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
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News Release
Disney sues FCC over alleged ‘retaliatory campaign’ against ABC: CEI analysis
Today, Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit against President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in response to the…
News Release
FDA succeeds in approving new flu vaccine: CEI comment
The FDA has approved a flu vaccine made with mRNA technology, the same technology used for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, the company announced on…
Blog
Can Trump proposed rule pull the plug on bad appliance regulations?
Many Americans dislike federal home appliance regulations, perhaps nobody more so than the current White House occupant, who routinely rails against them at his…
Search Posts
Arizona Daily Sun
Lawmakers Who Ban Plastics Talking Trash
The past several years have seen a groundswell of bans on plastics — from plastic bags to foam cups. The rationales for such policies…
Arizona Daily Sun
Freedom Equals Money: New York State Shows how Freedom in Wine Shipping Benefits Consumers and State Coffers
Prior to 2005, several states took a lopsided approach to regulating the shipment of wine within their borders. They allowed in-state wineries and retailers to…
Free Republic
Commentary: Michigan’s Keg Tracking Won’t Stop Underage Drinking
Blog
Cheers to Washington State Voters
Yesterday, Washington State voters passed an initiative to privatize spirit sales and facilitate a more open market. It essentially breaks up the state’s mandatory…
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…
Blog
Liquor Privatization Would Edge Washington State Toward Freedom
Today voters in Washington State will finally have their say in whether or not to get the state out of the business of selling liquor.
Free Republic
Michigan’s Keg Tracking Won’t Stop Underage Drinking
Few people will argue against preventing underage drinking. Michigan’s new keg registration law, however, an attempt to trace the buyers of kegs that end up…
Blog
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
CEI Podcast for November 3, 2011: Scary Makeup
Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini debunks scare stories that chemicals in makeup and other household products cause cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects, and other health problems.
Blog
Washington State Alcohol Intiative Takes on Three-Tier Mandates
Action this Election Day in Washington State may send tremors across America by cracking open the anti-consumer, anti-competitive alcohol regulations in that state. Initiative…
Blog
The War on Ladies’ Night
Let's face it: If you're the proprietor of a bar that caters to a predominantly heterosexual crowd, it's in your financial interest to attract female…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: November 2, 2011
A round up of the interesting booze-related news stories from around the nation. Hint: the two best are at the end. National: Our nation’s…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Election Day Alcohol Tremors?
If you live in Michigan, you can’t order online from wine retailers in other states, at least not if you want the wine shipped…
Blog
New Jersey Voters Likely to Support Legalizing Sports Betting
In just one week, New Jersey voters will have their say on whether or not the state should pursue legalizing sports betting. According to…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Liquor Delivery Changes Needed
While former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver is correct that Prohibition was a failure (“Don’t change state’s liquor delivery system,” Oct. 13), it does…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
Dying to Grow?
We are constantly bombarded with information about the purported risks or protective effects of one or another food, dietary supplement, chemical, drug, or activity. In…
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…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
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…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
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…
Michigan Capitol Confidential
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…
