Category: Tobacco

Designing policy interventions in the context of obesity—what we can learn from the effects of cigarette taxes on children’s health

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By Diana Winters (@diana3000)
[Cross-posted at HealthLawProf Blog.]

An important new study shows that a child will most likely be healthier throughout her childhood if a tax on cigarettes is in place when her mother is pregnant. Economist David Simon (who, full disclosure, is my cousin) at the University of Connecticut has extended the findings that the health of infants can be improved by a policy intervention that improves the in-utero environment, and has provided strong evidence that cigarette taxes can improve the health of children into their teen years.

It is well established that smoking during pregnancy can harm a developing fetus. In his paper, Simon cites studies that demonstrate the negative effects of taxes on cigarette smoking, and in a second paper, he collects and reviews the literature that shows that pregnant women are responsive to cigarette taxes. Simon uses a restricted-use version of the National Health Interview Survey, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has used since 1957 to collect data on the health of the U.S. population, to examine medium-term childhood health outcomes for individuals exposed to a cigarette tax in-utero.  Read More

Public Health Trumps Corporate Speech

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By David Orentlicher
[Ed Note: Cross-posted at HealthLawProfBlog.]

Reversing its previous deference to corporate speech interests, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit came down in favor of consumer protection in a July 29 decision. In American Meat Institute v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the court upheld a federal government regulation requiring meat companies to disclose the countries of origin for their products. If your beef comes from Argentina or Canada, you will know that from its label.

More importantly, the court gave the Food and Drug Administration greater freedom to reduce tobacco use in the United States. In explaining its reasoning, the court repudiated the logic of an earlier decision by the court that rejected the FDA’s graphic warnings for cigarette packs. According to the meat labeling opinion, the cigarette warning decision did not allow sufficient leeway for the government to mandate warnings or other informational disclosures to consumers.

Perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court will restore the D.C. Circuit’s previous balance, but for now, the tide has turned in favor of the public’s health.

DUE 6/3: Call for Abstracts: Emerging Issues and New Frontiers for FDA Regulation

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The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Food and Drug Law Institute are pleased to announce an upcoming collaborative academic symposium:

Emerging Issues and New Frontiers for FDA Regulation

Monday, October 20, 2014 

Washington, DC

We are currently seeking abstracts for academic presentations/papers on the following topics:  Read More

Call for Abstracts: Emerging Issues and New Frontiers for FDA Regulation

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

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The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Food and Drug Law Institute are pleased to announce an upcoming collaborative academic symposium:

Emerging Issues and New Frontiers for FDA Regulation

Monday, October 20, 2014 

Washington, DC

We are currently seeking abstracts for academic presentations/papers on the following topics:

  • Stem cell therapies
  • Nanotechnologies
  • Genetic (and biomarker) tests
  • Gene therapies
  • Personalized medicine
  • Comparative efficacy research
  • Drug resistant pathogens
  • Globalized markets
  • Tobacco
  • GMO
  • Bioterrorism countermeasures
  • Mobile health technologies
  • Health IT
  • Drug shortages
  • Other related topics

Abstracts should be no longer than 1 page, and should be emailed to Davina Rosen Marano at dsr@fdli.org by Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Questions should also be directed to Davina Rosen Marano.

We will notify selected participants by the end of June.  Selected participants will present at the symposium, and will be expected to submit a completed article by December 15, 2014 (after the event) to be considered for publication in a 2015 issue of FDLI’s Food and Drug Law Journal (FDLJ).  Publication decisions will be made based on usual FDLJ standards.

Research Round-Up: New Publications from the PHLR SciVal Experts Community

Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research Leave a comment

In honor of last week’s National Public Health Week, we have a lot of fresh, new PHLR. The latest crop of papers from public health law researchers touch on a number of important points and issues including transportation safety, implementation, tobacco control, and media presentation of public health law. Check out Scott Burris’s brief summaries after the jump!

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Is CVS really doing the right thing?

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By Deborah Cho

As announced earlier this month, CVS has decided to stop selling tobacco products in stores starting October 2014 because it is not in line with its goal of promoting health.  Since this announcement, there have been countless articles and editorials on whether this was a good move by CVS or not.  Those who have said that this is a good (or great) decision generally emphasize that it makes a powerful statement about the harmful health effects of smoking, while others have noted that CVS’s decision is an unwise financial move and is unlikely to actually decrease the rate of smoking in the country.

It was interesting that CVS chose October 1st as the official start date of its new initiative, as if it were signaling that it were a health entity coming into full compliance with the ACA and ready to herd in its customer-patients.  CVS has attempted to adopt the identity as a health provider, with its president hoping it evolves into an alternative to the doctor’s office.  As such, CVS must shed itself of anything that does not mesh properly with its new image.  This, however, inevitably leads to the question of why tobacco products were singled out as “unhealthy” when so many other products that are sold at drugstores like CVS provide just as little health benefit to the American population.

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TOMORROW: Second Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Please join us for our second annual Health Law Year in P/Review event, co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the New England Journal of Medicine. The conference will be held in Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C at Harvard Law School on Friday, January 31, 2014, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

This year we will welcome experts discussing major developments over the past year and what to watch out for in areas including the Affordable Care Act, medical malpractice, FDA regulatory policy, abortion, contraception, intellectual property in the life sciences industry, public health policy, and human subjects research.

The full agenda is available on our website. Speakers are:  Read More

1/31: Second Annual Health Law Year in P/Review

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Please join us for our second annual Health Law Year in P/Review event, co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the New England Journal of Medicine. The conference will be held in Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C at Harvard Law School on Friday, January 31, 2014, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

This year we will welcome experts discussing major developments over the past year and what to watch out for in areas including the Affordable Care Act, medical malpractice, FDA regulatory policy, abortion, contraception, intellectual property in the life sciences industry, public health policy, and human subjects research.

The full agenda is available on our website. Speakers are:  Read More

1/31: Second Annual Health Law Year in P/Review conference

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Please join us for our second annual Health Law Year in P/Review event, co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the New England Journal of Medicine. The conference will be held in Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C at Harvard Law School on Friday, January 31, 2014, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.

This year we will welcome experts discussing major developments over the past year and what to watch out for in areas including the Affordable Care Act, medical malpractice, FDA regulatory policy, abortion, contraception, intellectual property in the life sciences industry, public health policy, and human subjects research.

The full agenda is available on our website. Speakers are:  Read More

Petrie-Flom Intern’s Weekly Round-Up: 12/1-12/8

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Chloe Reichel

1) Following orders from FDA, 23andMe will no longer market genetic tests using health analyses. The company will, however, continue to sell genetic tests related to ancestry.

2) Families with children who have seizure disorders are flocking to Colorado. There, these children can legally receive medications containing extracts from marijuana, which are believed to reduce the occurrence of seizures.

3) A bill is being debated in the New York City Council that would ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public spaces. Supporters of the ban say that electronic cigarettes pose a public health risk, while opponents say that they are harmless.

4) Chemotherapy will not be forced on an Amish girl with lymphoblastic lymphoma. The family decided to stop treatment because of the side effects, and the court-appointed guardian of the girl has decided to drop the case against her parents because they are not locatable.

5) Error rates for those who filled out enrollment forms on the Healthcare.gov online insurance marketplace were at 25 percent for October, although representatives say that these error rates have since declined.

6) Legislators who are opposed to the Affordable Care Act are planning to utilize funds allocated by the federal government for Medicaid expansion to instead purchase private health insurance plans for people who are of low socioeconomic status. This Friday, Tom Corbett, governor of Pennsylvania announced this plan, and Arkansas legislators have already enacted an analogous plan.