Political Interference

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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House Committee Blasts FDA for Delay on Antidepressant Warnings

Food and Drug Administration officials were forced before a House committee to defend their choice not to respond with precautionary measures despite mounting evidence from as early as 1996 that antidepressants could be causing increases in suicidality (both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts) in children.

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Industry Influence Weakens USDA Dietary Guidelines

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which includes seven members with strong industry connections, recently released its recommendations for an update of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Not surprisingly, the committee's recommendations for controlling intake of carbohydrates, sugars and fats were vague and weak, prompting 25 nutritionists to send a letter to HHS calling for stronger, clearer language.

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Industry influence leads to weakened bioterrorism rule

Sep 30, 2004 by Guest Blogger

It's beginning to sound like a broken record. The Washington Post reported today that food industry lobbyists met with the Bush administration 10 times during the crafting of rules to protect our food supply from bioterrorism. The result? A weaker rule than the one originally proposed by FDA.

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NIH begins to address conflicts of interest

Sep 28, 2004 by Guest Blogger

According to the Washington Post, NIH is proposing a one-year moratorium on outside collaboration with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies for all scientists. The ban comes in the wake of an internal investigation (prompted by an LA Times article last fall) that has found serious cases of conflict of interest within the agency, including one scientist receiving $600 per hour to be an expert witness and another receiving $517,000 over five years by Pfizer without reporting any of it to NIH. NIH is considering a permanent ban on any outside consulting by high-ranking scientists.

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Short-changing your welfare for election-year gain?

Sep 27, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Stunning article in today's New York Times suggesting that agencies are "slow rolling" -- delaying -- needed protections of the public health, safety, and environment in order to secure industry support for this administration's reelection: In recent weeks, federal agencies across the vast Washington bureaucracy have delayed completion of a range of proposed regulations from food safety and the environment to corporate governance and telecommunications policy until after Election Day, when regulatory action may be more politically palatable.

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Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, founded by former Deputy Administrator of the Reagan White House's Office of Management and Budget Jim Tozzi, has been at the forefront of corporate America's efforts to use the Data Quality Act to distort regulatory policy in the service of corporate special interests. For more information, consult the Disinfopedia Chris Mooney , "Paralysis by Analysis, Jim Tozzi's regulation to end all regulation," Washington Monthly, May 2004

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ALEC: American Legislative Exchange Council

ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is corporate America's conduit to the state legislatures. With its network of conservative state legislators, ALEC has promoted hundreds of harmful legislative proposals on a range of subjects from privatization of foster care to anti-environmental rollbacks. For a thorough introduction to ALEC, check out ALECWatch.org, with its comprehensive report of ALEC's history, news coverage of the largely unknown organization, lists of ALEC initiatives, and information on ALEC's funders -- naturally, a Who's Who of corporate America.

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Dietary guidelines and something called Data "Quality"

Sep 23, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The other day we mentioned new, weakened dietary guidelines that seem to promote industry interests over the public interest. In case you missed it: the weakening of the dietary guidelines can be traced back to a Data Quality Act challenge filed by industry-funded think tank Center for Regulatory Effectiveness. Check out this article from the OMB Watch Information and Access team, which also links you to information you'll need if you want to share your thoughts on the guidelines (deadline 9/27). Learn more about the Data Quality Act here.

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EPA let industry write the rules on mercury

Sep 22, 2004 by Guest Blogger

For the third time, evidence has turned up revealing yet another way that industry was allowed to write the rules on mercury -- and EPA put their ideas in word for word: The passages state that the Environmental Protection Agency is not required to regulate other hazardous toxins emitted by power plants, such as lead and arsenic. Several attorneys general, as well as some environmental groups, have argued that the Clean Air Act compels the EPA to regulate these emissions as well as mercury.

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Industry Influence Weakens Dietary Guidelines

Sep 21, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, established by HHS and USDA, recently released their recommendations for an update of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The thirteen member committee, appointed by USDA and HHS in August 2003, includes seven members with strong industry connections (See the report Special Interest Takeover for more information). Not surprisingly, the committee’s recommendations for controlling intake of carbohydrates, sugars and fats were vague and weak. The report urged Americans to choose fats and carbohydrates "wisely for good health." The report also diverged from previous guidelines by offering no direct recommendations on sugars, but instead hiding under other topics the message that sugar intake should be limited.

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