Warning of smoking's dangers, Obama signs tobacco bill into law.

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:43:36 GMT

Coverage of President Obama's signing Monday of a bill granting the FDA greater regulatory control over tobacco focuses largely on his personal struggle with smoking and speculation about whether or not he has quit the habit. Monday's signing received brief coverage on two network news broadcasts, including ABC World News (6/22, story 6, 0:20, Gibson), which reported, "Today, at the White House the President signed a sweeping anti-smoking bill into law, and talked of his own struggle to quit. The historic measure gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented power to regulate tobacco. The President said he started smoking as a teenager and knows how hard it can be to break the habit." Similarly, the CBS Evening News (6/22, story 5, 0:30, Couric) reported the President signed the "landmark legislation today, saying it will save lives" and "said that as someone who started smoking as a teenager, he knows how hard it is to quit."

The Los Angeles Times (6/23, Parsons) reports, "Obama declared that his signature on the bill represented a significant defeat for tobacco companies that tried to hook young customers." Said the President, "Their campaign has finally failed. Today, change has come." But "for Obama personally, change is more elusive." While "he gave up cigarettes as part of a deal with his wife," aides "in recent weeks...have tacitly acknowledged that the president's nicotine habit isn't a thing of the past."

While he "gave a stern warning about the dangers of smoking," CNN's The Situation Room (6/22, Blitzer) reported the President "offered up only a Cliff's Notes version of his personal story." The President "has been outspoken in this anti-smoking campaign," bit "it's unclear whether he practices what he preaches." Obama "ignored a question...on his personal struggle with smoking," while "his spokesman said the addiction remains a day-to-day battle." White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was shown saying: "I don't honestly see the need to get a whole lot more specific than the fact that it's a continuing struggle."

The Hill (6/23, Youngman), The Politico (6/23, Lee), the New York Times (6/23, A15, Zeleny), the AP (6/23, Elliott), the Washington Post (6/23, C1, Farhi), the Washington Times (6/23, Dinan), McClatchy (6/23, Barrett), Roll Call (6/23, Koffler), BBC News (6/23) and Bloomberg News (6/23, Chen) also cover the story.

Poll: Most Americans against legislation. The Hill (6/23, Zimmermann) reports, "A majority of Americans disapprove of the tobacco regulation legislation that President Obama signed this afternoon." A new Gallup poll finds that "52% of Americans are against granting the federal government new powers to regulate the sale of tobacco." Among smokers, opposition "shoots to 69%. Non-smokers favor the new regulations, but by the slim margin of 50%-48%."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Clean Up The FDA

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:50:38 GMT

In an Editorial in the Providence (RI) Journal (4/20) they support the Obama administration goal of cleaning up the FDA:

"One important task before President Obama is shoring up the Food and Drug Administration." The Journal said that the "FDA seems to have acquired a certain disdain for its own rules, to say nothing of its intended role" and added that "last year, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association laid out how corrupt research practices had helped lead to vigorous sales of the painkiller Vioxx." Concluding, the paper said, "President Obama must reverse these sorry developments. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, his choice to head the FDA, must, if confirmed, be a fierce protector of scientific integrity as well as greater transparency, ensuring that doctors' ties to commerce are disclosed."

As the public learns about lacks practices at the FDA and turning their heads the other way as dangerous drugs go virtually untested to market, Big Pharma argues to conservative judges and to Congress and state legislatures that once a drug company gets FDA approval for a drug, a person harmed by a defect in the drug is barred from filing suit. Maybe one indication of the problem can be seen in the statistic that Big Pharma spends more money on marketing than on research:

A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.

The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.

Twice as much for marketing as for research. Oh well, the FDA isn't really looking so lets put our money in to sales! And while we are at it let's lobby Congress for laws stopping people injured by our drugs from bringing claims against us.

This "fox guarding the chicken coop" regulatory process was a keystone of the Republican party over the past 20 years. Hopefully, Obama, with support from the people who elected him will turn on the lights and clean up this disgraceful aspect of health and safety in America. In Hawaii we have a healthy lifestyle and good doctors but we are at the mercy of the Big Pharma machine that puts profits ahead of people and wants to manipulate the FDA process that is in place to protect us. That is one reason that I am supporting Neil Abercrombie

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Hawaii Personal Injury Blog - FDA regulation

Warning of smoking's dangers, Obama signs tobacco bill into law.

Clean Up The FDA