Added to All Things Reform: Center for Progressive Reform

Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From: Center for Progressive Reform

About CPR

The Center for Progressive Reform (home page) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educational organization with a network of Member Scholars working to protect health, safety, and the environment through analysis and commentary.

CPR’s core issue areas are health, safety and the environment. Member Scholars’ work in this area touches on such topics as:

• Protecting the environment (including climate change, clean air and water, enforcement issues, environmental justice, toxics, the next generation of environmental policies, natural resources, wildlife and nature);
• Defending clean science from political or corporate interference;
• Ensuring food and drug safety;
• Excessive secrecy in government (focused on areas affecting health, safety and the environment);
• Regulatory Policy (including cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment and various tools for weighing the merits of protective regulation); and
• Corporate accountability and tort reform (including federal preemption of state tort laws).

CPR has more than 50 Member Scholars around the nation, working academics teaching at colleges and universities. They represent diverse research agendas, areas of expertise, and geographic location. CPR Member Scholars do much of their work through CPR's Issue Groups.

All Things Reform includes CPR in its "Federal Government Ethics Orgs." list in the lefthand column of this blog.

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EPA has been devaluing human life when it prepares cost-benefit analyses for new regulations

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources; the organizations focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From OMB Watch
http://bit.ly/3TGyt

Life's Value Shrinks at EPA

An Associated Press (AP) investigation released July 10 showed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been devaluing human life when it prepares cost-benefit analyses for new regulations. Federal agencies such as EPA use the life value, an inaccurate statistic, to help them determine whether a proposal's benefits will outweigh compliance costs to industry. [...]

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Bush administration continues its strong efforts to censor climate change information

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources; the organizations focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From OMB Watch
http://bit.ly/4ARfQz

White House Climate Change Policy -- Delay, Delete, and Deny

The Bush administration continues its strong efforts to censor climate change information that reaches the public and Congress. Recent reports indicate that the White House pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make changes to its regulatory process regarding climate change and that Vice President Dick Cheney's office was responsible for suppressing key sections of the congressional testimony of a high-level official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [...]

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may receive from Congress more than financial help

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources. These focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From Taxpayers for Common Sense
http://bit.ly/Pohc4

Fannie and Freddie should downsize and be overseen by the Federal Reserve

[...] No matter what happens [to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financial troubles] – even if a bailout is avoided – strong strings must be attached [by Congress]. Fannie and Freddie are going to have to shrink and they are going to have to be overseen by the Federal Reserve. In writing the bailout package, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said that he was “determined to do this early but more determined to go it right.” We sure hope so.
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Voluntary Corporate Codes of Conduct may not be meaningful

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources. These focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From PRWatch.org
http://bit.ly/4ydfqL

Purposes of Voluntary Codes of Conduct
From "Who Really Benefits from Voluntary Corporate Codes of Conduct?"

The BAT incident [in England] demonstrates how deceptive, and even fraudulent, self-imposed corporate "voluntary codes" of conduct can be. Corporations, and even entire industries, publicly claim that they adopt such codes out of caring and concern for the health and welfare of people and the environment. In reality, these codes confer far greater benefits upon the companies than they do upon the public. Corporations use these codes as a crisis management strategy to stave off government regulation, improve their image, boost their credibility with legislators and regulators, and thus preserve their seat at the table in any regulatory discussions. Voluntary codes also give political cover to legislators who favor industry by giving the legislators something they can point to to calm public demands to rein in harmful corporate behavior.

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Evidence of corporate self-regulation abuse

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources. These focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From PRWatch.org
http://bit.ly/3nWtSU

Drug Companies Move to Regulate Themselves, Before Anyone Else Does
Source: New York Times, July 10, 2008

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has announced a ban on giving branded items to doctors. The pens, notepads, mugs and other gifts are ubiquitous in medical offices. Some, like Senator Herb Kohl, think it is a step in the right direction. "We've been pushing to see reforms like this for some time now. Consumers will undoubtedly be the beneficiaries of these industry changes." But the voluntary code does nothing to stem the more egregious ways that drug companies influence doctors, including speaking fees and lavish "educational" events. Kohl has co-sponsored a bill to require drug and medical device companies to publicly disclose payments to doctors of $500 or more, but does not ban them. Industry watchdogs are not convinced. One complained that "It strikes me as an attempt to persuade people against doing anything that's serious." The industry's new policy, the Code on Interactions with Health Care Professionals, "will ask the chief executives of large drug makers to certify in writing that 'they have policies and procedures in place to foster compliance with the code.'" But because it is voluntary, there will be no accountability or regulation. Former U.S. Representative Billy Tauzin now heads PhRMA. Tauzin said, "This updated code fortifies our companies' commitment to ensure their medicines are marketed in a manner that benefits patients and enhances the practice of medicine." CMD staffer Anne Landman recently wrote about the perils of letting industries self-regulate.

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FTC considers dropping its Tar and Nicotine Measuring Method

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources. These focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From PRWatch.org
http://bit.ly/3Sz2rU

FTC Considers Dropping Its Tar and Nicotine Measuring Method
Source: Associated Press/CNN Money.com, July 9, 2008

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering stopping use of the "FTC Method" to determine the amounts of tar and nicotine in cigarettes, a test that tobacco companies have touted on cigarette packs for over 40 years and have long used to market "light," "ultralight" and "low tar" cigarettes. The FTC started using the "Cambridge Filter Method" to test for tar and nicotine in 1966, when public health authorities believed that reducing the amount of tar in cigarettes would reduce the risk of lung cancer. In recent years, evidence has proven the test meaningless because it was found that smokers "compensate," or adjust how they smoke, to get the amount of nicotine they need from a cigarette, regardless of nicotine content. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have introduced a bill to stop cigarette companies from using the "FTC Method" to measure tar and nicotine. "For years, Big Tobacco has relied on the FTC's flawed testing method to mislead smokers into thinking these ['light' and 'low tar'] cigarettes deliver less tar and nicotine...In reality, some so-called 'light' and 'low tar' cigarettes can actually be more harmful for smokers," Lautenberg said.

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Tell your US Representative and two US Senators NO to Bush administration slush fund

Public Citizen has a grassroots campaign to stop President Bush from increasing his battle to put big money interests over the public interest. Please tell your US Representative and two US Senators enough is enough, and to deny the administration abusing this extra power.

I just found out that the president is asking Congress to give him a slush fund -- he wants the ability to move funds around in the Executive Office of the President, which could mean giving the White House's regulatory office more power to put us at risk.

This is the office that is responsible for children dying and getting brain damage in the 1980s from Reye's Syndrome, because it kept the FDA from putting a simple warning label on aspirin. And it's been playing this dangerous game time and time again ever since then, putting us all at risk in ways we don't always know about, because it's so powerful but very secretive.

I just took action to tell Congress to say NO to the slush fund for Bush's White House -- and you can, too, at
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=23409&track=slushTAF

It think it's just outrageous he thinks he can get away with this!

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Bush regulators break law to avoid mine safety violations

TPMmuckraker from Talking Points Memo has a posted a note about the lack of action by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The Bush administration’s federal mine safety regulators have violated federal law by allowing thousands of health and safety violations to go unpunished. In just the past six years, The Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration failed to act upon approximately 4,000 violations. One of those violations was partially responsible for the 2005 death of a Kentucky miner. (Charleston Gazette)

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Tell the federal government your thoughts on their regulations

Regulations.gov is the federal government's regulations website that encourages citizens' comments. Just use the site's search form to access any government agency's regulations, and personally give your input on them.

Yes, we, the people do have a say in federal government regulation. Regulations.gov is an award-winning, interactive site that is built for citizens' input for its regulation decision-making.

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