled by Hurricane Irene, a new study in the Journal Air Quality and Atmosphere…
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EPA-Backed Study: Products Containing BPA Harmless
The US Environmental Protection Agency officially backed a study last week underscores what scientists around the world have been saying for years: BPA is not…
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Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ List Debunked
The Environmental Working Group seems to exist for no other reason than to scare consumers away from the products of modern technology -- and to…
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Weird Healthcare Regulation of the Day: No Coverage for Men With Breast Cancer
"Disease does not discriminate, but apparently Medicaid coverage does. A 26-year-old South Carolina tile-layer has found himself with breast cancer and out of luck for…
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Obamacare Costs Additional $50 Billion a Year More Than Predicted, Based on Yet Another False Assumption in Calculating its Costs
“Federal payments required by President Barack Obama’s health care law are being understated by as much as $50 billion per year because official budget forecasts…
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The Limits of Government-Funded Psychology: 9/11 Counseling Backfires
After school shootings, psychologists fan out and provide “grief counseling” to student bodies, but it’s far from clear that this does any good. Critics say…
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Stop Messing with My Daughter’s Happy Meal!
There are apples and other fruit sitting around my house, and my four-year-old daughter can eat an apple anytime. By contrast, she seldom gets to…
Blog
More Confusion on Breast Cancer Screening
When the federal government's Preventive Services Task Force recommended in November 2009 that most women under age 50 should stop having regular…
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Killed by Regulations: New Century Brewing, RIP
Add another name to the list of the dead as a result of actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I certainly feel a…
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Scientific American Busts Organic Food Myths
Over at the Scientific American magazine blogs, science writer Christie Wilcox takes on some of the mythology surrounding organic foods, including the…