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Podcast: Spin doctors use Big Tobacco strategy

Posted at 3:17 PM, May 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-13 03:45:12-04

Quick, what do these things have in common: Cocoa Pebbles and Winston cigarettes? One answer might be that Fred Flintstone is their biggest fan. Another might be that they’re highly addictive.



And that’s not the only thing they share. When former dentist Cristin Kearns was told at a conference that sugary sweet tea was a healthy choice, she went searching for evidence that the sugar industry was trying to spin the science. What she found was a strategy to push products and influence policymakers borrowed straight from the playbook of Big Tobacco.

In this episode, we follow up on an investigation by Duke University’s Ways & Means podcast into the way the sugar industry has borrowed from Big Tobacco in responding to threats from regulators.

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To listen to other DecodeDC podcasts, watch edgy videos and read blog posts about politics, politicians and policy, go to DecodeDC.com. And don't miss a new spin-off podcast titled, TrailMix 2016.