"FDA plans $600m antismoking efforts" November 03, 2011|Associated Press
RICHMOND - The Food and Drug Administration is planning to spend about $600 million over five years to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use. Declines in US smoking rates have stalled in recent years....
Isn't it great that the FDA -- which allows poisoned food into the food chain and acts as a business agent for pharmaceuticals -- cares so much about you, 'murkn?
I personally would rather not have taxpayer money counteracting advertising by tobacco companies. The only reason the government is spending this money after subsidizing tobacco for decades is because the health bill for government is now greater than the campaign kickbacks.
And one more thought: If you don't accept our cigarettes in trade deals we will throw sanctions on you.
The first campaign will target youth, minorities, and other groups, including gays, the military, and people with disabilities. Ads will run in print and on TV, and the campaign will also use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Taxpayer money up in smoke IMO.
Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said the FDA’s investment reflects the significant health impact that tobacco use has on the nation....
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"US urges greater efforts to curb teenage smoking; Rate of decline in tobacco use is said to slow" by Michael Felberbaum | Associated Press, March 09, 2012
RICHMOND, Va. - More work needs to be done to keep young Americans from using tobacco, including creating smoking bans and increasing taxes on tobacco products, the US Surgeon General’s office said in a report released Thursday....
This the same government that lied them into wars and is letting banks steal their future?
Yeah, they really, really care about you kids.
The report details youth tobacco use, health impacts, and tobacco marketing and prevention efforts in the United States. Officials hope the information will reinvigorate antitobacco efforts and spark public activism in reducing death and disease caused by tobacco use....
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Related: US launching $54m antismoking ad campaign
Panel urges pharmacy tobacco sales ban
"Report criticizes cuts in antismoking funds" February 27, 2012
ALBANY, N.Y. - Funding for antismoking ads and other smoking cessation programs in New York and other recession-battered states is being slashed, sometimes more than other government programs, despite success and savings in health care costs.
A US surgeon general’s report due to be released March 8 will come down hard on states that have cut antismoking funds in tough fiscal times, said Terry Pechacek, who oversees the report as director for science in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report cannot result in sanctions, but it has proved to move public opinion in the past to force changes by tobacco companies in how they sell cigarettes, how states fund efforts, and how the federal government regulates the trade.
“It is a hard-hitting report and it’s going to say, ‘Why haven’t we ended this epidemic? Why are we still feeding all these replacement smokers into a deadly industry?’ ’’ Pechacek said in an interview.
“We’ve been saying since 1964 that we are going to do something about it, and we are basically in a stall,’’ he said.
Translation: Like the "energy" or "inequality" debates we get every four years, the government isn't really serious. The whole operation is a public relations program to show you how much they love you and look out for you.
There are increased federal efforts to cut into the smoking rate. The Food and Drug Administration is planning to spend about $600 million over five years to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use.
The share of Americans who smoke has fallen dramatically since 1970, from nearly 40 percent to 20 percent down to about 46 million adult smokers now. But smoking levels haven’t changed since about 2004.
Multimedia campaigns are aimed at reducing death and disease caused by tobacco, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the United States....
Wow! Maybe tobacco should be illegal like marijuana!
Of course, federal benefits will no longer have to be paid to the deceased. Sort of makes you wonder about the inaction, 'eh?
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And speaking of the demon weed:
"Robertson says marijuana should be legal" March 09, 2012|By Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs has failed.
My goodness, Pat, what have you been smoking?
The outspoken evangelical Christian and host of “The 700 Club’’ on the Christian Broadcasting Network said the war on drugs is costing taxpayers billions. He said people should not be sent to prison for marijuana possession.
The 81-year-old first became a self-proclaimed “hero of the hippie culture’’ in 2010 when he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions.
“I just think it’s shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of a controlled substance,’’ Robertson said on his show March 1.
Robertson’s support for legalizing pot appeared in a New York Times story published Thursday.
“I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol,’’ Robertson was quoted as saying. “If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?’’
Especially when pot is the least toxic of all.
Of cour$e, we all know why.
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I forgot what I was going to say here.
Break over anyway; nothing but a roach left.
UPDATE:
Let's smoke another one:
"Court orders FDA to ban antibiotics in feed" Washington Post, March 24, 2012
WASHINGTON - A federal court ordered the FDA on Thursday to follow through on a 35-year-old proposal that would have banned the use of certain antibiotics in animal feed because the agency was concerned that these drugs were overused in livestock and helped develop drug-resistant bacteria that can infect people.
Yeah, the agency that cares so much about you and your health took 35 years and a court order.... sigh, cough, cough.
The concern is that some antibiotics given to treat illnesses in people are widely used on animals to promote disease prevention and weight gain, as well as compensate for crowded conditions on ranches and farms.
Sorry, FDA works for corporate profits.
The prevalence of those antibiotics in livestock has been linked in several studies to the creation of drug-resistant “superbugs’’ that can spread to humans who work with or eat the animals.
Maybe true, but then again, that could just be a cover story put out by my paper before the globe-kickers decide to release some virus that will wipe-out a large chunk of an increasingly restless rabble. Or to simply stir the propaganda pot so more money will be poured into pharmaceuticals like what happened during the Swine Flu scare.
In 1977, the Food and Drug Administration proposed banning the use of penicillin and two forms of tetracyline for growth promotion. But the proposal has been in limbo ever since. The agency never held hearings or took any further action, prompting the Natural Resources Defense Council and four other health and consumer advocacy groups to sue the government in May 2011.
Doesn't say it will led to withdrawal.
The decision handed a major victory to consumer advocates.
Had to wait 35 years and it ain't really a victory yet, but....
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Yeah, I should just give the Globe a break.
