From: addie@cffresh.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 7:34 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: 02N-029-Request for Comments on First Amendment Issues

Dear Sirs, 

Please restrict and regulate corporate rights to so-called "free speech". 

When corporations enjoy First Amendment protections it essentially nullifies the speech rights of individuals, since individuals cannot afford the massive advertising campaigns that corporations wage, and so cannot talk back.  Corporations are not people, and should not be granted the rights and status of individuals. 

Restrictions on the advertising of tobacco, alcohol, gambling and pharmaceuticals are essential for protecting public health.  Of all the problems facing our country, insufficient advertising of cigarettes, liquor, etc. is not one of them. Children are especially vulnerable to advertising, because corporations use sophisticated psychological techniques to trick them, and because children lack the maturity to deal with these techniques. Due largely to the assault of marketing to children, there have been marked increases in marketing-related diseases, such as childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

For the FDA, public health should be a higher priority than protecting corporations or their right to advertise. 

Corporations are far too powerful already.  The FDA should seek the right balance between individuals and corporations in the arena of public health, and not tip it further towards corporations and their lobbyists in our nation’s capital. 

Sincerely, 

Addie Pobst