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As Nicotine Dose Increases, So Must Awareness of the Pitfalls of FDA Regulation

The Harvard School of Public Health released a study Thursday revealing that the amount of nicotine in cigarettes has increased significantly since the major American tobacco companies signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in 1998. Predictably, Philip Morris (PM), in a media release available at their web site, denies the study results. The U.S. Surgeon General in 1988 warned that nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine, but these drugs don't have decades of sophisticated R&D behind them aimed at heightening their addictiveness. Cigarettes, among the most highly engineered consumer products in the world, deliver nicotine into more people's bodies more times every day than aspirin. Still, they remain unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

House Democrats Wrap-Up "First 100 Hours" Agenda with Passage of Energy Bill

In only forty-two hours of floor time, the Democratic-led House successfully passed all six of its "first 100 hours" initiatives. The final bill, the CLEAN (Creating Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation) Energy Act of 2007, passed in a 264-163 vote last Friday. If approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush, the bill would do the following:

New transparency in Congress

If you look beyond the headlines of the recently passed ethics reform bills, a revolutionary leap forward in transparency has been made by two members of Congress. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) have each begun posting their schedules online, which we have included in their Congresspedia profiles (see here for Gillibrand and here for Tester). The idea of letting constituents know how their elected officials spend their day seems basic but, to my knowledge, has never been tried before.

Tester has thus far kept his previous schedules available in an online archive and Congresspedia has begun archiving Gillibrand's on the wiki, so don't worry if you don't catch her schedule on a particular day.

New Bills Challenge President Bush's Troop "Surge"

In a nationally televised address Wednesday night, President Bush announced a new plan to send 21,500 more American troops into Iraq to help settle the country’s increasing violence, particularly in the capital city of Baghdad. While Bush expressed confidence in his plan, most Americans did not appear to follow. A CNN poll taken after the speech found that 66% opposed this “surge” in troop levels, while only 32% supported it.

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