Author: Mark Gottlieb

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

PHAI Publishes Case Study on NY State Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Law

PHAI Case Study on NY State Reduced Ignition Propensity Cigarette Law (pdf) PHAI documented New York State’s enactment of the first reduced ignition propensity law for cigarettes.  For decades, state and federal legislators have sought to change the manufacture of cigarettes in order to reduce the risk of fire, and the tobacco industry has sought […]

PHAI Publishes Case Study of the California Clean Cars Law

PHAI Case Study of the California Clean Cars Law (pdf) PHAI document the nation’s first piece of legislation, known as the “California Clean Cars Law,” which requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicle tail pipes. The state of California enjoys a special status under the federal Clean Air Act, allowing it to regulate vehicle emissions […]

PHAI Publishes Case Study on Denver, CO Regional Transportation Districts Dropping of a Ban on Violent Video Game Advertisements

PHAI Case Study on Denver, CO Regional Transportation Districts Dropping of a Ban on Violent Video Game Advertisements PHAI documented the 2006 decision by the Denver, Colorado’s Regional Transportation Districts to drop a ban on violent video game advertisements. In the fall of 2006, Rockstar Games launched a national advertising campaign for its “Mature”-rated video […]

PHAI Publishes Case Study of MA Attorney General Tobacco Advertising Regulations and Legal Challenge to Them

PHAI Publishes Case Study of MA Attorney General Tobacco Advertising Regulations and Legal Challenge to Them (pdf) PHAI documented the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office’s 1999 passage of regulations to limit particular advertising and sales practices for cigarettes, cigars, little cigars and smokeless tobacco products. The goal of the regulations was to protect youth from the predatory […]

PHAI Publishes Case Study on Portland, ME School Committee’s Initiative to Provide Prescription Contraception Products to Middle School Students

Case Study on Portland, ME School Committee’s Initiative to Provide Prescription Contraception Products to Middle School Students (pdf) PHAI documented the Portland School Committee’s 2007 vote to ratify a proposal from the King Student Health Center (“Health Center”) located at the King Middle School in Portland, ME to expand its services to provide prescription contraception to Health […]

PHAI Attorney and Noted Univ of IL Economist Look at Applying Tobacco Taxation and Other Pricing Strategies to Reduce Obesity

Public health advocates concerned about the burgeoning obesity epidemic are examining tools that have been successfully employed to reduce tobacco consumption, including taxes. Research suggests that a significant tax on sugar-sweetened beverages could have the desired public health effect of reducing consumption of high-calorie and low-nutrition beverages. The food and beverage industry is prepared to challenge tax initiatives and many of the same legal policy issues seen in the tobacco control movement, including discounting, are likely to arise. Public health advocates may also want to consider applying other price-based strategies to sugar-sweetened beverages, such as proportional pricing requirements, to encourage decreased consumption.

PHAI Publishes Case Study Examining Litigation Surrounding Atlantic City’s Needle Exchange Ordinace

PHAI Publishes Case Study Examining Litigation Surrounding Atlantic City’s Needle Exchange Ordinace (pdf) PHAI documented Atlantic City’s 2004 passage an ordinance establishing a municipal needle exchange program. Atlantic City faced an HIV/AIDS public health crisis with one in forty residents infected and sixty percent of infections related to injection drug use. The Atlantic City Department […]