One March 19, 2010 the FDA issued a broad set of regulations directly restricting tobacco companies’ ability to advertise and promote their products. The regulations were issued following President Obama’s signing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act last June, which granted the FDA extensive authority to create such regulations. The landmark legislation negates the Supreme Court’s 2000 [...]
The Supreme Court handed down an opinion today that doesn’t seem to be about suppression of scientific information, but it is. Diana Levine lost her arm when a drug manufactured by Wyeth, was administered to her improperly. Wyeth knew of the risk of this method of administration, but did not disclose it in its warning label. Because the label had [...]
Over the past eight years, government censorship of science has ranged from silencing researchers to creating policies that interfered with the free exchange of scientific ideas. Government censorship of science includes distortion and suppression of data, and threatens the public’s access to truthful and accurate information. Though many examples of censorship and suppression have been revealed, it is likely in [...]
Dahlia Lithwick, who's covering Wyeth v. Levine in the Supreme Court describes the case like this: "Wyeth is being called the most important business case of the year because, if the court finds that the FDA warning occupies the field of drug warnings, it will effectively immunize drug makers from many state tort suits. If it finds pre-emption here, the most business-friendly Supreme Court in decades can cancel the room with two queen-size beds and order a single king for itself and big pharma".