Iowa Hog Farmers’ Challenge to Clean Air and Water Ordinance Case Study PHAI documented the Worth County, Iowa Board of Supervisors’ 2001 passage of an ordinance establishing local regulation of air and water emissions as well as worker health protections for concentrated animal feeding operations (“CAFOs”). The ordinance was the culmination of almost two years […]
Public health advocates concerned about the burgeoning obesity epidemic are examining tools that have been successfully employed to reduce tobacco consumption, including taxes. Research suggests that a significant tax on sugar-sweetened beverages could have the desired public health effect of reducing consumption of high-calorie and low-nutrition beverages. The food and beverage industry is prepared to challenge tax initiatives and many of the same legal policy issues seen in the tobacco control movement, including discounting, are likely to arise. Public health advocates may also want to consider applying other price-based strategies to sugar-sweetened beverages, such as proportional pricing requirements, to encourage decreased consumption.
PHAI documented Atlantic City’s 2004 passage an ordinance establishing a municipal needle exchange program. Atlantic City faced an HIV/AIDS public health crisis with one in forty residents infected and sixty percent of infections related to injection drug use. The Atlantic City Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”), working in conjunction with Drug Policy Alliance
PHAI documented the ban on tobacco product sales in pharmacies located in the County of San Francisco in August 2008. Even when faced with the likelihood of litigation, San Francisco lawmakers moved forward with the ban. In September 2008, a large pharmacy chain filed a lawsuit claiming that ban violated its equal rights. The ban
PHAI documented the successful passage of the nation’s first restaurant calorie disclosure law. In an effort to address increases in obesity rates and obesity-related health problems, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (“DOHMH”) amended the City’s Health Code on December 5, 2006 and then again on January 22, 2008 to require
PHAI Publishes Case Study on NYC Menu Labeling Litigation Read More »
Review could open door for substantial remedies that would help smokers to quit and protect kids from starting – and could force the cigarette companies to pay hundreds of billions of dollars Today the Solicitor General of the United States filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States
All Parties Seek Supreme Court Review of Racketeering Trial: US v. Philip Morris Read More »
The City of Boston is taking a leadership role in making public housing smoke-free. Today, PHAI\’s Chris Banthin appeared on a panel with Boston Mayor Tom Menino on WGBH FM’s Callie Crossley Show to discuss why smoke-free public housing is the right thing to do. Chris directs the Massachusetts Smoke-Free Housing Project. Listen to the
Although uncredited in the clip, PHAI Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Tobacco Control Resource Center, Christopher Banthin, discusses the public health impact of Massachusetts’ low funding commitment to tobacco control. He is responding to a report issued by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids on the Tobacco Settlement, 11 years later. VIDEO:
On December 2, 2009, Mark Gottlieb and Cara Wilking presented a poster to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program grantees in Tucson, Arizona. PHAI is exploring how state consumer protection laws can be used to address unfair and deceptive food and beverage marketing practices directed toward children or those who purchase food
PHAI Researches Unfair Food Marketing to Kids (and those who purchase for kids) Read More »
The New York Times released an opinion editorial piece entitled A Big Loss for Big Tobacco, where they noted that: Last week’s $300 million verdict, which could still be reversed or reduced on appeal, provides a strong incentive for others to sue.” Big awards can send a message to the tobacco industry, or be regarded
PHAI’s Tobacco Products Liability Project is mentioned in NY Times Editorial Read More »