A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID KESSLER
Powerful industries employ a common playbook to protect profits and persuade policymakers to avoid policy changes that threaten their bottom line. Three particularly powerful industries - fossil fuels, food, and tobacco - have used their extraordinary profits and political influence to fend off regulatory actions, and their strategies and tactics are nearly identical in many cases. Dr. David Kessler, the former FDA Commissioner who led efforts to regulate the tobacco industry, will discuss the common threads throughout these industries when it comes to science denial, use of front groups, and other methods for shaping public opinion and strategies to counter these tactics.
David Kessler
Former FDA Commissioner (1990-1997)
David A. Kessler, MD, served as chief science officer of the White House COVID-19 Response Team under President Joe Biden and previously served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Overeating and Capture plus two other books: Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs and A Question of Intent. Dr. Kessler is a pediatrician and has been the dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco. He is a graduate of Amherst College, the University of Chicago Law School, and Harvard Medical School. His most recent book is Diet, Drugs and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight.