Category: Corporate Abuse of Power

Democracy Subverted Again: Tobacco Companies Strike Down Public Interest Law By Claiming Corporate First Amendment Rights

Here’s an illustration of how the fabricated claim that corporations have constitutional rights, which was at the core of the Citizens United decision, really hits home. The tobacco industry recently won a court ruling that graphic warnings on cigarette packages violate the cigarette manufacturing corporations’ "free speech" rights.
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US Court to Big Pharma: “Make any claim you like.”

In America, we have the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) to ensure that the food we buy is safe to eat, and that drugs do for our health what their makers say they do.

A U.S. Court recently tossed much of that premise out the window, saying pharmaceutical companies and their employees can not be prevented from making claims about health effects that are un-verified by the F.D.A. In effect, the decision gives drug makers the green light to make up any claim they please, to make the sale.

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Yes! Magazine covers our call to revoke the corporate charter of Massey Energy

"A second tool to discipline corporate wrongdoers is charter revocation…. State governments have the right to revoke charters from companies that do not serve the public interest. Free Speech for People has petitioned Delaware to revoke the charter of Massey Energy. Charter revocation effectively constitutes the death penalty for a corporation. Even occasional use against large corporations would be a major deterrent to corporate wrongdoing."

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Join the call to revoke Massey Energy’s corporate charter!

Yesterday, the parent company of Massey Energy agreed to pay $209 million in criminal penalties, civil penalties, and compensation to the families of the 29 miners who were killed when its Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia exploded on April 5, 2010.  The company was also fined an additional $10.8 million yesterday by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration — the largest fine in that agency’s history.

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