CDC Chief Bought Tobacco Stocks One Month Into Job Leading Nation’s Efforts Against Smoking
“You don’t buy tobacco stocks when you are the head of the CDC. It’s ridiculous; it gives a terrible appearance,” said Richard Painter, who served as George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007.
Politico:
Trump's Top Health Official Traded Tobacco Stock While Leading Anti-Smoking Efforts
The Trump administration’s top public health official bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency charged with reducing tobacco use — the leading cause of preventable disease and death and an issue she had long championed. The stock was one of about a dozen new investments that Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made after she took over the agency’s top job, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. Fitzgerald has since come under congressional scrutiny for slow walking divestment from older holdings that government officials said posed potential conflicts of interest. (Karlin-Smith and Ehley, 1/30)
In other news from health agencies —
The Hill:
FDA Faces New Lawsuits Over E-Cigarette Rule
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is facing a new wave of legal challenges over its rules for electronic cigarettes. The Pacific Legal Foundation filed lawsuits on behalf of vaping businesses in district courts in the District of Columbia, Minnesota and Texas on Tuesday. (Wheeler, 1/30)
