From foods and agriculture, to pharmaceuticals and medical care, to consumer products and automobile safety, few policy issues are as important to the public as the regulation of health and safety. People often rely on government regulators to assure the safety and quality of many of the products they use and consume, but government regulation can often compromise safety, quality, affordability, and choice if it focuses on a fear-driven activist agenda rather than basic principles of science and risk-balancing. Too often, the government’s regulatory agenda favors politically expedient outcomes over those that would actually promote safety and availability. Safety and health regulations should be designed with maximum flexibility to allow producers to use the production methods and labeling information that best meets their customers’ demands.

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Air Bags

Air bags were one of my first issues when I began working in public interest law twenty years ago. I had just started as…

Health and Safety

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Rachel Was Wrong

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring ushered in an era of national concern over the potential effects of synthetic chemicals. Published in 1962, Carson's book suggested that…

Chemical Risk