FDA Violated Ethics Rules to Censor Dissenting Opinions about Its E-Cigarette Regulations

According to a shockingexposé in the October 16th issue ofScientific American written by Charles Seife, the FDA censored dissenting opinions about its e-cigarette regulations by prohibiting journalists covering the release of these regulations from speaking with anyone who might oppose them.The FDA ' s e-cigarette regulations were initially released on April 24, 2014. On April 23, the FDA ' s Center for Tobacco Products held a press briefing for a select group of reporters to provide information so that they could publish news stories about the regulations at the expiration of the embargo, which was set for April 24th. It is not uncommon to set an embargo date and time for the release of a story by media outlets. It helps ensure that all media outlets have an equal opportunity to publish the story in a timely fashion and not to get " scooped " by one favored media outlet.However, the FDA went beyond the simple step of setting an embargo date and time for the publication of media stories. First, the agency only invited a select group of reporters to the media briefing, ensuring that only reporters who were " friendly " to the FDA ' s position would be able to cover the story in a timely fashion and that such " friendly " reporters would get a scoop on the story.Second, the FDA prohibited the reporters at the media briefing from talking to anyone else about the regulations prior to the embargo, meaning that in the articles coming out about the regulations at the expiration of ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs