The Competitive Enterprise Institute believes the proper role for government is to provide consumers with accurate, unbiased guidance that informs consumer choice. But, whether it is the substances we prefer, how we entertain ourselves, what dietary habits we maintain, or how we pursue personal health, consumers ought to have the right to make decisions for themselves.
Consumer Freedom Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Quartz tariffs are looming and your kitchen could pay the price
Earlier this week, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that increased quartz imports are injuring the domestic quartz industry. The petitioners, the Quartz…
Blog
Illiberalism: The bipartisan tradition
After experiencing the horrors of World War I and fearing a second World War could be imminent, Ludwig von Mises wrote Liberalism: The Classical…
Blog
The Senate housing bill’s road to socialism
In the last week of February, I expressed hope that members of Congress would “embrace free-market proposals to advance opportunities in the housing sector”…
Search Posts
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
The House Considers Legalizing Online Gambling
Defenders of online gambling testified before the House today to beg for their right to gamble legally. Poker Players Alliance Chairman (and former U.S.
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Ale-oween Edition
National: Phusion Projects, the makers of the now-infamous alcoholic energy drink Four Loko, have reportedly reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Blog
Senate Bill Would Further Undermine Due Process on Campus
Historically, most colleges used a "clear and convincing" evidence standard in student and faculty discipline cases, to safeguard due process. As Nicholas Trott Long noted in…
Op-Eds
Seeing Double Regulation
When asked to name the most controversial medical issues of the day, few people would pick eye care. However, in the past half-century, eye…
Blog
Public Interest Groups Challenge Misleading Government Information Used to Justify Ethanol Mandates and Subsidies
Recently, ActionAid USA and CEI filed a correction request under the Data Quality Act targeting misleading claims made by the EPA regarding the effects…
Blog
Alcohol Myths Persist Beyond Prohibition
In a recent article for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, I make the case that many elements of Prohibition did not fade away…
Op-Eds
New Tax on Jack Daniel’s Could Come Back to Haunt Company Town
About an hour and a half drive south of Nashville is the small town of Lynchburg, Tenn. You probably haven’t heard of it unless you’re…
Op-Eds
Let States Legalize Online Gambling to Stimulate the Economy
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—the Super Committee—is soon expected to present its proposals to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion. There is speculation…
Blog
Protectionism is not a Constitutional Principle
Last week, the National Beer Wholesalers Association President Craig Purser, who happens to be a former colleague of mine, had an article in The…
Washington Times
Wholesale Deception
Beer wholesalers contend that alcohol legislation they are pushing on Capitol Hill would safeguard state and local rights – but in reality, it is…
Washington Times
Do Cosmetics Really Cause Cancer?
Washington Times
The EWG Provides Food for (No) Thought
Study
The True Story of Cosmetics
Many environmental groups want to rid the world of synthetic chemicals. Now they are at war with your makeup.
Blog
White House Involved in FDA Approval of Genetically Engineered Salmon?
A couple of days ago, Talking Points Memo's Jim Kozubek reported that the Food and Drug Administration had finally decided to…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: October 7, 2011
National: A Supreme Court decision is being heralded as potentially liberating the advertising market for tobacco and alcohol as it expands first amendment protections…
Free Republic
Present Day Prohibition
Blog
University of Wisconsin Administrators Violate the First Amendment to Silence Dissent and Criticism
Wisconsin college administrators attacked the First Amendment this week, both by censoring a professor's poster and criticism of fascism, and by inciting a flash mob…
Free Republic
Present Day Prohibition
The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. ~Albert Einstein If you’ve ever seen a Ken…
Blog
Judge Censors Speech About Affirmative Action and Fraud in Racial Set-Asides
Political "commentator Andrew Bolt 'was found guilty Wednesday of breaking Australian discrimination law by implying that fair-skinned Aborigines chose to identify as indigenous for…
Blog
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…
Mackinac Center
200-Proof Readings to Accompany Ken Burns’ ‘Prohibition’
Blog
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…
Blog
U.S. Government Responsible for So-Called Gambling Ponzi Scheme
This week U.S. investigators accused Full Tilt, the online gambling website, which was shut down during the black Friday raids of being a “Ponzi scheme.”…
Blog
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…
Blog
Phony Breast Cancer Group’s Phony Findings on BPA
Activists at the Breast Cancer Fund are scheduled to release a new scaremongering “study” on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) tomorrow,…
Blog
Some Commercial Crew Questions For NASA
One of the great controversies of the new space policy announced last year was the intent of NASA to turn over the transportation of cargo…
Blog
Obama Justice Department’s Double Standard on Hate Crimes
The Obama administration has a double standard on hate crimes. When the victim is black or Hispanic, they prosecute the alleged offender. When the…
Mackinac Center
Durbin’s Bill Is Dietary Paternalism
This article was co-authored with Paul Hsieh, M.D., co-founder of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine. “You can’t have that. It’s not good for you.”…
Blog
State Losing Control of Pennsylvania Liquor
Privatizing Pennsylvania's liquor stores has been a subject of debate for decades. Proposals in the past have been met with fear about the effects privatization…
http://cei.org/sites/default/files/BNA 9 9 2011.pdf
Even Modest White House Plan on Efficiency Said Likely to Face Republican Opposition
Blog
Time To End Apollo Redux
Over at Cosmic Log, the blog of MSNBC science correspondent Alan Boyle, there is an interview with me based on a…
Blog
The Inconsistencies of Food Nannyism: Are Potatoes Worse Than Soda?
The federal government has rejected a proposal from New York’s Mayor to exclude sugar-sweetened drinks from the food stamp program. But the government…
Blog
NASA’s Costly Risk Aversion
Over at Pajamas Media this past weekend, I describe the current travails of the International Space Station in the wake of…
http://cei.org/sites/default/files/BNA 9 9 2011.pdf
Is Apollo’s Past Spoiling Our Future in Outer Space?
Blog
Dear Labor, Don’t Fear the Robot
In California, a war is quietly being fought: workers versus technology. And the war has materialized in the form of a bill that seeks…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: September 2, 2011
I'm back from the West Coast with another (hoppier) edition of the Alcohol Regulation Roundup, a collection of stories about our nations constantly changing, sometimes…
Blog
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…
Reason
Mandating Condoms?
Tiny Nibbles
Gaga Pantyless, Circumcision Rates Down, Sex Work Declared Slavery, Kim Kardashian [Sex News]
News Max - Health
Critics Warn Supplements Bill Is FDA ‘Power Grab
West and Firm
Minton: The Coming War on Vitamins
Blog
Regulation of the Day 196: Babysitting
This bill will result in a lot of unhappy nights at home for frustrated parents – and a lot less income for sitters who have…
Blog
Despite D.C. Legalization of Online Poker, Players Leave USA
It is perhaps a little ironic that the most vocal opponents of online poker will soon be the only people in the USA who can…
West and Firm
Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?
As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, news stations bombard our televisions with constant updates from the National Hurricane Center. While Americans ought…
West and Firm
End the War on Salt
Blog
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…
Blog
Lemonade Freedom Day Is Tomorrow
Tomorrow, parents and children across the country will set up lemonade stands in their neighborhoods. And they’re going to do it without getting licensed, inspected,…
PJ Media
Fast Food Outlet in Pickle as Activists Attack Foam Cups
Remember when most “to-go” coffee came in convenient, insulated foam cups? Remember when McDonald’s served food in foam clamshells that kept your meal nice…
PJ Media
Let’s Put a Stop to the War on Salt
First Lady Michelle Obama has been lobbying strongly this year for food manufacturers to reduce the sodium content of their products. Her efforts scored a…
PJ Media
BPA Law Should Be Canned
Advocates on opposing sides of a public policy issue often have honest differences of opinion, with both viewpoints being plausible. It is the stuff of…
Washington Times
Questionable Motives Behind Supplement Bill
Washington Times
Medical Magellans
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules are supposedly intended to ensure the safety and efficacy of new drugs and medical devices. It is FDA’s technology…
Blog
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…
Blog
Alcohol Regulatory Round-up: August 11th 2011
Federal: A proposed bill, Brewer's Employment and Excise Relief Act, would reduce the federal excise taxes for craft brewers in order to help them…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 11, 2011: Lemonade Freedom Day
Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray talks about the rash of children's lemonade stands being shut down by police, and his plans to celebrate Lemonade…
Blog
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…
Reason
The High Cost of Low Fuel Bills
Blog
Schools Use “Bullying” as a Pretext to Violate Students’ Rights to Free Association and Freedom of Speech
In a small but growing number of schools, you have to invite all the kids in your child's class to her birthday party, even if…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 194: Facebook Friends
Missouri has a new law that bans teachers from becoming Facebook friends with any current or former student. The goal is to prevent inappropriate…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Washington Times
Mislabeling Supplements Does a Disservice
Blog
Regulation of the Day 192: Fire Extinguishers
Britain has a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. It isn’t quite living up to its name, though. The group is pressing to ban…
Blog
TSA Saves Country from Diabetic, Pregnant Terrorist
They allowed her to take through her needles and syringes. But they confiscated her insulin, claiming it was an explosives risk.
Products
Fred Smith and Michael Jacobson discuss proposed legislation to fight obesity on CNBC Capital Report
BODY: GLORIA BORGER, co-host: And welcome back to CAPITAL REPORT. The FDA is looking for ways to combat the exploding rate of obesity in…
Blog
Nutella Wars
In a few weeks, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California will hear arguments in a consumer lawsuit against Ferrero, the maker…
Blog
August 20 Is Lemonade Freedom Day
Robert Fernandes, a father of two, has had enough. That's why he has declared August 20, 2011 to be Lemonade Freedom Day.
Blog
Police Shut Down Another Rogue Lemonade Stand
Abigail Krutsinger, 4, never applied for a permit and a health inspection.
Blog
Egregious Abuses by Expert Witnesses and Family Courts
The Seattle Times recently featured a special report about a psychological "expert witness" who destroyed countless lives in the court cases in which…
Comment
Comments on the ATF Proposed Rule Regarding Health Claims in Labeling Alcohol Beverages
ATF’s notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to prohibit what it deems misleading statements about the health benefits of alcohol consumption from appearing on alcoholic beverage…
News Release
Award-Winning Space Policy Expert Rand Simberg Joins CEI as Adjunct Scholar
Washington, DC, August 2, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce space policy expert Rand Simberg has joined CEI as an…
Study
Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 191: Sippy Cups
New York’s state legislature just passed a bill requiring warning labels to be put on all sippy cups sold in the state.
Blog
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…
News Max
Now Gov’t Trying to Ban Sale of Your Supplements
Citation
CEI Blasts CARE Act
Blog
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
Regulation of the Day 189: Naming Your Baby
New Zealand’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has a list of names that are verboten for newborn babies.
National Center for Policy Analysis
Special Interest at Heart of CARE Act
National Center for Policy Analysis
The Coming War on Vitamins
A consumer walking down the aisle of a local drugstore can choose from a wide variety of supplements, vitamins and nutrients for his or her…
Blog
High Food Prices: Another Reason To Get Rid Of Farm Handouts
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article highlights another reason why farm subsidies need to be put to rest. Land…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 187: Pedicabs
The DC City Council wants to require pedicab passengers to wear seatbelts.
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…
Study
A CARE-less Rush to Regulate Alcohol
Wine, beer, and spirit wholesalers have a long history of employing state laws to secure a guaranteed slice of the market. Recent court cases have…
Blog
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…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 186: Missing Children
Covington, Kentucky police ordered a grieving grandmother to take down fliers of her missing granddaughter from city property.
Blog
Flirting with Austerity: Congress Considers Ending Agriculture Direct Payment Subsidies
Finally. After several years of persistence, it looks like the movement to reform the agriculture direct payments system is finally gaining some momentum. It…
Blog
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…
Blog
Free Speech versus Compelled Praise for Diversity
Can the government force those it licenses to parrot its praise for "diversity"? The Colorado Department of Human Services Child Care Division thinks so, issuing…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 185: How to Wear Pants
Collinsville, Illinois officials know that when you look good, you feel good. That’s why they are now regulating the height at which people shall wear…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: July 19, 2011
California: In an attempt to lower the rates of minors drinking alcohol, a bill is being pushed that would prevent grocery store patrons from…
Blog
Another Shot at Pennsylvania Liquor Privatization
Ah, Pennsylvania: home sweet home. The state known for its soft pretzels, Hershey’s chocolate and Sylvester Stallone statues. Unfortunately, it has also…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 184: Picking up Dog Poop
A Vienna, Austria man was recently jailed for not picking up after his Great Danes.
Blog
British Social Workers Tear Apart Happy Families, Seize Children from Loving Parents
In Britain, social workers and child-protective services are tearing apart happy families, and seizing children from loving parents "for no good reason," notes Christopher…
Big Government
Unnecessary Government Intervention
Blog
Liquor Wholesaler Domination in Washington, D.C.
Terroirist blogger David White has posted a good commentary on the Specialty Wine Retailers Association report on alcohol wholesaler spending: “Toward…
Blog
NYC Bureaucrat Tries to Harsh Urban Apiarist’s Buzz for Not “Watering” Beehive
Although New York City reversed its position on urban beekeeping in Spring 2010 and legalized the practice, there are apparently still some government employees with…
