Mark Gottlieb

Mark Gottlieb joined the staff of the Public Health Advocacy Institute in 1993 after graduating from Northeastern University School of Law. His efforts have focused on researching tobacco litigation as a public health strategy as director of the Tobacco Products Liability Project, reducing the harm caused by secondhand tobacco smoke through a variety of legal and policy approaches, fostering scholarship using tobacco industry documents, and, more recently, examining legal and policy approaches to address obesity. He is the Executive Director of the Institute and lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and three children.

Shareholder meeting report – Altria Group CEO Michael Szymanczyk: An artful dodger

Tobacco /

By Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney RICHMOND, VA. – Just eight days before the Altria Group, Inc. 2011 Annual Shareholders Meeting in this historic city,  Altria Group’s former Chief Executive Officer, Louis Camilleri, complicated matters for his successor.  At the Philip Morris International Annual Shareholders Meeting in New York City on May 11, 2011, […]

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PHAI’s Wilking urges repeal of MA sales tax exemption for soda as first step in Boston Globe Letter to Editor

News /

In a May 18, 2011 Letter to the Editor published in the Boston Globe, PHAI Staff Attorney Cara Wilking argues that elimination of the sales tax exemption for sodas is a reasonable first step to reduce the impact of sugary drinks on obesity.  However, a per ounce excise tax would have a more significant impact,

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State Laws Prevent Local Control Over Much More Than Just Happy Meal Toys

Feet to the Fire, Food/Beverage Marketing /

Prepared by Cara Wilking, J.D., Staff Attorney Santa Clara County, CA and the City and County of San Francisco, CA enacted ordinances requiring restaurants to meet nutrition criteria for children’s meals that use incentive items such as toys to drive child consumer demand. Neither law bans the use of toys or other incentive items, and

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Reynolds American, Inc. “takes step” and remains rigid at shareholder meeting

Tobacco /

By Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —  On Thursday, May 5, 2011, I made my way to this historic city via the Winston-Salem Express.  Friday morning at 9:00 A.M. sharp was the scheduled start of the 2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of tobacco giant Reynolds American, Inc.  (RAI). Beautiful sunny skies greeted everyone in

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Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds hit by $40 million verdict in Florida this week

News, Press release, Tobacco /

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026 A Jacksonville, Florida jury this week assessed $34 million in punitive damages against tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. for their reprehensible misconduct in the case of Andy Allen v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al.  This award

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Journal of Public Health Policy issues Call for Papers on changing food industry behavior

Food/Beverage Marketing /

The Journal of Public Health Policy’s Co-Editor, Anthony Robbins and Editorial Board Member and Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition at NYU, Marion Nestle, have recently issued a Call for Papers for the Journal in an editorial entitled: Obesity as collateral damage: A call for papers on the Obesity Epidemic. We at PHAI encourage colleagues in

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Arkansas State Consumer Protection Profile

Food/Beverage Marketing, State Profiles /

Download the Arkansas State Consumer Protection Profile (pdf) Which state consumer protection provisions could be used to protect consumers from junk food marketing? The Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“ADTPA”) generally prohibits unconscionable, false and deceptive trade practices. Ark. Code §§ 4-88-107. It is unlawful to “[k]nowingly making a false representation as to the characteristics,

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Arizona State Consumer Protection Profile

Food/Beverage Marketing, State Profiles /

Download the Arizona State Consumer Protection Profile (pdf). Which state consumer protection provisions could be used to protect consumers from junk food marketing? Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act (“CFA”) prohibits “[t]he act, use or employment by any person of any deception, deceptive act or practice, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, or concealment, suppression or omission

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Alaska State Consumer Protection Profile

Food/Beverage Marketing, State Profiles /

Download full Alaska State Consumer Protection Profile (pdf) Which state consumer protection provisions could be used to protect consumers from junk food marketing? Alaska’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act (“UTPCPA”) is modeled off of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTCA”). In general it prohibits “[u]nfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts

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