Category: Transparency

City with trash in foreground and smokestacks producing smog in background.

The Privatization of Cancer

Daniel G. Aaron 2 Comments

By Daniel G. Aaron

Cancer is fearsome, unstoppable even. So the story goes. Yes, you can secure some extra time with loved ones, and — if you are lucky —  maybe your cancer is susceptible to drugs or surgery. But for most people, cancer sounds like a death sentence. The proper response is to throw drugs and radiation at it.

Cancer seems so unstoppable that many have started rifling through their cosmetic products and foods to eliminate all possible carcinogens. Despite the fact we have regulatory regimes to ensure our food, makeup, the air, and drinking water are free of carcinogens, people don’t trust them. There is an intuitive sense that products are not well regulated, leaving individuals to moderate their own cancer risk. In fact, the majority of Americans do not hold strong trust in our health agencies like FDA and CDC.

In my forthcoming article, I argue that our cancer regulatory regimes inadequately protect the public. I believe deregulation is one form of the “privatization of cancer.”

Read More

Siri, Apple's voice-activated digital assistant, tells iPhone user, "Go ahead, I'm listening," which also displays as text on the screen.

On Siri and Recognitive Violence

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Joshua A. Halstead

As a disabled person who relies on speech recognition software to complete a range of daily writing tasks (from emails to book chapters), I am no stranger to the universe of voice assistants, having cut my teeth on Dragon Dictate in the ’90s.

Though I’m used to the software knowing my voice, that it now knows my location is uncanny. This discovery occurred on a morning stroll when Siri spelled “Urth Caffé” correctly, rather than, as was expected, scribing “earth café.” This is when I realized that my assistant had turned into a stalker.

In this short article, I argue that Apple’s decision to integrate user location data into Siri’s speech recognition system created a product that contributes to gentrification and could further marginalize disabled people.

Read More

Silver Spring, MD, USA - June 25, 2022: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and FDA logos are seen at the FDA headquarters, the White Oak Campus.

FDA Solicits Feedback on the Use of AI and Machine Learning in Drug Development

Matthew Chun Leave a comment

By Matthew Chun

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in fulfilling its task of ensuring that drugs are safe and effective, has recently turned its attention to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in drug development. On May 10, FDA published a discussion paper on this topic and requested feedback “to enhance mutual learning and to establish a dialogue with FDA stakeholders” and to “help inform the regulatory landscape in this area.” In this blog post, I will summarize the main themes of the discussion paper, highlighting areas where FDA seems particularly concerned, and detailing how interested parties can engage with the agency on these issues.

Read More

Supreme Court of the United States.

The Federal Judiciary Is Broken — But Not for the Reason You Think

Jennifer S. Bard Leave a comment

By Jennifer Bard

Recent events, including the discovery that Justice Thomas has been accepting luxury vacations from and selling real estate to a billionaire, and the Fifth Circuit’s finding in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA that federal courts have the power to modify the conditions under which the FDA can approve a drug, may seem separate. But they’re not. Both involve a threat to our constitutional government and both highlight the need to shield all federal decision makers from entities with billions at stake and a fiduciary interest in increasing the value of their company for the benefit of shareholders. And while issues of influence affecting Supreme Court Justices attract the most attention, the factors that make Justices targets extend across the entire federal judiciary.

Read More

File folders in a filing cabinet.

Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act in 2023

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

By Mitchell Berger, MPH

While the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. § 552) and agency implementing regulations generally are fairly concise, FOIA still has led to considerable litigation.

What is an agency record? Should contractors be covered by FOIA? How and under what circumstances should a given FOIA exemption apply? How should FOIA search and duplication fees be charged by agencies, and what level of fees are reasonable? Debate continues about these and many other issues, but even amidst this debate opportunities abound to support FOIA implementation in the year ahead.

Read More

Group of athletic adult men and women performing sit up exercises to strengthen their core abdominal muscles at fitness training.

Exercise Equipment Advertisements and Consumer Distrust

Jack Becker Leave a comment

By Jack Becker

Are you ready to learn about “the most innovative piece of exercise equipment ever”? To take advantage of “the momentum of gravity to target your entire midsection”? Doesn’t everybody want to “lose those love handles nobody loves”? To finally “have the flat washboard abs and the sexy v-shape [they’ve] always wanted”? Within “just weeks, not months,” anybody can “firm and flatten their stomach.” And “best of all, it’s fun and easy and takes just three minutes a day.”

Despite its endorsement from an expert fitness celebrity and customer testimonials, you might be skeptical of the Ab Circle Pro’s claims. After all, can you really cut out five minutes from the iconic 8-Minute Abs routine?

Massive and misleading promises are an unfortunate reality for many exercise equipment advertisements. Illegitimate advertising claims can harm consumers and impact overall consumer trust, which creates an uphill battle for honest companies. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) already regulates exercise equipment, but supplementing its efforts with more consumer education and industry self-regulation could be a winning combination to restore trust in the fitness industry.

Read More

Syringe being filled from a vial. Vaccine concept illustration.

Is Israel Trading Medical Information for Vaccines? Ethical and Legal Considerations

Shelly Simana Leave a comment

By Shelly Simana

On January 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that millions of vaccines are expected to arrive in Israel, and that by March, anyone who wishes to get vaccinated will be able to do so.

He concluded his speech with a controversial statement: “as part of the agreement [with Pfizer], we stipulated that Israel will serve as a global model state for a rapid vaccine rollout of an entire country… Israel will share with Pfizer, with all of humanity, the statistics that will help in developing strategies to defeat the coronavirus” (my translation, from Hebrew).

But which statistics, what kind of data, will be shared with Pfizer? This question remains a mystery.

Read More