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
The SCRUB Act: Washing away Washington’s regulatory grime
The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act, introduced today by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), is a key step …
Blog
Trump executive order puts independent agencies on a leash
President Trump’s new executive order, “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” marks a major shift in regulatory oversight by bringing independent agencies…
Blog
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…
Search Posts
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…
Washington Examiner
No Fun in Australia
The Washington Examiner features Michelle Minton's research on the regulatory burden in Australia as a warning to the US. Michelle Minton for the…
Blog
Congress Gets Some Common Sense on Nutritional Disclosure
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…
Blog
Overregulation Turns Sydney into International “Laughing Stock”
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…
News Release
CEI Statement on Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act
The House today passed the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (HR2017). CEI consumer policy expert Michelle Minton praised this common sense plan. “The…
Blog
House Committee Narrowly Approves Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Deadly E-Cigarette Science Denialism
Following three government reports in the 1980s highlighting the low cabin air quality caused by cigarette smoking and the health risks of passive smoke,…
Inside Sources
Bipartisan Bill Allows Government to Continue Salt Experiment on Kids
In the scientific community, it is a breach of professional ethics to conduct research on people without their informed consent. But not for the federal…
Blog
House Votes This Week on Common Sense Nutritional Disclosure Bill
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…
Blog
CDC Alcohol and Pregnancy Scare Tactics Backfire
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…
Blog
Zika Wake-Up Call
The spread of the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus should be yet another wake-up call for public officials around the world. As a relatively new threat, Zika has…
Comment
Regulatory Comments on Rulemaking on Products Containing Organohalogen Flame Retardants
Full Document Available in PDF I offer these comments on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free-market public policy organization…
Blog
CDC Sodium Reduction Efforts: Helpful or Harmful?
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…
Blog
Milk, Saturated Fat, and Why You Shouldn’t Take Nutrition Advice from Jezebel
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…
Blog
New Dietary Guidelines: Some Improvements but Also Fatal Flaws
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…
Blog
Craft Brewers “Selling Out” Is Good For Craft Beer Fans
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…
Blog
The Good the Bad and the Big: Top 3 Consumer Policy Stories of 2015
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:…
Blog
Holiday Liquor Laws: Where to Buy Your Christmas Cup of Cheer
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…
Inside Sources
Holiday Toy Safety: Common Sense Trumps Activist Advice
For Inside Sources, Angela Logomasini writes on the seasonal overactive alarmism around chemicals in children’s toys: If you believe the U.S. Public Interest…
Heartland Institute
Harassment of Scientists Threatens Independent Research, Science Journal Warns
Heartland Institute discusses criticism of biotechnology scientists with Greg Conko. Greg Conko, executive director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says the attacks on…
Blog
Congressional Committee Favors State-Based Legalization of Online Gambling
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…
Washington Examiner
Congress should reject crony casino-ism
The Washington Examiner reports on CEI's work to oppose the "Restoration of America's Wire Act" (RAWA). Groups like the FreedomWorks, the Competitive…
The Heartland Institute
State Lawmakers Call Foul on Daily Fantasy Football
Heartland Institute discusses with Michelle Minton the impact of regulating and restricting fantasy sports betting. Michelle Minton, a consumer policy fellow at the…
Blog
Deck Stacked at House Oversight Committee Hearing on Internet Gambling
Tomorrow the House Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Casino in Every Smartphone – Law Enforcement Implications,” to discuss…
Austin American-Statesman
No sports betting should be a crime
If you have watched any football during the NFL season, you probably saw an advertisement for DraftKings or FanDuel. Part of the rapidly expanding industry…
Blog
Repealed 82 Years Ago, the Spirit of Prohibition Lives On
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…
Palm Beach Post
Fantasy sports betting isn’t a federal crime
If you have watched any football during the NFL season, you probably saw an advertisement for DraftKings or FanDuel. Part of the rapidly expanding industry…
Blog
3 Political Food Developments to Be Thankful For
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…
Blog
House Commerce Committee Approves “Pizza” Bill to Ease Onerous Calorie Labeling Rule
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…
Washington Free Beacon
Obamacare Regulations Target Breweries Making Craft Beer
The Washington Free Beacon discusses with Michelle Minton the impact Obamacare Regulations will have on restaurants and breweries. “It doesn’t make sense for…
Blog
Should a Billionaire Decide Where Pennsylvanians Can Gamble?
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…
Blog
Daily Fantasy Sports Betting: Gambling or Game of Skill?
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…
Real Clear Policy
Obamacare vs. Beer
Michelle Minton, in an article for Real Clear Policy, discusses the implications a provision in the Affordable Care Act may have on the craft brewing…
Blog
Federal Menu Laws Need Some Common Sense
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…
Blog
Halloween Not So Scary for Parents
When it comes to Halloween these days, it seems that parents scare more easily than their children. For the past 15 years, I have checked…
Blog
The Real Question about Fantasy Sports Gambling the GOP Debate Missed
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…
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…
Blog
Drinking in the Dark
Bellion Vodka has one strange website. Bellion claims to be “the next step in the evolution of spirits” and “a smarter way to drink.” Its…
Heartland
Businesses Flow to Illinois to Avoid Wisconsin Beer Laws
Heartland Institute references Michelle Minton in an article discussing Prohibition Era regulations on restaurants and pubs. Competitive Enterprise Institute Fellow Michelle Minton says…
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
What Will a Chaffetz Speakership Mean for Internet Freedom? Part 2
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…
Blog
The Death of RAWA: A Performance for an Audience of One
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…
News Release
Cutting Through the BPA Danger Hype
In “Government’s Unfounded War on BPA,” a paper released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), author Angela Logomasini explains how the taxpayer-funded scare…
Blog
On Added Sugars, Canada Gets Right What the U.S. Got Wrong
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…
Study
Government’s Unfounded War on BPA
During the past decade, the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) has become a target of environmental activists who make a host of unfounded claims about the…
MedPage Today
Do FDA’s Fast-Track Reviews Skimp on Important Data?
MedPage Today talks to CEI's Sam Kazman on FDA approval issues: But Sam Kazman, JD, general counsel at the pro-business Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Has Plain Packaging Reduced Tobacco Consumption?
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…
Blog
Fantasy Sports Betting Isn’t a Federal Crime, as No Sports Betting Should Be
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…
Blog
Proposed Food Label Change Could Make Us Fatter and Sicker
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…
Blog
Time to Throw out Michelle Obama’s Lunch Program?
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…
Blog
Drinkers Give More than They Take
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…
