Opinions
Opinions
| Date | Opinions | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2010 |
''The Drug Safety and Accountability Act is overdue'' "The Drug Safety and Accountability Act, a bill filed today by Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) is long overdue in protecting American citizens from unsafe drugs." |
Drug Manufacturing and Distribution, Drug Safety |
| Aug 24, 2010 |
''The Customer Always Comes Last'' "The credit card industry is working hard to subvert the Credit Card Act of 2009, which banned many of the industry’s most predatory practices. The Federal Reserve Board, which oversees and coddles this industry, needs to ensure that consumers get the protections Congress intended, and Americans so clearly need. The Fed also needs to take a hard look at problems cited last month by the Pew Charitable Trust Safe Credit Cards Project." |
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| May 5, 2009 |
"If you are among the 80 percent of Americans who use credit cards, you probably have your own horror story of interest rates raised without notice or credit lines reduced. A study sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts puts numbers to the anecdotes: Analyzing the practices of more than 400 different credit cards offered by the 12 largest companies, it found that 100 percent of them, every single credit card, has policies that harm consumers." |
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| Oct 11, 2010 |
''The benefit of working together for next farm bill'' "Produce industry leaders call for unity in promoting critical programs for the 2011 farm bill." |
Food Safety |
| Aug 10, 2010 |
"Consumers beware: Credit-card companies already are finding ways around the new law designed to crack down on their tricky fees and hidden charges. The Credit Card Accountability Act of 2009 was intended to stop lenders' unfair practices, such as jacking up a cardholder's interest rate without warning or shortening billing cycles. For the most part, the law is working." |
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| Apr 11, 2006 |
''Taking a Hard Look at Student Debt'' "Late last month, Penn president Amy Gutmann and the the university board sent a clear and powerful message to high school graduates from lower-income families:You can afford to go to college." |
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| Oct 27, 2011 |
"The deadly Listeriosis outbreak tied to Colorado cantaloupe is unusual Never before in the U.S. has this disease been known to spread via whole fruit, federal officials say." |
Food Safety |
| Apr 9, 2012 |
''Sushi Poisoning Reminder That Food System Needs Overhaul'' "Reports last week of a salmonella outbreak, possibly related to sushi, serve as a timely reminder of why the Obama administration must expedite a plan to modernize the country’s food-safety regulations, which haven’t been updated since the Great Depression." |
Food Hazards |
| Aug 6, 2011 |
"Scientists have warned for decades that routinely feeding antibiotics to poultry and livestock would lead to new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria." |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Dec 25, 2011 |
''Speed up work on payment disclosure'' "Two-and-a-half months after blowing a congressional deadline, federal officials have finally gotten around to rolling out the Physician Payments Sunshine Act -- a historic new law requiring medical device and pharmaceutical industries to disclose payments to doctors." |
Conflicts of Interest |
| Apr 19, 2010 |
''Shining new light on payments to docs'' "Buried deep within the massive health care overhaul passed by Congress are tough new laws that will soon shine a much-needed light on physicians' lucrative financial ties to industry. Known as the Physician Payments Sunshine provisions, these are some of the most significant, yet unheralded, reforms contained in the historic health care legislation signed by President Obama last month." |
Conflicts of Interest |
| Oct 11, 2012 |
''Save Lives Now: Implement Food Safety Rules'' Paul Schwarz's father was a World War II veteran and double Purple Heart recipient. Tragically, he was killed by lethal bacteria listeria that he received from a cantaloupe. In order to get better food safety regulations implemented, Schwarz has a clear message for Washington. |
Food Safety |
| Feb 27, 2012 |
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that a recent outbreak of illnesses caused by the bacteria E. coli O26 has been linked to eating raw clover sprouts served at Jimmy John's restaurants in six Midwestern states." |
Food Hazards |
| Jan 7, 2013 |
On Friday, the new law moved a step closer to reality with the FDA’s announcement of proposed rules in two major areas: produce safety and food processing. The new rules will, if adopted, set standards for equipment, tools, buildings, water, soil and other sources of possible contamination. |
Food Safety |
| Sep 20, 2011 |
''Safer drug supply requires update to our regulation'' "Americans might expect their prescription drugs to be “Made in the U.S.A.,” but just like clothing or electronics, their medicine is increasingly produced in developing nations. In fact, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, at least 80 percent of the ingredients in U.S. drugs now originate overseas. This could be real cause for concern." |
Drug Safety |
| Nov 29, 2012 |
''Safe Peanut Butter, And Beyond'' "Citing the conditions at Sunland as well as its history of health violations, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration put at least a temporary hold on those plans Monday, suspending operations at the plant and exercising for the first time its new authority to shut down potentially dangerous food facilities. Luckily for consumers, this was made possible by the Food Safety Modernization Act, signed into law nearly two years ago — and long overdue even then. But other, much more sweeping changes required by the law haven't yet been implemented." |
Food Safety |
| Aug 13, 2012 |
''Rules Delayed, Governing Denied'' "It has been 19 months since President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act, the first overhaul of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety laws since the 1930s. But if you think the food supply has become markedly safer since then, think again." |
Food Safety |
| Jul 8, 2010 |
''Resistant to urgent action'' "Antibiotics, it’s what’s for dinner. Antibiotics, the other white meat. Antibiotics, it’s whatever the poultry industry’s slogan is." |
Antibiotics in Food Animal Production |
| Jul 11, 2012 |
''Resistance to antibiotics is becoming a crisis'' In an editorial stressing the need for new antibiotics, the Washington Post cites that some bacteria have become resistant to multiple antibiotics while the pipeline of new drugs is drying up. But a promising step by Congress could give pharmaceutical companies the incentive they need. |
Antibiotic Innovation |
| Oct 15, 2012 |
"President Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act into law in January 2011, hailing the first comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s food safety regulations in seven decades. Yet the rules remain mired in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House. The president should direct that the new food safety rules be finalized before millions more Americans fall victim." |
Food Safety |
| Apr 30, 2009 |
"A survey last month by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 93 percent of the nation's 663 million cardholder agreements allow the company to raise any interest rate at any time for any reason." |
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| Oct 17, 2012 |
Recent Outbreak Stresses Need for New Antibiotics Following the deadly superbug outbreak in 2011, a recent report published by the NIH indicates new antibiotics could help fight antibiotic resistant bacteria. Senior Officer of Pew's Antibiotics and Innovation Project Nicole Mahoney discusses the new report and the need for a comprehensive strategy to prevent superbug outbreaks.
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Antibiotic Innovation |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
"A 20-state outbreak of salmonella, which includes Pennsylvania, demonstrates the pervasiveness of food-borne illness, the vast scope of the challenge to ensure safe food, and the federal government's slow pace of implementing reforms." |
Food Hazards |
| Aug 16, 2011 |
''Putting politics into food safety'' "A civilized, educated nation that embraces lax food safety regulations is a nation willing to accept the consequences of contaminated food. That willingness can be deadly. That’s not the path the United States should take." |
Food Hazards |
| Jan 15, 2013 |
''Putting a Price Tag on Safe Food'' "In addition to the 3,000 deaths it causes each year, contaminated food is very expensive. The cost of food poisoning in this country comes to $14 billion a year, according to a July 2012 study published in the Journal of Food Protection, including the medical expenses of the 128,000 who are hospitalized annually. That figure does not include the millions of dollars that each food recall costs the company involved, the legal expenses from victims' lawsuits or losses incurred by other companies when consumers hear, for example, about contaminated cantaloupes and then avoid all cantaloupes, including those that are perfectly safe." |
