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
California’s $20 fast food worker minimum wage a regressive tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who wanted…
Blog
FDA makes lab test power play
The Food and Drug Administration has just released its long anticipated final rule that explicitly asserts its claim of authority to regulate laboratory-developed-tests (LDTs)—tests that are designed, manufactured,…
Blog
Department of Energy is coming after our light bulbs – again
We have already said goodbye to the incandescent light bulb, thanks to federal regulations. Will its replacement be next? Department of Energy (DOE) efficiency regulations…
Search Posts
Blog
Free to Prosper: Top Priorities for the 114th Congress
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new congressional…
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
Besting a Billionaire: How a Grassroots Campaign Stopped a Ban on Internet Gambling
This week we get to say goodbye to the 113th Congress. For those who believe in free markets and individual liberty, it was a doozy.
Letters
Coalition Letter with American Conservative Union Opposing Restoration of America’s Wire Act
Read the full coalition letter here "The clear intent of the legislation is to overturn the decisions of nearly a dozen states…
Letters
Coalition Letter with Americans for Tax Return Opposing the Restoration of America’s Wire Act
View the full coalition letter here "While RAWA supporters contend that this legislation is a simple fix to 53 year old Wire…
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…
The Washington Post
John Berlau Reviews “Consumer Credit and the American Economy”
The Washington Post cites CEI`s John Berlau on Consumer Credit and American Economy: John Berlau of the Competitive…
Statesman
John Berlau Reviews “Consumer Credit and the American Economy”
The Statesman cites CEI`s John Berlau on Consumer Credit and American Economy: John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Fraternal Order of Police Once Again Opposes Internet Gambling Ban
Once again, the Fraternal Order of Police expressed their staunch opposition to a federal prohibition on Internet gambling. In a letter sent to Sens. Harry Reid…
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
Adelson’s Online Gambling Ban Losing Political Steam
It was a bad week for Sheldon Adelson. The billionaire casino owner has said he’ll spend whatever it takes to stop the spread of legal…
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
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…
The New Republic
Let Chris Christie Legalize Sports Gambling. It Won’t Ruin the Game.
Last Friday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill legalizing sports gambling in his state. Casinos and racetracks began preparing to…
Pittsburgh Courier
Online Gambling Ban Does Nothing to Protect Consumers
Wellington Webb says gambling ensnares “naïve and foolish” people who think they can strike it rich. But how is legal online gambling any more of…
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.
News Release
Fight Over Online Gambling Pits Consumer Freedom, States Rights Against Federal Regulation
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 – Members of Congress are attempting to use a 1960s-era law governing organized crime and sports betting to regulate one of the…
Study
The Wire Act and Implications for State-Based Legalization of Internet Gambling
More than 30 years after the original Federal Wire Act, members of Congress seek to use it to stop the rise of casino-style gambling on…
Blog
Must Every Product in the World Be Safe Enough for Children?
The New York Times reported Friday on the David-and-Goliath battle of businessman Shihan Qu, the last of the rare earth magnet renegades. Mr. Qu’s…
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)…
The Hill
Black Markets Do Not Protect Minorities
Originally published at The Hill Former Denver mayor Wellington Webb argues in a Sept. 14 op-ed in The Hill that legalized online gambling would…
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…
Blog
Newsweek’s Cover Story on Internet Gambling Plays Fast and Loose with Facts
Newsweek’s recent cover article on online gambling, “How Washington Opened the Floodgates to Online Poker, Dealing Parents a Bad Hand,” by Leah McGrath Goodman,…
Town Hall
Republicans Seek to “Restore” an Online Gambling Ban that Never Existed
Republicans generally oppose federal encroachment on policy matters traditionally left to the states. SO why is Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex) alone among his GOP House…
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…
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…
The Freeman
A Petition from the Booksellers
To the Parliament of France, Gentlemen, you are on the right track. Time and again you have shown your willingness to defend the humble French…
Forbes
Greens’ Attempt To Ban Bisphenol A Will Endanger Public Health
Thanks to green alarmism, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) recently introduced the “Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2014,” which would eliminate the chemical Bisphenol A from…
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
CEI Podcast for July 10, 2014: The Wire Act and Online Gambling
Michelle Minton argues that the Wire Act applies only to interstate sports gambling, not online gambling as a whole. The Wire Act's 50-year history…
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…
The Hill
Green Group’s Unscientific Attack on Soap
NRDC claims that triclosan, the active ingredient in antibacterial soaps, disrupts human thyroid functioning, but that assertion is based on a shoddy study in which…
Blog
One Year Later: TSA Still Flouting the Law on Body Scanners
CEI Research Associate Matthew La Corte contributed to this article. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) uses more than 700 full-body imaging scanners in 160 airports nationwide.
Blog
Distracted by Paranoia, Obama Administration to Regulate Map Apps?
A story in The New York Times is making the rounds about an Obama administration proposal to clarify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) authority to…
Blog
Good News and Bad News about Honeybees
News stories related to honeybee health the past few weeks are all over the map. Some headlines claim that new research proves that honeybees are…
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
House Intel Committee Chair Ignores Report Calling NSA Surveillance Illegal
At a recent event titled “A Statesman Forum on Cybersecurity Policy and Diplomacy” at George Washington University, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)…
Blog
Are My Ten Thousand Command “Mints” to Be Regulated?
The Food and Drug Administration FDA wants to regulate serving size of breath mints. That's right. This rule was issued March 2014:…
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…
Blog
Reihan Salam’s Argument for Alcohol “Prohibition Lite” Doesn’t Hold Water
In Slate recently, Reihan Salam argued that as America eases up on the criminalization of marijuana use it ought to consider ramping up the war…
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.