Tag: tobacco
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Roles of Individual Choice and Regulation in Public Health Debates Target of Northeastern University Event
“Conflicts between individual choice and collective action underlie many of the most contested and challenging debates relating to health and health care, from the very existence of Obamacare to government responses to the obesity and tobacco epidemics,” according to promotional materials for an April 15, 2016, conference on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston.…
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Food Addiction Beliefs Drive Support for Obesity-Related Initiatives
New research reportedly suggests that belief in food addiction translates into support for obesity-related policies, “even when accounting for the significant associations of age, gender and political party.” Erica Schulte, et al., “Belief in Food Addiction and Obesity-Related Policy Support,” PLoS One, January 2016. Relying on the responses of 200 individuals recruited through Amazon Mechanical…
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Former NYC Health Commissioner Pens Viewpoint on Media’s Role in Altering Consumer Behaviors
Former New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, who now leads The Public Good Projects, has authored a viewpoint in JAMA Internal Medicine that encourages the use of mass media advertising to promote healthy behaviors. Titled “Mass Diseases, Mass Exposures, and Mass Media,” the article highlights the success of mass media campaigns aimed at smoking…
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CSPI Executive Director Pens Article Linking “Big Food” and “Big Tobacco”
“Food is not tobacco… But the public health community is concerned about both diet and tobacco use for a very good reason,” writes Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Executive Director Michael Jacobson in a June 2, 2015, Huffington Post blog post claiming that both industries “share some common bloodlines.” Jacobson claims that…
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How Far Can Government Go in Forcing Manufacturers to Tell Consumers “Don’t Buy This Product”?
A divided D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that the graphic antismoking images which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) selected for placement on cigarette packages for the purpose of reducing smoking rates in the United States fail the intermediate scrutiny standard for compelled commercial speech. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. FDA, No. 11-5332…
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Will Plain Cigarette Packs in Australia Lead to Similar Food-Packaging Restrictions?
In the wake of an Australian High Court ruling validating regulations requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packages, some commentators are speculating whether other products, such as alcoholic beverages and fast food, will be subject to the same types of restrictions. The opinion, penned by Patrick Carlyton, suggests that because alcoholism and obesity also…
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PLoS Medicine Kicks Off Series on “Big Food,” Calls for Investigation
The journal PLoS Medicine has published two articles and an editorial in a “major new series” on “Big Food” in this week’s issue, and will publish five additional related articles over the next two weeks. The editorial notes that the articles, focusing on “the role in health of Big Food, which we define as the…
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Analysts Suggest Parallels Between Soft Drink and Cigarette Companies
A March 27, 2012, “Great Speculations” column on Forbes.com draws parallels between carbonated soft drink (CSD) companies and the tobacco industry, claiming that a recent decline in CSD consumption in the United States has created a competitive market environment similar to that faced by cigarette manufacturers. Authored by contributors from Trefis.com, an investment and market…