Jeff Stier
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Budgets/TaxesFeaturedRegulationTobacco
With Latest Announcement, FDA Inches Closer to Tobacco Harm Reduction
by Lindsey Stroud August 3, 2017On Friday, July 28 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced changes in their regulation of tobacco products, including electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). FDA ascribed their Center for Tobacco…
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Budgets/TaxesFeaturedTobacco
Experts React to Surgeon General’s Report on Youth E-cigarette Use
by Lindsey Stroud December 12, 2016Experts were not impressed with the latest Surgeon General’s report on e-cigarettes which played on fears of youth tobacco usage using biased data and science, and may actually negate the…
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Environment/EnergyFeatured
New EPA Emissions Report Threatens Alabama Industries
by Jeff Stier July 7, 2016Using a new methodology that seems to have been designed to produce exactly the conclusion it did, the EPA has now found that the nation’s methane emissions have been dramatically higher in recent years than previously thought. And for the EPA, this is a story with a villain: In a major departure from earlier studies, this year’s report claims the oil and gas industry is the nation’s chief methane culprit.
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FeaturedHealth Care
The Nanny State Advances Statement on Passage of Anti-Soda Tax in Philadelphia
by Jeff Stier June 21, 2016In the first success of its nature for “nanny state” advocates after many years of trying, Philadelphia Thursday became the first major city to attempt to control the non-alcoholic drink choices of its residents by enacting a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on soda, tea, sports and energy drinks. This is expected to embolden nanny state tax advocates across the United States.
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Lost in the noise of political posturing over health care, there’s one widely accepted principle: the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in medical decision-making. Yet we’ve all heard stories where insurance companies won’t fully cover a drug that both the doctor and patient believe is the right medical choice. Why not? It’s pretty simple: the insurance companies don’t want to pay.
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Environment/EnergyFeatured
University Researchers Put Fracking Politics Before Science
by Jeff Stier April 27, 2016Why would a public research university boasting a top-100 geology program deliberately hide its work? Because, as lead researcher Amy Townsend-Small explained, “our funders, the groups that had given us funding in the past, were a little disappointed in our results. They feel that fracking is scary and so they were hoping our data could point to a reason to ban it.”
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FeaturedHealth Care
Your Favorite Restaurant Menu Is About To Change If Obama Gets His Way
by Jeff Stier February 14, 2016In its endless attempt to turn the country into one giant Weight Watchers meeting, the Obama Administration tucked away a little-known provision in the health care law that authorizes the FDA to force certain businesses to post the calorie count for every menu item.
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Environment/EnergyFeatured
Your Burger Is Killing the Planet, Say the Climatarians
by Jeff Stier January 20, 2016Climate activists are ratcheting up their attempt to blame global warming on food production and consumption, targeting the meat industry in particular. As the public tunes out stale climate-change rhetoric, climatarians hope to turn attention away from your SUV and onto your dinner plate.