Public Health Advocacy Institute

PHAI Submits Comments to Support Smoke-Free Low Income Housing to MA Dept of Housing and Community Development

Tobacco /

PHAI, on behalf of the Tobacco Free Living Community of Practice (a statewide coalition organized through the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health), submitted recommendations to the  Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (“MDHCD”) for its 2017 Qualified Allocation Draft Plan and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. MDHCD implements the federal  Law Income Housing Tax Credit and […]

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PHAI Joins Center for Science in the Public Interest in Filing Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola for Deceptive Marketing

Center For Public Health Litigation, Food Beverage Marketing, Legal Filings, Obesity, Press Release /

BOSTON – Two non-profits that use litigation as a public health strategy have joined forces in a lawsuit accusing the Coca-Cola Company (“Coke”) along with the American Beverage Association (“ABA”) of misleading the public about the science that links heart disease, obesity, and diabetes to consumption of sugary beverages. For years, the Public Health Advocacy

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Dec. Issue of Atlantic: PHAI’s Daynard and Friedman Comment in Powerful Gambling Addiction Article

News /

In a powerful long-form article by by John Rosengren covers the impact of gambling addiction and the predatory casino industry.  The article, entitled “How Casinos Enable Gambling Addicts,” details the ways that electronic gambling machines, like slot machines, along with outrageously predatory tactics used by casinos to bait problem gamblers, combine to destroy the lives

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PHAI’s Gottlieb Comments on FDA Regulations’ Effect on Vaping Industry on All Things Considered

News, Tobacco /

On August 8, 2016, new regulations by the FDA went into effect that have a profound impact on a major segment of the electronic cigarette industry:  vape shops.  The shops that mix flavors for vaping products are now considered to be manufacturers and subject to the same requirements as manufactures owned by the companies that

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Spending 45 Minutes with 80 of My Fellow Altria Shareholders

Tobacco /

by Edward L. Sweda, Jr. As soon as Altria Group, Inc. Chairman, CEO and President Martin J. Barrington opened the 2016 Annual Shareholders Meeting, he boasted that 2015 had been “another terrific year.”  The “excellent business results” included dividends increasing by 8.7% (to $4.2 billion) and a shareholder return of more than 23%.  Marlboro, with

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PHAI’s Daynard Discusses Tony Gwynn Lawsuit on ESPN and in the New York Times

Legal Filings, Tobacco, Tobacco Litigation /

On May 23, 2016, the widow and children of baseball great Tony Gwynn filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Altria Group alleging that the manufacturers of Skoal smokeless tobacco’s negligence, fraud, defective design, and failure-to-warn caused the death of the Hall of Famer in 2014. Richard Daynard, PHAI’s president and University Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern

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A Rainy day in Winston-Salem

Tobacco, Tobacco Litigation /

By Edward L. Sweda, Jr. When Reynolds American International (RAI) President and CEO Susan M. Cameron told the company’s 2016 annual shareholders meeting that it is “always a pleasure to report good news,” this shareholder was reminded of a similar message: “Alive with Pleasure.”  That ubiquitous advertising slogan for Newport cigarettes – which RAI acquired

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Support PHAI’s Violence Transformed Program

Violence Transformed Program /

In 2015, a remarkable program moved to PHAI. Violence Transformed is an annual series of visual and performing arts events that celebrate the power of art, artists, and art-making to confront, challenge and mediate violence.  Violence Transformed furthers our public health goal of reducing preventable injury. Project Director, Mary Harvey, recently sent out this request for support:

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