Reason Foundation

From SourceWatch

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch, sponsored by the American Legacy Foundation. Help expose the truth about the tobacco industry.

The Reason Foundation describes itself as a "libertarian" ^[1] think tank which challenges strict environmental regulations: "A national research and education organization that explores and promotes public policy based on rationality and freedom."[1] The Reason Foundation's projects include NewEnvironmentalism.org and Privatization.org. It is part of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation network.

1 About Reason Foundation
2 Reason Foundation and tobacco issues
3 Board of Trustees
4 Funding
5 Selected Corporate Supporters (2000)
6 Contact
7 References
8 External links

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About Reason Foundation

From the Reason Foundation web pages:

"For 22 years, Reason Foundation has led the fight for freedom in America. Our unique combination of a top-tier, well-respected think tank, Reason Public Policy Institute (RPPI), and a major political and cultural commentary magazine, Reason Magazine, gives us an unmatched pair of platforms from which to champion liberty and its essential role in human progress. Through Reason Public Policy Institute, with its emphasis on empirical results, practical innovation, and a burgeoning national reputation, we get new policy ideas implemented. Through Reason Magazine, with its growing and increasingly influential audience, we shape public opinion in favor of individual liberty in all areas of human activity.

"As the new century begins, dominant assumptions about government, popular culture, and many social and business institutions are in transition. Some of these shifts reinforce traditional American ideas about liberty and limited government. But the backlash against free markets and increased choices is gaining ground in many quarters.

"As a result, the debate about economic and civil liberties, regulation, innovation, and progress has never been more heated--or more urgently in need of articulate, forceful, and persuasive champions. By leveraging the capabilities of Reason Public Policy Institute and Reason Magazine, Reason Foundation makes an unparalleled contribution to the cause of liberty."

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Reason Foundation and tobacco issues

Jacob Sullum is the senior editor of Reason,, a monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. Sullum's positions on tobacco issues have consistenly been supportive of the tobacco industry. The Advocacy Institute, in their November, 1994 Directory of Tobacco Industry Spokespersons, Front Groups and their Allies, says,

The Reason Foundation received at least $10,000 from Philip Morris in 1993. He [Sullum] wrote an article for Forbes Media Critic which was later used in a week-long advertising series by Philip Morris; the report argued that the EPA findings on secondhand smoke were one-sided and represented the "corruption of science by the political crusade against smoking." He also wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal criticizing the EPA, claiming that the agency based its findings on ETS on "several controversial assumptions;" this op-ed was later featured in an RJR advertisement. Both of these articles cited the work of Dr.Gary Huber, a scientist funded by various tobacco companies, who had found the risks of ETS to be only minimal. The Media Critic article also cited the work of Alvan Feinstein, who received at least $700,000 from Brown &Williamson between 1985 and 1990. Sources:Extra, September/October 1994, p.18; Wall Street Journal,3- 24-94, p.A23.at Bates Page --4660]

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