Podcasts about Big Tobacco

In breaking news today, CBS succumbed to Trump's censorship pressures (again) by killing a highly-researched ‘60 Minutes' story about US President Trump's illegal actions in an El Salvador prison. Plus, Bill shares the story of his interview with a Big Tobacco whistleblower after the fallout of another past CBS ‘60 Minutes' segment cancellation. Let's talk about it.Tune into Episode 311 of The Bill Kelly Podcast for conversations in critical times!This episode was recorded on December 22, 2025.Don't forget to like, share, comment and subscribe to support Bill's work! THANK YOU!Become a podcast member for weekly public and private livestreams, and to hear Bill's stories and life lessons from 50+ years as a broadcast journalist in his members-only series, THE WAY I SEE IT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeUbzckOLocFzNeY1D72iCA/joinListen to The Bill Kelly Podcast everywhere: https://kite.link/the-bill-kelly-podcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBillKellyPodcast/featuredBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/billkellypodcast.bsky.socialSubStack: https://billkelly.substack.com/*Comment ‘likes' on behalf of this channel are an acknowledgment of your comment, not necessarily an endorsement of its contents. Thanks for joining these critical discussions in critical times!WATCH THIS EPISODE and subscribe to our channel: https://youtu.be/4BywPNW2Zdk?si=ZkRGzV9RLeTDBzHeFURTHER READINGParamount settles lawsuit filed by Trump over CBS interview with Kamala Harris: Paramount will give $16M to Trump's presidential library as part of settlementhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/world/paramount-cbs-trump-lawsuit-1.7575039CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes' segment on notorious El Salvador prison: The decision, made by editor in chief Bari Weiss, was condemned as “political” by lead correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/22/cbs-pulls-60-minutes-el-salvador-prison-00702617“60 Minutes” Civil War: Sharyn Alfonsi Responds to CBS Pulling Segment on El Salvador Prison: “Broadcast Being Dismantled”https://www.showbiz411.com/2025/12/21/60-minutes-civil-war-sharyn-alfonsi-responds-to-cbs-pulling-segment-on-el-salvador-prison-broadcast-being-dismantled This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit billkelly.substack.com/subscribe

Big Tobacco's playbook is back — just with better branding and candy flavors. Jessica Wynn clears the air about vaping here on Skeptical Sunday!Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we're joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn!Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1260On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:Vapes don't produce harmless vapor. They emit aerosol, a "chemical soup" containing nicotine, heavy metals like lead and nickel, formaldehyde, and ultrafine particles that penetrate deep into lungs where filtration is impossible.JUUL revolutionized addiction by using nicotine salts instead of freebase nicotine — lowering the pH for smoother hits at higher concentrations, delivering a faster brain rush with less coughing, and packing one pod with the equivalent of an entire pack of cigarettes.Many vapes labeled "nicotine-free" actually contain nicotine when tested, and secondhand aerosol isn't safe either — it deposits residue on surfaces, harms pets, and exposes bystanders to the same toxic cocktail inhaled by the vaper.The same playbook Big Tobacco used for decades — targeting kids, using candy flavors, buying off scientists, and fighting regulation — is now deployed through sleeker devices and better branding.Quitting is possible, and the tools actually work. Programs like the Truth Initiative's "This Is Quitting" show 40% higher quit rates, and texting DITCHVAPE to 88709 connects you with free, judgment-free support designed for real people fighting real addiction.Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know!Connect with Jessica Wynn at Instagram and Threads, and subscribe to her newsletters: Between the Lines and Where the Shadows Linger!And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here — even one sentence helps! Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!Subscribe to our once-a-week Wee Bit Wiser newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom!Do you even Reddit, bro? Join us at r/JordanHarbinger!This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: Uplift Desk: Special offer: upliftdesk.com/jordanWayfair: Start renovating: wayfair.comShopify: 3 months @ $1/month (select plans): shopify.com/jordanApretude: Learn more: Apretude.com or call 1-888-240-0340Homes.com: Find your home: homes.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The wide-ranging impact of Australia's new social media ban for children under 16 — the first of its kind in the world — is already being felt at home and abroad, especially for major platforms that have controversially allowed children full access.澳大利亚针对16岁以下儿童实施的新社交媒体禁令。此类禁令是全球首例，其广泛影响已在国内外显现，尤其对那些曾引发争议地允许儿童全面使用平台的巨头企业造成冲击。The ambitious move to improve online safety governance for youngsters, which took effect on Dec 10, requires major platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube to enforce the new legislation. They face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32.9 million) if they take no reasonable steps to prevent underage users from holding accounts with them.这项旨在加强青少年网络安全监管的重大举措已于12月10日生效，要求Instagram、Facebook、X、Snapchat、TikTok、Reddit和YouTube等主流平台执行新法规。若未能采取合理措施阻止未成年用户注册账户，这些平台将面临最高4950万澳元（约合3290万美元）的罚款。The ban follows a major survey which revealed how social media is negatively affecting the life satisfaction of Australian high school students. The study, led by the Australian National University, looked at the impact of regular use of social media platforms on life satisfaction levels for students nationwide. It found most participants reported regularly using at least one social media platform, while nearly one in five young people actively post or share social media content at least once a day.这项禁令出台前，一项重大调查揭示了社交媒体如何对澳大利亚高中生的生活满意度产生负面影响。由澳大利亚国立大学主导的研究，考察了社交媒体平台的常规使用对全国学生生活满意度的影响。调查发现，大多数参与者表示会定期使用至少一个社交媒体平台，而近五分之一的年轻人每天至少主动发布或分享一次社交媒体内容。Most major platforms have said that they would comply with the law. Video service provider TikTok said in a statement it has a range of methods for compliance including facial age estimation, credit card authorization, and government-approved identification.大多数主流平台均表示将遵守该法律。视频服务提供商TikTok在声明中称，其已采取多种合规措施，包括面部年龄估算、信用卡授权以及政府认可的身份验证。YouTube said it would make changes to how it operates in Australia under the ban, adding it is committed to finding "a better path forward to keep kids safe online". "We believe a more effective approach is one that empowers parents, rather than stripping away their choices, and allows kids to continue to derive the immense benefits of digital environments while protecting them from harm," it said in a statement.YouTube表示，在禁令实施期间将调整其在澳大利亚的运营方式，并承诺致力于寻找“更佳方案保障儿童网络安全”。该公司声明称：“我们认为更有效的方式是赋予家长更多选择权而非剥夺其选择权，让儿童在享受数字环境巨大益处的同时获得有效保护。”Legal action法律举措On Friday, message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit in Australia's highest court seeking to overturn the country's social media ban for children. The San Francisco-based firm, which ranks Australia among its biggest markets, said in the High Court filing that the ban should be declared invalid because it interfered with free political communication implied by the country's constitution.周五，社交论坛网站Reddit向澳大利亚最高法院提起诉讼，要求推翻该国针对儿童的社交媒体禁令。这家总部位于旧金山的公司将澳大利亚列为其最大市场之一，在向最高法院提交的文件中称，该禁令应被宣布无效，因为它干涉了该国宪法所暗示的政治自由交流。A spokesperson for Communications Minister Anika Wells, who was named as the defendant along with the Commonwealth of Australia, said the federal government was "on the side of Australian parents and kids, not platforms" and would "stand firm to protect young Australians from experiencing harm on social media", Reuters reported.据路透社报道，美国通讯部长安妮卡·韦尔斯（Anika Wells）的发言人表示，联邦政府“站在澳大利亚家长和孩子这一边，而非平台方”，并将“坚定立场，保护澳大利亚青少年免受社交媒体伤害”。Wells与澳大利亚联邦政府共同被列为本案被告。Health Minister Mark Butler said Reddit filed the lawsuit to protect profits, not young people's right to political expression, and "we will fight this action every step of the way". "It is action we saw time and time again by Big Tobacco against tobacco control and we are seeing it now by some social media or Big Tech giants," Butler told reporters.澳大利亚卫生部长马克·巴特勒表示，Reddit提起诉讼是为了保护利润，而非捍卫年轻人的政治表达权，并称“我们将全力抵制这一诉讼的每一步行动”。巴特勒向记者表示：“这是大型烟草公司屡次采取的反烟草管制手段，如今某些社交媒体或科技巨头也在效仿。”One Reddit user said in a message-board post: "Our son can no longer access his apps — this has already had a profound effect … Normally he would be consumed with his phone, watching mind-numbing videos."一位Reddit用户在论坛帖子中写道：“我们的儿子现在无法使用他的应用程序，这已经产生了深远影响……平常他会沉迷于手机，看那些令人麻木的视频。”In a radio interview a day after the ban took effect, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said online safety regulators from the eSafety Commissioner are looking at accounts in line with the new legislation. "So they'll look at what the impact is and then every month for six months they'll have to report," he said.禁令生效次日，澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯在电台采访中表示，电子安全专员办公室的网络安全监管人员正依据新法规审查相关账户。他表示：“他们将评估影响，并在接下来的六个月内每月提交报告。”Albanese also acknowledged the challenges implementation of the ban faces.安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯也承认实施禁令面临的挑战。"Some people will get around it, just as chances are this Saturday night an under 18-year-old will get a beer in a pub somewhere. That doesn't mean that society doesn't set these rules, and these processes, in order to keep our youngest Australians safe," he said.他表示：“有些人会钻空子，就像这个周六晚上，某个酒吧里很可能会有未满18岁的未成年人喝到啤酒。但这并不意味着社会没有制定这些规则和流程来保护我们最年轻的澳大利亚人。”"We'll be sensible about it … we're talking of over a million accounts across platforms. We don't expect it to all be done perfectly, but we do expect the law provides for them to do their best endeavors."安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯接着说到：“我们会审慎处理此事……毕竟涉及跨平台超过百万个账户。我们不指望一切都能完美解决，但法律要求他们尽最大努力。”Praise, wariness赞美，警惕Julian Sefton-Green, a professor of new media education at Deakin University, said the ban was "inspiring legislation".迪肯大学新媒体教育教授朱利安·塞夫顿-格林（Julian Sefton-Green）称这项禁令是“鼓舞人心的立法”。"It's designed to raise questions … It's designed to make families and young people talk in different ways," he said.他表示：“禁令的初衷是引发思考……旨在让家庭和年轻人以不同的方式展开对话。”"So I think the significance of this law might be that it changes the power of these huge multinational global platforms, which are to a very great extent unaccountable, unregulated, and not owned by individual national countries, and it will raise a lot of questions about what individual countries can do in respect of these large multinational companies," Sefton-Green, who is also a member of the Australian eSafety Commissioner's advisory group that explores the implementation and outcomes of the nation's social media minimum age legal obligations, told China Daily.同时担任澳大利亚电子安全专员顾问组成员的朱利安·塞夫顿-格林（Julian Sefton-Green）向《中国日报》表示：“因此我认为这项法律的意义可能在于改变这些庞大全球性跨国平台的权力格局——它们在很大程度上不受问责、不受监管，且不属于任何单一国家所有。这将引发诸多思考：各国政府面对这些大型跨国企业究竟能采取哪些有效措施？”澳大利亚电子安全专员顾问小组负责研究该国社交媒体最低年龄法律义务的实施情况及成效。But Catherine Archer, a senior lecturer and researcher in social media at Edith Cowan University, said many academics feel children and teens were not consulted widely enough before the legislation was announced.但伊迪丝考恩大学社交媒体高级讲师兼研究员凯瑟琳·阿彻（Catherine Archer）指出，许多学者认为在立法公布前，对儿童和青少年的意见征询不够充分。"The ban could cause anxiety and other mental issues for teens. They will face uncertainty over the school holidays on how to keep in contact with their friends and be entertained and informed on their regular platforms," Archer said via the Scimex science information portal.凯瑟琳·阿彻（Catherine Archer）通过Scimex科学资讯门户网站表示：“这项禁令可能引发青少年焦虑及其他心理问题。他们将在假期面临不确定性，不知如何与朋友保持联系，也无法通过常用平台获取娱乐和资讯。”"Teens are starting to think of ways around the ban, and the concern is that they may go to 'darker' places on the web. Messaging apps like WhatsApp won't be under the ban, so bullying may still occur," she said.她表示：“青少年正开始寻找规避禁令的方法，令人担忧的是他们可能会转向网络上更‘阴暗'的角落。WhatsApp等即时通讯应用不受禁令限制，因此网络欺凌仍可能发生。”"The effectiveness is yet to be tested. Some adults are worried that it will lead to more data and surveillance, as age testing is not foolproof."她接着说到：“该措施的有效性尚待检验。部分成年人担忧这将导致更多数据收集和监控，因为年龄检测并非万无一失。“Some teenagers have expressed concern over the ban, according to the Australian Associated Press.据澳大利亚联合通讯社报道，一些青少年对这项禁令表示焦虑。It cited the example of Carlee Jade Clements, 15, an influencer from Melbourne with 37,000 Instagram followers who was still on the platform two days from the ban's effective date. Clements spent years building her Instagram presence, with her mother managing the account, but fears the new rules will impact her income and opportunities, AAP reported.该报道以15岁的墨尔本网红卡莉·杰德·克莱门茨（Carlee Jade Clements）为例，这位拥有3.7万Instagram粉丝的博主在禁令生效前两天仍活跃于该平台。据澳大利亚联合通讯社报道，克莱门茨耗费数年时间经营Instagram账号（由其母亲管理），但现在她担忧新规将影响她的收入与发展机会。Two teenagers representing an Australian libertarian group filed another suit last month against such a ban, according to Reuters.据路透社报道，两名代表澳大利亚自由意志主义团体的青少年上月就该禁令提起另一项诉讼。Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University, said that no matter how people feel about the ban or social media, the feelings and responses of teens losing access to social media must be taken seriously.西澳大利亚珀斯科廷大学互联网研究教授塔玛·利弗（Tama Leaver）表示，无论人们对禁令或社交媒体持何种看法，青少年失去社交媒体使用权限所产生的情绪和反应都必须被严肃对待。"Parents and trusted adults need to listen to young people, to support them, and not dismiss what social media may have meant to them," Leaver said.塔玛·利弗（Tama Leaver）表示：“父母和可信赖的成年人需要倾听年轻人的心声，给予他们支持，不要轻视社交媒体对他们可能产生的意义。”The ban may well reduce some risks, he said, but "cyberbullying will still exist — messaging platforms are mostly exempt from the ban. Untrustworthy adults may still be able to find ways to reach and speak to teens across almost any platform."利弗表示，这项禁令或许能降低某些风险，但“网络欺凌仍将存在——即时通讯平台大多不受禁令约束。不可靠的成年人仍可能找到途径，在几乎任何平台上接触并与青少年对话。”"The job of helping young people learn to navigate the digital world safely is ongoing, and helping teens continue that conversation matters. Opening a door so young people have someone to turn to if they experience something challenging, confronting or terrible online, is vital."利弗表示：“帮助年轻人安全地探索数字世界是一项持续的工作，而引导青少年持续参与相关对话至关重要。为年轻人敞开大门，让他们在遭遇网络挑战、冲突或可怕经历时能获得支持，这具有关键意义。”Sabrina Caldwell, senior lecturer from the School of Systems and Computing at UNSW Canberra, said the new social media ban "won't work perfectly, but it can work imperfectly".新南威尔士大学堪培拉校区系统与计算学院高级讲师萨布丽娜·考德威尔（Sabrina Caldwell）表示，这项新的社交媒体禁令“不会完美奏效，但可以不完美地发挥作用”。"Some young people will find ways to circumvent the restrictions. However, even if they find a way to sneak online, they will not find most of their peers there, and this will detract significantly from the social media experience," Caldwell said.Caldwell表示：“一些年轻人会想方设法绕过限制。然而，即使他们找到偷偷上网的途径，也无法在网上找到大多数同龄人，这将极大削弱社交媒体体验。Bigger issues更重大的问题An Australian Broadcasting Corporation survey of more than 17,000 youngsters aged under 16 about the ban, found one-quarter would stop using social media.澳大利亚广播公司针对1.7万多名16岁以下青少年开展的禁令调查显示，四分之一受访者表示将停止使用社交媒体。Twenty-two percent of social media users said they were unsure if the ban would be effective, while 72 percent said they did not think it would work, according to the poll.调查显示，22%的社交媒体用户表示不确定禁令是否有效，而72%的用户认为禁令不会奏效。Associate Professor Katie Wood, an expert in clinical psychology at Swinburne University of Technology, questioned the ban's role in addressing the "clear negative impacts on mental health and well-being" from excessive social media.斯威本科技大学临床心理学专家凯蒂·伍德（Katie Wood）副教授质疑这项禁令能否有效应对过度使用社交媒体对心理健康和幸福感造成的“明显负面影响”。"While more research is needed to fully answer this question, parents will need support to work with their children to find ways to manage the ban," Wood said.伍德表示：“虽然需要更多研究才能彻底解答这个问题，但家长需要支持来协助孩子寻找应对禁令的方法。”"There is a risk that children will find other ways to access social platforms and become sneakier about it. Parents will need to be vigilant about this as well as any emotional and social fallout."伍德称：“会存在这样的风险：孩子们可能会另辟蹊径接触社交平台，且手段会变得更加隐蔽。家长不仅需要对此保持警惕，还需关注由此引发的情感与社交问题。”Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, a group that advocates protection of Australians' digital rights, told China Daily that despite the ban, bullies, abusers, and predators will not go away.数字权利观察组织政策主管汤姆·苏尔斯顿向《中国日报》表示，尽管实施了禁令，但欺凌者、施虐者和掠夺者不会就此消失。该组织致力于保护澳大利亚人的数字权利。"They will merely follow young people onto the platforms that they are allowed to use. At the same time, young people will be discouraged from seeking help as they may feel they are doing something they shouldn't be."苏尔斯顿表示：“他们只会跟随年轻人进入被允许使用的平台。与此同时，年轻人会因担心自己正在做不该做的事而不敢寻求帮助。”Demanding ID from people to use simple internet systems is likely to cause an increase in identity theft, as Australians become habituated to entering their ID around the internet and potentially into criminal honeypots, Sulston said.苏尔斯顿指出，要求民众在使用简单互联网系统时提供身份证明，很可能导致身份盗窃案件激增。因为澳大利亚人逐渐习惯在网络各处输入个人身份信息，这些信息可能落入犯罪分子的陷阱。Considering the ban's potential impact on other parts of the world, Sulston said his hope and expectation is that "countries will look at Australia's experiment on young people's ability to communicate with each other and treat it as a cautionary tale".考虑到这项禁令可能对世界其他地区产生的影响，苏尔斯顿表示，他希望并期待“各国能关注澳大利亚这项关于年轻人相互交流能力的实验，并将其视为一个警示案例”。"Instead, they will opt to regulate social media companies to remove the harms, rather than remove the young people. We need to stop social media companies from using their algorithms to profit from spreading hate, lies, and division. That is what we should be regulating, rather than the age of the users," he said.他如是说：“可另作他选的是，可以选择监管社交媒体公司以消除危害，而非驱逐年轻人。我们必须阻止社交媒体公司利用算法从传播仇恨、谎言和分裂中牟利。这才是我们应当监管的对象，而非用户的年龄。”Sefton-Green said it will also "encourage other countries to stand up against these social media firms, to try to say that the norms of behavior we see in our society should be norms for which national governments take responsibility".塞夫顿-格林（Sefton-Green）表示，该实验还将“鼓励其他国家挺身对抗这些社交媒体公司，力图表明我们社会中的行为准则应当成为各国政府应承担责任的规范”。Prime Minister Albanese said the "world is not only watching, the world is following".澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯表示：“世界不仅在关注，更在追随。”Professor Michael Salter from the School of Social Sciences, Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales, said the ban is still "an unfortunate but necessary step to protect children from escalating levels of online sexual abuse and exploitation".新南威尔士大学社会科学、艺术、设计与建筑学院的迈克尔·索尔特（Michael Salter）教授表示，这项禁令仍是“一项不幸但必要的措施，旨在保护儿童免受日益严重的网络性虐待和剥削”。"Globally, 300 million children experience online sexual abuse each year, and the majority of this occurs on social media platforms," said Salter, who is director of Childlight UNSW, the Australasian hub of Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute, which undertakes research on the impact of child sexual abuse and exploitation.作为全球儿童安全研究所旗下机构Childlight的澳大拉西亚中心新南威尔士大学Childlight项目主任迈克尔·索尔特（Michael Salter），他长期致力于研究儿童性虐待与剥削的影响。他表示：“全球每年有3亿儿童遭受网络性虐待，其中大部分发生在社交媒体平台上。”"Social media companies have consistently prioritized growth and engagement over child protection. Age restrictions are a necessary circuit breaker for a sector where voluntary industry action has failed," he said.Salter表示：“社交媒体公司始终将增长和用户参与度置于儿童保护之上。在行业自发行动未能奏效的领域，年龄限制是必要的保护机制。”Rachael Sharman, a senior psychology lecturer at University of the Sunshine Coast, said that while the logistics of the ban remain under question, the move, if successful, "will give parents and families the opportunity to reclaim childhood, and ensure the building blocks of the brain are set in place before exposure to what has proved to be a most pernicious influence".阳光海岸大学心理学高级讲师瑞秋·夏曼（Rachael Sharman）指出，尽管禁令的实施细节仍存争议，但若该举措得以成功推行，“将使家长和家庭有机会重新夺回童年时光，确保大脑发育的关键阶段在接触已被证实具有极大危害性的影响之前得到健全发展”。"I suspect the rest of the world is taking such an extraordinary interest in this Australian initiative, to see when and how they can best follow suit for the improved wellbeing of their future generations," Sharman said.Sharman表示：“我怀疑世界其他国家之所以对这项澳大利亚倡议表现出如此非凡的兴趣，是为了观察何时以及如何才能最好地效仿，从而为子孙后代创造更美好的福祉。”Germany, Denmark, New Zealand and Malaysia are already considering policies concerning access to social media by teenagers.德国、丹麦、新西兰和马来西亚已开始考虑制定青少年使用社交媒体的相关政策。circuit breaker保护机制algorithmsn./ˈæl.ɡə.rɪ.ðəm/算法perniciousadj./pɚˈnɪʃ.əs/有害的social fallout社交影响circumventv./ˌsɝː.kəmˈvent/规避

Journalist and founder of MAMA (Mothers Against Media Addiction), Julie Scelfo, joins the Chuck ToddCast for a wide-ranging conversation on one of the most urgent issues facing American families: the collapse of trust in media, the rise of unregulated tech, and its profound impact on children’s mental health. Scelfo explains how the explosion of social media and smartphones—coupled with virtually nonexistent regulation—has left kids exposed to harmful algorithms, addictive design, and misinformation at formative ages. With both the left and right now pushing to get smartphones out of classrooms, she argues that we’re long past due for meaningful guardrails, especially as Big Tech’s lobbying power grows and federal leaders threaten to block states from regulating AI. Chuck and Julie compare today’s fight with Big Tech to the battle against Big Tobacco, explore why recommendation systems effectively make platforms publishers, and discuss the growing bipartisan appetite for banning iPads in schools and returning to books. They also dig into MAMA’s mission to protect children in a digital world—emphasizing that kids under two should not be exposed to screens, that early childhood development depends on real-world interaction, and that “tech nannies” have emerged because childcare is unaffordable. Scelfo calls for mandatory data transparency from tech companies, stronger child-safety legislation in the states, and a culture shift that prioritizes healthy offline development over the race to dominate AI. With future jobs uncertain and social skills declining, she argues that society must resist sacrificing sensible regulation in the name of innovation—and recognize that too much time online isn’t just unhealthy, it’s shaping a generation. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! Go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Julie Scelfo joins the Chuck ToddCast 03:00 Erosion of trust in media & news is a massive problem 04:00 Mental health decline in youth correlated with rise of social media 05:00 Both left & right want get get smartphones out of classrooms 05:45 Lack of social media regulation leaves kids vulnerable 07:00 Regulation is difficult when big tech has unlimited money to lobby 09:00 Threats from Congress & Trump to prevent states from regulating AI 10:30 Executive order from Trump may be last gasp to avoid AI regulation 12:30 AI has been positive for shareholders & owners, not for the public 13:45 What lessons can be learned from the fight against big tobacco? 16:15 Recommendation algorithms turn platforms into publishers 17:45 Advertiser supported speech is different than first amendment speech 18:30 Broadcast networks are liable for misleading ads, social platforms aren’t 20:00 Momentum building to ban ipads in schools and make kids use books 21:30 MAMA’s mission and goals 23:00 Children under 2 shouldn’t be exposed to screens for entertainment 25:30 Kids know how to find information, but must be taught to filter it 26:30 Most educational building blocks are built during early childhood 27:15 We can’t sacrifice sensible regulation in order to win AI race 28:30 Tech leaders all have very inept and awkward social skills 31:00 Tech must be required to release data for researchers to study 32:30 How to prepare kids for future jobs that may be replaced by AI? 34:00 Real life interactions are critical for a healthy childhood 35:45 We will always need trades, skilled labor and care workers 37:30 What are some near-term activities MAMA is working on? 40:00 States are introducing quality child safety legislation on tech 40:30 There is bipartisan support in congress for regulation 42:00 There hasn’t been one study worldwide on tech at a young age 43:30 We have “tech nannies” because childcare is so expensive 46:00 Too much time online is incredibly unhealthySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Chuck Todd explores the growing bipartisan momentum to rein in Big Tech, noting that while social media’s unintended consequences have already eroded truth and public trust, AI could amplify those failures without strong guardrails. He breaks down why Americans overwhelmingly support protecting kids from tech harms—and why a public revolt is inevitable once people feel they’ve lost control. Chuck also looks at how massive AI investment is masking broader economic weakness before turning to Donald Trump’s botched economic message in Pennsylvania, a “let them eat cake” tone that echoes the same political trap Biden once fell into. With surprising Democratic wins in Miami and Georgia and a demoralizing trend inside the GOP base, the political landscape is shifting fast, especially as ACA subsidies near expiration and no healthcare compromise is in sight. Chuck then pivots to the rise of prediction markets—how they move on insider information, how they could be manipulated by political actors, and why the “casinofication” of news threatens to reduce all political coverage to a risky, easily gamed horse race. Then, journalist and founder of MAMA (Mothers Against Media Addiction), Julie Scelfo, joins Chuck ToddCast for a wide-ranging conversation on one of the most urgent issues facing American families: the collapse of trust in media, the rise of unregulated tech, and its profound impact on children’s mental health. Scelfo explains how the explosion of social media and smartphones—coupled with virtually nonexistent regulation—has left kids exposed to harmful algorithms, addictive design, and misinformation at formative ages. With both the left and right now pushing to get smartphones out of classrooms, she argues that we’re long past due for meaningful guardrails, especially as Big Tech’s lobbying power grows and federal leaders threaten to block states from regulating AI. Chuck and Julie compare today’s fight with Big Tech to the battle against Big Tobacco, explore why recommendation systems effectively make platforms publishers, and discuss the growing bipartisan appetite for banning iPads in schools and returning to books. They also dig into MAMA’s mission to protect children in a digital world—emphasizing that kids under two should not be exposed to screens, that early childhood development depends on real-world interaction, and that “tech nannies” have emerged because childcare is unaffordable. Scelfo calls for mandatory data transparency from tech companies, stronger child-safety legislation in the states, and a culture shift that prioritizes healthy offline development over the race to dominate AI. With future jobs uncertain and social skills declining, she argues that society must resist sacrificing sensible regulation in the name of innovation—and recognize that too much time online isn’t just unhealthy, it’s shaping a generation. Finally, Chuck answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment and previews the upcoming college football slate. Get your wardrobe sorted and your gift list handled with Quince. Don't wait! Go to https://Quince.com/CHUCK for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! Go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 03:00 There is bipartisan support for pushing back on tech 05:00 AI regulation to protect kids has massive support 06:15 The public will revolt over tech when they feel they lose control 08:00 Social media came with unintended consequences, AI could be similar 08:45 Social media has destroyed truth 09:30 AI needs guardrails that have been missing from social media 10:45 AI investment is masking a recession for much of the country 12:30 Trump botches economic message at PA rally 13:15 Trump has a tone deaf, let them eat cake mindset 14:45 The Trump WH walking into the same trap Biden did on economy 15:30 Elections in Miami and Georgia showed GOP is in real trouble 17:30 First time a Democrat won Miami mayor in nearly 30 years 18:15 Democratic voters are fired up & more reliable 19:45 The base of the Republican party is becoming demoralized 21:00 ACA credits set to expire, no compromise healthcare deal yet 22:15 Question for audience: Do you follow and participate in prediction markets? 24:00 Prediction markets move when they get insider info 25:45 Prediction markets seemed to know fed interest rate cut was coming 27:00 Is it wise to allow people to bet on basically everything? 28:45 Gambling is highly regulated, prediction markets are not 29:30 Certain people will know outcomes in advance and can game the system 30:45 Trump allies could game the system on predictions of his actions 32:15 Predictions that can be manipulated should be outlawed 34:00 Prediction markets could make all political coverage “horse race” style 35:15 The “casinofication” of news comes with risks 40:45 Julie Scelfo joins the Chuck ToddCast 43:45 Erosion of trust in media & news is a massive problem 44:45 Mental health decline in youth correlated with rise of social media 45:45 Both left & right want to get smartphones out of classrooms 46:30 Lack of social media regulation leaves kids vulnerable 47:45 Regulation is difficult when big tech has unlimited money to lobby 49:45 Threats from Congress & Trump to prevent states from regulating AI 51:15 Executive order from Trump may be last gasp to avoid AI regulation 53:15 AI has been positive for shareholders & owners, not for the public 54:30 What lessons can be learned from the fight against big tobacco? 57:00 Recommendation algorithms turn platforms into publishers 58:30 Advertiser supported speech is different than first amendment speech 59:15 Broadcast networks are liable for misleading ads, social platforms aren’t 1:00:45 Momentum building to ban ipads in schools and make kids use books 1:02:15 MAMA’s mission and goals 1:03:45 Children under 2 shouldn’t be exposed to screens for entertainment 1:06:15 Kids know how to find information, but must be taught to filter it 1:07:15 Most educational building blocks are built during early childhood 1:08:00 We can’t sacrifice sensible regulation in order to win AI race 1:09:15 Tech leaders all have very inept and awkward social skills 1:11:45 Tech must be required to release data for researchers to study 1:13:15 How to prepare kids for future jobs that may be replaced by AI? 1:14:45 Real life interactions are critical for a healthy childhood 1:16:30 We will always need trades, skilled labor and care workers 1:18:15 What are some near-term activities MAMA is working on? 1:20:45 States are introducing quality child safety legislation on tech 1:21:15 There is bipartisan support in congress for regulation 1:22:45 There hasn’t been one study worldwide on tech at a young age 1:24:15 We have “tech nannies” because childcare is so expensive 1:26:45 Too much time online is incredibly unhealthy 1:32:00 Chuck’s thoughts on interview with Julie Scelfo 1:34:30 Thoughts on a limited TV series on the constitutional convention? 1:38:00 Favorite movies & Ken Burns doc? 1:43:30 Outlook on the primary races in Texas and Montana? 1:52:00 What if archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver took a different turn? 1:57:00 College football previewSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Miller has shaped American tobacco policy for more than 40 years. As the longest-serving attorney general in U.S. history and a principal architect of the Master Settlement Agreement, Miller has spent decades fighting Big Tobacco and advancing public health. Now, in Part 2 of a two-part RegWatch and GFN.TV special, he brings his unmatched authority to the most contentious issues in U.S. nicotine regulation. In this episode, Miller offers a candid, unflinching evaluation of the FDA and the Center for Tobacco Products, scoring their performance on vaping regulation, PMTAs, flavors, enforcement, and the unintended rise of an illicit market. He describes how a broken regulatory framework has left adult consumers underserved, legal businesses at a disadvantage, and policymakers blind to the real-world consequences of their decisions. Miller also confronts the deep divide inside public health, explaining how tobacco control fractured into prohibitionists and harm reduction advocates. Is misinformation strengthening the prohibitionist cause? Find out. Only on RegWatch by RegulatorWatch.com. Released: Dec 9, 2025 Produced by: Brent Stafford https://youtu.be/o_uTPQD1sf0 This episode is supported by DEMAND VAPE. Make RegWatch happen, go to https://support.regulatorwatch.com #RegWatch #VapeNews

Associate Health Minister Casey Costello is back in the firing line over Big Tobacco's influence, with heated debate during a health select committee today on Government plans to roll out oral tobacco and nicotine products. Last year Cabinet agreed in principal to allow the sale of smokeless products, such as Swedish snus and nicotine pouches, subject to the products meeting safety requirements and regulatory controls to prevent youth access. Ruth Hill reports from the special hearing for Parliament's Scrutiny Week.

Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I'm Alex Johnson, joined (as always) by my Jason Mikula, my partner in recapping — who I've been lucky to see a lot of lately, which makes recording this over the internet feel oddly impersonal? First up, open banking updates. JPMC has updated data-access contracts with Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar, and Akoya; covering, reportedly, 95% of data pulls on its systems (but is silent on players like Finicity, Stripe, Trustly, and MX). Meanwhile, the CFPB wants to finalize its 1033 rule by year's end, possibly skipping key steps like the small business panel. The rule may allow data fees tied to “cost recovery,” but what counts as cost (and who has the leverage to charge it) is still very much in play. Then it's onto digital IDs. Apple now lets users create an identity credential in Wallet from a passport, using NFC and a liveness check. Jason tested it. It works, but usage is limited to select TSA checkpoints. And adoption faces the same slow climb as Apple Pay, but with higher risks if it fails. Identity credentials aren't like payments: you don't want them glitching at airport security! From there, Green Dot (which some might describe as an OG fintech company) is going private and splitting up. Smith Ventures is buying the non-bank side, while CommerceOne (also backed by Smith) takes over the bank and folds it into a new holding company. It's a move that looks like extraction (pulling the combo out of public markets that never knew how to value it), which raises questions for other banks trying to thread the same needle. Plus, in our Can't Let It Go corner: Jason dives into the latest lawsuit against Meta, where internal docs reveal the company blocked safety features that threatened growth, ran a 17-strike policy before removing sex traffickers (described as a very, very, very high threshold), and drew its own comparisons to Big Tobacco. And I flag a podcast moment so surreal it sounds fake: the CEO of Roblox endorsing prediction markets for kids (as long as they're framed as “educational”). Thanks for listening!  This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don't sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt Sign up for Alex's Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/  And for more exclusive insider content, don't forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Jason: Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Cal Newport, computer science professor and author of Digital Minimalism, argues that the better analogy for social media is not big oil that must be broken up because it's vital to society but big tobacco that must be culturally rejected because it's unhealthy and dispensable—people don't care if you tell them to leave Facebook for six months but petroleum deprivation changes lives. Newport reveals Facebook's PR pivot after 2016 when defectors like Sean Parker exposed addiction engineering: Cambridge Analytica let Facebook redirect media attention to fixable privacy and content moderation issues instead of unfixable business-model problems like bleeding users' attention through steam whistle tweets. Drawing from Mark Harmon quitting Twitter and Neil Stephenson's famous essay Why I Am a Bad Correspondent, Newport explains the novelist's dilemma: each tweet is a steam whistle that bleeds energy needed to fuel the boiler for producing lasting work. He dismantles the myth that creators need social media to grow, arguing that people talking about your work on their channels matters infinitely more than you promoting yourself on yours. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the loudest voices in health are selling confusion, fear, and the next quick fix, it's hard to know what — or who — to trust. That's exactly why conversations like this one matter. Dr. David Katz has spent decades cutting through the chaos with uncommon clarity. A renowned physician, bestselling author, and one of the most influential thinkers in nutrition and preventive medicine, his work has helped millions rethink the very basics of how we eat and how we live. In this very special episode, he unpacks what determines human health, what real nourishment looks like, and why choosing it now is more radical — and more necessary — than ever. If you've ever wondered what's true, what's marketing, and what actually moves the needle on well-being, this is a must-listen conversation. What we discuss in this episode: The nutrition pattern humans are biologically built for. Why fiber is non-negotiable for long-term health. Why smart regulations save lives — and what happens when they're missing. How Big Food and Big Tobacco use the same playbook to keep us hooked.  Methylcellulose: what it is, where it comes from, and why it's misunderstood. Why beef tops the list as the most environmentally destructive food. The fundamentals of longevity that anyone can put into practice. The biggest misconceptions most people have about staying healthy. Resources:  https://davidkatzmd.com/ Dr. David L. Katz (@DrDavidKatz) / Posts / X How To Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered: A Food Science Nutrition Weight Loss Book About Us - True Health Initiative Diet ID Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food - The New York Times   Click the link below to support the FISCAL Act https://switch4good.org/fiscal-act/ Share the website and get your resources here https://kidsandmilk.org/ Send us a voice message and ask a question. We want to hear from you! Switch4Good.org/podcast Dairy-Free Swaps Guide: Easy Anti-Inflammatory Meals, Recipes, and Tips https://switch4good.org/dairy-free-swaps-guide SUPPORT SWITCH4GOOD https://switch4good.org/support-us/ ★☆★ JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP ★☆★  https://www.facebook.com/groups/podcastchat ★☆★ SWITCH4GOOD WEBSITE ★☆★ https://switch4good.org/ ★☆★ ONLINE STORE ★☆★ https://shop.switch4good.org/shop/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM ★☆★ https://www.instagram.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ LIKE US ON FACEBOOK ★☆★ https://www.facebook.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER ★☆★ https://twitter.com/Switch4GoodOrg ★☆★ AMAZON STORE ★☆★ https://www.amazon.com/shop/switch4good ★☆★ DOWNLOAD THE ABILLION APP ★☆★ https://app.abillion.com/users/switch4good

A behavioral expert who trains Navy SEALs and CIA operatives created a 20-point test that detects psychological manipulation with mathematical precision. Chase Hughes recently appeared on Shawn Ryan's podcast to discuss this system, and the same patterns appear in government propaganda, corporate deception, and social media algorithms. From a teenage girl's testimony that sold the Gulf War to Big Tobacco's forty-year lie, the scoring system reveals when you're being controlled. The formula works on anything—news coverage, corporate messaging, even the controversies you're arguing about right now. But once you learn to spot manipulation everywhere, you face a different danger. Foreign adversaries benefit when Americans trust nothing and question everything so intensely they can't function. The tool shows you how information is delivered. Deciding what's true is still your job. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46H1dEADJU

Send us a textA few years ago, we all started hearing about how gas ranges, which have been popular in our country for at least a century and are favored by professional chefs, were dangerous to our health and should be replaced by electric or induction cooktops. That revelation begs a couple of obvious questions about how such an unsafe appliance became so ubiquitous in the first place, and why we're only hearing about its dangers now. Mark and Joe recount how natural gas became the go-to power source in our kitchens, how Big Gas suppressed safety concerns in a way that would make Big Tobacco proud, and what we can do to mitigate the perils of cooking with gas. (Recorded November 7, 2025.)

Why is a billionaire funding a global campaign to ban safer alternatives to tobacco products and convince the public to believe the lie that nicotine causes cancer? This episode of Rethinking Reality exposes the anti-science disinformation campaign about nicotine that's taken over public health agencies in the past five years to become the culturally acceptable narrative. Let's talk about why billionaire octogenarian Michael Bloomberg is spending his fortune on banning tobacco alternative products, how Big Tobacco and Big Pharma benefit from anti-vaping propaganda, and the millions of lives that will be lost because of these lies. Hosted by Erika HeidewaldFull list of sources can be found on my Patreon but here are just a few so you know I'm not just making this all up:https://www.patreon.com/erikaheidewaldThe war on nicotine will fail but could kill millionshttps://clivebates.com/the-war-on-nicotine-will-fail-but-could-kill-millions/Bloomberg's Philanthro-Colonialism: A Threat to Global Health and Sciencehttps://cei.org/opeds_articles/bloombergs-philanthro-colonialism-a-threat-to-global-health-and-science/Resistance to the Anti-Nicotine Movement Sparked by a Betrayalhttps://filtermag.org/anti-nicotine-resistance/Bloomberg's Millions Funded an Effective Campaign Against Vaping. Could It Do More Harm Than Good?https://www.philanthropy.com/article/bloombergs-millions-funded-an-effective-campaign-against-vaping-could-it-do-more-harm-than-good?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in

More with Kevin Hall! Until recently, Hall was the U.S. National Institutes of Health's key researcher on the connection between ultra-processed foods and obesity. He took an early retirement due to increasing censorship of his work. He talks about his groundbreaking study with former “The Biggest Loser” contestants, the link between Big Tobacco and Big Food, and why Canadian scientist expats like him may soon be looking to return home.

My guest today on The Dr. Hyman Show, Dr. Tom Frieden has spent decades proving how small, smart changes can save millions of lives.  We talk about his new book, The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own—a fascinating look at what really works to prevent disease and rebuild public trust. We also dive into his See–Believe–Create framework—how it connects public policy with personal action to make prevention the easy choice. Catch the full conversation on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.  We unpack:  • Why rebuilding trust in public health is key to protecting your own wellbeing  • How balancing sodium and potassium could transform your heart health  • What the food industry learned from Big Tobacco—and how to take back control of your choices  • Simple policy shifts that could save millions of lives and make prevention easier for everyone  • How AI and team-based care could shape a future of medicine that works for you  We already know what works. The challenge is putting it into action. This conversation is about how each of us can help create that change, one small step at a time.  View Show Notes From This Episode  Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman https://drhyman.com/pages/picks?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast  Sign Up for Dr. Hyman's Weekly Longevity Journal https://drhyman.com/pages/longevity?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast  Join the 10-Day Detox to Reset Your Health  https://drhyman.com/pages/10-day-detox  Join the Hyman Hive for Expert Support and Real Results  https://drhyman.com/pages/hyman-hive  This episode is brought to you by Seed, BON CHARGE, Function Health, AirDoctor and Pique.  Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 25HYMAN for 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic.  Head to boncharge.com and use code DRMARK for 15% off your order.  Join today at FunctionHealth.com/Mark and use code HYMAN100 to get $100 toward your membership.  Get cleaner air. Right now, you can get up to $300 off at airdoctorpro.com/drhyman. Receive 20% off FOR LIFE + a free Starter Kit with a rechargeable frother and glass beaker at Piquelife com/Hyman.

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden joins Chuck Carroll on The Exam Room Podcast to reveal The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives, Including Your Own. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Frieden breaks down what's keeping America sick — from poor diets to toxic environments — and how we can turn the tide with simple, proven steps that save lives.   He shares his three-part framework — “See, Believe, Create” — a practical guide for improving personal and public health. Discover what science says about potassium deficiency, the dangers of ultra-processed foods, and how nutrition, environment, and policy can come together to create a healthier world for everyone.   Dr. Frieden also discusses:   - Why the potassium-to-sodium ratio is one of the strongest predictors of heart health - The impact of microplastics, PFAS, and air pollution (PM2.5) on chronic disease - How food industry tactics mirror Big Tobacco's playbook - The truth about processed meats, sugar-sweetened drinks, and trans fats - What governments can learn from Chile's bold food labeling laws - Why plant-based, high-fiber diets are key to longevity and disease prevention - The risks of animal agriculture and wet markets in future pandemics  

We live in an age where truth twists into confusion, opinion drowns out data, and it's increasingly difficult to figure out whose expertise we can trust.Where did our mistrust in expertise come from? Its roots stretch back to deliberate misinformation campaigns beginning in the 1950s spread by the likes of Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and conservative church movements. Then social media poured gasoline on the fire, accelerating the spread of misinformation and making sowing division highly profitable.Misinformation campaigns take advantage of our brains' natural tendency to protect the familiar and mistrust outgroups. And they capitalize on the very real betrayals people have experienced at the hands of corporations, governments, schools, and healthcare systems.Our challenge now isn't just knowing the facts, it's interrogating our own beliefs, asking where our evidence comes from, and resisting the pull of certainty. As leaders, we need to discern who we give our attention to, practice critical thinking, resist manufactured controversy, and platform voices committed to both truth and connection.Today's guest is a neuroscientist and author of Why Brains Need Friends, who works to make science accessible, relational, and rooted in respect. He doesn't focus on winning arguments or shaming people into submission. He focuses on bridging divides, building trust, and reminding us that our brains–and our lives–are wired for connection.Ben Rein, PhD is an award-winning neuroscientist and science communicator. He serves as the Chief Science Officer of the Mind Science Foundation, an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at SUNY Buffalo. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers on the neuroscience of social behavior, and is the author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection. In addition, Rein educates an audience of more than 1 million social media followers and has been featured on outlets including Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America and StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He has received awards for his science communication from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the Society for Neuroscience, and elsewhere.Listen to the full episode to hear:How an especially vivid nightmare redirected Ben's path to neuroscienceWhy the division and isolation of modern life is so bad for our brains and overall healthHow engaging with strangers isn't as awkward as we often think it is, and why we should do it moreHow small social interactions build our sense of belonging, community, and wellbeingWhy we need to recognize and then override our gut reactions to those we perceive as belonging to outgroupsHow social media sound bites vastly oversimplify the complex and unknown systems in our brainsWhy Ben's primary mission to to help people understand the value of looking to data and evidence rather than personalities and experiencesWhy we all have to get better at fact-checking and questioning why we're ready to believe somethingLearn more about Dr. Ben Rein:WebsiteInstagram: @dr.benreinWhy Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social ConnectionLearn more about Rebecca:rebeccaching.comWork With RebeccaThe Unburdened Leader on SubstackSign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader EmailResources:Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition, Robert N Proctor"Assessing ExxonMobil's climate change communications (1977–2014),” Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes, 2017 Environmental Research Letters 12 084019The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Ronald L. Numbers"Misinformation and Its Correction Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing,” Stephan Lewandowsky et al., 2012 Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(3)The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Karl PopperSciSpaceSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah HarariDune, Frank HerbertThe Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, Deborah BlumTory Lanez - Gangland x Fargentina 4EVR (feat. Wolfgang Peterson & Kai)Hard Knocks: Training CampCourage the Cowardly Dog

It's budget day and one thing we can almost certainly expect in Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe's spending announcements is an increase in the price of cigarettes. This year, the cost of a pack of cigarettes is set to increase by 50 cents, bringing it to almost €19 for a pack of twenty.And while this price hike may help reduce smoking levels in Irish society, and improve the overall health of the population, it is also driving Ireland's rapidly growing black market tobacco business.More than one in four cigarettes smoked in Ireland are now sold through the black market, costing the exchequer around €600 million in lost revenue annually.And it's not just the Irish authorities who are keen to end this booming underground activity – Big Tobacco companies are now hiring investigators in Ireland to collect data on how and where this business takes place.On today's In The News episode, consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope discusses the day he recently spent shadowing an investigative team hired by Japan Tobacco International, one of the biggest tobacco companies in the world, to scour Dublin for sellers of illegal tobacco.Who is selling this tobacco, where is it produced and what do we know about the criminals behind this illegal cigarette chain?And what is the point of tobacco companies tracking down small-time street dealers who are purely cogs in a much larger, multimillion euro, illicit tobacco-producing machine?Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Obesity is often seen as a matter of willpower, but science tells a different story. My guest today, Dr. David Kessler—former FDA commissioner, lawyer, physician, and the man who took on Big Tobacco—explains why biology, not blame, drives our struggles with weight. On this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, we talk about why weight struggles are so common today, what new drugs can and can't do, and how his new FDA petition targets one of the biggest culprits: processed refined carbs. Catch the full conversation on YouTube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. [YOUTUBE THUMBNAIL] You'll learn: • How food companies use ingredients like processed refined carbs to make products irresistible • Why GLP-1 drugs help many lose weight—but can't fix the food environment driving the crisis • How belly fat fuels heart disease, diabetes, and cancer—and why ultraprocessed foods are a big part of the problem • Simple ways to break free from foods engineered to make you overeat • What Dr. Kessler's FDA petition could mean for limiting processed carbs in our food supply and improving our collective health Plus, here's a bonus: We've adapted Dr. Kelsser's petition into a free PDF guide—The Hard Truth About Processed Carbs—so you can see exactly how these ingredients affect your health…and why his FDA petition REALLY matters. Tune in, download the guide, and find out how you can be part of the solution. View Show Notes From This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman https://drhyman.com/pages/picks?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast Sign Up for Dr. Hyman's Weekly Longevity Journal https://drhyman.com/pages/longevity?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast Join the 10-Day Detox to Reset Your Health https://drhyman.com/pages/10-day-detox Join the Hyman Hive for Expert Support and Real Results https://drhyman.com/pages/hyman-hive This episode is brought to you by Seed, Paleovalley, Function Health, Timeline and AirDoctor. Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 25HYMAN for 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic. Get nutrient-dense, whole foods. Head to paleovalley.com/hyman for 15% off your first purchase. Join today at FunctionHealth.com/Mark and use code HYMAN100 to get $100 toward your membership. Support essential mitochondrial health and save 20% on Mitopure. Visit timeline.com/drhyman to get 20% off today. Get cleaner air. Right now, you can get up to $300 off at airdoctorpro.com/drhyman.

In this special Ask Me Anything episode, Jeff Krasno tackles listener questions on politics, free speech, immigration, and public health. From the rise of authoritarian tendencies in U.S. politics to the Jimmy Kimmel suspension and First Amendment debates, Jeff offers a dispassionate but pointed analysis of where democracy stands today. He digs into myths about undocumented immigrants, highlighting their vital contributions to the economy, and exposes how private corporations profit from detention centers. Jeff also examines the defunding of mRNA research, deregulation of pesticides, Big Tobacco's pivot into processed food, and the way asset management firms profit from both chronic disease and its treatment. What emerges is a candid exploration of how politics, profit, and health are deeply intertwined—and why understanding these intersections is critical for reclaiming both personal agency and collective wellbeing.

News, Society & Culture and Health & Fitness - Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath

Every touchdown, home run, and knockout seems to come with a side of beer, or at least a commercial for it. From Budweiser's billion-dollar deal with the NFL, to tequila pouring all over UFC fight nights, to beer practically funding baseball stadiums, alcohol and sports have become inseparable. But should they be? In this episode of That Sober Guy Podcast, Shane takes a look at alcohol advertising in sports. Do leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA, and UFC owe fans more responsibility when it comes to promoting addictive substances? Why are we okay with tequila logos on jerseys, but we'd never accept Marlboro as the “official cigarette of the Finals”? And is it just hypocrisy to glorify peak performance athletes while cashing checks from companies selling a product that wrecks health and lives? We'll explore: How alcohol ads target not just adults, but kids and families watching games. The normalization of booze as “part of the fan experience.” The Big Tobacco playbook—and how alcohol companies are running the same game. Whether banning alcohol ads in sports could actually be a good thing. All with a little humor and sarcasm, because nothing says “family-friendly Sunday football” like pounding tallboys and screaming at the ref who can't hear you. Actionable Takeaways: Pay attention during the next game, notice how often alcohol shows up, and what message it's sending. If you're in early sobriety, set boundaries, mute commercials, watch with sober friends, or create new game-day rituals. And remember, you don't have to do this alone. Join our free men's community, The Victory Circle, where guys like you connect, share wins, and support each other in sobriety. Or, if you're ready to go deeper, reach out for 1-on-1 coachingand let's walk this path together.   Join “The Victory Circle”, our FREE Sober Guy Mens Community at https://www.thatsoberguy.com/offers/SvjjuEQ2/checkout   AMPLIFY Sober Voices Event - https://amplify.soberliferocks.com/   Tired of Drinking? Try Our 30 Day Quit Drinking Dude Challenge! - https://www.thatsoberguy.com/quit-drinking-alcohol-for-30-days   Work with Shane 1 on 1 Coaching - https://www.thatsoberguy.com/coaching   Invite Shane to Speak - https://www.thatsoberguy.com/speaking   For More Resources go to http://www.ThatSoberGuy.com   Follow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-ramer-7534bb257/   Follow us on Instagram @ThatSoberGuyPodcast   Follow us on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/thatsoberguypodcast    Follow us on X @ThatSoberGuyPod   Music - Going Late courtesy of Humans & Haven Sounds Inc.   National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1-800-273-TALK (8255)  

After a prominent life filled with passion and adventure ends with the death of her brilliant but volatile husband, a woman journeys to Guatemala to heal, only to be captured, and her fight to survive transforms her life forever. Today's episode featured Brenda Coffee. You can email Brenda at bcoffee@1010parkplace.com. She is on Instagram @1010ParkPlace. Visit her website at brenda-coffee.com.Brenda is the author of MAYA BLUE: A Memoir of Survival, published 05/25, a memoir that reads like a thriller. It is Working Girl meets Taken. A true story of love, cocaine, Big Tobacco, abduction, and survival. Nominated for the 2025 Kirkus Prize and included on Maria Shriver's 2025 Summer Reads list. Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Aviva Lipkowitz Content/Trigger Warnings: parentification, domestic violence, intimate partner abuse, drug making and using, addiction, gun violence, sexual assault/attempted rape, child exploitation, cancer & illness, death & grief, explicit language Social Media:Instagram: @actuallyhappeningTwitter: @TIAHPodcast Website: thisisactuallyhappening.com Website for Andrew Waits: andrdewwaits.comWebsite for Aviva Lipkowitz: avivalipkowitz.com Support the Show: Support The Show on Patreon: patreon.com/happening Wondery Plus: All episodes of the show prior to episode #130 are now part of the Wondery Plus premium service. To access the full catalog of episodes, and get all episodes ad free, sign up for Wondery Plus at wondery.com/plus Shop at the Store: The This Is Actually Happening online store is now officially open. Follow this link: thisisactuallyhappening.com/shop to access branded t-shirts, posters, stickers and more from the shop. Transcripts: Full transcripts of each episode are now available on the website, thisisactuallyhappening.com Intro Music: “Sleep Paralysis” - Scott VelasquezMusic Bed: Ambient Themes ServicesIf you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources: National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Text or Call 988 National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Cigarettes are now over $50 a packet - unless you buy on the booming black market created by huge government tax hikes. Today - how well-intentioned policy went bad, and the serious baddies who are cashing in. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton, Stephanie Coombes and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Decades later…its massive influence on the U.S. food system is still being felt. So, why should we believe the tobacco industry won't be involved somehow again as more consumers move closer towards this four-way intersection of taste, convenience, nutrition, and functionality? Through the direct ownership of U.S. food companies between the 1980s and early-2000s, tobacco companies greatly impacted the American diet (maybe forever). But it one of the 20th century's most influential (yet invisible) characters, Edward Bernays, who's considered the architect of modern mass manipulation, that's responsible for indirectly linking the tobacco industry to societal “health and wellness” standards for the last century. And maybe that also insinuates you shouldn't be super surprised when I tell you that as part of its mission to build “a better tomorrow,” British American Tobacco laid out a strategic vision in 2020 to reduce the scale of its business within combustible tobacco products…and among other initiatives created its BTomorrow Ventures corporate venture capital arm investing in various brands operating within the intersecting CPG categories of functional foods, functional beverages, and nutritional supplements. Also, beyond BTomorrow Ventures, British American Tobacco has a wholly owned subsidiary called The Water Street Collective, which is essentially an agency mashup of product developers and brand creatives. With the first commercialized product launch being small-format RTD functional beverages…it appears British American Tobacco wants to test if today's more-sophisticated consumer market is interested in kicking old “bad habits” by embracing new “wellness” products that target the same benefit area. Because here's the thing…while combustible tobacco products might not be showing any signs of a comeback, that doesn't mean nicotine isn't going through a resurgence. So, is recent product launch from The Water Street Collective signaling that Big Tobacco will soon launch nicotine RTD beverages? And I know by now…many of you have seen the images (or articles about) Nicotina Energy floating around the Internet, which seems to support this notion of nicotine RTD beverages becoming the next functional beverage category, but no way! FDA has been very clear for decades that nicotine cannot be a food additive…plus the ingredient does not meet the standard of being a dietary supplement. Instead, Big Tobacco is still singing off the hymn book that Edward Bernays gave them almost a century earlier. And whether it's deploying the entire “creation of circumstances” strategic playbook or not…the fact remains that Big Tobacco is already benefitting greatly from those self-reported (and clinically supported) functional benefits of nicotine. ZYN (owned by Philip Morris International) and its competitive product equivalents have exploded in popularity over the last few years…largely thanks to users on social media platforms talking about how these nicotine pouches suppress their appetite (sounds familiar doesn't it) and cognitive enhancement (which is tied to a newer appeal of modern masculinity). Also, according to Edward Bernays, “people must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old have been entirely consumed.” Does that mean Big Tobacco really wants to transition away from the old go-to method of selling consumers functionality? I'd consider it unlikely, but that has seemingly opened a nascent segment of functional CPG products called caffeine pouches.

Social media is a part of our everyday lives. It is an outlet for creativity, a way of staying connected, a source for learning, and a platform for organizing. But like any powerful tool. It can also be dangerous.The social media company TikTok has knowingly ignored its own dangers, so today my office is suing TikTok for preying on Minnesota's young people for violating Minnesota law with addictive algorithms and exploitative features. In our lawsuit we allege:* TikTok has violated the law by designing features that cause users — especially children — to compulsively and excessively use the app such that they are mentally, physically, and financially harmed.* TikTok has violated the law by their live streaming and virtual monetary features that it knows induces compulsive use of the app and is used for financial and sexual exploitation of children.* TikTok has violated the law by repeatedly and knowingly misrepresenting the safety of the app when it knows that design features of the app are causing or contributing to compulsive use that harms users.* TikTok has violated the law by also knowingly misrepresenting the safety of the app's live and virtual monetary features, when it knows those features were being used for criminal and sexually exploitative purposes.* TikTok has violated the law by failing to become licensed, make disclosures, and submit to examinations by the Minnesota Department of Commerce because it is engaged in money transmission and virtual currency business activity.This isn't about free speech. This is about deception. This is about a company knowing the dangerous effects of its product, but taking no steps to mitigate those harms, or inform users of the risks.Let's walk through the harm TikTok has caused.95% of smartphone users in the United States aged 13-17 have TikTok on their devices. That means hundreds of thousands of Minnesota kids.TikTok's own data shows that, on average, these young people spend almost two hours a day on the app. More than 20% use the app in the middle of the night. And I know just about every parent of young children in this state could tell you about how hard it is for kids to turn away from apps like TikTok once they start scrolling.Well, all of that is by design.TikTok has created a dangerously addictive platform that exploits the unfinished reward systems in our kids' brains. The neurological systems that control our desires for risk-taking, attention, and peer reinforcement are particularly sensitive in teens. TikTok has designed its app to exploit that vulnerability.There's science behind this, and we all feel it. The urge to pick up your phone, the inability to ignore notifications, the desire to keep scrolling for “just a few more minutes.” These are the products of an engineered addiction – and adults have a hard enough time overcoming them. For our kids, it's an unfair battle.Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy put it this way: “you're pitting a child against the world's greatest product designers and that's just not a fair fight.”TikTok is intentionally designed to push our children to make choices that benefit TikTok's bottom line, at the expense of our kids' emotional, behavioral and physical health. Here's how:* The algorithm leverages user data to push content that keeps users engaged.* The infinite scroll that keeps users in an endless state of swiping – there's no way to “finish” the content.* Push notifications encourage repetitive checking of the App – which kids 13-17 do 17 times a day on average* TikTok LIVE's unlicensed virtual currency system encourages excessive and exploitative spending.* And visual filters and effects create idealized and unattainable images of usersThis is digital nicotine. Just like Big Tobacco designs its products to addict you to them, TikTok is working to create TikTok addicts. And the worst part is, it's working. TikTok is profiting, and our kids are paying a heavy price.Studies show that compulsive use of apps like TikTok leads to increased irritability and anxiety, and higher risks of suicidal behaviors. Research tells us that prolonged use of TikTok specifically can lead to disrupted sleep, reduced physical activity, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, low self-esteem, and self-harm.So, it's not a coincidence that as screen time is at an all-time high in Minnesota, we're seeing record levels of children suffering with mental health issues. In 2013, just a quarter of Minnesota's eleventh graders reported challenges in building friendships with other young people. By 2022, that number reached 40%.None of this is news to TikTok. They know the dangers their app poses to young people, but they've never taken any real measures to address them.Take TikTok LIVE – the live streaming platform within the app. Their own internal documents tell us that TikTok knew – but never warned us – that live streaming encourages addictive and impulsive purchases and puts minors at developmental risk.When you combine livestreaming with virtual tipping, you get a strip club. That's what TikTok built. They know that live is built on transactional gifting, and minors are doing it.TikTok knew but never warned us that 40% of TikTok users encounter inappropriate content related to children, and that its own moderation systems miss a significant amount of harmful material depicting child exploitation.TikTok knew but never warned us that its LIVE tools were putting young users at risk of grooming or exposure to inappropriate content, but kept pushing that content because it was good for their bottom line.My bottom line is that Minnesota will protect our kids, so I'm taking them to court. We're not trying to shut them down – but it's long past time for them to clean up their act.My kids are grown now, and I'm thankful that I didn't have to navigate these waters while they were young. But I feel for the parents of young kids who are trying to keep their kids safe in the social media era. I pledge to them and to their kids that my Office and I will always be on their side.If you or your family have stories about how TiKTok has impacted your health or wellbeing, you can visit our website and share them with us through our social media complaint form. Sharing those stories helps our investigation and can help other families stay safe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit affordingyourlife.substack.com

Real Talkers Jake, Andrew, and Bruce have lots to say about Jespo's vaping interview with Dr. Mark Tyndall. Tarra's demanding fairness for folks with disabilities. Neil calls Jespo out (and he's absolutely correct), and Kinnerit writes in from Israel after our Gaza interview with Sharan Kaur. It's The Flamethrower presented by the DQs of Northwest Edmonton and Sherwood Park! FIRE UP YOUR FLAMETHROWER: talk@ryanjespersen.com When you visit the DQs in Palisades, Namao, Newcastle, Westmount, and Baseline Road, be sure to tell 'em Real Talk sent you! SAVE on INTERNET, ELECTRICITY, and NATURAL GAS: https://parkpower.ca/realtalk/ FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK, X, INSTAGRAM, and LINKEDIN: @realtalkrj & @ryanjespersen JOIN US ON FACEBOOK: @ryanjespersen REAL TALK MERCH: https://ryanjespersen.com/merch RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE PERKS - BECOME A REAL TALK PATRON: patreon.com/ryanjespersen THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! https://ryanjespersen.com/sponsors The views and opinions expressed in this show are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Relay Communications Group Inc. or any affiliates.

As the popularity of cigarettes has slid in the past couple decades, Big Tobacco has been searching for a new hit product. Now, they think they've found it: nicotine pouches. FT reporters Clara Murray and Mari Novik explain how nicotine pouches became popular, and whether they'll become the sector's newest addiction or if they will be snuffed out. Clips from ABC News, ABC4 Utah, CBS Mornings, Theo Von Podcast, Time, TikTok- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading:The new nicotine hit that could save Big TobaccoBig Tobacco stock rally reveals uncomfortable truthBig Tobacco will take heat on its smokeless transformation- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Follow Clara Murray on X (@clara__murray) and Bluesky (‪@claradoodle.bsky.social‬). Follow Mari Novik on X (@marinoevik) and Bluesky(@marinovik.bsky.social‬). Saffeya Ahmed is on X (@saffeya_ahmed), or you can follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we dive into one of the most shocking truths about our modern food supply with Dr. Tera Fazzino, associate director at the KU Center for Addiction Research. What if we told you that the same tobacco companies that engineered cigarettes to be addictive also helped shape the foods you crave the most? From hyper-palatable snacks to sugary drinks, we unpack how these foods hijack your brain's reward system—and why it's so hard to stop eating them. Dr. Fazzino reveals the documented connection between Big Tobacco and Big Food, and why our current food environment might be more manipulated than we think. If you've ever felt like certain foods are literally irresistible, this episode will change the way you see your pantry.Sign up for our newsletter here!For weekly episodes, come join the Foodie Fam!Check out our book!Chat with us on IG @foodweneedtotalk!Be friends with Juna on Instagram and Tiktok! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Text and Be HeardRecovery from addiction takes many forms, but as our guest John G explains after 30 years without placing a bet, the journey follows distinct layers. First comes arresting the illness through changing daily behaviors and becoming accountable. The deeper work involves addressing character defects that drain serenity, making amends to those harmed, and developing a spiritual connection that sustains long-term recovery.The digital age has dramatically transformed gambling addiction. What once required visiting a casino or calling a bookie now happens silently through smartphone screens, creating a new breed of gambler who's more isolated and depressed. College campuses have become ground zero for sports betting companies targeting young males through aggressive advertising and peer pressure. As John points out, "It's toxic, but it's intoxicating," especially for young people who haven't yet learned the value of earning and saving money.Perhaps most alarming is the industry's promotion of live betting, which accelerates addiction by encouraging continuous play and chasing losses. This practice compresses what once took decades of addiction development into just a few years. The parallels to Big Tobacco are unmistakable—from targeting youth to denying harmful effects while hiding behind hollow "responsible gambling" messages. As John wisely observes, "Everyone thinks coming in that it's a gambling problem. They realize after a while it's a living problem." Ready to understand how recovery goes beyond just stopping the behavior? Listen now and discover what it takes to truly heal from gambling addiction.Support the showRecovery is Beautiful. Go Live Your Best Life!!Facebook Group - Recovery Freedom Circle | FacebookYour EQ is Your IQYouTube - Life Is Wonderful Hugo VRecovery Freedom CircleThe System That Understands Recovery, Builds Character and Helps People Have Better Relationships.A Life Changing Solution, Saves You Time, 18 weekswww.lifeiswonderful.love Instagram - Lifeiswonderful.LoveTikTok - Lifeiswonderful.LovePinterest - Lifeiswonderful.LoveTwitter - LifeWonderLoveLinkedIn - Hugo Vrsalovic Life Is Wonderful.Love

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Michael Moss joins Michael to unpack his explosive book "Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions," which explores how processed food companies have engineered their products—and our eating habits. In this candid and eye-opening conversation, Moss reveals how food giants manipulate our biology, emotions, and even memories to keep us coming back for more, using tactics eerily similar to Big Tobacco. Moss breaks down how our free will has been quietly undermined by decades of food innovation aimed at maximizing profit—not health. Hear why Oreos might be more addictive than cigarettes, what's really in your fridge, and how companies design packaging to encourage mindless eating. Original air date 14 April 2021. The book was published on 2 March 2021.

What if the same playbook that made cigarettes addictive is now being used to make our food irresistible? This week we're exploring Ariana Huffington's eye-opening piece about how Big Food borrowed tactics directly from Big Tobacco, using the same scientists and brain research to hook us on ultra-processed foods. We dig into a groundbreaking lawsuit that's drawing explicit connections between food companies and tobacco giants, and why this might be our "big tobacco moment" for the food industry. From a 1962 memo revealing that tobacco companies saw themselves as being "in the flavor business" to the staggering health costs we're paying today, this episode connects the dots between corporate strategy and our current health crisis - and explains why there's actually reason for hope. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

According to President Trump, he encouraged the Coca-Cola company to start using real sugar in their flagship product. This probably has nothing to do with the 2017 sugar trade deal and the 2025 restrictions on sugar imports from other countries, or rather the lifeline the White House just tossed Big Sugar. The announcement follows RFK Jr's advocacy of beef tallow for fast food and processed meals from Mom's Meals. It all makes sense considering the White House Chief of Staff is Susie Wiles, former lobbyist for Big Tobacco, the very industry which destroyed what was left of the possible benefits of processed foods. Ironically the President has also been diagnosed with CVI, which although not a serious health issue, indicates a lifestyle of little movement and poor diet. The White House and DOJ are also going along with an appeal from the EPA on the historic fluoride ruling last year by a federal court ordering the agency to address the risks of water fluoridation. In other words, it's business as usual. This is the new boss, who not only is the same as the old boss but much fatter too. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.-FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITECashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

Here's your local news for Thursday, July 10, 2025:We find out why the Sierra Club of Wisconsin is collecting thousands of origami fish,Learn about Big Tobacco's connection to a new state statute restricting the sale of e-cigarettes,Debut our new feature "Global Currents, Local Ripples,"Hear criticism of the state budget from a leftist perspective,Meet an artist who carves love and loss into stone,And much more.

We're back. 

Cleaning House: The Fight to Rid Our Homes of Toxic Chemicals by Lindsay Dahl Lindsaydahl.com https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-House-Fight-Homes-Chemicals/dp/0063375591 From the front lines of the movement for safer products, environmental health expert Lindsay Dahl takes us on her journey from skeptic to activist, exposing the secret forces that keep toxic chemicals in our homes, bodies, and environment—showing us how to fight back and keep our families safe. In Cleaning House, Lindsay Dahl shows how seemingly innocuous items—everything from toys to common beauty and cleaning products—can include toxic chemicals, thanks to a consistent failure of regulation in the United States. The scientific research linking toxic chemicals in products to rising rates of cancer and reproductive harms is as strong as the science that led to banning lead from gasoline, PBCs, and DDT. But with varying degrees of protective guardrails in place for the everyday items, consumers are tasked with playing toxic-chemical detective and those unable to afford safer products are left hanging in the balance. Through vivid storytelling and robust scientific evidence, Dahl makes a compelling case that a safer world will only arrive through systemic change. We must turn off the tap of toxic chemicals before they make their way into our homes and bodies—and here she shows you how. Drawing on Dahl's extensive experience as a lobbyist, product formulator, and a parent, she unravels the shocking web of political and cultural factors that landed us here and are key to solving this massive public health crisis. Dahl takes readers behind the scenes as a young but determined lobbyist fighting powerful chemical industry players, which she discovered are replicating Big Tobacco's disinformation playbook by downplaying the harms of the toxic chemicals they continue to profit from. And she introduces readers to the brilliant scientists doing ground-breaking research, legislators passing life-saving laws, forward-thinking business leaders, communities facing the highest level of exposure to toxic chemical pollution, and parents from all political stripes who have joined the fight for a safer world. Told through a compelling David and Goliath narrative, Cleaning House dares to take a pragmatic and science-based approach to the concept of clean living, in a time where the wellness movement is threatened by partisan politics and misinformation. It is an essential read for anyone who wants a safer home and a safer future for our children. About the author Lindsay Dahl is a nationally awarded environmental health and consumer safety expert. Over the last twenty years Dahl has helped pass over thirty state and federal laws that remove toxic chemicals from consumer products and our environment. Her activism and writing has been featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, and Vogue, among other publications. Dahl has worked across leadership positions for environmental health nonprofits including Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, and for leading consumer brands including: Ritual and Beautycounter. She sits on the board of directors for the nonprofits Toxic-Free Future and the Chamber of Mothers.

Why are politicians trying to ban the safer alternatives to cigarettes… while leaving cigarettes untouched? What's the real motivation behind targeting products like Zyn and vapes? Is this about protecting public health—or protecting power and control? Studio Sponsor: Cardio Miracle - "Unlock the secret to a healthier heart, increased energy levels, and transform your cardiovascular fitness like never before.": CardioMiracle.com/TBNS In this punchy, eye-opening episode of The Brian Nichols Show, we dive headfirst into the war on nicotine alternatives. Host Brian Nichols sits down with health policy analyst and harm reduction fellow Sophia Hamilton to break down why the government is so obsessed with regulating—if not outright banning—products like Zyn pouches. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with outdated narratives, political grandstanding, and generational ignorance. Sophia walks us through how the government's crackdown on Juul created a black market mess, how Zyn emerged as a cleaner, safer alternative, and why politicians like Chuck Schumer are frothing at the mouth to ban it next. Even though studies show these products are far less harmful than traditional tobacco, that's not stopping the Nanny State from stepping in. Brian and Sophia also dig into the generational divide fueling this hysteria—highlighting how Gen Z is rejecting alcohol and cigarettes but is being punished for making safer, informed choices. The hypocrisy is rich: the same boomers who once fell for Big Tobacco ads now want to control what young people can and can't use, despite overwhelming data and personal autonomy. And let's not forget the role of the FDA, which seems more interested in gatekeeping and bureaucracy than in approving harm-reduction products that actually help people quit smoking. This isn't just a public health failure—it's a prime example of government overreach making life worse, not better. You do not want to miss this one. ❤️ Order Cardio Miracle (CardioMiracle.com/TBNS) for 15% off and take a step towards better heart health and overall well-being!

Today we're talking with health and nutrition expert Dr. Stuart Gillespie, author of a new book entitled Food Fight: from Plunder and Profit to People and Planet. Using decades of research and insight gathered from around the world, Dr. Gillespie wants to reimagine our global food system and plot a way forward to a sustainable, equitable, and healthy food future - one where our food system isn't making us sick. Certainly not the case now. Over the course of his career, Dr. Gillespie has worked with the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition in Geneva with UNICEF in India and with the International Food Policy Research Institute, known as IFPRI, where he's led initiatives tackling the double burden of malnutrition and agriculture and health research. He holds a PhD in human nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Interview Summary So, you've really had a global view of the agriculture system, and this is captured in your book. And to give some context to our listeners, in your book, you describe the history of the global food system, how it's evolved into this system, sort of warped, if you will, into a mechanism that creates harm and it destroys more than it produces. That's a pretty bold statement. That it destroys more than it produces, given how much the agriculture around the world does produce. Tell us a bit more if you would. Yes, that statement actually emerged from recent work by the Food Systems Economic Commission. And they costed out the damage or the downstream harms generated by the global food system at around $15 trillion per year, which is 12% of GDP. And that manifests in various ways. Health harms or chronic disease. It also manifests in terms of climate crisis and risks and environmental harms, but also. Poverty of food system workers at the front line, if you like. And it's largely because we have a system that's anachronistic. It's a system that was built in a different time, in a different century for a different purpose. It was really started to come together after the second World War. To mass produce cheap calories to prevent famine, but also through the Green Revolution, as that was picking up with the overproduction of staples to use that strategically through food aid to buffer the West to certain extent from the spread of communism. And over time and over the last 50 years of neoliberal policies we've got a situation where food is less and less viewed as a human right, or a basic need. It's seen as a commodity and the system has become increasingly financialized. And there's a lot of evidence captured by a handful of transnationals, different ones at different points in the system from production to consumption. But in each case, they wield huge amounts of power. And that manifests in various ways. We have, I think a system that's anachronistic The point about it, and the problem we have, is that it's a system revolves around maximizing profit and the most profitable foods and products of those, which are actually the least healthy for us as individuals. And it's not a system that's designed to nourish us. It's a system designed to maximize profit. And we don't have a system that really aims to produce whole foods for people. We have a system that produces raw ingredients for industrial formulations to end up as ultra processed foods. We have a system that produces cattle feed and, and biofuels, and some whole foods. But it, you know, that it's so skewed now, and we see the evidence all around us that it manifests in all sorts of different ways. One in three people on the planet in some way malnourished. We have around 12 million adult deaths a year due to diet related chronic disease. And I followed that from colonial times that, that evolution and the way it operates and the way it moves across the world. And what is especially frightening, I think, is the speed at which this so-called nutrition transition or dietary transition is happening in lower income or middle income countries. We saw this happening over in the US and we saw it happening in the UK where I am. And then in Latin America, and then more Southeast Asia, then South Asia. Now, very much so in Sub-Saharan Africa where there is no regulation really, apart from perhaps South Africa. So that's long answer to your intro question. Let's dive into a couple of things that you brought up. First, the Green Revolution. So that's a term that many of our listeners will know and they'll understand what the Green Revolution is, but not everybody. Would you explain what that was and how it's had these effects throughout the food systems around the world? Yes, I mean around the, let's see, about 1950s, Norman Borlag, who was a crop breeder and his colleagues in Mexico discovered through crop breeding trials, a high yielding dwarf variety. But over time and working with different partners, including well in India as well, with the Swaminathan Foundation. And Swaminathan, for example, managed to perfect these new strains. High yielding varieties that doubled yields for a given acreage of land in terms of staples. And over time, this started to work with rice, with wheat, maize and corn. Very dependent on fertilizers, very dependent on pesticides, herbicides, which we now realize had significant downstream effects in terms of environmental harms. But also, diminishing returns in as much as, you know, that went through its trajectory in terms of maximizing productivity. So, all the Malthusian predictions of population growth out running our ability to feed the planet were shown to not to be true. But it also generated inequity that the richest farmers got very rich, very quickly, the poorer farmers got slightly richer, but that there was this large gap. So, inequity was never really properly dealt with through the Green Revolution in its early days. And that overproduction and the various institutions that were set in place, the manner in which governments backed off any form of regulation for overproduction. They continued to subsidize over production with these very large subsidies upstream, meant that we are in the situation we are now with regard to different products are being used to deal with that excess over production. So, that idea of using petroleum-based inputs to create the foods in the first place. And the large production of single crops has a lot to do with that Green Revolution that goes way back to the 1950s. It's interesting to see what it's become today. It's sort of that original vision multiplied by a billion. And boy, it really does continue to have impacts. You know, it probably was the forerunner to genetically modified foods as well, which I'd like to ask you about in a little bit. But before I do that, you said that much of the world's food supply is governed by a pretty small number of players. So who are these players? If you look at the downstream retail side, you have Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Unilever. Collectively around 70% of retail is governed by those companies. If you look upstream in terms of agricultural and agribusiness, you have Cargill, ADM, Louis Dreyfus, and Bunge. These change to a certain extent. What doesn't change very much are the numbers involved that are very, very small and that the size of these corporations is so large that they have immense power. And, so those are the companies that we could talk about what that power looks like and why it's problematic. But the other side of it's here where I am in the UK, we have a similar thing playing out with regard to store bought. Food or products, supermarkets that control 80% as Tesco in the UK, Asta, Sainsbury's, and Morrisons just control. You have Walmart, you have others, and that gives them immense power to drive down the costs that they will pay to producers and also potentially increase the cost that they charge as prices of the products that are sold in these supermarkets. So that profit markup, profit margins are in increased in their favor. They can also move around their tax liabilities around the world because they're transnational. And that's just the economic market and financial side on top of that. And as you know, there's a whole raft of political ways in which they use this power to infiltrate policy, influence policy through what I've called in Chapter 13, the Dark Arts of Policy Interference. Your previous speaker, Murray Carpenter, talked about that with regard to Coca-Cola and that was a very, yeah, great example. But there are many others. In many ways these companies have been brilliant at adapting to the regulatory landscape, to the financial incentives, to the way the agriculture system has become warped. I mean, in some ways they've done the warping, but in a lot of ways, they're adapting to the conditions that allow warping to occur. And because they've invested so heavily, like in manufacturing plants to make high fructose corn syrup or to make biofuels or things like that. It'd be pretty hard for them to undo things, and that's why they lobby so strongly in favor of keeping the status quo. Let me ask you about the issue of power because you write about this in a very compelling way. And you talk about power imbalances in the food system. What does that look like in your mind, and why is it such a big part of the problem? Well, yes. And power manifests in different ways. It operates sometimes covertly, sometimes overtly. It manifests at different levels from, you know, grassroots level, right up to national and international in terms of international trade. But what I've described is the way markets are captured or hyper concentrated. That power that comes with these companies operating almost like a cartel, can be used to affect political or to dampen down, block governments from regulating them through what I call a five deadly Ds: dispute or dispute or doubt, distort, distract, disguise, and dodge. And you've written very well Kelly, with I think Kenneth Warner about the links between big food and big tobacco and the playbook and the realization on the part of Big Tobacco back in the '50s, I think, that they couldn't compete with the emerging evidence of the harms of smoking. They had to secure the science. And that involved effectively buying research or paying for researchers to generate a raft of study shown that smoking wasn't a big deal or problem. And also, public relations committees, et cetera, et cetera. And we see the same happening with big food. Conflicts of interest is a big deal. It needs to be avoided. It can't be managed. And I think a lot of people think it is just a question of disclosure. Disclosure is never enough of conflict of interest, almost never enough. We have, in the UK, we have nine regulatory bodies. Every one of them has been significantly infiltrated by big food, including the most recent one, which has just been designated to help develop a national food stretch in the UK. We've had a new government here and we thought things were changing, beginning to wonder now because big food is on that board or on that committee. And it shouldn't be, you know. It shouldn't be anywhere near the policy table anyway. That's so it's one side is conflict of interest. Distraction: I talk about corporate social responsibility initiatives and the way that they're designed to distract. On the one hand, if you think of a person on a left hand is doing these wonderful small-scale projects, which are high visibility and they're doing good. In and off themselves they're doing good. But they're small scale. Whereas the right hand is a core business, which is generating harm at a much larger scale. And the left hand is designed to distract you from the right hand. So that distraction, those sort of corporate CSR initiatives are a big part of the problem. And then 'Disguise' is, as you know, with the various trade associations and front groups, which acted almost like Trojan horses, in many ways. Because the big food companies are paying up as members of these committees, but they don't get on the program of these international conferences. But the front groups do and the front groups act on in their interests. So that's former disguise or camouflage. The World Business Council on Sustainable Development is in the last few years, has been very active in the space. And they have Philip Morris on there as members, McDonald's and Nestle, Coke, everybody, you know. And they deliberately actually say It's all fine. That we have an open door, which I, I just can't. I don't buy it. And there are others. So, you know, I think these can be really problematic. The other thing I should mention about power and as what we've learned more about, if you go even upstream from the big food companies, and you look at the hedge funds and the asset management firms like Vanguard, state Capital, BlackRock, and the way they've been buying up shares of big food companies and blocking any moves in annual general meetings to increase or improve the healthiness of portfolios. Because they're so powerful in terms of the number of shares they hold to maximize profit for pension funds. So, we started to see the pressure that is being put on big food upstream by the nature of the system, that being financialized, even beyond the companies themselves, you know? You were mentioning that these companies, either directly themselves or through their front organizations or the trade association block important things that might be done in agriculture. Can you think of an example of that? Yes, well actually I did, with some colleagues here in the UK, the Food Foundation, an investigation into corporate lobbying during the previous conservative government. And basically, in the five years after the pandemic, we logged around 1,400 meetings between government ministers and big food. Then we looked at the public interest NGOs and the number of meetings they had over that same period, and it was 35, so it was a 40-fold difference. Oh goodness. Which I was actually surprised because I thought they didn't have to do much because the Tory government was never going to really regulate them anyway. And you look in the register, there is meant to be transparency. There are rules about disclosure of what these lobbying meetings were meant to be for, with whom, for what purpose, what outcome. That's just simply not followed. You get these crazy things being written into the those logs like, 'oh, we had a meeting to discuss business, and that's it.' And we know that at least what happened in the UK, which I'm more familiar with. We had a situation where constantly any small piecemeal attempt to regulate, for example, having a watershed at 9:00 PM so that kids could not see junk food advertised on their screens before 9:00 PM. That simple regulation was delayed, delayed. So, delay is actually another D you know. It is part of it. And that's an example of that. That's a really good example. And you've reminded me of an example where Marian Nestle and I wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, many years ago, on an effort by the WHO, the World Health Organization to establish a quite reasonable guideline for how much added sugar people should have in their diet. And the sugar industry stepped in in the biggest way possible. And there was a congressional caucus on sugar or something like that in our US Congress and the sugar industry and the other players in the food industry started interacting with them. They put big pressure on the highest levels of the US government to pressure the WHO away from this really quite moderate reasonable sugar standard. And the US ultimately threatened the World Health Organization with taking away its funding just on one thing - sugar. Now, thankfully the WHO didn't back down and ultimately came out with some pretty good guidelines on sugar that have been even stronger over the years. But it was pretty disgraceful. That's in the book that, that story is in the book. I think it was 2004 with the strategy on diet, physical activity. And Tommy Thompson was a health secretary and there were all sorts of shenanigans and stories around that. Yes, that is a very powerful example. It was a crazy power play and disgraceful how our government acted and how the companies acted and all the sort of deceitful ways they did things. And of course, that's happened a million times. And you gave the example of all the discussions in the UK between the food industry and the government people. So, let's get on to something more positive. What can be done? You can see these massive corporate influences, revolving doors in government, a lot of things that would argue for keeping the status quo. So how in the world do you turn things around? Yeah, good question. I really believe, I've talked about a lot of people. I've looked a lot of the evidence. I really believe that we need a systemic sort of structural change and understanding that's not going to happen overnight. But ultimately, I think there's a role for a government, citizens civil society, media, academics, food industry, obviously. And again, it's different between the UK and US and elsewhere in terms of the ability and the potential for change. But governments have to step in and govern. They have to set the guardrails and the parameters. And I talk in the book about four key INs. So, the first one is institutions in which, for example, there's a power to procure healthy food for schools, for hospitals, clinics that is being underutilized. And there's some great stories of individuals. One woman from Kenya who did this on her own and managed to get the government to back it and to scale it up, which is an incredible story. That's institutions. The second IN is incentives, and that's whereby sugar taxes, or even potentially junk food taxes as they have in Columbia now. And reforming the upstream subsidies on production is basically downregulating the harmful side, if you like, of the food system, but also using the potential tax dividend from that side to upregulate benefits via subsidies for low-income families. Rebalancing the system. That's the incentive side. The other side is information, and that involves labeling, maybe following the examples from Latin America with regard to black octagons in Chile and Mexico and Brazil. And dietary guidelines not being conflicted, in terms of conflicts of interest. And actually, that's the fourth IN: interests. So ridding government advisory bodies, guideline committees, of conflicts of interests. Cleaning up lobbying. Great examples in a way that can be done are from Canada and Ireland that we found. That's government. Citizens, and civil society, they can be involved in various ways exposing, opposing malpractice if you like, or harmful action on the part of industry or whoever else, or the non-action on the part of the government. Informing, advocating, building social movements. Lots I think can be learned through activist group in other domains or in other disciplines like HIV, climate. I think we need to make those connections much more. Media. I mean, the other thought is that the media have great, I mean in this country at least, you know, politicians tend to follow the media, or they're frightened of the media. And if the media turned and started doing deep dive stories of corporate shenanigans and you know, stuff that is under the radar, that would make a difference, I think. And then ultimately, I think then our industry starts to respond to different signals or should do or would do. So that in innovation is not just purely technological aimed at maximizing profit. It may be actually social. We need social innovation as well. There's a handful of things. But ultimately, I actually don't think the food system is broken because it is doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason. I think we need to change the system, and I'll say that will take time. It needs a real transformation. One, one last thing to say about that word transformation. Where in meetings I've been in over the last 10 years, so many people invoke food system transformation when they're not really talking about it. They're just talking about tweaking the margins or small, piecemeal ad hoc changes or interventions when we need to kind of press all the buttons or pull all the levers to get the kind of change that we need. And again, as I say, it was going to take some time, but we have to start moving that direction. Do you think there's reason to be hopeful and are there success stories you can point to, to make us feel a little bit better? Yeah, and I like that word, hope. I've just been reading a lot of essays from, actually, Rebecca Solnit has been writing a lot about hope as a warrior emotion. Radical hope, which it's different to optimism. Optimism went, oh, you know, things probably will be okay, but hope you make it. It's like a springboard for action. So I, yes, I'm hopeful and I think there are plenty of examples. Actually, a lot of examples from Latin America of things changing, and I think that's because they've been hit so fast, so hard. And I write in the book about what's happened in the US and UK it's happened over a period of, I don't know, 50, 60 years. But what's happened and is happening in Latin America has happened in just like 15 years. You know, it's so rapid that they've had to respond fast or get their act together quickly. And that's an interesting breed of activist scholars. You know, I think there's an interesting group, and again, if we connect across national boundaries across the world, we can learn a lot from that. There are great success stories coming out Chile from the past that we've seen what's happening in Mexico. Mexico was in a terrible situation after Vicente Fox came in, in the early 2000s when he brought all his Coca-Cola pals in, you know, the classic revolving door. And Mexico's obesity and diabetes went off to scale very quickly. But they're the first country with the sugar tax in 2014. And you see the pressure that was used to build the momentum behind that. Chile, Guido Girardi and the Black Octagon labels with other interventions. Rarely is it just one thing. It has to be a comprehensive across the board as far as possible. So, in Brazil, I think we will see things happening more in, in Thailand and Southeast Asia. We see things beginning to happen in India, South Africa. The obesity in Ghana, for example, changed so rapidly. There are some good people working in Ghana. So, you know, I think a good part of this is actually documenting those kind of stories as, and when they happen and publicizing them, you know. The way you portrayed the concept of hope, I think is a really good one. And when I asked you for some examples of success, what I was expecting you, you might say, well, there was this program and this part of a one country in Africa where they did something. But you're talking about entire countries making changes like Chile and Brazil and Mexico. That makes me very hopeful about the future when you get governments casting aside the influence of industry. At least long enough to enact some of these things that are definitely not in the best interest of industry, these traditional food companies. And that's all, I think, a very positive sign about big scale change. And hopefully what happens in these countries will become contagious in other countries will adopt them and then, you know, eventually they'll find their way to countries like yours and mine. Yes, I agree. That's how I see it. I used to do a lot of work on single, small interventions and do their work do they not work in this small environment. The problem we have is large scale, so we have to be large scale as well. BIO Dr. Stuart Gillespie has been fighting to transform our broken food system for the past 40 years. Stuart is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Nutrition, Diets and Health at theInternational Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He has been at the helm of the IFPRI's Regional Network on AIDs, Livelihoods and Food Security, has led the flagship Agriculture for Nutrition and Health research program, was director of the Transform Nutrition program, and founded the Stories of Change initiative, amongst a host of other interventions into public food policy. His work – the ‘food fight' he has been waging – has driven change across all frontiers, from the grassroots (mothers in markets, village revolutionaries) to the political (corporate behemoths, governance). He holds a PhD in Human Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

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Why are politicians trying to ban the safer alternatives to cigarettes… while leaving cigarettes untouched? What's the real motivation behind targeting products like Zyn and vapes? Is this about protecting public health—or protecting power and control? Studio Sponsor: ⁠Cardio Miracle⁠ - "Unlock the secret to a healthier heart, increased energy levels, and transform your cardiovascular fitness like never before.": ⁠CardioMiracle.com/TBNS⁠ In this punchy, eye-opening episode of The Brian Nichols Show, we dive headfirst into the war on nicotine alternatives. Host Brian Nichols sits down with health policy analyst and harm reduction fellow Sophia Hamilton to break down why the government is so obsessed with regulating—if not outright banning—products like Zyn pouches. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with outdated narratives, political grandstanding, and generational ignorance. Sophia walks us through how the government's crackdown on Juul created a black market mess, how Zyn emerged as a cleaner, safer alternative, and why politicians like Chuck Schumer are frothing at the mouth to ban it next. Even though studies show these products are far less harmful than traditional tobacco, that's not stopping the Nanny State from stepping in. Brian and Sophia also dig into the generational divide fueling this hysteria—highlighting how Gen Z is rejecting alcohol and cigarettes but is being punished for making safer, informed choices. The hypocrisy is rich: the same boomers who once fell for Big Tobacco ads now want to control what young people can and can't use, despite overwhelming data and personal autonomy. And let's not forget the role of the FDA, which seems more interested in gatekeeping and bureaucracy than in approving harm-reduction products that actually help people quit smoking. This isn't just a public health failure—it's a prime example of government overreach making life worse, not better. You do not want to miss this one. We have a new show on Lions of Liberty! The Politicks Podcast! Be sure to subscribe to the standalone Politicks Podcast feed. This is the absolute best way to support the show! Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And remember, they're all Blood Suckers! ❤️ Order ⁠Cardio Miracle⁠ (⁠CardioMiracle.com/TBNS⁠) for 15% off and take a step towards better heart health and overall well-being!

On this week's episode Maria sits down with attorney Charles Scott at Kelley | Uustal. They discuss why litigation against tobacco companies is more important than ever, how cigarette companies are targeting children, diseases other than lung cancer that are caused by smoking, and an impromptu call to friend of the podcast, Joe Volta.  Get in touch with Charles at https://kelleyuustal.com/ Guest Charles Scott (@charlesscottesq on Instagram) is an attorney and partner at Kelley | Uustal. He has secured over $50 million in settlements for injured smokers and their families, won multiple appeals, and was part of a record-breaking trial against Big Tobacco, as well as a multi-million dollar secondhand smoke settlement. Host Maria Monroy (@marialawrank on Instagram) is the Co-founder and President of LawRank, a leading SEO company for law firms since 2013. She has a knack for breaking down complex topics to make them more easily accessible and started Tip the Scales to share her knowledge with listeners like you. _____ LawRank grows your law firm with SEO Our clients saw a 384% increase in first-time calls and a 603% growth in traffic in 12 months. Get your free competitor report at https://lawrank.com/report. Subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app Rate us 5 stars on iTunes and Spotify Watch us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram and TikTok

Welcome back, everyone! This month we're talking about games with a social or political message. It's not JUST because it's Pride Month in the USA, and it's not JUST because tariffs are currently wreaking havoc on the entire board game industry...but it's not NOT because of those things, either.  Many links follow: Amabel Holland's great video about, among other things, the REAL origins of Monopoly The games that made Jayson say, "It's awful. I hate this company. I hate it so much." KamSandwich agrees that both of these games are pretty awful. This game (and the rest of the games in its series) are also awful experiences, but for a very different reason. Joe appears to be of the opinion that subtlety is dead. Is this what a Phil Eklund game from the evil mirror universe would look like? More Amabel Holland, discussing her games about Big Tobacco and kaiju as a trans metaphor. What messages did we miss? Does a sociopolitical statement distract you from a game, or enrich the gameplay? Come visit our Discord server to chat with us and other like-minded game nerds! As always, thank you for listening. Please consider writing us an iTunes review if you like what you hear! We'd also love to have you visit our website and let us know what kinds of games we should discuss next. You're also more than welcome to comment on the episode page, or our Discord, or our Facebook page, or tag @ascentofboardgames on Bluesky. Whatever way you prefer to share your opinions with us, we'd love to hear them.  As always, we appreciate your listening - stay safe out there, and happy gaming! Website: https://www.ascentofboardgames.com Email: ascentofboardgames@gmail.com Discord: https://discord.gg/tdH3QAn  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ascentboardgames/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ascentofboardgames.bsky.social Discord: http://discord.ascentofboardgames.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascentofboardgames/ And, very occasionally, Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ascentofboardgames Intro and outro music is "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under a Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. The Ascent of Board Games is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Some rights reserved. Thank you for listening!

Why is there an obesity epidemic? Are “fat jabs” the answer? How culpable are the food multinationals for making and marketing addictive “ultra-formulated” foods? Steph and Robert are joined by US public health expert ex-FDA commissioner, who rolled out COVID vaccines in America, Dr David Kessler. We appreciate your feedback on The Rest Is Money to help make the podcast and our partnerships better: ⁠https://opinion-v2.askattest.com/app/41f5060f-0f52-45bc-bf86-bf3c9793618e?language=ENG⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Sign up to our newsletter⁠⁠⁠ to get more stories from the world of business and finance. Email: ⁠⁠⁠restismoney@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@TheRestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@RestIsMoney⁠⁠⁠ https://⁠⁠⁠goalhanger.com⁠⁠⁠ Visit: ⁠⁠⁠https://monzo.com/therestismoney⁠⁠⁠/ Assistant Producer: India Dunkley, Alice Horrell Producer: Ross Buchanan Head of Content: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Much like the popularity of methylene blue, the building popularity of nicotine pouches has produced a sort of health sub-culture within the larger context of a generally unhealthy population. Whereas methylene blue is relatively new to the public, nicotine has been around, and much more popular, for a lot longer. Sure, methylene blue has certain medical benefits, namely as a supplement for those with methemoglobinemia, though too much of the substance can cause the same condition. Though it goes with anything - quantity, quality, long term use, additional additives, and health context matter. The same goes for nicotine pouches. Nicotine, especially the non-smoked kind, can benefit cognition, memory, and concentration to a small degree, though delivery mechanisms and quality matter greatly.  Could it be that these recent health potions are nothing more than a commodifying and monetizing not only of health but of the healthcare revolution?The bottom line is this: Big Tobacco lied, obfuscated and killed for decades. By the 1980s and 1990s, studies, high profile cases, and lawsuits put some final nails in their coffin. It was around this time that these companies began to diversify heavily. Phillip Morris purchased General Foods, Kraft, and Miller Brewing in the 80s, and a little later Nabisco in 2000. R.J. Reynolds had purchased the same company in the 80s. They also had control of Pacific Hawaiian products since the 60s. These acquisitions allowed tobacco companies to apply cigarette marketing tactics, like targeting children and minorities, and to develop "hyper-palatable" foods high in fat, sugar, and sodium, influencing the U.S. food system for decades.Vaping was then introduced in the early 2000s and within a few years Big Tobacco was diversifying again. In 2014 MarkTen e-cigarettes were introduced by Altria (Phillip Morris) and Vuse was introduced by R.J. Reynolds (BAT). Soon after Altria introduced ON!, British American Tobacco (R.J. Reynolds) launched VELO, and Phillip Morris acquired ZYN. When vaping began to develop a bad reputation for some, the industry convinced many that cigarettes were the safer choice, while others kept vaping for the same reason.Although these companies had marketed nicotine gum and patches for decades, the market grew rapidly as people tried to stop smoking in general. But what about the market for non-smokers? Well, that's where ON!, ZYN, and VELO come in. Instead of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, patches or gum, pouches were for all non-smokers and promoted as having health benefits. By the time these pouches were largely under the control of Big Tobacco there began a campaign of promotion on social media, primarily TikTok, for flavored nicotine pouches - as with flavored cigarettes and vapes. Now they have been picked up by conservatives and those leaning in the direction of MAHA. It all makes sense, too, when considering what the HHS and NIH have done so far under RFK Jr. Although certain vaccines are longer advised for healthy kids and pregnant women, the HHS and NIH are investing millions, maybe billions, in “universal influenza and coronavirus vaccines.” With Project Stargate there is further investment in personalized medicine and vaccines, followed up in May, 2025, with three other interesting developments. May 5 saw the White House strip regulations for domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing and May 12 saw the White House authorize that “the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) shall facilitate direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for pharmaceutical manufacturers that sell their products to American patients at the most-favored-nation price." On May 19 the HHS posted about RFK Jr meeting with technocrats “creating wearable devices, AI tools, and personalized apps that empower Americans to take control of their health.” What all of this really does is allow for the mass collection of personal health data so that even more accurate health models can be created in order to personalized marketing and products that can be sold directly to the public with no middle party, while also empowering insurance companies to take advantage of knowing who can be charged more for private decisions. This isn't revolution, it's commodification and monetization. And at the very least, anyone advocating for methylene blue, itself a “fetotoxic agent,” or nicotine pouches without first examining all the free ways we can be healthier, or without noting that the first is a dye and the second is sold by a famously corrupt and evil industry, is either untrustworthy, ignorant, or a sell out. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.-FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKYOUTUBEMAIN WEBSITECashApp: $rdgable Paypal email rdgable1991@gmail.comEMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

In this explosive episode, the host delivers a searing indictment of government inaction—from Governor Henry McMaster's failure to replicate Florida's crackdown on illegal immigration to the hidden dangers of everyday chemicals poisoning American families. Using the tragic murder of a South Carolina woman by illegal immigrant gang members as a flashpoint, the host calls out political cowardice and exposes how Ron DeSantis' partnership with federal agencies is successfully driving criminal migrants out of Florida. The conversation then shifts to a sweeping public health crisis, connecting fluoride, microplastics, and toxic food additives to rising neurological disorders like ADHD. Drawing parallels to Big Tobacco's cover-up, this broadcast warns of an inevitable wave of lawsuits and societal awakening. Raw, urgent, and unfiltered—this is a call to action for a nation on the edge.

This week we ask ChatGPT to put its tinfoil hat on and start asking questions. Why did the government turn against tobacco after centuries of widespread acceptance? The tangled web of politics, profit, and public health narratives in real-time. Could it be a battle between Big Tobacco and the pharmaceutical industry? A shift in addiction economics? Or a calculated move to keep the population stressed and dependent? Together, we'll unpack state-funded propaganda, selective morality, and the bigger agenda behind demonizing tobacco while other industries thrive unchecked.  Order The Blueprint & The Diligent Cigars Here!  https://www.flyingcigars.com/brands/the-burn-down-podcast/  https://getyourcigars.com/products/the-burn-down-podcast-sampler-pack https://tiptopsmoke.com/?s=burn+down+podcast

Historian and ethicist Nigel Cameron discusses his article, "C. Everett Koop's fearless fight against the tobacco industry," drawn from his biography of the former U.S. surgeon general. He recounts how C. Everett Koop, initially facing ridicule and expected to be ineffective, strategically used the 1982 Surgeon General's report on smoking to dramatically reshape his public image and intensify the fight against Big Tobacco. Nigel details the pivotal press conference where Koop forcefully presented the report's findings, overshadowing his superiors, declaring smoking "society's chief cause of preventable death," and refuting industry claims. This event marked a turning point, transforming Koop's relationship with the press, establishing his "bully pulpit," and escalating what Koop viewed as an "all-out war" against the tobacco industry's "sleaze," fundamentally altering the government's stance on smoking. Our presenting sponsor is Microsoft Dragon Copilot. Microsoft Dragon Copilot, your AI assistant for clinical workflow, is transforming how clinicians work. Now you can streamline and customize documentation, surface information right at the point of care, and automate tasks with just a click. Part of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, Dragon Copilot offers an extensible AI workspace and a single, integrated platform to help unlock new levels of efficiency. Plus, it's backed by a proven track record and decades of clinical expertise—and it's built on a foundation of trust. It's time to ease your administrative burdens and stay focused on what matters most with Dragon Copilot, your AI assistant for clinical workflow. VISIT SPONSOR → https://aka.ms/kevinmd SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended

In this episode, Dr. David Jockers sits down with Dr. Robert Love to explore how nutrition and natural supplements can slow down brain aging. You'll learn about the foods and herbs that play a key role in protecting your brain and enhancing cognitive function.   The conversation highlights the importance of anti-inflammatory foods like curcumin and omega-3 fatty acids for brain health. These powerful compounds can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's and support healthy aging.   You'll also discover the incredible benefits of Lion's Mane mushrooms for memory, mood, and sleep. Dr. Love shares how simple dietary and lifestyle changes can make a significant impact on your brain's long-term health.   In This Episode: 00:00 Big Tobacco's Influence on the Food Industry 06:03 Interview with Dr. Robert Love: Slowing Down Aging with Science 07:30 The Impact of Diet on Aging and Health 09:41 The Role of Toxins in Accelerating Aging 13:33 The Importance of Organic Food and Clean Water 17:35 The Dangers of High Fructose Corn Syrup and Processed Foods 20:55 The Dangers of Sugar for Children 21:18 Why New Year's Resolutions Fail 23:21 Exploring the Carnivore Diet 26:07 Anti-Inflammatory Foods and Spices 28:42 The Power of Mushrooms for Brain Health 32:03 Optimizing Sleep and Anti-Aging 36:54 Final Thoughts and Where to Find More Information   Did you know collagen production declines as you age? Boost your body's collagen with Paleovalley Bone Broth Protein, made from 100% grass-fed beef bones. It supports healthy skin, joints, and digestion in just 30 seconds a day. No time to simmer bones? No problem! Simply mix the protein powder with hot water or add it to smoothies. Get yours today at paleovalley.com/drjockers and use code JOCKERS to save 15%!   Struggling with digestion? Just Thrive Digestive Bitters help stimulate the production of stomach acid, bile, and pancreatic enzymes, improving digestion, easing bloating, and enhancing nutrient absorption. It's the natural way to support your gut health and feel better after every meal. Visit justthrivehealth.com and use code JOCKERS to save 20% off your order!   This episode is brought to you by Vibrant Blue Oils. If you want to enhance your body's natural healing abilities, try their Parasympathetic Essential Oil Blend. This non-invasive oil helps calm stress, reduce inflammation, and improve digestion, detoxification, and immune function. Start feeling fantastic today by visiting vibrantblueoils.com/jockers and grab your $15 full-size bottle of the Parasympathetic Blend.   Experience a new efficiency level with Freed AI, the AI medical scribe that transforms how healthcare professionals manage documentation. It listens, transcribes, and finalizes clinical notes instantly, perfect for both in-office and virtual visits across all specialties. HIPAA-compliant and incredibly user-friendly, Freed AI lets you reclaim hours each day, allowing you to focus more on your patients. Start your free trial today—no credit card is needed. For my listeners, use promo code Jockers50 for 50% off your first month when you subscribe. Learn more at getfreed.ai.     "Eating organic fruits, vegetables, and healthy proteins like wild-caught salmon could make all the difference in your brain's aging process." ~ Dr. Jockers     Subscribe to the podcast on: Apple Podcast Stitcher Spotify PodBean  TuneIn Radio     Resources: Paleovalley - visit paleovalley.com/jockers Visit justthrivehealth.com and use code Jockers for a 20% discount Visit https://vibrantblueoils.com/jockers Visit getfreed.ai.     Connect with Dr. Robert Love: Website: www.RoarLionsMane.net     Connect with Dr. Jockers: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/drjockers/ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DrDavidJockers YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/djockers Website – https://drjockers.com/   If you are interested in being a guest on the show, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us here! - https://drjockers.com/join-us-dr-jockers-functional-nutrition-podcast/  

One of the hardest parts about being human today is navigating uncertainty. When we see experts battling in public and emotions running high, it's easy to doubt what we once felt certain about. This uncertainty isn't always accidental—it's often strategically manufactured.Historian Naomi Oreskes, author of "Merchants of Doubt," reveals how industries from tobacco to fossil fuels have deployed a calculated playbook to create uncertainty about their products' harms. These campaigns have delayed regulation and protected profits by exploiting how we process information.In this episode, Oreskes breaks down that playbook page-by-page while offering practical ways to build resistance against them. As AI rapidly transforms our world, learning to distinguish between genuine scientific uncertainty and manufactured doubt has never been more critical.Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_RECOMMENDED MEDIA“Merchants of Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway "The Big Myth” by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway "Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson "The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair Further reading on the clash between Galileo and the Pope Further reading on the Montreal Protocol RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODESLaughing at Power: A Troublemaker's Guide to Changing Tech AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too. Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins Former OpenAI Engineer William Saunders on Silence, Safety, and the Right to WarnCORRECTIONS:Naomi incorrectly referenced Global Climate Research Program established under President Bush Sr. The correct name is the U.S. Global Change Research Program.Naomi referenced U.S. agencies that have been created with sunset clauses. While several statutes have been created with sunset clauses, no federal agency has been.CLARIFICATION: Naomi referenced the U.S. automobile industry claiming that they would be “destroyed” by seatbelt regulation. We couldn't verify this specific language but it is consistent with the anti-regulatory stance of that industry toward seatbelt laws.