Public Health Advocacy Institute

PHAI’s Gottlieb co-authors article on strategies to reduce cancer from indoor tanning, FDA seeks stronger regulation of lamps

An article released today in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine by Holman et al. focuses on strategies to reduce indoor tanning.  Indoor tanning with sun lamps (as opposed to spray tanning)  increases the risk of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.  This is particularly alarming because about one-third of white women(who are […]

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Big Victory at Florida Supreme Court is Bad News for Cigarette Manufacturers

Florida smokers and their families who are suing tobacco companies won a resounding victory on March 14, 2013, when the Supreme Court of Florida upheld its landmark 2006 ruling in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla. 2006). By a vote of 6 to 1, Florida’s highest court ruled in favor of the

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PHAI Publishes Legal Issue Brief on Digital Viral Food Marketing to Kids

Food companies used viral digital marketing tactics, such as “tell-a-friend” web campaigns, to induce children to share e-mail addresses of their friends and spread brand advertising of unhealthy foods among their peers.  Even very young children are targeted by these campaigns, which may be considered unfair and deceptive and in violation of state consumer protection laws.

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PHAI’s Daynard Maps Bold Endgame for Smoking in United States in NY Times Op-Ed

The Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law and its President, Dick Daynard has long sought to make an impact on public health and policy by thinking outside the box. In an op-ed piece published in today’s New York Times, Daynard looks at an endgame for cigarette-caused addiction, disease and death in

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Pepsi’s “Live for Now” campaign is the Joe Camel of soda marketing to youth

[Adapted from Richard A. Daynard’s presentation to the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools’ Agriculture and Food Law section, January 5, 2013.] Soda consumption is a major contributor to adolescent obesity.1 Fortunately, soda consumption has been declining recently,2 presumably as a result of adverse media attention and policy initiatives like the ban

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PHAI project releases White paper and policy brief addressing occupational injuries and illnesses among low-wage workers

A new white paper quantifies the numbers and costs of occupational injuries and illnesses to the U.S. low-wage workforce, and a companion policy brief explains the findings’ importance to policymakers. White Paper: Numbers and Costs of Occupational Injury and Illness in Low-Wage OccupationsPolicy Brief: Mom’s off Work ‘Cause She Got Hurt: The Economic Impact of Workplace Injuries

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PHAI’s Cara Wilking on updating children’s online privacy protection

It has been nearly 15 years since Congress enacted the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  In that time, marketing in a digital world has become ubiquitous and, often, indistinguishable from other content.  An essential part of this transformation of marketing involves providing a a surprisingly wide variety of information about the users to advertisers

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Nestlé’s nutritional advice recommends avoiding Kraft Lunchables, but Nestlé puts its candy in Lunchables anyway

This week, as millions of American children return to classrooms and lunchrooms, moms and dads are trying to sort out which pre-made food products are conducive to learning and a healthy diet and which are flashy, sophisticated packages of junk food. Nestlé, which deems itself “the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company” has teamed

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US Court of Appeals for DC Circuit deals painful blow to FDA, public health and consumers

For Immediate Release Mark Gottlieb, executive director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston states: “Today’s ruling leaves the FDA in a very difficult position as it seeks to execute the intent of Congress which specifically called for large graphic warnings on cigarette packs.  By this Court’s logic,

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PHAI joins the Center for Digital Democracy and others in complaint to FTC over children’s websites’ “Tell-A-Friend” tactics

Today the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston has joined a coalition of children’s, health, privacy and consumer advocacy organizations in a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against several children’s websites for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The offending children’s websites use a

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