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Free the Economy podcast: Drug costs and benefits with Sally Pipes
In this week’s episode we cover reforms to the Endangered Species Act, attacks on US tech firms, nuclear power innovation,…

National Review
Telehealth Is Less Promising Than It First Seemed
A key issue facing Congress in its postelection, “lame duck” session is whether to extend regulatory flexibilities expiring at year end that make telehealth services more…

City Journal
The FTC Jettisons Economics—and Law
The Federal Trade Commission is stepping up its pursuit of its new favorite bogeyman: Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Two months ago, the FTC issued an …
Search Posts
Real Clear Policy
Federal Pot Prohibition Nears its End
America has made up its mind on marijuana. Most Americans think it should be legal, and all but two states have decriminalized or legalized the drug in…
News Release
CEI Report Calls for Elimination of EPA’s Flawed Integrated Risk Information System
A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) shows EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) has significant problems with methodology, relies on…
Study
EPA’s Flawed IRIS Program Is Far from Gold Standard
Environmental activists claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) represents the gold standard for risk assessment.[i] In…
Products
Free to Prosper: Food, Drugs, and Consumer Freedom
View the full chapter on food, drugs, and consumer freedom here Few matters are as important to consumers as the foods they eat, the…
Blog
One Year Later, Federal Plan on Tobacco Harm Reduction Needs Improvement
The Food and Drug Administration has failed to approve a single reduced-harm nicotine product in the past year, despite unveiling a new “roadmap” in…
Blog
Growing Human Organs for Fun and Profit
Our friends at Freethink Media have an excellent new video out about medical innovation—in this case, how a new company is developing…
The Washington Examiner
Trump Keeps His Promise, Dying Patients Get a Second Chance At Life
The Washington Examiner cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute on the direct toll to human life that regulations impose as a result of ever-increasing FDA clinical…
The Hill
‘Right to Try’ Is a Win for Patient Rights and President Trump
The Hill cited the Competitive Enterprise Institute on the overwhelming cost of compliance which taxes the American economy and in this case limits pharmaceutical ingenuity…
Blog
Congress Could Give Desperate Patients ‘Right to Try’ Experimental Medications
The House of Representatives will soon vote on a companion bill to S. 204, the Right to Try Act. This bill would prevent the…
U.S. News & World Report
Don’t Blunt the Marijuana Revolution
U.S. News & World Report covers the coalition letter, led by CEI, advocating for the Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment. America is undergoing a somewhat…
Blog
Ohio Drug Price Initiative Gives Taxpayer Money to Unnecessary Lawyers
Lawyers and allied interest groups have long enriched themselves at taxpayers’ expense. But usually, it has been by bringing lawsuits, not defending them.
VapingPost
In-Flight Vaping Ban Upheld
VapingPost covers CEI’s objection to a DOT vaping ban on airplanes. In another blow to American vapers, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free…
The Hill
The FDA Shouldn’t Give Into Irrational E-Cigarette Fears
The Food and Drug Administration is now on the wrong side of a new anti-vaping campaign. Instead of helping teens reject using tobacco or e-cigarettes,…
Star Tribune
Menthol Limits: Ban Could Close Vaping Escape Hatch for Smokers
Almost half a million people in our country die from smoking-related illnesses every year. But instead of helping people quit, anti-smoking activists seem to prioritize…
The Fix
Vaping Ban Upheld By Federal Court
The Fix discusses the Department of Transportation e-cigarette ban with Sam Kazman. A federal court has stamped out a challenge to the Department of…
Bloomberg
‘No Smoking’ Also Applies to E-Cigarettes on Flights, Court Says
Bloomberg covers a lawsuit CEI filed against the Department of Transportation airplane e-cigarette ban. Vaping is smoking, a federal appeals court ruled, upholding…
The Hill
Court Upholds Obama Rule Banning Vaping on Airplanes
The Hill covers a lawsuit filed by CEI against the Department of Transportation’s airplane vaping ban. A federal appeals court Friday upheld an…
The Wall Street Journal
Courts Rule E-Cigarettes Should Be Regulated Like Tobacco Products
The Wall Street Journal covers a lawsuit filed by CEI challenging the Department of Transportation’s ban on vaping on airplanes. A federal court…
Tyler Morning Telegraph
Editorial: Vaping Saves Lives by Helping Smokers Quit
Tyler Morning Telegraph discusses regulations on vapes with Michelle Minton. Harm reduction is a vital component in public health decisions. That’s why the…
Inside Sources
Health Departments Lobbying Against E-Cigs Are Robbing Taxpayers, Harming Public Health
Inside Sources covers CEI’s support of the FDA Deeming Authority Clarification Act of 2017. As if the Food and Drug Administration’s deeming regulations…
Blog
Hans Rosling, Antidote to Pessimism, Dies at 68
Hans Rosling, the Swedish doctor and professor who saved countless lives in the world’s poorest countries (and gave TED talks), has died of pancreatic cancer.
Blog
Tom Price Should Focus on Reversing ‘Mission Creep’ at HHS
If confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price should reverse decades of mission creep and refocus federal health agencies on their…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Cancer Care, Chaos, and Climate
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Drs. Debra Patt and Kerry Emanuel discuss the politics of cancer care, chaos theory, and climate science.
Blog
Senate Democrats Block Anti-Zika Bill Yet Again
Democrats in the Senate have blocked a bill that would have provided federal funds to combat the spread of the Zika virus, reports The Hill.
Blog
New Drug Price Proposal Light on Competition, Heavy on Bureaucracy
Last Friday, Hillary Clinton announced a new plan to “respond to unjustified price hikes” on certain pharmaceutical drugs.
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: American Indian, EpiPen, and Free Speech Fiascos
In this episode of RealClear Radio Hour, we discuss the fiascos of government overreach and overregulation—on American Indian reservations, in the EpiPen saga, and with…
Blog
CEI Files Opening Brief in “Vapes on a Plane” Lawsuit
Today, CEI filed its opening brief against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary of Transportation’s March final rule prohibiting electronic cigarette…
Blog
Q&A on the FDA’s New E-Cigarette Rules
After years of waiting and fighting, the new rules put forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on electronic cigarettes and other non-cigarette…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: War on Cancer
In this week’s episode of RealClear Radio Hour, we tackle the war on cancer. Disruptive innovators, Stephen Bonner and Paul Davies, confront bureaucracy and big…
Blog
Deflate Drug Prices by Reforming the FDA
This Wednesday, the Senate Select Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on “sudden price spikes” among certain off-patent drugs. The most widely publicized of these…
Blog
A Big Payoff for Patient Investors
There’s a fascinating story in The New York Times this week about pharmaceutical companies and the process of discovering new drugs. Fifteen years ago, the…
Study
Compound Fracture
Drug compounding involves reformulating or repackaging approved medicines to better tailor them to patients’ needs. Adding new federal regulations to further restrict compounding would do…
News Release
A Second Federal Court Green-Lights Lawsuit Against Obamacare
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – A second federal judge Thursday has ruled a lawsuit that challenges a major IRS Obamacare regulation could proceed despite the government’s…
Cheap Over-the-Counter STD Test Turbocharges Casual Sex
Cheap Over-the-Counter STD Test Turbocharges Casual Sex
Imagine you’re a young Millennial prowling for a hookup. It looks like tonight might be your night. But when the magic moment arrives, instead of…
The Hill
State-based drug tracking puts Americans at risk
When consumers take prescription and over-the-counter drugs — as more than half of all Americans do each month — they expect those medicines to improve…
Forbes
Gay Marriage, Polygamy, Bestiality, Abortion, Infanticide, Pot, Foie Gras, Plastic Bags, Big Gulps and Democracy
Consider the following list: 1) Marry someone of your same gender, 2) join a harem, 3) have sex with your donkey, 4) kill your baby the…
Bloomberg
Ignore Hysteria Over New ‘Monsanto’ Bill
Greg Conko, who studies biotech issues for the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, points out that this fear is overblown, since organic standards require farmers to…
Forbes
FTC Drug Meddling Would Needlessly Push Pharmaceutical Costs Higher
Four of every five pharmaceutical prescriptions today are filled with a generic drug. That sounds like a big number, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…
Heartlander
GMO Labeling to Appear on Washington Ballot
Gregory Conko, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says consumers have a right to know if products they purchase have negative health consequences.
News Release
Institute Welcomes Court Ruling on Commercial Free Speech
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 4, 2012 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute applauded the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision yesterday, concluding that the…
Hoover Institution
Free Speech for Big Pharma
One of the most important elements of medicine is also among the least well known: the ability of physicians to prescribe approved medicines for purposes…
Forbes
“Genetically Engineered” In California: A Food Label We Don’t Need
From “food miles” to farmers’ markets, it seems that consumers have never been more interested in the ways their food is grown. That’s one motivation…
Forbes
Labeling Of Genetically Engineered Foods Is A Losing Proposition
As Joe Six-pack munches Fritos and popcorn during the opening games of the NFL season, does he care what variety of corn was used to…
USA Today
FDA rules won’t do much good
Food-borne illnesses kill as many as 3,000 Americans each year, but consumers should not expect new Food and Drug Administration regulations to help. These rules,…
Real Clear Policy
More FDA Control Does Not Mean More Safety
News outlets are reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cited an alarmingly high number of alleged safety and regulatory violations by…
Real Clear Markets
Global Governments’ Growing Embrace of Big Pharma
As the pharmaceutical industry wrestles with multiple existential threats-from price controls to patent cliffs to dwindling pipelines-calls are growing for deeper government-industry cooperation. As private…
Washington Times
High Price of Cheap Drug Imports
With the Senate set to vote on one of the few “must-pass” bills of the year, pharmaceutical industry critics are plotting ways to add poison…
Washington Times
ObamaCare’s Killer Device Tax
Much of the political conversation in Washington these days concerns innovation, job creation and competitiveness. But talk is cheap, and elected officials must enact policies…
Washington Times
The Off-Label Drug War of Words
If knowledge is power and ignorance is bliss, what is power used to prevent knowledge from eliminating ignorance? I don’t know; ask the FDA (U.S.
Heartlander
Critical Drug Shortages Reaching Crisis
From Ashley Bateman's article on Heartland.org: But according to Greg Conko, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, more mandates on companies…