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This week in ridiculous regulations: flax revenue and female test dummies
President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs. At this point it is uncertain how they would be implemented. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from butterfat testing to…
Blog
Why Europe’s ‘Farm to Fork’ policies collapsed
The new European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, will soon be tasked with “simplifying” agricultural regulations within the Union. “The Commission is…
The Federalist Society
Federal Court Recognizes Limits to Federal Power Over At-Home Distilling
What are the limits of the federal government’s powers? That critical question has been debated since the nation’s Founding, and a recent federal court decision…
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Blog
Slate Exposes Deceitful Heart of the Anti-GMO Movement
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.
Blog
More Unintelligible Gibberish on GMO Risks from Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A few months ago, statistician and risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb, known mostly for his intriguing 2007 book The Black Swan, teamed up with a handful…
The Washington Examiner
Junk science = garbage policy
The Washington Examiner cites CEI`s Greg Conko on junk science and food regulations: Greg Conko is from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market…
The Heartlander
FDA Bans Trans Fats
The Heartlanderquotes CEI`s Michelle Minton on the FDA ban on trans fats: Michelle Minton, a Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Federal Witch Hunt Successfully Bans Trans Fats
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…
Fox News
National Doughnut Day: Have a doughnut (or two) for freedom
Friday is national Doughnut Day (or “donut” if you’re a Dunkin’ loyalist). Celebrated the first Friday of June, it might seem like a simple promotion…
Blog
Raise a Glass to Lower Taxes
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…
Blog
Not So Fast: Fatally Flawed Research Asserts Alcohol Taxes Save Lives
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…
Blog
Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?
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…
Blog
Arsenic in Wine: Dangerous or Beneficial?
Dan Nosowitz in Modern Farmer offers some insights on the recent class action lawsuit filed against California winemakers. The plaintiffs found that some inexpensive wines contained arsenic at levels…
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
Study Shows Health Benefits of Moderate Alcohol Consumption
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!…
Blog
Could the FDA’s New Calorie-Count Mandate Harm Winemakers?
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…
CNS News
Consumers to Pay the Price for State Environmental Regulations
Consumers could soon face higher prices, reduced choices and lower-quality products, thanks to a slew of chemical regulations that are advancing in various states. These…
Blog
TTIP: Another Step in the (Lack of) Evolution in EU Trade Agreements
As the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) approaches an eighth round of negotiations between the United States and the European Union, the debate regarding…
Blog
How the “Stupid” American Public Pays for Gruber’s Deception
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…
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
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
Cops to Destroy Rare Wine Collection in Pennsylvania
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…
DC Beer
Could Prohibition Still Be Slowing the Craft Beer Boom?
Originally published on DC Beer This week marks the sixth year bars, brewers, distributors and other beer enthusiasts will come together to celebrate the…
Study
Food and You: Feeding The World With Modern Agricultural Biotechnology
This study was originally published at the American Council on Science and Health, coauthored with Martina Newell-McGloughlin and Bruce Chassy. Read…
Baltimore Sun
Are Tax Dollars Paying for Anti-Alcohol Advocacy?
This month, Maryland banned high-proof liquors like Everclear and other inexpensive tipples. Self-proclaimed public health activists claimed such "high octane" liquors increased the likelihood of…
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
FDA’s Trans Fat “Ban” a First Foray into Controlling Americans’ Diets
Last November, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its plan to revoke the “Generally Recognized As Safe” designation for partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs),…
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
FDA’s Salt Phobia a Waste of Money
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…
Washington Times
Inflamed Debate Over A Soda Additive
A recent announcement by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo that these companies are pulling the ingredient brominated vegetable oil (BVO) out of their soft drinks is no big…
Heartland Institute
Bill Would Force Florida Brewers to Pay Distributors for Their Own Beer
Michelle Minton, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Fellow who specializes in alcohol regulation, said although all the states but Washington have a “three-tiered” system for alcohol…
Baltimore Sun
No One Cards At Starbucks
In Maryland, as in other states, consumers need to show ID when buying alcohol or tobacco products. Energy drinks could be added to that list…
Wall Street Journal
Non-GMO Cheerios Add No Value
Alisa Gravitz, responding (letters, Feb. 4) to our " General Mills GIS +0.46% Has a Soggy Idea for Cheerios" (op-ed, Jan. 21), is wrong on…
Biotech Now
Cheerios Labeling “Has Emboldened, Not Appeased, Anti-technology Activists”
There continues to be buzz in the media over General Mills’s January 2 announcement to source its original Cheerios’ tiny amount of sugar and corn…
Wall Street Journal
General Mills Has A Soggy Idea For Cheerios
This month General Mills announced that it would begin labeling its flagship product, the breakfast cereal Cheerios, as containing no ingredients from GMOs (genetically modified…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Refresh Pa. beer laws
For beer lovers in Pennsylvania, good news may be on the horizon. Laws on the books since the end of Prohibition that make it more…
Human Events
Don’t let the Nanny State ruin holiday feasts
In the musical “Oliver!” the opening scene features the protagonist and his band of merry miscreants crying, “Food, glorious food!” The orphans then proceed…
News Release
Pennsylvania May Lead the Nation in Liberating Beer (From Prohibition Era “Franchise Laws”)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 – Pennsylvania could lead the nation in reforming anti-competitive, Prohibition-era restrictions on beer distribution, and the benefits would flow to brewers large…
Study
Prohibition Hangover Cure for Keystone State Brewers
Full Document Available in PDF Pennsylvania could lead the nation in reforming anti-competitive,…
Human Events
Beer industry is important — and overtaxed
The Competitive Enterprise Institute points out that the beer industry in America supports more than 1 million jobs and $1 billion in economic activity. Here in…
KTIC Radio
Defeat Of Food Labeling Measure Was a ‘Mini Tax Revolt’ Analyst Says
"The mandate would have imposed a 'tax' on a perfectly safe technology that some activists object to on purely philosophical grounds," said Gregory Conko, CEI's…
Study
BEER and Small BREW Can Be Good for You
America’s beer industry directly supports over 1 million jobs and nearly $100 billion in economic activity. However, the entire beer industry still faces the burden…
News Release
Is More Beer Production Only a Tax Cut Away?
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – Originally instituted as a way to pay back America’s debts from the Civil War, excise taxes on beer continue to dampen…
Washington Post
Letter to the Editor: Consumers have help in identifying non-bioengineered foods
In his Oct. 19 letter on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Tom Natan stated that “the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow foods…
Washington Post
Cuts can be made, but politicians have to want to make them
The program costs $9 billion annually and really should be eliminated since crop insurance is commercially available. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, even a…
Breitbart
Study Discovers Problems With Parenting, Not Energy Drinks
More than half of all calls to Poison Control resulting from energy drinks involve accidental exposure by children under age six, according to a new…
Daily Caller
Today it’s ‘nudge squads,’ tomorrow it’s enforcement
It’s not yet true that the White…
Letters
Coalition for Sugar Reform’s “Sweet Facts”
Full Document Available in PDF Leading Free Market Advocates Say “Zero—for—Zero” Makes ZERO Sense • CATO Institute: “… [T]he sugar lobby, and…
Daily Caller
Is ‘zero for zero’ a sugar industry ploy?
The U.S. sugar lobby is promoting a supposedly free market idea: to get rid of the U.S. sugar support program if Brazilian producers give up…